April 2008 Archives

"Folks, we let our soldiers down; that is not like us," Brig. Gen. Dennis Rogers, the deputy director of Operations & Facilities of Army Installation Command, told reporters. "There is no good excuse for what happened."

While the walk-through is not yet complete, Rogers said that garrison commanders have reported so far that "soldiers are being housed to the Army's standard," but stopped short of describing the poor barracks conditions some soldiers are living in at Fort Bragg as an isolated incident.

read more | digg story

Apparently, Brig Gen Dennis Rogers missed the news reports about Building 18 at Walter Reed. Rogers is far more accurate in saying that soldiers are being house to the Army's standard.

I stayed in a building that is identical to the building in question at Fort Bragg. I was at Fort Dix, New Jersey. I was there attending the 38B Reclassification Course. It is a month long course. The building was exactly the same save that the paint wasn't pealing, there was no mold, all the plumbing worked and, for the most part, it wasn't bad. The school house cadre was pretty aggressive about addressing issues. They were very clear that any discrepancies needed to be reported to them as soon as they were discovered. All of this to say, just because it's old does not mean it can't be clean and comfortable.

aloha

[posted with ecto]

This CNN article (read more | digg story) says that Fort Bragg is addressing the deplorable conditions of the barracks that the 82nd Airborne lives in after a video depicting these conditions was posted to YouTube. This is a continuation of an established pattern by which the Army hides institutionalized behavior. When Building 18 at Walter Reed Medical Center was exposed by the Washington Post, the Army reacted with shock, horror and bewilderment claiming to not understand how such terrible conditions could exist. The fact is, the Army knew the conditions existed and simply did not make correcting them a high priority until the scrutiny of the public eye was focused on it. The barracks at Fort Bragg is yet another verse in the same song.

Edward Frawley said Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Dick Cody called him personally on Monday to say that he shared his anger and that there was no excuse for soldiers living in such conditions.

"He talked to me for 30 minutes, and I believe what he said," Frawley told "American Morning." "He said he wouldn't want his sons coming back and going into these kinds of living conditions, and he just said somebody dropped the ball and they're going to fix it."

No one "dropped the ball". This is standard operating procedure for the US Army, as exemplified in a quote from Mr. Frawley in the very same article:

"I had been in those barracks three times in the last four years," Edward Frawley told CNN's "American Morning." "I saw the condition and chose to ignore it, but two weeks ago I couldn't ... I knew I couldn't walk away from it. Somebody had to do something."

Another friend was a contractor at Fort Sheridan, working for EDS. The Army 'uncondemned' two buildings for their use. No structural changes were made, only paperwork.

The United States Army needs to be required to do a comprehensive review of its policies regarding the care and feeding of its personnel. In my opinion, this review should not be limited to the Army but should be imposed on all branches. The review should not be limited to the instructions and regulations that each service has in place but should include extensive, surprise inspections of as many facilities as possible. There needs to be clear delineations made between what is the service member's responsibility to maintain and what is the barracks owner's responsibility to maintain. Military service members from all branches should be provided the same standard of housing and care when not in the field or at sea. Conditions in the field and at sea should be as comfortable as the mission permits.

Lest anyone think I'm some anti-military activist, I have served 10 years in US Navy which included one ship homeport move, one Western Pacific tour and one deployment to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). I am currently serving in the Army Reserves. Most members of my unit have done two OIF tours.

aloha

Addendum: For further corroboration that these living conditions are prevalent throughout the Army, read the user comments in the 'Sound Off' section of the CNN story.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: military, politics

Conditions in a barracks at Fort Bragg, North Carolina ( read more | digg story )

Building 18, Walter Reed Army Medical Center

All soldiers are entitled to outstanding leadership; I will provide that leadership. I know my soldiers and I will always place their needs above my own.

from The NCO Creed

I wrote the following message to my Congressional Representative, Sam Farr:

By now, I trust that you have seen Ed Fawley's video of the 82nd Airborne Barracks which was posted on YouTube and reported on ABC. I have served for 10 years in the US Navy and am now serving in the Army Reserves. As this issue gets heightened attention I want to point out that it is common knowledge among service members that Army living quarters are not held to the same standards as the other services. Navy and Air Force living quarters are significantly better than what the Army considers adequate.

This is a continuation, another instance, of the issue we saw at Building 18, Walter Reed Medical Center. At some point, someone needs to connect the dots and realize that the Army needs to be held accountable for the way in which it cares for its soldiers, ALL soldiers. We need to stop waiting for the conditions to be reported in the media and then only dealing with those incidence. We need to motivate the Army at the highest levels to take seriously the complete revamping of the way soldiers are housed and cared for. While there are difference in the nature of the services that necessiates some differences in creature comforts, housing standards for in garrison living should be the same across all services. Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines should all be housed according to the same standards when not in the field or at sea. And that standard should be at least as good as what is provided to college students living in on campus dorms.

SGT Smith
Alpha Company
445 CA BN
US Army Reserves

If you see a trend, if you think there's a picture or a pattern to be seen when the dots are connected, please write your Congressional Representative and let them know. We need to eradicate the cause rather than perpetually treating the symptoms. The military needs to review its policies regarding the care and feeding of military personnel. In a time when the average military member, including reservists, has seen two tours of duty in which they were entitled to hazardous duty and/or hostile fire pay, the very least that we owe them is safe, clean, comfortable housing here at home.

aloha

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: military, politics

One of the reasons I don't post often is that I try to offer my own insight and opinion on things. That takes time to first construct in my mind and then write down in some cognitive form. However, some times things appear that are complete in their own right. Such is the case with Mr. McCain's recent statements about US involvement in Iraq. Two quotes from an article in the Los Angeles Times (read more | digg story) sum up completely the situation that we face in Iraq today.

"I do not believe that anyone should make promises as a candidate for president that they cannot keep if elected," he said. "To promise a withdrawal of our forces from Iraq, regardless of the calamitous consequences to the Iraqi people, our most vital interests and the future of the Middle East, is the height of irresponsibility" and "a failure of leadership."

Exactly right. A premature withdrawal of US Forces from Iraq would not lead to peace. It would lead to absolute disaster for the Iraqi people and, very likely, for the people of the Middle East as a whole. How then do we know when it is time for US Forces to withdraw from Iraq? I believe that Mr. McCain answered that question as well.

"Success in Iraq is the establishment of a generally peaceful, stable, prosperous, democratic state that poses no threat to its neighbors and contributes to the defeat of terrorists."

What becomes of Iraq is the responsibility of the United States. Not the Republican party of the United States. Not George W Bush of the United States. What becomes of Iraq and the Iraqi people is the responsibility of the United States. Iraq is slowly but surely figuring out what it means and what is required to maintain a stable, democratic government. They have a long way to go. Their success is our responsibility, their failure will be, at least in part, our fault.

“It’s a failure of leadership to support an open-ended occupation of Iraq that has failed to press Iraq’s leaders to reconcile, badly overstretched our military, put a strain on our military families, set back our ability to lead the world, and made the American people less safe,’’ Mr. Obama said in a statement released by his campaign. ( read more )

Mr. Obama's reply is rather disingenuous in my opinion. Occupations -- reconstruction is a better description of what is happening in Iraq today -- are always open ended. There is no way to know when the reconstruction will be finished. Iraq's leaders are struggling the reconcile. Democrats want us to believe that reconciliation could happen overnight, which is utterly unrealistic. It has put a strain on our military and their families. However, that reflects a need for radical change of our military to face a post Cold War environment, not an abandonment of our responsibilities. And lastly, I believe that America is leading the world.

Aloha

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: election, Iraq, military, Obama, politics