So its been awhile since i vented about how things really are. If things about the transportation company im in make you mad, stop reading. See im working through things and the Combat stress people say people like me should focus on the the stuff we can control and not the stuff we cant. SO.... I follow this advice and I pretty much stopped focusing on everything that happens here. YUP..... since the GOAL here is to set a record. See the company's goal.... and by that I mean not the company's goal since not one fucking soldier voted on this goal. Well the goal is to beat the numbers set by the unit we replaced. Now lets hear some backstory on the unit we replaced. Well they were active duty and they were in country for 15 months. So we would have to beat total miles driven and amount of ARMY shit hauled in 10 months.
Yes you got that right we are expected to get behind a goal that requires us to put OUR...not their....our lifes in danger more than is required. Im not asking not to peform our mission, but to have a chance to perform our mission safely. Yes, SAFE, the word everyone uses around here but none adhere to. I have seen drivers come in from one mission at midnight or later only to get 4 hours of sleep and then get up at 4am, 5am, 6am or the like and go back out on another mission. Ask those in charge questions about it "they got cat naps." Now no matter what, someone has to accept these missions, someone has to make the choice to keep our people on the road everyday for over 6 days straight. I have soldiers that have been on mission for a week straight. What i dont understand is why when these issues are brought "up the chain" (big crock of shit) nothing is done about them. I have a theory, well im gonna catch hell for this theory, those charged with keeping soldiers safe, those who pride themselves on trying to keep soldiers from harm, and bringing everyone home, those are the ones accepting missions that consistantly pushs soldiers on missions without suffiecent rest time. If a soldiers gets up a 3:30am and is on the road driving or loading his truck or whatever and doesnt get back to his CHU till midnight well i would consider that person not safe to put back on the road for at least 8 hours. Oh wait you need to know the ARMY's idea of rest. Well basically any time you are not driving, thats considered rest time. SO the second you step out of the truck, your resting. WHAT CRAP! I know the ARMY is tough and we love doing the tough stuff, but those "tough" times normally have a widely agreeded upon goal. Like defeating the Nazi's or defending south Korea. What makes it even better is that every 10 days or so we have 2 days of nothing going on. Now we as dilligent soldiers use these "down""off" days to maintain our equipment. This can take easily a whole day. If we dont take the time to fix as many problems as we can find, and that little problem causes a truck to be swapped or heaven forbid a "MECHANIC" to have to fix a problem outside of their normaly duty time, look out! Yes we get yelled at if we ask a maint. person to fix a truck that is going on mission. If we bother the mechanics after 4:30pm, yes you read that correctly, truck drivers .... work all day. Mechanics, 6-4:30 and they get one complete day off a week, well if we bother them our truckmaster yells at us. I guess the truck master, the guy who is supposed to help us complete the missions, i guess he is no in charge of Maintenance section also. I guess he has all reaching power.
Oh yeah HQ people get a day off a week too. The people who never leave the wire, the people who work inside all day from 8-5, they get to take a day off a week.
Now you may ask how are all of these missions getting done? Well soldiers are getting it done. My soldiers are doing an amazing job. Yes its what they signed up to do, but none of them want to set a record. None of them will gain anything by driving more miles and hauling more shit than any other unit. No some people in our unit may reap rewards from setting such high numbers but PVT. Joe Snuffy doesnt get anything to show for his hard work. Now they may get a medal for their work, but is one medal enough if someone gets hurt? Is it enough if a soldier dies? I have medals and i would gladly trade my purple heart to have never been hurt in combat. I would give up all of my medals if it kept my soldiers out of harms way. Now im not saying we should come to Iraq to do nothing, but i feel we do a lot more than our share. I have heard we are the only true transportation company around. I think thats a way to show off plumage. We have other units that are trans companies. If Trans units can drive gun trucks why cant gun truck units drive some 915's. I mean our security has three times the time off as we do. Does that make sense. Thats like the mail room guy getting more paid vacation than the CEO.
Okay so lets sum up here I have to focus on the stuff i can control which is not much. My soldiers are on mission a ton so the chances i get to see them i try to give them as much free time as i can so they can unwind. Our company is running missions like crazy and though i agree being on mission is better than weeks of nothing to do, we ned to make better choices about how many missions we send our soldiers on, about how many TEAMS, we actually plan our missions with.
Oh yeah i wont even go into the team idea. We plan on the basis that every person will be good to go and every truck will run forever. If you have 100 people ready to help you move and your trying to make sure your going to maximize each one, you dont have all 100 start moving everything at once. You go in shifts and work each group only so much before you give them a break so they dont break anything. See I work in the transportation buisness everyday. I think i might be the only one here who actually knows how a trucking company should run. YEAH this isnt how it should run. The civilian company i work for is amazing, they perform more missions, over more terrain everyday with fewer people. How, they plan and prepare for problems, they realize things breakdown, people breakdown, and they understand how to adapt to new ideas and other peoples views.
Yup i guess i have rambled on here for a while, what i am really saying is that things here are running, and i think running smoother than they might, but it is all because of the soldiers. While the leadership wont listen, the leadership must believe that they are infallible, while all of this is happening our soldiers, the amazing men and women of the ARMY are getting the job done and they will continue to do so. I pray that all of these decisions that make no sense, that all of these missions that dont have to be taken, that all of these choices are worth it, when that first soldier gets hurt or dies. I know its morbid but now i think that is the only way we will see a change. I have stopped trying to make a change here, I am over qualified for this TRANSPORTATION unit. I may have never run a company like this in Iraq, but i have day in and day out been knee deep in two great transportation companies. One ARMY one civilian. I have spoken with people from both of these companies and they all laugh at how things are done here. I have spoken with officers in the ARMY that are Trans. officers and they cant believe what i tell them.
Now i may catch hell for this, wait im sure too but understand this is one of the ways i was told to vent my frustrations. I do as im told, i go to combat stress, i do the group classes, the hour sessions and i give 100%. I try to be a good NCO and I do what i can to take care of my soldiers. If i have offended you ..... sorry...no............ tough shit.
Please have a great Christmas!
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2 comments:
Greetings John,
Michael and I are hoping you and your troups will receive a special miracle this Christmas to make up for being away from home.
I really wanted to be able to finish reading your blog post John, but I stopped at the first F word.
I guess that may be "just tough" for us because we missed out on what you had to say, and I am sure there was value what you have to say, and we did want to hear it.
Why can't soldiers, or plain ole human beings, be tough, angry, frustrated and good soldiers and all the things, the noble things, that I know that they are, that I know you are, and not talk like you only learned a few select words that they passed out in a " how to distance friends and repulse people class?
You are a precocious, intelligent and educated man SSG.Buckley, we respect you as a person, we respect you for what you are doing, but your choice of foul and vulgar words tarnish all that refulgence’s from you. What ever it was you felt you needed to share was totally lost when the first F word was written.
Someone shared these words of wisdom with me once, and they made me really mad, but they are true, and after thinking about them awhile, I received of their wisdom.
Pro 17:27 He that spareth his words hath knowledge; And he that is of a cool spirit is a man of understanding.
Pro 17:28 Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise; When he shutteth his lips, he is esteemed as prudent.
People actually began to think I was smart because I stopped going off on everyone all the time! Now that IS funny.
Most likely it will not matter much, I guess it will just be "tough" if we think that you're misrepresnting yourself, and perhaps alienating others who would otherwise be in your corner, cheering you on. There are still some who see no need for the usage of words like that to communicate their anger and frustration. I guess it's just "tough" for us, that we are going to lose out on what you have to say,because we really don't want to put that stuff inside of us, but probably not so tough for you, after all we are strangers who just wandered into your life and we can wander out just as easily ( or so one might care to think). Who cares if a stranger gets offended? What the heck, you didn't ask us to read your blog now, did you?
I guess it will just be "tough" if perhaps your sons and daughter read this some years down the road, because this stuff never goes away, you can't erase it.
Ya, it's "tough", and who ever said life was suppose to give us a break, or be fair, or easy. I'd like to see who promised us all that. Regardless, we will survive/your going to survive and we will keep loving you and your family and praying for you all of you and hope you get what you need, because that IS why we are here, not to complain about your potty mouth.
So, from our house to yours and to your soldiers, we wish for all of God's greatest benefits, to be real and active in your lives, and because God does not just love, but He is love, may you feel His heart beating with the love He has for you, your family, your troops, and in some miraculous way, may you know the peace that was intended to fill your lives when you were fearfully and wonderfully made,even before the foundations of the earth was formed.
Psalm 139:14
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
(NIV Bible)
Blessings John,
The Rumbaughs
I would like to start out by saying if you or others don't feel comfortable backing people who are fighting or have fought for this countries freedom and the freedoms of many other countries then you have a massive problem with reality. John and others are and have been fighting for the freedoms that let you spout off bible verses to further inflate your already bulbous religious egos. Do you really think that the men who stormed beaches, fought in jungles or are currently in convoys through the desert don't cuss. Would you talk negatively to a veteran or a wounded soldier if they confessed their sins of cussing during war to you. Do you really think that by adding your bible knowledge to your comment really drives any point home. John has few outlets to vent and you are trying to hinder/guilt his ability to speak freely. What if I told you that I find the bible offensive (i don't) but would that make you stop reciting it like a kid in a high school Shakespeare play?
"If so, then its offensive and please stop."
(Stryder 3:81 New English Version)
If GODPLEZUR isn't backing you because you use "a few select words that they passed out in a " how to distance friends and repulse people class? " AKA adult language then poo on them.(i would use adult language but i want GODPLEZUR to continue reading) How dare you say "after all we are strangers who just wandered into your life and we can wander out just as easily" He isn't sitting in a home shrouded by his family and comforts. Do you expect anyone to believe that every intense and stressful situation you have ever encountered was anything like what he is going through every day. On top of that I'm sure u handle every situation like a leave it to beaver episode, and if you do then you are the perfect human being. He is seeing and living a hell that you would never be able to handle and if a few adult words help express his feeling then so be it. He had to leave his family and friends behind to do a job, and the fact that you downplay that by bringing his kids into it as guilt chips makes you weaker than I already know you are. You have obviously reached a level of higher intelligence that no one else can reach. So sit back and revel in you're aura of perfectness and let John vent. By the way GODPLEZUR most wars are started by religion either obviously or influenced by religious people who think they are right and the man on the other side of the fence is a sinner. So take that knowledge and wear it like a badge of honor.
Douche!
Happy New Year and God bless!
-Stryder381
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