Messy camp costs troops calls to home (kuwait)

gomemphis.com ^ | 20 APR 03 | By Cox News Service

[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.

[flyer182]

No. You explained what I already know. What I was trying to fiqure out was how you decided that it was a case of the trash not being picked up from the cans versus not already being in the cans.

[Darksheare]

Point is, if the LTC didn't call Logpac, why the hell is he going after teh troops?
That's his problem, not theirs.
That's what Logpac exists for, to bring in siupplies, and remove trash.
If that hasn't been seen to, then some NCO or officer is in deep trouble.
More likely officer. (The LTC)
Since he's in charge of the camp, it'd be his call to get Logpac moving.
Just like it was my former Captain's call to get them to show.
(Incidentally, when he didn't call them, he took it out on us. Fine leadership the guy showed. There's more to him than just that. Like, we had a soldier have a heart attack in the field, and the Cap refused to medevac him. Just one small example of my former Cap's 'expertise' in screwing the troops. Somehow he covered his butt on that one and I'm STILL wondering how.)

[Darksheare]

"There are also very few trash cans. Litter consists mostly of empty plastic water bottles."
Very few cans.
"The trash piles are possible breeding grounds for rodents and fire hazards, Bosse said."
Trash piles means that Logpac hasn't been in.

[TheGunny]

Shut your frickin' hole and go collect goodies for a care package or somthing! As a Gunnery Sergeant of Marines I have, since deploying forward, made similar calls on disciplinary actions. Attention to detail and respect for authority is what makes us as good as we are as a fighting force. If we let the little things go or accept the "but theyre int he desert" or "in the field" attitude, our ability to project that force will degrade significantly. You are a dependent (not a bad word) so is my wife....Advise to you, spend more time on the care packeges and less time speaking of what you know not of.

[flyer182]

So you are guessing.

[NFOShekky]

WO, You seem to have this issue pegged. Ditto to all your posts so far!

PS: Some advice to the rest of you that I learned as a young division officer: When the WO speaks. . .LISTEN!

[Darksheare]

No.
Simple fact.
If there are trash piles as the LTC himself said, then Logpac hasn't been there yet.

[NFOShekky]

"If you are part of the Military you know disipline goes with the job. The man in charge is the one that decides if the area is "messy", and that should have been the end of it."

Nothing more to say.

[Heyworth]

For what it's worth, Lt. Col. Peter Bosse, of Minneapolis, is most likely the same person as Pete Bosse, VP, Digital Communications Services for Best Buy, which is headquartered in Minneapolis. (Amazing what you can find on Google if you dig around enough).

[NFOShekky]

"My surprise is at a Reservist in command over RA. It may not really be the case. Or, as someone else pointed out, it may be exactly the case. But like I said to someone else, I've seen enough substandard stuff to believe that just because a situation exists that it is correct and proper."

I can't comment on your experience but in my 21 years in the Navy (active, reserve, mobilized, etc + TAD time w/ USA, USMC, USAF, and USCG) I can swear that there is no limitation on an R's authority over an A. I have received (and carried out!) orders from reservists of superior rank when I was active and I have given orders to active duty (and had them carried out)when I was a reservist. I find it almost impossible to believe that the Army (or any other service) would do it any differently. I can just see PFC Smith, RA, telling reserve SMAJ Jones that he doesn't have to listen to him because he is a reservist!

[river rat]

".... is that the phones were kept down over 2 days, AND the soldiers were kept from the PX / Aafes. (where they can buy and obtain other needed supplies, like underarm deodorant, calling cards, envelopes, etc)."

Waaaaah....Cry babies! No sympathy deserved........

From the location of this camp outside of Iraq -- we can assume the outfit is what is known as REMF. Not a combat unit... And, with the current status of the war - I suspect there is minimum risk that many will die before getting home.

That being said --- I am more than amused that they are complaining about being denied a call home, for 2 days...

My last deployment -- meant 14 months total time between phone calls.. NO email.... NO PX..... We had snail mail with a turnaround time of approx. 3 months..

During that 14 months -- 11 months were spent in Indian Country - inhabited by angry little men with weapons..

The "complainers" in this article should be ashamed of themselves - and the NCOs that allowed his troops to become such slobs --- busted..

Sloppy living, leads to slothful behavior......leads to death..

Semper Fi

[NFOShekky]

"Shut your frickin' hole and go collect goodies for a care package or somthing! As a Gunnery Sergeant of Marines. . ."

Damn Gunnery Sergeant. . .I can feel the brim of that "Smokey the Bear" hat bouncing off of my forehead as if it was yesterday!!! Give em hell!!!!

[flyer182]

A fact last time I checked has been substantiated. You have made a large jump in conclusion and continue to claim it is a fact in order to blame an officer for what ever you are angry about. So according to you this LtCol said." gee, I screwed the Logpac, I know, blame the troops and make them clean it up." That will work.

[sit-rep]

They all did it/do it. Get eye contact if you can, 2 seconds later, turn and walk away... They learn from mistakes, sometimes...

[FirstTomato]

(from your original post #1) I only heard from my husband an hour ago and just found out about this, only because he had to go to another camp for a bad eye injury that is still not treated

I hope your hubby is okay. It must be very stressful worrying about your loved one who's half a world away. There is a quote from the time of World War II, I believe, that says : "those who wait, also serve". May God bless and protect our troops, and may God bless those they love, and who love them.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

The article states water bottles were astray on the ground/tent/living area.If Logpac cleans up, then my the military has changed. If logpac comes and picks-up the garbage, that is another thing. Does Logpac clean-up after soldiers or pick up the garbage as in a civilian dumster being emptied? It's like me hoping the garbage men come in my home and clean and get the garbage and I get in trouble for not bringing it to the curb.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

The post meant that discipline and military bearing are pertinent and you don't post maturely astute on the matter, so therefore the lack of any such phone call is all's you 'seem' to care about. The very fact that you did not get what was said to you says alot.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

Your post said, everyone involved has a right to be pi$$ed off and you go on in three paragraphs claiming low and high ranks are feeling just as you do.... So it is not just you, and we all are just plain dumb and should have had a pity party screaming about this unfairness along with you?

Over the years the military gave me plenty to be angry about but I would never gripe about it on the internet or publically in any way.

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.

What? Your post was clear you are highly angry and you stated why.

"But apparently the fact that Myself and a **itload of other people SIMPLY FEEL THIS IS F'ED UP is beyond some peoples comprehension. "

You said a $hitload of other people feel as you do, then why are you not venting to them.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

Shhhhhhhhh, that will be the next thing whined about denied leave, how dare they!

[CWOJackson]

Naw, the Air Force just wanted to keep their "0" based structure intact. As for you, your comments sound very jeolous of warrants; apparently you never could measure up to their standards.