This will constitute my last routine Saturday for a long time. My team is on the edge of our “Super Bowl”. From here on out, we’ll be traveling, working, and performing our missions at practically every FOB in Iraq. Although we’ve already done a considerable amount of traveling, it all pales in comparison to what’s in store. We’ll be seeing a lot of familiar places. By the same token, we’ll also travel to FOBs we’ve not seen as yet. Whereas in the past our missions were only for two or three days we’ll now work missions that are measured in weeks. Despite the daunting appearance, we are excited and ready.
Since it was a Saturday, we only worked until around mid-afternoon. Most of our work consisted of last minute checks of equipment, inventories, and rehearsals. Out on mission is the wrong time to realize we forgot something. That won’t happen. I let everyone leave for the weekend once they were finished with their assigned tasks. Most of the team had departed the office by 1500. That’s about the time I left as well. I put in a great workout, took a short nap, and had supper. Work resumes Monday morning.
Today wasn’t without wrinkles. First thing this morning I received an e-mail from down in Kuwait. Apparently, someone has started circulating an ugly rumor down at our parent unit. It’s amazing how quickly a rumor can gain life – even if it isn’t true (as with this and most other rumors). In the military it is essential for the leadership of a unit to squash rumors immediately. Failure to do so is the same as validating the rumor. In this case, it seems the chain-of-command in Kuwait hasn’t put any backbone into squashing this rumor. I was furious (so was my team) when I got wind of what was being said. It seems that some of the soldiers in Kuwait think that I said there are certain people down there I don’t want on my team. Where in the world they got that idea I have no idea. I’ve never even implied anything of the sort. Every member of my team volunteered to be here. Most of them asked if they could work with me back when we were still in Camp Shelby. There are still people in Kuwait who volunteered to be here that I can’t accommodate until we truly need their assistance. Occasionally I will request an additional soldier or two. Because of the extremely important nature of the work we perform it is critical that I implicitly specify the skills a soldier must have. What’s most important to my team (and my first priority) is mission accomplishment. There is a huge difference between specifying required skills versus singling someone out by name as someone that’s not wanted. If there is someone still in Kuwait who meets the skills I specify and volunteered to me I’ll request them by name. Otherwise, I’ll just state the skills and approximate rank of the soldier I require and leave it to the operations people in Kuwait to send me a match. I’ll be very blunt in this venue. If you’re a soldier down in Kuwait and you are spreading this rumor I have a recommendation – either contact me directly to discuss your grievance (at which time you will find it is baseless, unfounded, and untrue) or shut the fuck up with your rumor. I challenge any of you who subscribe to this nonsense to contact any member of my team as well. One thing I can promise, if you want to make certain that you’ll never serve on our team just keep spreading false rumors. I’ll find out who you are and ensure you never come here. My team has no time, patience, or sympathy for “rumor mongers.” Our priority is mission accomplishment whatever (and whoever) it takes.
There I got that off my chest. Sometimes a guy just needs to vent frustration. It is very frustrating to hear unfounded rumors getting circulated around my own parent unit – the very unit my team depends upon for personnel and support. Hopefully, the chain-of-command there will do the right thing and bring it to a screeching halt
Since it was a Saturday, we only worked until around mid-afternoon. Most of our work consisted of last minute checks of equipment, inventories, and rehearsals. Out on mission is the wrong time to realize we forgot something. That won’t happen. I let everyone leave for the weekend once they were finished with their assigned tasks. Most of the team had departed the office by 1500. That’s about the time I left as well. I put in a great workout, took a short nap, and had supper. Work resumes Monday morning.
Today wasn’t without wrinkles. First thing this morning I received an e-mail from down in Kuwait. Apparently, someone has started circulating an ugly rumor down at our parent unit. It’s amazing how quickly a rumor can gain life – even if it isn’t true (as with this and most other rumors). In the military it is essential for the leadership of a unit to squash rumors immediately. Failure to do so is the same as validating the rumor. In this case, it seems the chain-of-command in Kuwait hasn’t put any backbone into squashing this rumor. I was furious (so was my team) when I got wind of what was being said. It seems that some of the soldiers in Kuwait think that I said there are certain people down there I don’t want on my team. Where in the world they got that idea I have no idea. I’ve never even implied anything of the sort. Every member of my team volunteered to be here. Most of them asked if they could work with me back when we were still in Camp Shelby. There are still people in Kuwait who volunteered to be here that I can’t accommodate until we truly need their assistance. Occasionally I will request an additional soldier or two. Because of the extremely important nature of the work we perform it is critical that I implicitly specify the skills a soldier must have. What’s most important to my team (and my first priority) is mission accomplishment. There is a huge difference between specifying required skills versus singling someone out by name as someone that’s not wanted. If there is someone still in Kuwait who meets the skills I specify and volunteered to me I’ll request them by name. Otherwise, I’ll just state the skills and approximate rank of the soldier I require and leave it to the operations people in Kuwait to send me a match. I’ll be very blunt in this venue. If you’re a soldier down in Kuwait and you are spreading this rumor I have a recommendation – either contact me directly to discuss your grievance (at which time you will find it is baseless, unfounded, and untrue) or shut the fuck up with your rumor. I challenge any of you who subscribe to this nonsense to contact any member of my team as well. One thing I can promise, if you want to make certain that you’ll never serve on our team just keep spreading false rumors. I’ll find out who you are and ensure you never come here. My team has no time, patience, or sympathy for “rumor mongers.” Our priority is mission accomplishment whatever (and whoever) it takes.
There I got that off my chest. Sometimes a guy just needs to vent frustration. It is very frustrating to hear unfounded rumors getting circulated around my own parent unit – the very unit my team depends upon for personnel and support. Hopefully, the chain-of-command there will do the right thing and bring it to a screeching halt
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