2 Army things

1) New Sergeant Major

We found out yesterday that the battalion's new Sergeant Major will be here soon, and that it's a female whose nickname is The Beast. In and of itself, that doesn't scare me, even though I don't tend to like females above the rank of Staff Sergeant very much (just the ones I've met have been pretty horrible as a rule, and I've met a lot.) At the same time, though, the ONLY decent Sergeant Major Thak or I have had in recent years was CSM Beattie when we were in 62nd Engineers. She was a little bit crazy, but a damn good Sergeant Major, and one of the TWO females above the rank of Staff Sergeant whom I have actually liked. It's a shame that she was relieved of cause after being arrested for DUI, but she was a good Sergeant Major, and had her priorities straight where soldiers were concerned, so nothing will change my opinion of her over all. We can only hope that this new Sergeant Major is kind of like her rather than like the acting Sergeant Major who is the typical female senior NCO, with a huge chip on her shoulder, total ball buster attitude, and everything to prove. Let's hope CSM Beattie has a little sister, and that's who they've sent.

2) We found out why they've been treating the NCO's so badly. It's because over 50% of the unit will be comprised of brand new Privates right out of training. I could seriously just have a fit over that. Privates are so stupid. I can say that because I totally admit that I was when I was a Private. I know I made my squad leader's life hell, and he had to work his ass off to get me settled in, and all that. I wasn't even THAT bad of a Private, as far as Privates go (ask Thak. He was one of my NCO's). There were far worse, in fact, I'd say maybe 40% of Privates were worse than me, and that's 8 years ago. Soldiers are ALL worse now, especially Privates.

The reason they've been so mean to the NCO's is because they're going to have to step up their game immensely to keep these new Privates in check. They're going to have to do the job of a regular NCO of their respective positions within the unit, while acting about half a notch below a Drill Sergeant where these Privates are concerned. Thak doesn't like to yell at soldiers. That's why he was my favorite NCO in our unit when I was in, because he treated people well, even Privates, and got great results from everyone like that. In this unit, he won't be able to do that. The unit level leadership will not allow it. He has to yell at the soldiers, punish them harshly, and use a far heavier handed approach than he's used to. In a way, I'm glad, though, because it'll keep their wives from wanting to befriend me. I try so hard to avoid befriending wives of subordinates. It's just awkward.

Oh, that's the other thing. Privates these days are almost always married since the age of enlistment has gone up so much lately. When I enlisted, almost no Privates were married. You could issue them a barracks room, tell them what time to show up in the morning, and be done with it. Now we're not only going to have THOUSANDS of brand new Privates coming in, but THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of Privates' dependents coming in. These people make no money. How will they afford security deposits? Nobody here gives military deposit waivers. Post housing has a three year waiting list for lower-enlisteds.

Sergeant Major said, "They're going to have pay problems. They're going to have family problems. Most won't have vehicles, so you're going to be using your own gas to drive them around. Get ready for it, Sergeants. They're going to need everything from you." I mean, she's right, but when Thak came home from work (at 7:30 pm, as usual these days) with that news, I seriously wished we'd chosen Korea instead of Ft. Bliss.

We could be living the good life in Seoul right now, but instead, we're sitting in the desert, waiting for the biggest influx of brand new Privates to any single unit since Vietnam. Why, oh why, did we not choose Korea???!!!!!!!!!