READER FEEDBACK

Parent Worries

Dear COL. Hackworth,

I Just finished reading STEEL MY SOLDIER'S HEARTS I was a great read and I really enjoyed it. Perhaps you could help me with an issue. When I was reading about the 4/39 th and how screwed up it was when you first took over, it reminded me of when I went to visit my son at FT. Riley in October of 2002. He is a sp.4 in a mechanized infantry battalion and what I saw and heard just floored me. The soldiers looked like slobs, The E-1 thru 3 referred to their squad leaders and platoon sergeants with slag words such as homey and dawg. The squad leaders and platoon sergeants played videos games while their soldiers worked at the motor pool or elsewhere, the barracks were a mess the place was a total FUBAR. My son had just come to Riley from a year in Korea as a SAW gunner in a rifle squad, his unit in Korea was pretty hardcore and trained constantly, he liked that. When he mentioned to his new platoon sergeant. that this unit was pretty screwed up compared to the unit he came from( he inherited his big mouth from his old man), he was thanked for his input by being pulled from the ground and made a APC driver, further more he now gets every shit detail that comes along. They have turned a good soldier who was considering making a career out of the ARMY into someone that is tired of the B.S. and cant wait to get out. I have been stewing about this for several months. Do you thing it would do any good to write the battalion or post commanders, some one higher in the chain or should I just let it go?

Thanks for any input.

Robert McCawley US. ARMY veteran