Issues Throughout.

A Soldier's Perspective

A 6 year running blog by a Master Sergeant who signed the rights over to one of his friends because of all the heat he was taking from his chain of command for speaking the truth. He brings up how the Army does not want to hear the truth about what goes on, but only the good things.

Also, check out Traveling Soldier, and underground newspaper.

Unfortunately I did not find out about this until this morning at 0715, but milblogs everywhere are not posting for a period in support of CJ, founder of A Soldier's Perspective. I have decided to do the same. Though no where near as large of a following, I completely support the ideas and beliefs of his blog and am very disappointed in the Army's willingness to silence integrity. Show your support and donate to his legal fund on the blog's homepage.

DoD Directive 1325.6 Section 3.5.4

3.5.4. Publication of "Underground Newspapers." Personal writing for publication may not be pursued during duty hours, or accomplished by the use of Government or non-appropriated fund property on- or off-duty. While publication of "underground newspapers" by military personnel off-post, on their own time, and with their own money and equipment, is not prohibited, if such a publication contains language the utterance of which is punishable under Federal law, those involved in the printing, publication, or distribution may be disciplined for such infractions.


To see the whole thing, click on the link below.
http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/rtf/132506x.rtf

Shift

So I show up for mid shift on Wednesday night and no sooner than I draw my weapon, free SGT tells me I'm working the gate. Ok, that's fine because I brought my computer and packed my lunch. I wonder if it's because hero is new or because I'm on profile. Either one aren't good enough for me, but I don't want him showing up on my scene anyways and telling me what to do when I have 4 years of broken road experience and he has 4 days. So this promises to be advantageous. So I find out that gate 8 needs two people and I go inside to find a good partner and he overhears me asking around and starts asking what's going on with gate 8. I told him they needed two and he was upset because he's in charge and needs to know what's going on. So I walk outside and get a ride from swings supervisor. I also find out that I got the best battleship player in the world as my partner. We start working the gate and he shows up about 30 minutes into shift. Now the funny and ironic part is that he wasn't there when we were given the gate 8 instructions, but free SGT, who was also there with us, was the one who put out the instructions. Hero tells us, since I refuse to stand at parade rest to work a gate, that we have to stand at ease until a vehicle comes, parade rest when they show up, attention when they get closer and give them proper hand and arm signals and check their IDs. I tell him that I've never worked this gate before, but I'm sure I'll catch on quickly and he believed me. Yeah, 4 years at Fort Puke and I've NEVER worked gate 8 before. Free SGT was there and had to turn around because he was smiling. I also read the SOP that PFCOA had said doesn't have the positions in it & he was RIGHT. Turns out the guy that's in charge has never worked the gate OR read the SOP. Not surprising.

Runs Batted In

So hero has me write an RBI (essay) for joking around and playing corporal for a night. I tried to write it, but the motivation just wasn't there & it was Halloween weekend. So I asked for more time Monday morning, about 6.5 hours before it was due. My team leader called me back and said that I could either have an hour and twenty minutes more, or come in when it was due and write it 'til it was finished. I had worked Sunday night. It was 0842 when he told me this. I went to bed, woke up at 1115 with about 2.5 hours of sleep and went in to write my essay. When I got there he said I had to write until my PSG left for the day and if it still wasn't finished, be back in the office writing when hero came back for weapons draw at 2015. So I wrote for 8 hours straight, from a little bit before twelve, to about 2005. I stepped outside to put a dip in and he was pulling up for work, just as he had said. He came up, made me sit there while he read it and told me I had to rewrite it. Now, it's 2030ish on Monday night and I had been up since about 1500 on Sunday with the exception of the 2.5 hour nap I had in the early morning. So he asks me if I have any questions. "Yeah, when to I get to sleep and take a shower?" He said, "Were you not given the time to take care of those things?" Now, in my eyes I was, but in his eyes. . . well. So he told me to go over to battalion staff duty and write it until it was finished. I told him I wanted to talk to the PSG, thinking that he would be a bit more reasonable and hero said he would call him and have him call me. So I headed over to battalion and started writing. He came over and told me that I had to write 'til 0000 or until it was finished, which ever came first and if it wasn't finished by midnight, then it was due by 1900 the next day. So I wrote 'til midnight which is when he showed up & restated the requirements. I left and FINALLY showered and slept after not doing either for 32 hours, with the exception of a 2.5 hour nap that morning. I finished handwriting the next day around 1200, called him to let him know & he had me turn it in to the PSG. When I handed it in the PSG asked, "Is this going to piss him off again?". And I said no. I wish I could post 'em on here, but unfortunately I am not smart enough to make copies.

Liar, Liar.

I was in the field for a week and a half. The E5 squad leader in charge out there said he was sending me back and continued to verbally reprimand me for not telling him my problems and explained that he has pull and can do things that other squad leaders and E5s can't. Through all that, he implied that he was trying to help me. Once I got back from the field, my omniscient PSG said that the squad leader sent me back because he was tired of dealing with me. Needless to say, the squad leader is a liar.

Defined

Click clickety click click click

Private

Speaking to my beloved child (Johnny Rocket, aka Frenchy) and he told me of a time when our hero took to the knife and started betraying people. Frenchy found our protagonist's ID tags on the ground one day and returned them to him. After many thanks and much gratitude, they parted ways. Later in the motor pool, the squad leader needed Frenchy to do something. He called SPC Frenchy over, "Hey, Private Frenchy!". Frenchy immediately corrected him and explained that he's a specialist. The squad leader quickly replied, "Everyone's a private to me out here."

Now, I wonder what that means? I was taught in basic that you call everyone by their rank, so you can't just call everyone a private. Also, "out here"? Does that mean when he's not at the motor pool he calls them something else?

Dress A's

So the MOI changed for the soldier of the month boards. Previously, with every single other one I've ever heard of, the sponsor wears ACUs/duty uniform. Well, the all mighty squad leader didn't read the whole MOI, which said that sponsors will wear class A's. Needless to say, he showed up in ACUs. He worried and fretted the whole time until he went in.

This whole scenario is humorous because it's really no big deal, but apparently he was afraid of getting in huge trouble. So worried, I think he wore a hole in the floor from pacing back and forth.

The Room Inspection

One of the first encounters with the squad leader was when he inspected my room. He came in & I immediately lit up a cigarette. He chuckled in a nervous kind of way and said, "Not smart, smoking in the room when I'm here." I asked why, because it was in the SOP that we're allowed to as long as our roommate doesn't mind. He began to question himself, at which time our favorite corporal grabbed the SOP off the back of the door and read the portion that states we're allowed to smoke in the room.

I don't have much on this one, except that that's one of the only times I've been right and able to back it up with paperwork.

Witness

On 3 September 2009 at approximately 0630 I witnessed the squad leader call for his A team leader during a swamp run beggining across the street from the combatives pit on the corner of Bellrichard Avenue and Texas Avenue and ending at the same. As he yelled out the Corporal's name, each person in front of him was passing it along. I was behind the A team leader and explained to him that the squad leader was calling for him. The first two times I yelled for him, I got no response. The third time he slowed down and said that he was, "ignoring him". I also heard a comment about "carrying his dick". I turned around to see what the squad leader needed and waved everyone else through. The squad leader told me he needed the A team leader and I explained to him that he was ignoring him. The A team leader then came running back. When the squad leader confronted him about ignoring everyone yelling for him he got very defensive and eventually both of them were yelling. SSG Roit was attempting to control CPL Kang and CPL Kang was being nothing but disrespectful to the squad leader. By this time they had escalated and I had kept running. Most of the squad admitted to hearing them yelling at each other. I am unaware of any physical contact between the two. As we finished the swamp run, they both came running up the street.

In retrospect I regret this post ever taking place. It helped the squad leader which I refuse to ever do. . . ever again.

Pain, but Not the Physical Kind

So I was in the office with Joos the other day talking to my PSG about adjustments on a SAW, M249 for the acronym impaired. I was confused as to why the book referred to the adjustments as mils when I was used to using minutes of angle. My PSG agreed that I was to question it, admitted that he was unsure what they were called and told me exactly how to find the right answer. Joos sort of just watched. This all happened while a 6'2", 300 lb. man was standing uncomfortably close to my back. The part that really makes me nervous is that he had an angry look on his face as if I had done something to him. He's the one that invaded my personal space. Then he tells me that I'm comparing apples and oranges, explaining himself by saying that mils are an angle measurement in land navigation and minutes of angle are for shooting, obviously something I already knew and anyone that makes it through basic would probably know. So I roger my way out of the office as quickly as possible and walk with Joos back to the room where we find out that "mils" is the abbreviation used in the field manual to refer to milimeters. So the standing-too-terribly-close-to-soldiers-pisses-me-off operations sergeant was wrong and was too afraid to admit it.

Why are people afraid to admit that they don't know? It's easier to admit it so later you don't get caught in a lie, as demonstrated above. Thank you PSG for keeping it simple.

The Latest

While our hero has been away, an E4, CPL type, has been put in charge. This person is a bit of a character. He hates my guts one minute and the next we're laughing together about something.

Allow me, your narrator, to give you an example. The job we do is similar to police work. I say similar because there is a bunch more politics involved. So, if you leave your patrol car unlocked, someone will more than likely find out and turn all your stuff on. Lights, siren, video camera, etc... The fun part is trying to get them back if they get you. So I've gotten this CPL person twice now and he has yet to get me. I wouldn't be even the slightest bit irritated if he didn't make such a big deal out of it. The first time he claimed it was in a public place, but the only other two people around were the gate guards and the second time he said it over the radio and claimed that his car didn't lock (the car I ended up with yesterday & it locks just fine).

Tip of the day: Don't brag about doing something or being good at something and when someone does it to you or better than you get all butt hurt about it. It's hypocrytical and it tends to piss people off enough, sometimes to the point of writing a blog about it.

The Profile

A few weeks ago I was at my apartment in DeRidder when I got a phone call from the squad leader. He asked me to bring him a copy of my expired profile. I argued that it was expired and that an expired profile doesn't mean anything, but he still wanted me to bring it in. So after complaining and driving twenty minutes to take it to him, I handed it to him, he handed it to the platoon sergeant and the platoon sergeant looked it over. He said, "This is expired." I told him that I knew this and he asked if I was able to work the road. I said yes. He handed the profile back to the squad leader and said, "That's all I needed to know." My squad leader continued by saying he wanted to talk to me outside. We smoked while he explained to me that the reason he had me come in was for corrective action for arguing with him over the phone. He said that the platoon sergeant had told him while he was on the phone with me that all he needed was to know whether or not I was able to work the road once again.

I always thought corrective action was a negative counseling or taking soldier's time or extra PT. Not taking their time and gas and then pretending as if you still don't know what's going on.

Correction

The NCO called me on my home phone explaining to me that he wanted me to bring my expired profile in to give him a copy. I asked why they didn't have the original copy (oxymoron) that I had given to the platoon, in addition to the commander and the medics. He said that none of those people were there or he would've asked them. I continued to argue at which point he insisted I drive twenty minutes up from DeRidder to deliver a copy of my expired profile.

Needless to say, I was pissed.

So I made two copies of my nearly destroyed and expired profile and took it in to the platoon office. The squad leader took it and immediately handed it to the platoon sergeant. The platoon sergeant looked it over for a minute then said, while looking up at me, "This is expired." I explained that I knew that and had told the squad leader. He asked if I was capable of working the road and I said yes.

Going Nowhere

Consider this: You've been working the same job with the same expectations and increasing responsibilities for the past eleven years. By now, most would have perfected their routine and learned what to do and what to expect. The hero of our story is begging to made an example of under these exact conditions.

Yesterday (12 July 2009) my platoon sergeant was talking to the squad leader and asking him if he thought that he had met the deadline. The squad leader immediately insisted that he had, then quickly changed his opinion saying that he felt he had prioritized based on the work he was given. The platoon sergeant asked him again while looking at a paper providing the deadline at which time the squad leader finally admitted he did not meet the deadline, even though he was still working on it and the deadline just happened to be Friday. He then continued to go outside to smoke with me where he had a small complaint about having to wear his uniform on a Sunday when the platoon sergeant didn't. He appealed to me verbally, even though there was obviously nothing I could do.

When First Noticed

I had to report for a urinalysis and my roommate had to call and tell me. Not my team leader, not my squad leader... my roommate. I was about two minutes late. My first sergeant asked me why I was late. I said I had lost track of time and I was cleaning up after helping a friend paint their house. He said, "Oh, okay." My squad leader continued by telling me he wanted to speak with me after I was finished. I went out back when I was done and he spent twenty to thirty minutes explaining to me why it is imporntant to be ten minutes early and how he is considering giving me a team if I show him I am responsible enough.

Several things:
1) I've been in the army for four years. I know I'm suppose to be ten minutes early and I know why. People make mistakes.
2) I didn't interfere with the urinalysis. I was talked to about why it's important to be on time, however, no one was waiting on me. They were just wondering where I was and why I was a whole two minutes late.
3) It took me about five minutes to "participate" in the urinalysis. It took my squad leader twenty to thirty minutes to explain why I shouldn't be two minutes late for a five minute event that is only important if it provides proof of me breaking the law.

Noncommisioned officers taking care of soldiers.