Posted on VetVoice.com under the name War-junkie. It's sad I have to hide my name.
Recently the United States Army has stumbled upon a truth that all "line" soldiers already knew. Some US Soldiers are hiding out from the war. What? How could this be? Soldiers live by a code of honor and integrity! Well, the sad fact is some are just here for the paycheck. And as much as I hate this war it screws the rest of us who have to do two..three..four..or yes five tours.
Well guess what Hidee Hiderton.....your busted. Pack your bags. Your going to war.
It was recently posted in the Army Times that 37,000 soldiers have not deployed to either operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi "Freedom". Thirty three percent of the total number of active duty soldiers have not deployed, but seven of the thirty three have been labeled as eligible to deploy and not assigned to deployable units.
How do they do it you ask? Well I am glad you asked. Most of these soldiers are assigned to training units throughout the army. Most have one year of stability once they are transferred into these units. Once they are there they begin to network around the post. Most of these posts are primarily training posts with maybe one or two deployable units on the base. Once they start to come into the time frame where they could be moved they begin to network around the post looking for a new job. They work out a deal and actually PCS (permanent change of station) to another non-deployable training unit. To Army human resources this comes up on their computer as a "PCS" and provides them another year of stability and no war. This keeps spaces in units that should be used to let war weary soldiers rest and teach their newly learned combat skills to being listed as filled.
Someone right now is reading this and judging me, probably saying "he is laughing at these poor people have to go to war". Well your right. I did laugh a little. You see this is a topic near and dear to my heart. Years ago (four to be exact) and after my second war tour I was sent to Ft Benning Ga to be a instructor. I was very excited about this posting and was looking forward to the slow pace compared to the op-tempo of the 101st Airborne witch is borderline heart exploding. I thought my combat experiences would be welcomed and I would train new soldiers to survive on the modern battlefield. Wow I was wrong. I was greeted by a 17 year sergeant first class who not only never had been in combat but had been assigned to this training unit for 16 of them. He saw me and every other soldier like me as a threat to his safe world. Long story short I was treated horribly. His words were something on this line "I will treat you better when you prove yourself to me".
This was not going to work because I had already proven myself to me and that was all I cared about.
These types of Soldiers try to push war vets out of "their unit" because it threatens their safe little bubble. Most of them work only a few days a week and had 2nd jobs that they jokingly call their career something not possible in a deployable line unit. Funny after a few months of being there, myself and a handful of combat soldiers came down on orders to a new "unit of action" heading to Afghanistan. So of course I went. And of course they stayed.
Now not all soldiers in these units are like this. A good example are Drill Sergeants. They are assigned for 2 years and then the move on. Am I happy they have to go to war? No. I wish no one had to go. You have to understand my place. These people made a commitment. The same commitment I made. Why do I have to carry my burden and theirs? I deploy time and time again while they watch and laugh. Yes they joke about it. They call us "the Bullet Sponges". So SFC that I will not name. I heard you got orders to a Line Unit that is deploying? I also heard the retirement packet that you dropped to get out of going to Iraq got denied. So guess I will see you in the suck? Don't worry big guy if you need a safe place, you can hide behind me. I won't even make you prove yourself.