Story of My Life - part 10

When he threatened me with another counseling a short time later, I wrote an email to a bunch of higher ups including a 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 more 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 contacted 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.