When the Neocons so disgracefully let Gen. Shinseki go off to what they assumed was an ignominious retirement right before their anticipated glory-covered march into Iraq and the hearts of all Iraqis (except the evil man and his evil troll-like henchmen), little did they know that he was a four-star general and a leader for some reason or another. I guess they thought the Army just naturally promoted knotheads for no reason to the top spot.
Now, out of South Carolina comes a story that's being given the best possible spin by someone in the National Guard chain of command. Despite the comments by the Battalion Commander and his top enlisted man, I don't think that morale and readiness are at their peak...you don't lock down and punish soldiers who are really behaving themselves. Unless of course you're Captain Queeg.
The 635 soldiers of a battalion of the South Carolina National Guard scheduled to depart Sunday for a year or more in Iraq have spent their off-duty hours under a disciplinary lockdown in their barracks for the past two weeks.
The trouble began Labor Day weekend, when 13 members of the 1st Battalion of the 178th Field Artillery Regiment went AWOL, mainly to see their families again before shipping out. Then there was an ugly confrontation between members of the battalion's Alpha and Charlie batteries -- the term artillery units use instead of "companies" -- that threatened to turn into a brawl involving three dozen soldiers, and required the base police to intervene.
That prompted a barracks inspection that uncovered alcohol, resulting in the lockdown that kept soldiers in their rooms except for drills, barred even from stepping outside for a smoke, a restriction that continued with some exceptions until Sunday's scheduled deployment.
...
This Guard unit was put on an accelerated training schedule -- giving the soldiers about 36 hours of leave over the past two months -- because the Army needs to get fresh troops to Iraq, and there are not enough active-duty or "regular" troops to go around. ...
...
A series of high-level decisions at the Pentagon has come together to make life tough for soldiers and commanders in this battalion and others. The decisions include the Bush administration's reluctance to sharply increase the size of the U.S. Army. Instead, the Pentagon is relying on the National Guard and Reserves, which provide 40 percent of the 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
...
McCarty, the commander, disagrees with those assessments. Overall, he said, the unit's morale is not poor. "The soldiers all have their issues to deal with, and some have dealt with it better than others," he said in an interview in his temporary office.
...
Sgt. Maj. Clarence Gamble, who as the top noncommissioned officer for the battalion keeps a close eye on morale and discipline, said he does not see any big problems. "I get out and see troops every day," he said. "From my talking to the troops, morale is good right now."
...
Gamble, who at age 51 is a 33-year veteran of the Guard, said he is not worried about putting an already stressed unit into the cauldron of Iraq duty. "I haven't ever been deployed before, myself," he said. But, he concluded, "I feel like this unit will handle this well. Once we get in-country and get into missions, I think the stress will level off."
In the best of times deployments sucked...and in the Navy they were often long long stretches at sea. In the Army they were often long periods of separation in a foreign country with not much support of family. Now they mean going into combat with a CO who seems to be more concerned with appearances and a senior NCO who seems to be mouthing platitudes. Having a riot in the barracks is not the sign of a healthy unit. Maybe this guy, LCOL McCarty has been handed a pig-in-a-poke, but he sure does not seem to have stepped up to his leadership challenge.
Imagine, alcohol in the barracks of some troopers about to deploy to Iraq. There's a crime worthy of punishing every one. Maybe someone ought to tell the good LCOL that when he makes statements like this:
"The soldiers all have their issues to deal with, and some have dealt with it better than others,"
Perhaps the guys who haven't dealt with those issues are not going to be the strongest links in the chain, even though they could be. It's up to him as their commanding officer to get with helping them before the first shot is fired, because it'll be too late when they are over there and beyond the aid of those who can help them here. IMHO anyhow, or am I just being too touchy-feely?.
posted by Jo Fish on 09.19.04 at 04:47 PM
Comments:
The NC National Guard story was terrible to read. Can anyone really blame them? After all, one of them may well be the last to die for President Cheney's war.
posted by: Brenda Helverson on 09.19.04 at 07:03 PM [permalink]
Didn't they used to frag those guys?
posted by: surfk9 on 09.19.04 at 08:04 PM [permalink]
The opposite speak of this administration has now seeped to the lowest levels - black is white, up is down, there are no morale problems although troops are confined to barracks, stress will be relieved when they begin their mission of convoy guard the most dangerous mission in Iraq...
posted by: BevD on 09.20.04 at 08:06 AM [permalink]
Just another example of "it don't mean nothing". Composed of Bush monkeys, single-issue fundies, misinformed voters who believe the foolishness of "staying the course" and those who delude themselves while looking past the lies, corruption and lack of WMD, the electorate is ready to put this incompetent back in office.
Lable me a disgusted Democrat.
posted by: C. Grove on 09.20.04 at 11:52 AM [permalink]
As one who once upon a time toiled in the military justice vinyard, when I read the words "disciplinary lockdown" I damn near dropped my diet Coke; if I hadn't finished my sandwich some of it would have dropped out of my gaping mouth onto my desk.
Units with good morale and excellent discipline don't spend the time before a deployment in "disciplinary lockdown".
The Powers That Be better stop sugarcoating the situation, and come to grips with reality, or that entire unit may be fscked when it gets to Iraq.
Len said: Units with good morale and excellent discipline don't spend the time before a deployment in "disciplinary lockdown".
Word. Liberty and leave should have commenced after each unit had secured its additional deployment gear and everyone had their appropriate medical updates and unit inspections. Those men and women whose presence isn't "mission essential" ought to be out getting in one last visit with Suzie or Jody or mom and dad. They ought to be hitting their favorite club one last time, or whatever they do after the uniform comes off.
Lockdown before a deployment is a real morale slayer.
With morale and discipline that poor in-country, those poor Sandlappers are destined to fill up a lot of body bags.
If their discipline is so poor in the "World", the Raq is going to eat some of them alive----literally.
It will be a crime if that unit is shipped out. That unit's CO, officers and senior NCOs should be relieved and they should be recycled through their training or disbanded and the soldiers used as replacements. Their leadership isn't in control of the situation...
posted by: WyldPirate on 09.20.04 at 05:45 PM [permalink]
Buried in the original article is the fact that these Arty guys are being retrained as MPs. This was already beginning to happen elsewhere in the Guard, but the urgent need for MPs has now accelerated it to involve units slated to go to Iraq.
So let's consider this - a unit trained to shoot cannon is now going to be doing police work after a 7 week crash course, where they ain't allowed to see the family before they go, and where a large chunk of the unit are folks they've never worked with before. Oh and their senior leadership is in denial about the problem.
Can you say bad juju? I hope these guys have guardian angels looking after them, cause they are in for a nasty ride.
posted by: Hoya90 on 09.20.04 at 09:41 PM [permalink]
Well, Nickover's fast cruises still exsist. I'm day 30 or so of a 108-day cruise, and we did a fast cruise the Friday before we pulled out. As fas as I can tell from buddies on other ships around Pearl Harbor, it's pretty much standard policy now. Nothing like spending three weeks at sea, then two weeks at home and having the last Friday before deployment yanked so you can practice evolutions you did every day at sea the month prior.
"Once we get in-country and get into missions, I think the stress will level off"
Oh yes, close-in combat - the stress releaser.
These clowns have broken the Army and Guard and they know it. The first trial balloon was launched by Novak Quick exit from Iraq is likely.
Me
The Republican Party needs to ask itself some hard questions: Can the Party survive a Bush win? Because somebody is going to pay for Iraq and historically mid-terms and particularly second-term mid-term Congressionals are where it happens.
They can try to spin it how they want. The cruel reality is that if the real goal was to take out Saddam and replace him with a new dictator, a series of CIA hit teams would have been a lot cheaper in people and dollars. No WMD, no long-term control of the oil, even the most cynical supporter of American power-grabbing will be looking to place the blame somewhere once we cut and run.
(Always the worst danger for Kerry BTW).
posted by: Bruce Webb on 09.21.04 at 08:13 AM [permalink]
Hoya90 got it right. What are these asshats doing sending an Artillery Battalion in to pull security duty for? It is typical mismanagement by a bunch of chickenhawks who never faced combat. Now what happens when an artillery unit is needed? Well lets send in the Quatermasters.
The Commander and Sergeant Major are totally unfit for duty. If they don't see the harm in lockdown and can't see its relationship to morale they are blind. We need some real leaders in command, more like Shinseki and less like these boneheads.
posted by: Lowell on 09.21.04 at 08:47 AM [permalink]
I couldn't agree more RC. Weren't those the "times"? Fast cruising, one or two days later leaving on patrol. Ah, the memories, I can still remember the smells.
Keep a "zero bubble",
Redcane
posted by: Redcane on 09.21.04 at 10:17 AM [permalink]
Let me set the stage. Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant with ties to al-Qaida, is being blamed for most of the major terrorist attacks in Iraq the past few months, including the horrific suicide bombings that killed hundreds of religious pilgrims on Tuesday.
This guy is a real slime, obviously, especially since his connections to al-Qaida appear real, not trumped up for political reasons.
So get this -- the Pentagon could've wiped him and his merry band of terrorists off the face of the planet two years ago. But Bush and his merry band of liars nixed the attack.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4431601/
posted by: rbottoms on 09.21.04 at 01:51 PM [permalink]
No one joins the National Guard with the intent on deployment in a purely offensive war. That's why they are called "State Militia". State militia men don't expect to be deployed out of the state unless they are attending training, performing short details or attending to national domestic crisises. I'm disgusted that the state governors are not making more of a stink about this.
Visited an uncle who goes to the Legion on a daily basis. Says all but fours of the regs are against Bush. They like Kerry's service, he's earned the right to speak out about things, and his statements after leaving Nam got our boys out of a big mess.
Just another dead Bush meme. Vets don't support him. He served during Korea, went from being high school football team captain to become a man in service. He thought a lot of the moral problems in the war for the enxt generation came from rushing them in, not having a clearly defined mission, and the new subculture when it was applied to people under extreme pressure.
Those ol' geezers are pretty wise, in retrospect even more so...
posted by: Mr.Murder on 09.22.04 at 12:37 AM [permalink]
