Posted on 04/21/2003 4:25:31 AM PDT by KineticKitty
Messy camp costs troops calls to home
By Cox News Service
April 20, 2003
CAMP UDAIRI, Kuwait - On the eve of Easter, Fort Hood's sons and daughters couldn't call home from this miserable desert outpost because the place has been declared too messy.
The perhaps aptly named "Mayor" Bosse closed the phone tent "until further notice" and created an uproar among thousands of 4th Infantry Division troops waiting here for convoys into Iraq.
Dubbed the mayor because he is in charge of administering the camp, Mayor Bosse is actually Lt. Col. Peter Bosse, a reserve officer from Minneapolis, Minn.
It's not as though this is a scenic site. There is no vegetation - only sand and rocks and tents and tanks and Humvees and soldiers. There are also very few trash cans. Litter consists mostly of empty plastic water bottles.
The trash piles are possible breeding grounds for rodents and fire hazards, Bosse said.
The phone tent opened only a couple of days ago. Lines for a call home are hours long but soldiers willingly wait to hear the voices of loved ones.
Bosse said when the camp is clean, the phone tent will "absolutely" re-open immediately.
"I suspect that will happen soon," said Bosse.
Guard and reserve personnel not on active duty, say in inactive duty ("drill") status or on active duty for training is one thing, and may be the situation you where speaking of, but once they are on extended active duty they are the same as the regulars. Twenty years ago this change of status was indicated by issuance of green verses red ID cards. Reserve and guard (I was both during about the same time frame) had red ID cards until they went on extended active duty, when they were issued the same green ID card carried by active duty personnel. One lesson learned from Dessert Storm was that issuing all those new ID cards was a bottle neck for mobilizing units, and so they now issue green ID cards to everyone. Even on active duty for training, a reservist is "on orders" and has almost the same powers, duties and priveleges as a full timer. It's been almost 20 years for me too, so the details of the differences are lost in the fog of time, but I know there were some, I think mostly involving dependents, medical care eligibility and such as that. I didn't supervise anyone, and in fact my unit supervisors were mostly civil servants, so the issue of reservists supervising regulars never came up, but I know that it is only an issue when the reservist is not on extended active duty.
But your AGR people most likely were on active duty for training, it being what passed for peacetime, which is the major exception in the passage listed above. If you had then on reserve mandays for support of your outfit, technically they could be assigned supervisory duties, but in most cases that would not have been practicle due to the factor of them only being around for relatively short periods of time.
No, but they are "El Jeffe" (the boss) and that is the end of the story. They also have bosses and if this guy had been out of line, he'd have heard about it from his boss. Griping about the boss is as old as mankind, and it's an especially strong tradition in the US military.
It may come as a surprise to some, but Easter really isn't about family gatherings and phone calls from loved ones. That part is nice, but a believer can celebrate the resurrection wherever they are. My friend hasn't heard from her son since he left for the war but instead of sitting home waiting for a phone call, she attended church services twice that day.
Believers that cry "but it was Easter" should thank God that the leaders show such discipline. With the religious diversty in our armed services, we would surely be hard pressed to have any order at all if we gave up discipline for religious hoidays. We should praise the Lord that our freedom and strength come from His sacrifice and He will never leave us.. He holds our souls in His hands. We should also pray for the leaders that command our sons and daughters into battle for they protect their physical lives.
If you want to complain about the command in this issue, that's great... but please leave off the religious excuse.
It could be that he was wrong, or it could be that he was right. None of us sitting here can possibly know what the exact circumstances are, so it's a bit ill-advised to make a claim regarding the issue. I expect if he was wrong he'll be advised of that by someone in their own way, but life will go on for all involved. This was not a life threatening mistake (if it was a mistake at all), but rather a minor inconvenience.
"It's clean."
Well sort of, but not really. Their are proportionally more tanker and transport units in the Guard and Reserve, and just as in the Army, the reserves provide more support functions than regulars, again proportionally. Things like aerial port units for example. Air Force Reserve weathermen provide support to Army units (Regular, Reserve an ArNG) as well as Active, Reserve and Guard Air Force units. (Not to say that there aren't some AF weathermen on active duty) I certainly wouldn't be running down the Air Force, since that's twhat my commision says on it. :)
I would save your anger for sheeeet that really matters.
Remember the great articles about how our soliders built latrines and showers out of rubble for privacy??...they can do anything!!.
Yea, an RPG zooming at you can provide a remarkable amount of motivation.
Service members are upset that this happened, I said it was wrong. Don't like my opinion ok, but equate me with wanting a phone call over another's death, your sick.
Want to call me whiney because I am simply pissed off over this situation? That's your right, it however does not effect me as some would like, you see I am in good company, officers and enlisted (low and high rank) and if all of these people I personally know and respect are considered whiney, well then hell, it's an honor.
Everyone involved in this felt it was going to far, if you don't agree with that fine. But some here on freep are having a gay ol'time assuming this is because I haven't received a "phone call" to date, which is not something I claimed. And that I must not, (nor apparently anyone that has posted like feelings) could possibly understand the military. I guess I didn't get the bulletin that says you must joyfully agree with everything or you understand nothing. There are many fine soldiers that get thoroughly pissed off at the service from time to time, but we move on. But it still doesn't mean we never get pissed.
I do not need a lesson in Discipline, unless of course you can quote me on where I said nothing should have happened to these soldiers and discipline is a bad thing.
Is the Military unfair? YES.
Does the military suck? At times YES.
Do we deal with this and move on? YES that is part of the military lifestyle.
Everyone involved has a right to be pissed off, and by attacking and calling members "names" with differing opinions or that agree that it is simply f'ed up, & is attacked as complaining about not receiving phone calls, or "not understanding" the military, to now wanting people dead for a phone call?
It's amazing how people can be attacked for simply getting pissed of at a situation that no one can really do anything about. And how others love to point out how "they have / had it worse". Since when did this become a "I had it worse than you" debate? Seems alittle childish. No where in my post did I say I wasn't lucky, no where in my post did I say I had it worse. But apparently the fact that Myself and a **itload of other people SIMPLY FEEL THIS IS F'ED UP is beyond some peoples comprehension.
Why am I posting this all to you? Because your the best example so far of assuming my thoughts and intentions without apparently reading what I have actually said.
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