Stripes letters: Guard leaders fall short/Maintenance center lost

[lebkuchen]

Guard leaders fall short

Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Whenever you do a thing, act as if the whole world were watching.” When it comes to the National Guard, I wish some of the leadership would realize, maybe the whole world isn’t watching, but a whole lot of lower-enlisted soldiers are.

I am writing about what I believe is an epidemic in the National Guard and perhaps the entire Army: lost honor. I have noticed a few actions I feel bring disrespect to the uniform:

*A battalion commander participating in a “knock and greet” without a weapon in a village thought to harbor bomb makers, yet the rest of us have to carry our weapons everywhere we go.

*The same commander who leaves water bottles and other trash piled up alongside the road.

*A command sergeant major with two negligent discharges that seem to have been swept under the rug, while lower-enlisted soldiers have been docked pay or dropped to the bottom of the leave list for a single incident.

*Senior noncommissioned officers, as wide as they are tall, preaching Army regulation when they don’t meet Army regulation themselves.

*A National Guard brigade that has dropped all red flags pertaining to weight and physical training failures so individuals can be promoted while deployed.

For me, the honor has been lost in the hypocrisy.

When I joined the Guard, I joined for discipline and a sense of duty similar to the one my grandfather felt during World War II. I have become disillusioned.

I leave the military in 11 months and will not re-enlist, not for $100,000. Bring back the honor and integrity and I’d re-enlist for free. Instead, I plan to join the Boy Scouts. At least there, the lack of professionalism will meet my expectations.

Sgt. Kraig Koschnick
Forward Operating Base Warrior, Iraq


Maintenance center lost

Our country is spending thousands of dollars in bonuses for soldiers to re-enlist on one hand, and on the other hand promises better working conditions and then denies them of the promise. No one cares what the soldiers think.

This maintenance facility was built for direct support maintenance and now is being given over to civilian contractors, leaving soldiers in the dust.

The story starts 10 months ago when the 276th Maintenance Company came to Camp Buehring, Kuwait. Our mission is vital to units deploying north. We fixed over 3,000 small arms, 2,000 commo and night vision and we have uparmored over 10,000 vehicles. To many, this may not seem impressive but to the soldier facing bombs, this maintenance company provided confidence and functional equipment.

Our higher headquarters told us he was going to have a maintenance facility built for us. We have currently been working outside, repairing convoy escort platforms that routinely go north as well as maintenance for deploying units.

This facility the commander said that he was building for us is now being taken over to store class IV parts. This building is right beside where we have to work every day. Now our soldiers will have to walk past this facility that is outfitted for maintenance and see how important their mission is to the Army.

This camp is building a gym big enough for a parts warehouse. Being able to play basketball inside is more important than repairing the war fighter’s equipment inside.

This really bothers me. I care about soldiers, the ones who do the work.

Capt. Brian Woodford
Camp Buehring, Kuwait

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=32001