Saturday, March 31, 2007

Dark Clouds

I was sitting in our MWR, where I spend most of my awake time- the light is better than in our quarters, and it has net connections- as Specialist Black was checking his email. I said something about heading back to Bl@ck Horse, and my gear there, and Black mentioned:

Yeah, I helped move your stuff, Sergeant Moor said people were stealing your ****.

What!? Oh. My. God. For the last month or so, I've been concerned about being seperated from my gear. Our big "black boxes" have probably already been placed on a container boat back to the States. What I've been dreading, is the possibility of some of my gear being sent to one place with all the unit gear, and I- being an Individual Reservist- being sent another place. I do NOT want to end up paying for gear that I've been issued, because my unit chose to send me to a place where I could not take all the gear Uncle Sugar, in his wisdom, chose to load me with.

And now, I hear people are stealing my stuff? Oh, no. I will NOT pay for anything that's been stolen. I will write my congressman and senator, if necessary. I will write the gosh-darned President, if it comes to it, but I refuse to suffer further financially because of the incompetence of my chain of command.

Now, if it's "only" some of my cds or something, I'll deal with it. Perhaps someone was mistaken. But, if my gear has really been swiped, a great many people are probably going to have some bad days. Trust me.

7 comments:

HollyB said...

What kind of low, belly-crawlin', scum-sucking,back-stabbin', further insults w/o resorting to profanity fail me, steals from a forward deployed fellow soldier?
That kind of mentality just escapes me.
Give 'em, Hell!

The Lily said...

J: Thanks for stopping by.

Probably not the post I'd want a newcomer to read first, but hopefully it was entertaining.

It's the least I can do. Thanks for serving.

-Claire

J.R.Shirley said...

No, it was thought-provoking, Claire, thank you.

And Boxers RULE! I plan on first a Black Lab, and then (when my first future child is five or so)a Boxer.

The Lily said...

Do tell.

Boxers are great dogs. Bruno is currently on time-out in his crate (to keep me from killing him) because he decided to pop the latch on the screen door and go play in traffic.

He scared me to death and I prefer that sensation be reserved for when I have actual kids.

Matt G said...

Holly, the thnking is that they're borrowing Unc Sam's gear. Heck, they're soldiers, too, right? And they'll give it back...

They might, too. But that doesn't help John when he has to account to the quartermaster.

John-- Get written statements from Black and the aforementioned SGT, pronto. If you have an MP contingent, notify 'em now. Make a report of your concerns to your chain right now. Get and keep copies of all, and case report numbers, for CID if the MP's properly file a case.

Nope, I don't know Army life, but I do know investigations, chain of command, and CYA.

J.R.Shirley said...

Problem is, Matt, I haven't been where my gear is. Some (perhaps all) of my remaining gear has already shipped out. I don't know what is missing.

J.R.Shirley said...

...and I've mentioned my concerns to my E5. And my chain of command are, largely, idiots.


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