Sometimes it seems as though no major changes happen in the Army, at least not with any sort of swiftness. For example, I've been using the self-service options on Army Knowledge Online (AKO) to check on the status of some paperwork in Washington. Every day, it has the same status: submitted, paperwork open. It's becoming, despite myself, almost comforting in its incompleteness-familiar. Army slow on paperwork-yep, tell another one.
Then sometimes it seems as though they move all too quickly. I have to say that for the last eight months, I've had a pretty decent squad leader. He's hated my politics, but hasn't held them specifically against me or treated me any differently because of them. He's avoided triggering my PTSD whenever possible and has allowed me reasonable accommodation. Normally, I'd be afraid to mention that having him as a leader has made my life easier, because with the harassment I've been under for this blog and my IVAW membership, I'd fear a transfer. However, at this point, it doesn't really matter, because he's already being transferred. It's something he wants, going back to a line unit, so I can't really be too bitter. But at the same time, I'm wondering who the Army is going to put me under. Will it be the squad leader who already has multiple sexual harassment complaints against him? Will they bring in a new squad leader?
Never fear, I'll keep you all posted as soon as I learn more. And I'm going to do my best not to let it spoil my leave.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I am curious as what you think about Josh Simpson's interview in Venezuela?
http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=14211&cpage=1#comment-145231
I think it's pretty obvious that Josh Simpson and I have some very, very different ideas about a lot of things-just at it seems even him and Benji Lewis have a lot of ideas about different things.
I'm hoping his words were just remixed by the Venezuelan propaganda machine. It'd be a lot creepier if he entered Venezuela not as a socialist and left as one.
This part should be looked at because it is more then a case of Iraq but how we treat our soldiers and how IVAW members act.
Benji: The “support the troops” campaign has altered everyone’s perception.
Josh: I’m actually opposed to that campaign. People should have been more confrontational with the troops.
EG: Like in Vietnam.
Benji: The “support the troops” campaign was engineered to allow for indirect acceptance of the war.
I'm sorry to hear about your squad leader's impending transfer. It's a sad fact that people with real leadership skills are a precious and rare commodity, not only in the military, but in civilian organizations and businesses as well. It has come to the point that when one works for or serves under someone who can truly mentor, inspire, organize, empathize, and lead by example, we try at all costs to hang onto that person's coattails, knowing that their replacements are almost always going to let us down. (I've told my current boss that if he ever leaves the company that we work for that I'm out the door as well, because I cannot stomach the thought of working for any of the self-serving, arrogant politicians who would replace him and who couldn't spell "leadership" or "organization", let alone practice either one.)
Good luck with your change in leadership. I hope it works out for the best.
Post a Comment