When he threatened me with another counseling a short time later, I wrote an email to a bunch of higher ups including a full-bird colonel. In it, I said:
***
ALCON
There are about 400 soldiers in the 707th MI BN.
The BN had a suicide in 2018 and another in 2019.
So the BN suicide rate is about 1 in 400 or 250 per 100,000.
That rate is 10 times the rate for the rest of the Army.
[my squad leader], who told me to make this presentation, has been in the presence of a suicide.
Every month, my sleep cycle is disrupted, and I am kept awake for 30 hours by Army Focused Training Day.
In August I was threatened with demotion for not putting enough words on a monthly counseling.
When I asked how many words I should put, I was told 5,000. When I wrote 5,000 words and submitted it, I got yelled at again.
In September, I was called in at 0400 on a Saturday to do certs, certs I have done 3 times already in previous years and which I would have completed earlier had the building been open as usual.
Last week, [my squad leader] threatened me with a bad conduct discharge for questioning the need to fill out a risk assessment form to pedal a stationary exercise bike.
When I questioned the value of obeying stupid orders, he told me that when he was ordered to move sandbags back and forth, he hated the NCO who ordered it but did not complain.
While giving me a lecture on the importance of risk assessments for PT, I asked why his foot was in a medical boot. He said he broke it during PT.
When I asked what good is the risk assessment if you got hurt anyway, he said it protected the PT leader from punishment.
When I said that my SIGINT work is more important than paperwork, he told me that 90% of my SIGINT work is meaningless.
I have passed the DLPT for every dialect of Arabic tested here.
I got a perfect score on the ASVAB.
I also speak Swahili because I spent 2 years living in Africa.
I am 35 and have been in the Army for 5 years.
That is the longest time I have had the same job.
I want to stay in the Army for 20 years and retire.
I am tired of being hassled over paperwork and having my sleep cycle disrupted. One way or another, it is going to stop.
Currently, less than 10% of Army linguists re-enlist vs 40% for Navy and Air Force linguists.
This situation is intolerable.
v/r
SGT Harty
***
Attached to the email was a PowerPoint presentation listing all the fatal training accidents that had happened in the Army in the past year. One that still stands out in my mind was an incident in during a live-fire training exercising in Alaska. A soldier named Demona was fatally shot by accident. I’m certain that it was caused by the stupidity of sergeants who valued paperwork over common sense.
The email caused quite a stir, because not long after I sent it, a soldier came to my door for a wellness check, and she was holding a suicide prevention pamphlet. I told her I was fine and would be leaving for my shift in an hour. Once on shift, I shared the email with a few close friends thinking it’s best to have witnesses for such things. The veteran linguist I mentioned earlier looked it over and thought it was reasonable.
The colonel I sent the email to contact me directly and gave me his mobile number. It was a touching gesture. On a handful of prior occasions, we had crossed paths. Once he told me to lift my head up as I walked. He didn’t like to see sergeants looking at the ground.
I knew I had written the truth because I didn’t hear a word out of my squad leader for 2 weeks, and he had been a recipient of that email. If I’m going to call a guy out to a colonel, that guy is going know what I said firsthand. One of the realizations I had towards the end of my time in the Army was that if I can’t be brave when the stakes are low, I’m not really a soldier anyway. If I let myself get demeaned by a cowardly moron because I’m scared of at worst, losing my job, how can I honestly wear a combat uniform?
As luck would have it, shortly after I sent the fateful email, I had to quarantine in my room for two weeks. Fellow soldiers brought me food and I pedaled away on my exercise bike. I couldn’t help but notice that the quarantine had rendered the disputed paperwork irrelevant, yet the dispute it caused continued.
My battalion commander asked me for a follow-up, and in those replies, I explained I wanted reform, not revenge. I also wrote that I had grown weary of being scolded and demeaned by sergeants. I thought it would stop when I became one but instead it got worse. I added that my main goals were to finish my time, keep my rank, and get an honorable discharge. I also noted that I was not out for revenge against my squad leader as everyone makes bad calls, particularly me the morning of my infamous beer run.
Later, I had a meeting with the battalion commander and the sergeant major. The first thing I said when I came in was ‘forget about what I said in the email; you both have been in the Army for a long time. How do I do that?’ They exchanged a knowing glance and asked me about my work history. I explained that I had been fired from three jobs in a row before the Army and that if I couldn’t make a career in the Army, I’d probably just give up on employment and live as a hermit in the woods somewhere.
The battalion commander noted my various achievements and said that he had decided to take me off mission and put me on the day shift permanently. He explained that if I wanted to make a career of the Army, I wouldn’t be on the night shift the whole time and I ought to get more practice doing paperwork. That seemed logical to me, so the last thing I said before leaving was that if the Army keeps paying me, I’ll keep showing up.
For those who wish to read ahead, the remainder of my autobiography and novella are available on my blog:
https://platedlizard.blogspot.com/2024/03/story-of-my-life-part-11.html
Scroll over to the sidebar on the right to see all the installments.
Also, looks like I missed a few typos.
The colonel told me to contact him directly and gave me his cell phone number.
There are about 400 soldiers in the 707th MI BN.
The BN had a suicide in 2018 and another in 2019.
So the BN suicide rate is about 1 in 400 or 250 per 100,000.
That rate is 10 times the rate for the rest of the Army.
The Fallacy of Small Numbers.
I was unable to find info for suicides in other years, but I know there’s been more. For some strange reason, the Army neither tracks nor publicizes such data.
Another soldier spurned by Army dies of apparent suicide
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/04/another-soldier-spurned-army-dies-apparent-suicide/30726649/
***
For a U.S. Army where failures to treat soldiers with substance abuse problems have been linked to suicides, Georgia National Guard Spc. Stephen Akins was another tragedy waiting to happen.
Scans of his brain showed scars, and he had a history of seizures, combat blast exposure and suicide attempts. All were indisputable evidence that the soldier needed a medical retirement — despite erratic behavior that led to punishable infractions, his lawyer and psychiatrist argued. Such a move would offer a smooth transition from the Army to the care of the VA.
But the Army didn’t see it that way. A two-star general with no medical background concluded that the 31-year-old soldier’s behavior — drunken driving, speeding, missed appointments and urinalysis cheating — had nothing to do with traumatic brain injury or emotional problems and kicked him out of the Army.
…
Army documents show that half of the service’s 54 substance-abuse clinics around the world fall below professional standards. The clinic at Fort Gordon, where Akins was treated, is among the best in the Army.
***
🙄
For comparison, there were 11 suicides in 2021 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/military/2022/04/06/an-alarming-number-of-active-duty-soldiers-in-alaska-died-by-suicide-last-year/
A division has about 10,000 guys, so the suicide rate there that year was about 1 in 1000.
***
Last year was the deadliest by far for Alaska Army suicides over the last eight years: Seven soldiers lost their lives to suicide in 2020 and eight in 2019. Between 2014 and 2018, there were four or fewer suicides per year.
***
Read this article this morning: https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-army/2024/03/11/broken-track-suicides-suffering-in-armys-exhausted-armor-community/
“In total, six soldiers from 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment died by suicide in 14 months.
Pattan, a combat medic, now screens soldiers’ medical records for his brigade’s upcoming deployment to Europe. He sees the scars from that winter. He reads about the struggles with mental health. He knows the toll the job can take.
More than three years later, he still can’t answer unexpected calls. When the phone rings, he’s gripped with fear: is another soldier dead?
The 27-year-old sergeant now faces a medical retirement for PTSD after his soldiers died, after he cleaned their blood from the carpet and after he interrogated himself over whether he could have done more.
Between 2019 and 2021, tank brigades experienced a suicide rate twice as high as the rest of the active duty force, according to an Army Times analysis of death records. At least 79 soldiers assigned to active duty Armored Brigade Combat Teams — units of approximately 4,000 soldiers that include support troops like cooks in addition to their tanks and Bradleys — killed themselves. Across all unit types, enlisted tankers were three times as likely to die by suicide than other soldiers. Sixteen died by suicide during that three-year period.”
Does that GDP include government spending?
G has run around 35% there the last few years. I would be shocked if he could cut that in half (17%) and then 14 points of those folk would seamlessly move from public to private sector. I would expect most of those 17% to be utterly useless people which only the richest countries could carry as the pets they have been, so I would predict well over a 10% contraction: most of those people would be forced to settle for half the salary doing something in the real world.
That said, let’s say investment runs another 17%, leaving a ceiling for consumption at 66% (neglecting X-M), if that skyrocketed 5% per year for three years, total GDP might be back to even after four years of Milei (the most I think we can hope for). If that happens, they are well on their way.
I still don’t know how one does all that without dollarization. If half the economy is already dollarized, that leaves $250B to go; they need to find a cool quarter trillion bucks of stuff to sell to get there.
from the dead thread: Does that GDP include government spending?
Replying to Sensei from the afternoon thread – no, working on cars has not diminished the luster of them for me. I love cars (not so much trucks/SUVs) and my work is my passion and I feel lucky to be able to do it. I actually quit a better paying job at a mutual fund company to work for myself and have never regretted it. I quit reading Car and Driver about 2 or 3 years ago (after having been a subscriber since the mid-80s) when they decided they no longer wanted to cater to the enthusiast crowd. The author noted on Brooks’ link from Road & Track earlier (Brett Berk) was one of several that C&D brought in that was clearly the beginning of the end of a great publication. The final straw for me was when the editor, a former mommy blogger, wrote an article on predatory car dealers and used the dreaded “women and minorities” bullshit in the article. Show me a car dealer that wouldn’t screw over anyone/everyone who comes in the door regardless of ethnicity and I’ll show you cold fusion. If you put someone in charge who knows nothing about what they are writing about, it shows. And that was roughly half the batch of C&D writers when I quit reading them. Obviously, there are some great online car sites, so I peruse those instead, but also, the industry leaning into Trucks/SUVs/EVs and going away from cars is another reason I’m losing interest in new vehicles. I hope the car segment rebounds and with gas (V8) engines please.
Something a bit more light-hearted with an amusing bit of trivia for OMWC, straffinrun, and Sensei:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fibv0mcjVRA
Den Fujita opened the first McDonald’s restaurant in Japan and expanded it to thousands of locations. He also said that the reason Japanese are short and have yellow skin is because they’ve been eating nothing but fish and rice for 2,000 years, whereas if they eat beef and potatoes for 1,000 years, they will be tall and have white skin. He also wrote a book called The Jewish Way of Doing Business in which he explained how using Jewish business strategies made him rich.
Speaking of Makunodonaldos– throwing some kana on a sack doesn’t cut it. Where my fucking corn soup side, bakayaro?
If you are going to make a complaint, make it big and loud.
I remember being in an all-hands meeting about a mandatory 15% pay cut AND mandatory overtime.
One engineer spoke up and asked what concessions management were going to take.
*total silence*
I was in awe
“If you are going to make a complaint, make it big and loud.”
That was basically my thinking. Squeaky wheel gets the grease. As a result, I ended up leaving the Army 6 months ahead of schedule, but that was a small price to pay to make sure one toxic leader would never torment anyone else. Last I heard, they made him voting assistance officer, which is just about the most do-nothing job an NCO can have.
Squeaky wheel gets replaced.
I sat in a management meeting where we discussed the pay raise we should get. I explained that we (sitting there) were doing reasonably well but the youngsters that came in every day and produced could use a bump. Seems like no one had even thought about that and we agreed to give them a substantial increase and a modest one for ourselves. As my boss would say, “Profit sharing pays for itself”.
Our attrition rate dropped a lot after that.
The Army has certainly changed since I left nearly 50 years ago.
As a reserve officer as opposed to Regular Army, I could only stay for 20, which suited me fine anyway. I was in the retired reserve for another 20 but never had an occasion to be called back.
As an ex NCO I knew enough to trust my NCOs.
While it’s impossible to compare yesterday with today I’m not sure I could handle today’s army. I’d probably have drifted to the AF.
AF wasn’t any better at those levels. Known kiddie diddlers, rapists, etc.
With the Navy Reserve, we can stay past 20 years – up to age 60 technically – although if you’re a higher rank and can’t find a billet, you can transfer to a Voluntary Training Unit. One weekend a month – unpaid – you show up and read a book all weekend – make sure you can still fit in your uniform, do a fitness assessment, etc – but you keep earning points/multipliers till your eventual retirement pay at age 60.
You see a lot of O-5s/O-6s up there – dentists, doctors, etc – just standing by since there are only x# billets available.
I’m at 20 years this year, but my current billet is good for a couple more years – and this is only my first official “look” for O-5.
Empty nesting is waaaaay more fun than what is portrayed. Granted I worry about my boys..but man is it awesome to drop trousers as soon as you get home.
My kids couldn’t wait to get out of the house fast enough but they returned for a while when the food ran out and rent was due. They thought shopping the kitchen cabinets was a way to save money and then Mom would cook several meals.
I came back home a few times too, on leave or vacation but always had a known exit day.
I emailed the principal of the high school a mile away from my apartment today about the open math teacher job they have. I don’t have high hopes, but I figure it’s worth a shot. You’d think there be more enthusiasm for a math teacher who’s actually good at math. Then again, the students get diplomas whether they pass the tests or not as long as they have a pulse on graduation day. Whatever, I do what I can.
20% of the kids will excel
60% will get by, copy each other’s home work, cheat if necessary
20% should be in jail
I classify students into 3 groups as well, but like this:
20% will do well no matter who their teacher is because of their ability and motivation
60% have average or near average ability and can benefit from a good teacher
20% will do poorly because they lack ability or motivation
Here’s a video of Chinese kids doing homework while hooked up to IVs. Is it any wonder why so many of them excel at academics?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irBgHtzkGxo
It starts with a video of a 9-year-old kid crying about having 27 feet worth of homework to do for the weekend. All the pages of the homework laid together stretched 27 feet. They print it in scroll form for some reason. Maybe it’s tradition and maybe it’s easier to keep it together that way. The hospital kids studying while on IVs starts around the 4-minute mark.
Learning material is definitely good. Applying it creatively to solve problems is often lacking.
Nothing after 10pm?
Everyone has been rounded up and shipped off to the camps?
Slow night, eh?
Good morning folks!
😇☕
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zUtnwcv-quE
Tuesday happy 🎶🎶
I happened to be asleep.
That made it difficult to comment.
#metoo
Good morning, Glibs.
Good morning, Sean, U, TARDy, and Suthen!
I like Tuesdays. That’s the day we get the least amount of mail at the office (except after Monday holidays.)
Tuesdays are remote days, so I’m not stressed by commuting.
Another point in the day’s favor!
The best of which is ‘not Monday’.
Morning all.
Good morning, Red.
I hate Tuesdays because of our weekly afternoon meeting that often drags on and on and on.
😒
I’m sorry to hear that. Could be worse, I suppose. The meeting could be on Monday morning. Or Friday afternoon.
Agreed. My wife has both of those weekly.
Of course, she works from home so my sympathy level is greatly reduced.
I’m more tolerant of afternoon meetings overrunning their time when I am remote, because it isn’t making me deal with worstening traffic. Plus I get comp time from it.
Time overrungs when I’m in the office – you bet I’m cranky about it.
There is no way i would make my kids go to a hellhole like this.
DEI for the win.
Note that the “D” does not stand for discipline, nor the “E” for education.
The marxists sure had plenty to work with regarding DEI. The ignorance and barbarism was always there but it is worse now. Uncivilized behavior is being normalized and even expected. There were always bad apples out there, most of whom were held at least partly in check by societal expectations and norms. That seems to be off of the table now and savagery is having a field day.
Some people do need a disapproving God looking over their shoulder, no doubt.
Grocery carts. They are very important.
*Grocery cart theory
By hellhole, are you referring to the unusable ad-infected site?
Ouch. It does suck. Why they have to overdo it is beyond me.
Forensic Files Narrator: “Was it Murder?”
Me: “It’s on this show, of course it’s murder.”
No spoilers!
Aww…
😯
Mornin’ all
Morning
Good morning, Beau! How are you today?
Meh. Borderline cranky ;-\ Fortunately, nothing that urgently needs doing. Books to read, music to listen to, things could be so very much worse.
How are you this overly dark morning? (They’re stealing our sunlight!)
Good, thanks! I got payroll approved at the very end of the work day yesterday, and my boss’s monthly report to the Board (which I proofread for him) is a record low two pages! Barring unforeseen circumstances (::knocks wood::) it should be a relatively easy day at work.( ::knocks wood some more::)
Huzzah!
🥳
Mornin’ everyone!
Another great day in the making! Days are warmer than they were,, all the Vitamin D a geezer can use. No ice to worry about.
Still frost in the garden, I keep prodding with a spade to check. Picked up the winter tree limbs yesterday, not much this year ’cause no snow.
Transsexual testifies at Missouri House against some bill or the other:
https://rumble.com/v4iqq8t-freaky-looking-tranny-testifies-at-state-legislature.html
Nice payoff at the end when he argues that “child” is socially contingent. Lord have mercy…
I am thinking of the national divorce scenario and seeing a Israel/Palestinian situation. Civilization on one side of the border, barbarism on the other with the barbarians constantly banging on the gate. I have run out of patience and empathy.
I’d be happier to segregate the busy-body types, both left and right, on one side of an impenetrable wall, and the happy-to-be-left-alones on the other.
Collectivists and individualists or civilized and uncivilized….I endorse either. Call it one or the other it would the same people on either side of the wall.
He/she/it would stand out in Podunkville. Diversity here means a different camo pattern on the hunting coat.
Oh, a double freak show.
suh’ fam
whats goody