Unfortunate Truth

May 20, 2010
By Soldier R, Traveling Soldier Correspondent Reporting from Germany

This past week has been a sad one that is often recurring and an expected event on all military posts. One by one, day by day, units began returning from Camp Grafenwoehr in east Germany where they were training for deployment.

The good news is, as long as it was, no one gets hurt or injured because they do not use real rounds.

The bad news is trouble begins to brew in their home lives as they return.

One of the biggest and most common family problems when a soldier returns is loyalty to their spouse. It can start many different ways and each scenario is different, but most of them start with some type of argument over something small.

In one recent case, the couple was arguing because the soldier was looking at pornography while he was at training and the spouse said that she felt insufficient because of this.

Granted this is understandable, no one should have been hurt during the confrontation. The thing that really gets to me is when it turns into a fight and somebody does get hurt. I have been in Germany for five months and I have yet to see a male get beat by his spouse.

The number of female abuse victims we have is ridiculous. I believe if you are going to get caught cheating on your spouse, then you should just come out and tell them and move out because it is not worth someone being injured or staying in the hospital on the brink of death.

To continue, I would like to discuss the many soldiers in the Army who see many reprocussions due to the chain of command getting upset when the truth is revealed. One of my coworkers who is a Specialist was recently relieved of his job and sent back to his unit because he was honest with the CSM while he was driving her around.

The CSM was asking him about an upcoming school that would last about a month. She made a good point when she said that since his wife had just been approved for command sponsorship two months ago and he would leave for this school the following month that he had spent only about two out of six months with her, not to mention all the time he has had to work while she has been here.

The Specialist simply agreed with her.

As soon as his chain of command found out about the conversation, they got upset and told him that he would have to return to his parent unit and work for them, but did not give him a valid reason.

A perfectly good soldier has been taken out of a very promising job opportunity because the chain of command is afraid to admit that they have failed to take care of a soldier and his family.

Another way the Army has failed is when it comes to making sure that a soldier has sufficient down time to take care or himself.

One of my coworkers, a Sergeant who works mid shift, is continuously asked to come in on his off time and stay after his twelve hour shifts to attend "mandatory" training.

Now, the good thing is that if he talks to the right people and puts up enough of a fight, sometimes he is allowed to go home and get some sleep before his shift the same night.

If he does not say anything, then the chain of command fails to realize that waking up at 1645 to come in for PT at 1700, working from 1900 to 0700 and then attending a daily meeting at 0800 and then further requiring him to attending "mandatory" training from 0900 until it is complete tends to wear a person down, especially when they have to do it four days a week.

It gradually gets worse when the same person has to work Friday through Monday and is required to report Tuesday through Thursday for "mandatory" training.

Also, allow me to explain the "mandatory" training.

I put it in quotations because if it truly was mandatory, then there would be no exceptions, regardless.

The fact is, they constantly grant exceptions to those who are out of town, high ranking, or are simply on the "in-crowd" of the chain of command.

If you are not one of those people, then you do not get special treatment.

I know for a fact, from my experience, that this is not the only place that this happens. Every unit in the Army has this type of special treatment and discrimination of soldiers.

A prime example of this is the one writer who refered to the descrimination of single soldiers simply because they live in the barracks and are accessed much easier than married soldiers.

Though I can see this happening on occasion due to a breakdown in communication, it should not take place as often as it does.

I am also not saying that either married or single soldiers deserve more attention and special treatment than the other, I am simply asking that the chain of command pay closer attention to the decisions they make and how they affect the whole.

Is it the end of the Army if one single soldier does not attend "mandatory" training that is not actually mandatory for everyone SSG and higher?

Will the world come to an end just because they delay one soldier's school date so he can spend a little time with his family who he has not seen in four months?

No.

But both you and I realize that this will take much collaboration and collective thinking before anyone begins to see even the slightest change.

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