Time Passes Quickly (and people steal stuff)

Simmer down now, there is a lesson from all of this….

It’s often hard to believe sometimes how quickly time passes by.  I don’t mean the “hey I just ordered a pizza and it’s already here” kind of fast, I mean the “damn it’s already been a year” kind of fast.  There have been many times I’ve greased up the fingers in preparation of firing up the pistons that punch out blog entries – but when push came to shove… I couldn’t.  Writers block? Perhaps… but I’m really wanting this stalled engine to finally turn over, so I went out….put some dang fuel in the engine… so let’s get this thing turning.  Now as you know, it’s been a while – so this may be a little rough till all six cylinders start firing in sequence.  So without further ado….

Almost a year ago I was getting ready for Drill Sergeant School.  At the time I was staying with a friend (Note to self: I really need to give him a call).  Anyhow, to make a long story short, when I came back from Drill Sergeant School almost some 5-6 months later (and a seriously significant emotional event in the worst of ways) I found that my IOTV (Body Armor) had been stolen.  You can sure bet Uncle Sam wasn’t too happy about it, and you can sure bet he is gonna get his… of course I’m talking about Cha-Ching Cha-Ching $$$.  Which I can fully understand, given everything has a price, and certainly armor comes at a fair one. 

 But what was frustrating… was how quickly all the programs, policies, and regulations seemed or felt to have been pushed aside to increase the probability of the unit not having to pay out of its own pocket.  As I went through the process (investigation), I found it extremely frustrating how little attention was given to not only the investigation, but also the paperwork that allegedly justifies the reason a soldiers should be charged, and the dollar amount of such.  I’m just sayin… if I was going to have paperwork that said why you owe me money, I’m going to ensure that thing is air-tight.  You’re supposed to have a whole system of checks and balances by people specifically “hired” or appointed various responsibilities and oh… their every day job… would just pass it on to the next level of checks (and/or balances). 

When I received the packet of final findings, and the couple thousand dollars I was financial found responsible for, within 30min of sitting down and reviewing the packet, I found several inconsistencies and a few minutes later – found substantial financial errors of almost $1,000.  Now I don’t care who you are or what your MOS is – but a thousand dollars goes a long way and would more than likely much rather be kept in your pocket than essentially in air, not to mention all the skillcraft pens I could buy….  So I put my self proclaimed writing skills to the test, and with some help from legal wrote a very impressive appeals / rebuttal letter that resulted in the entire thing essentially thrown out.

So what’s the lesson here?  It’s simple… Do the right thing (which in the year 2013 would appear to be a harder thing done then said….apparently).  Fortunately, I’ve always been fortunate enough to have very responsible soldiers under me (at least in FORSCOM, with the exception or Jordan Olson), but as leaders – we need to sit down and go over the paperwork with all our soldiers.  Make sure everything adds up, and don’t assume it does.  Ensure Column A + B = the right amount stated in column C, because anyone can tell that yes the blocks have been filled out – but doing the right thing by your soldier, would be busting out the calculator and running through the numbers yourself.  A simple check where others before you have failed, may end up saving your soldiers several hundred dollars, an un-measureable amount of stress, and a maybe even a marriage. Although I may have been able survive and get by with that type of financial burden, a lot the junior soldiers in our Ranks simply cannot.  It is up to us to ensure that soldiers are taken care of. 

With that being said, it’s also important to know that sometimes we can’t protect them from everything.  Obviously if a soldier signed on a dotted legal line saying he would pay $10,000… we’ve got to hold him to it.  We are however, equally obligated to help that soldier find the best possible solution even when the circumstances are grey, which doesn’t necessarily entail it going away…

I think it’s time…

For those who have wondered where I have been… my world was dumped completely upside down within the past year and I’ve been trying to get myself back together, and now I feel like I am ready to begin writing again.

For those of you who have expressed curiosity as to where I’ve been, and that you missed and enjoyed my writing, it truly did… does… mean a lot to me, and I thank you for supporting me through this difficult time in my life. You have no idea how much the little motions helped keep me together.

So sit back.  I plan on firing the cylinders back up this week. Just gota warm up the fingers, and get my keyboard greased up.

I’m back….

Bitches.

Back In the Swing of Things

It only took about 7 months since my redeployment from Afghanistan, to “put rockets down-range”.   For those of you who do not know, my MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) in the Army is 13 M (Mike).  I am a MLRS / HIMARS Crewman, King of the Field Artillery. If you’re not sure what this is, you can Google it.  But the death dealing machine I command is known commonly as a HIMARS “Launcher”. By comparison, if you were to think of  tank and it’s ability to blow a hole in the wall of a building, what I do, and the vehicle I command has the capability of destroying an entire city block. Get a couple of us launchers together, and we can devastate an area larger than 1,000 meters by 1,000 meters.  Rocket and Missile Artillery… Damn it feels good to be back home.  

But back to what I was saying.

7 Months after returning from Afghanistan, I certify with my Driver and Gunner and become the first   Launcher in the Battalion to successfully fire rockets since the Battalions return from Afghanistan.  Not only that, but we also made the cover of the covenant AKO Webpage (Army Knowledge Online – a site for soldiers to manage career information and more!)

Might I say – it felt damn good to get back into things.  I can honestly say that I love my job as a 13M.  It seems a lot of people find our MOS to be boring, or whatever… but I can confidently say it is quite possibly to the most-ass MOS the Army has.  I seen and fired a lot of rockets in my time, and every time it is extremely impressive to watch and usually more impressive than the last. 

But what made this go around quite possibly the coolest, was that it was a combined live fire training exercise.  I’ve shot with some people cool units, everything from Korean Military, Special Forces, Rangers, and Navy Seals… but to be honest, they all kind of felt the same in the sense that we were not “physically” working with them from where I (in the launcher) shoot from.  Usually they were several thousand meters away, looking at a target through binoculars and calling us with a grid (“location”) to destroy a target.  While this time around this part of the equation remained, there were lots more guns on the ground with us, and … n the Air.

We were located next to a “cannon” unit.  Usually when you think of “Artillery”, cannons are what you think of.  So they were set up next to us with about 4 or 5 M777 Howitzer Cannons.  But the coolest part was the air was dominated by Kiowa Helicopters, and A-10 Warthogs; an anti-tank / close air support attack plane.  Daily, we would hear the sounds of the cannons ripping off shells like crazy. Then, about three-quarters through their firing… one, two, or three of our HIMARS launchers would receive a “Call for Fire” Mission, and a few seconds later – rockets would be flying through the air, silencing the cannons as the rockets burst through the sound barrier releasing an impressive sonic boom. 

Like I said… it never gets old.

Shortly after we would be done shooting, the Close Air Support of the A10’s would dive into the target unleashing all of the devils fury, before quickly turning out and skimming just a couple feet above the ground over our firing positions as if gesture a “hello”, “go team”, or “fuck yeah that was awesome!”.  At one point, an A-10 came so close to my launcher and banked hard left, that I could look up and recognize the pilot clearly… I pee’d myself it was so bad ass.

I am thankful for every opportunity I get to shoot rockets.  It’s defiantly something not very many people get to do in their time.  I have one more big “Hooah-Rah” as my First Sergeant put it, before I head off to my next big Army Life Chapter.. as I was nominated, and selected by the Army to be a Drill Sergeant.

Not Forgotten – SGT Kisseloff

Combat is a machine unlike anything 98% of the world population will ever experience.  I say machine because it has no life, no heart, no soul. Humans may more often than not be involved, but it’s too sickening to be considered anything man-made. It’s a machine of its own making. A beast.  And An unwelcomed one at that.  When you you’ve completed mission after mission avoiding mortar attacks, IED attacks, RPGs, small arms fire and more… you kind of develop a God like complex even though after mission after mission you tell yourself not to let it get to your head.  It’s almost an unavoidable feeling / sensation. But in less than a second, combat can make you feel quite literally like every single organ inside your body is being torn out slowly when “this firefight”, is the one that takes one of your buddies, a brother or sister in arms… and the only three things you can muster together are:
1.“why” 
2. “it should have been me”
3. “it’s not fair”

I cannot believe it’s already been a year since Sergeant (SGT) Denis D. Kisseloff was killed in Logar Province, Afghanistan.  I haven’t taken off his memorial bracelet since I received it a couple weeks after our loss.  It’s entirely too easy for me to get angry about some of the events that took place that day.  But May 13th isn’t a day to be angry, SGT Kisseloff was too much of a happy person, and anyone could tell this simply by looking at any photo of him.  It’s a day to remember, and honor the life of a Father, Brother, and Son.  I frequently think of the Kisseloff family, and his two children who lost their mother entirely too soon, and now father.  I pray for the family frequently, and ask that everyone reading this take at least a minute of silence for this man who laid down his life for our country.

You are not forgotten.

Don’t Call It A Comeback

So lots of people have been wondering where I’ve been. “Where are the entries”, and so on and so forth. Well, here is the deal. 

It is incredibly difficult for me to write about something, when I REALLY want to write about something else.  The new entry always ends up floating off topic and the whole thing ends up being a mess because I can’t help but reference / write about things I’m not supposed to.

So now some of you are confused.
In short,   there is some crap going on, that has been going on for oh say…  4 or 5 months, or a Year plus.  Depending on how you look on it.  Basically I’m not allowed to write about what’s going on until all the dust settles.  The last update I got indicates the dust will be settling within the next month or so.

Some you may notice that a few of my entries were also removed a little ways back. They are NOT DELETED!!!, I promise!  I assure you that once all this is done, the posting will be put back “online” and everyone will be able to enjoy them once again.

But in the mean time, I’ve got some other things I’m excited to write about, so stay tuned for new postings… and for the dust to settle!!!

VFW Article – Hounding the Taliban

I just found the digital version of the Article that spoke of the unit I was attached to in Afghanistan.  The article also talks about the Large scale ambush that I was part of, and even (although not by name) mentions my gunner.  Just thought I would share it with you.

“Hounding The Taliban”
The Article as a whole is good, and starts on page 20
The section about the Ambush starts on page 26, titled “We’ve Made Contact”

Enjoy the Read.
http://digitaledition.qwinc.com/publication/?i=60281&p=22

ALC – A Load of Crap

Many of you may have been asking yourselves, where has Martin been for a little over a month?  Well, I was in shitsville, Oklahoma.  Also better known as Fort Sill, Oklahoma attending Phase II of ALC (Advanced Leaders Course).  ALC is the second part of the NCOES (Non-Commissioned Officer Education System), and is divided into two phases (some jobs / MOS’s [military occupational skill] may have more phases than just the two, however mine just has the two).  With the first phase being frequently referred to as “common core”, it is standard across the Army regardless of MOS, and has now even changed over to an Online Course.  Similar to those Online Colleges.  Luckily for me, please excuse my sarcasm, ALC Phase II for 13M’s (MLRS / HIMARS Crewman) is in Fort Sill, Oklahoma… Home of the Field Artillery.   HOOAH!!!

Giving myself a pat on the back, I miraculously managed to pull off the accomplishment of receiving recognition as the Honor Graduate for my class.  In plain English, that means I was number two of the top three students in my class of 15 or 16 total students attending the course.

But you see, I’ve got a couple of issues with the course.  Now before we get stared, some military related individuals may be saying right about this point something along the lines of “well you should have said something during the end of course critique”.  But then again, if your military, you know how stubborn the military can be in general.  When someone says a task is to be accomplished a specific way, new ideas that are much more efficient are typically thrown aside and labeled as too radical, irrational, or not safe enough…. unless of course the new idea comes from someone with more rank, most defiantly not from students.  This example was seen during a midcourse critique where REAL ideas to make the course better, were blown off because … well… I don’t really know why. Too much work maybe? Who knows… moving on ….

My biggest problem with the course was that is was ridiculously too easy and basic.  The course is something an AIT student probably could have taught.  If not taught, then maybe attend and possibly even make honors.  Replace the A, in ALC with a B for BASIC and the course title would be more fitting.  I rattled my brain for several days after the course trying to figure out if I truly learned anything important pertaining to my job and position as a launcher chief.  I couldn’t. 

Throughout the course, given our recent deployment to Afghanistan, some students frequently referred to the course as a “refresher”.  I didn’t have a problem with that, I did have a problem with the school embracing the idea that the Advanced Leaders Course is a great refresher.  As stated by other students in the same class as I, the unit a student is being sent from should be held accountable when it comes to ‘refreshing’ the student, and making sure that the student is adequately prepared for the course so that the course can THEN take that students MOS related knowledge to the next level, so that he may in turn be a better leader and launcher chief.  Basically: prerequisites.  If the student isn’t ready when the course begins, I see no reason student shouldn’t be penalized or booted from the course for lack of basic MOS knowledge or understanding.

During a conversation amongst peers at the course, I asked questions regarding the level of familiarity in different job related tasks to include different non-standard task within our own MOS.  Things I expected to learn at something like ALC.  I wasn’t surprised when none of the students  raised their hands to state their familiarity in different areas (I think one student raises his hand…. once), and I again wasn’t surprised when it was something students had an interest in and wanted to learn.

What ever happened to challenging soldiers?
Or producing better combat leaders?
*sigh*

There is so much more I could go into, but I’ll leave this one short n’ sweet.

If this course is an example of the way the Army is moving…
I think we’re in trouble.

About To Take on Wiki-Leaks…

The controversy of the millennium.
This should be interesting.
I better take my time with this one.
It could be a while, but stay tuned.

Today I received a letter. HA HA HA!!!!

So there I was… sitting at the Battery when the training room clerk informs me I have a piece of mail at the Battalion mail room that needed to be signed for.  I immediately thought to myself : “Who the fuck sent me mail at the unit?!”
Then I thought that maybe it was left over mail from my recent deployment to Afghanistan that was finding its way back stateside.

When I looked at the letter envelope, I saw it was from West Point, NY. You know, that place where future leaders of the Army are made… I didn’t really think much of it. West Point has the tendency to send out junk mail trying to get soldiers to go “green”, aka become an Officer.

Well it turns out I was right … well … at least about being ‘junk mail’. But this was special junk mail.  Junk mail that upon completion of writing this blog, I fully intend to frame and hang on my “military wall of achievements” in my office at home.

So what is this junk mail? Let me explain. …

Long story short, the letter was written by a US Army Legal Assistance Officer on behalf of … well … I think it’s pretty obvious who it was written on behalf of. Basically, someone out there is very butt hurt about my blog!! OH MY WORD!!!! Declaring that I am posting “False” and “Defamatory” information of said individual. That it is also “requested” that I “cease and desist” in the posting of said “False and defamatory information”…. really?  Did it really just say “cease and desist” ?!  I feel like I’m at the Battle of Seattle W.T.O. Protest of 1999!!

So back to the matter at hand:  Blog.  Hurt Feelings.  “False and Defamatory” information. Muscle flexing… oh yes, that’s it!  Really all I see here; is someone who knows they made some choices in their past that (as per “defamatory”) really doesn’t look so good when cross-leveled with ones reputation.

So, they go out…
have an ‘official’ document drafted up…
slap some rank to it for intimidation…
and request that parts of my life, things that happened to me…
that I experienced…
was devastated over…
emotionally hurt on multiple levels, choose to write about on my own personal blog, be deleted from the world wide web and ultimately dismissed as though it never happened simply because “RANK” happened to be intimately intertwined with a singular event?

…… Really? I’m not a push-over.

As stated in multiple entries;  I don’t write about what I don’t know to be true. I don’t make false statements. And should I discover that I accidently make an inaccurate statement, I am quick to correct it when informed.

…Request Received, Noted, and Framed (Not literally, more of a analogical statement…. but I really do intend on framing it).

—

!!!BE SURE TO VISIT MY NEW BLOG SITE: WWW.WHEREISMARTIN.WORDPRESS.COM !!!

NOTE: BE SURE TO READ MY NEW BLOG SITE THAT PULLS MORE AWAY FROM MILITARY RELATED ISSUES, AND COVERS MORE PERSONAL DAY TO DAY LIFE AND EXPERIENCE TYPE STUFF!!!

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell…Don’t Win.

As you know President Obama signed into effect the law that repeals the 17 year old law “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” that the DoD and it’s branches operate under. For those of you who are living in the stone age, the semi-former policy did / does not allow members serving in the military to serve openly gay. Basically this means that a homosexual person interested in serving his or her country, must keep their sexual preference a secret throughout the duration of their service.  If at any point their homosexual preference was uncovered through official channels / rank – they were to be investigated and inevitably discharged from the military…. How gay.

So where do I stand on the whole issue?  Pretty simple. Read: Wake Up America….

So after years of battling, it would appear that the gays have finally done it!!!

At least of course… it would appear that way on the surface…

Now of course this is my opinion, but I think I’m on the right track, and if I’m not then I suppose it’s a good thing.  What am I talking about?  Let’s break it down….

As with any legal document, let alone a law … or law that repeals another law… there is going to be fine print. And this is what I find humorous. This is where I love “the system”.  Basically, in short… for those of you not already tracking.  The law doesn’t actually go into effect until

“…Secretary Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen and the President himself certify the military’s readiness.”

AND

“But before that certification, the Pentagon needs to come up with a plan for implementation to deal specifically with issues such as housing and benefits for same-sex partners, the rights of gays and lesbians (particularly in the area of enlistment or re-enlistment), and an education and training regimen for all service members.”

Can you say … LOOPHOLE !!!!

What’s actually been done here?
Well it’s fairly obvious.
1. President Obama just secured himself in the books of military history for repealing (some might say) one the most ridiculous and controversial laws in military history. Because you know, being the first Black President of the United States wasn’t enough of an accomplishment itself.

2. Made a whole bunch of people from the Gay Community Happy.  Now granted, it doesn’t take much to make a gay man giggle, but now that he really can stick it to the man… well… I’m sure it goes along way… but more importantly … it shuts the gay community up about the topic. The pentagon can now release a statement that says “Look homos. Look what we did for you! We got rid of the DADT!! Now shut up so we can get on with our lives”

3. And finally, lets be honest. If you really think that “…before that certification, the Pentagon needs to come up with a plan for implementation to deal specifically with issues such as housing and benefits for same-sex partners, the rights of gays and lesbians (particularly in the area of enlistment or re-enlistment), and an education and training regimen for all service members.”  means “we’ll get right on it” … well then you must be a moron.  It really means: “…ha! – You just got punk’d!, beeotch”

Last I checked, neither the pentagon or ranking military officials have ever really cared too much for making equality among soldiers with different sexual orientations a priority.  The military is all about adaptation… staying flexible… the Army says “This is how it is… now deal with it”.  So pardon me if I find it a little bit amusing that the military is slamming on the brakes and screaming “Whoa… hold on, we’re going to take our time with this one” … Realistically, it’s not like we haven’t seen this coming for oh… EVER, or thought it would never happen.  But now we’re going to slow down, come up with excuses, and pretend to make it about “safety” and “concern” and “education” for soldiers or whatever, when you’re just waiting a few years for a Republican to take office and make this “silly” thing go away.

But … my favorite part… the Pentagon and friends, before putting this repeal into effect… they’ve got to figure out (..hang on, let me make sure I get this right) … ahem… yes … “…the rights of gays and lesbians”

…. I feel this is an appropriate “In The Army Now” batman moment. HOLY FUCKING SHIT BATMAN!!!! 

There really is just too much to go off on regarding that particular sentence. “The rights of gays and lesbians”.  Oh please.  Suck my ass big wig retards. Do you not realize how stupid a single statement like the one above can make you look?

Looks like we’re going to have to add a “…Unless you’re Gay” amendment to the Bill of Rights.