Down to Single Digits

My relief has arrived and we are turning over the position but I still can’t focus on my departure. Life is too busy here. People keep asking me if I’m excited. I tell them I’ll be excited when I step aboard the C17. This isn’t too unusual for me though. I’m the same way going on vacation. It’s a good trait, being able to avoid anticipation and maintaining some detachment.

Not everyone can break free of their environment so easily. A civilian gentleman in our office is in charge of food for all US Forces in Afghanistan. While pushing jet fuel is a challenge during the winter months, summer presents a challenge for food. Bill arrived about the same time as me but looks like he aged five years in these past six months. He has little real direct control of food deliveries. He is more of an information conduit and cares deeply about his job. I have seen him reduced to near tears by senior officers who have no leadership ability and no clue. He was so upset yesterday I was worried about his state of mind. All for a job that is 90% providing information on the situation. It’s the age old problem of shooting the messenger. Bill is going home a few days early and though he is upset I am glad. He doesn’t need this B.S. He was treated poorly.

Yesterday I was cashing a check in the finance office. I am generally in a good mood (when I’m not ranting) so I asked the cashier, an Army Specialist, “Are we having fun yet?” He told me “actually, no.” As it turns out he is in the first week of a 12 month tour and hates being at Bagram. I find this odd, and a little disturbing. I don’t understand people who join the military and then become upset at being deployed. If you don’t want to be sent to occasionally unpleasant places work at Wal-Mart, don’t join the armed forces for gods sake!

Then there is the PFC that went missing and was announced as captured by the Taliban. Reports of what happened have been contradictory. The latest is a video statement from PFC Bergdahl where he states he lagged behind on a patrol and was captured. This is possible, it’s also the best story for the Taliban to push, “young soldiers beware you are not safe even with your squad!” Initial reports from the Afghans indicated that he wandered away from his camp drunk, unarmed and without body armor. This story sounds more plausible to me although most people probably don’t want to hear that. It wouldn’t surprise me if a distraught PFC became drunk and wandered off. It would be an act of attempted suicide to be sure, but then suicide is not unusual in the Army today.

Suicide is something the Army is really struggling with right now. It is at record levels. At the same time, being strapped for personnel, the Army has cut entrance requirements and mobilized a large number of personnel from the inactive reserve. In most cases these are soldiers who had an active duty as well as reserve obligation under their enlistment contract. They finished their active stint and decided not to reenlist only to be brought back anyway. In general these are not very happy people.

It’s well past time the Military, and the Army in particular, worked to restore the leadership qualities it has lost over the past few decades. Too many senior officers direct subordinates to “Just get it done”, probably the most cowardly phrase in common use within the military. There is no hint that these officers have any inkling of what is required to get the particular job done and they certainly aren’t interested in providing any assistance in getting the job accomplished. It is a phrase that indicates a complete lack of leadership ability.

So to summarize: we have placed large numbers of poorly motivated soldiers in the hands of “leaders”, some of whom are worthless, to go fight in a foreign land most Americans couldn’t find on a map, even if it were labeled. We still have a chance to do good here but it’s difficult for me think about that right now. I’m too pissed off at seeing a good man reduced to tears by worthless “leaders”.