Reader
Response to
March of the Porcelain Soldiers
EOD
Training Not Tough Enough
To: Hack
Subject: Response to "March of the Porcelain Soldiers"
I'm in Air Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal. As you may or may
not know, we go to a joint-service school administered by the
Navy. The quality of the graduates has been in steady decline
for at least four years now. From what I hear from my instructor
buddies, coddling, pandering, and babysitting are now SOP there.
Plus, now that the school is all at Eglin (used to be half Eglin,
half Indian Head), these kids are sunning and funning on the beach
instead of shitting their pants about their next test. They show
up to their unit, no bearing and discipline, no knowledge. To
paraphrase: useless shit-bags.
I've got a guy in Korea right now who went to Minot first, then
here, who didn't know how to properly check out our MX-22 (radio-fired
blasting machines). How the fuck do you get an EOD troop who doesn't
know how to check out his own goddamn equipment? The infantry
equivalent would be a grunt who didn't know how to function test
his rifle after two years of service.
When I went through EOD School, we were afraid to even look at
the instructors for fear of being kicked the fuck out! Now these
FNGs cruise through school, knowing they'll be given second, third,
and fourth chances to get it right. The Air Force pays them ten
thousand fucking dollars to finish the school! God forbid we get
some quality EOD techs in the field. It's not like we have two
wars going on or anything! Not to mention that Iraq and Afghanistan
are have pretty much been everyone's ordnance shitting ground
for years. How am I supposed to do anything on an incident when
I have to keep looking over my shoulder to see if some little
shit-head is setting up my equipment properly?
I read "Steel My Soldiers' Hearts" and it gave me some
inspiration. These guys need to be re-educated. It may be the
school's fault, it may have been their last unit's fault, but
goldsmith, if I don't fix their stupid asses, it's going to be
my fault. Okay, that's my rant. I look forward to picking up more
of your books. I know you're a Korea vet, so I'll wash my kagogi
down with some soju while I'm thinking about ya! Feel free to
shoot me an e-mail. Thanks again for having the sack to be HONEST.
EOD SGT
To:
Hack
Just want to Thank You for researching and writing that article!
I retired from the Army after 26 years of service, 6 months ago.
I enlisted in 1975 into the Women's Army Corps. As I read your
article, I found myself thinking, "these kids have it easier
than we did in the WACS!" I was disgusted!
I do agree with you on the point made for separate gender training.
It is abundently evident the distraction is destroying any clear
focus on training these kids need so desparately to survive combat!
My heart goes out to the Hard Core Drill Sergeants!
I recently began to experience second thoughts on my decision
to retire. I am a CW2 420A8 (Personnel) (20 years enlisted time)
and some of my duties involved approving accession packages and
processing discharges. I can't tell you how many times I refused
to approve accession packages where it was clear the recruiter
had "fixed, dummied up, or flat out lied" on the recruits
package just to meet a quota!!!! I was constantly the bad guy
in this whole scheme and am proud of it! You cannot believe the
type of recruits they would try to pass by me, from felons, to
illegal aliens, drug offenders (major), asthma sufferers, diabetics,
single parents who lied on their applications as far as dependency
and then would put their children down as their SGLI beneficiary!
These applications would go through many hands (MSG's, SGM's,
MAJ's, etc.) for proofing before landing on my desk. I could not
turn a blind eye to this as they did.
All I kept thinking about was how could they do this to their
fellow soldiers in the field? Just to make quota! On the discharge
side of the house, I would cringe everytime I received yet ANOTHER
discharge because they washed out of basic training, mostly because
they did not want to be there in the first place, or it was too
hard, etc. Very few legitmate cases. I could not figure out what
was wrong until I read your article.
Now
it all makes sense and I am very sad at the condition of our training.
I feel conventional forces should be trained the same way the
combat forces are trained! I have always felt that way and I feel
cheated that I was not afforded that great training from the beginning.
As you also stated in your article, there is NO defined frontline,
has NOT been for many, many, years, so WHY is there still separate
training for conventional and combat soldiers? Along that line,
I must tell you that when I attended the US Army Sergeants Major
Academy in 1992, I was the only female in my group. That in itself
is nothing new for me, just a fact. What was interesting and new
for me was half my group consisted of Special Operations Soldiers.
I really never had the opportunity to be around these soldiers
previously, so needless to say, I was impressed, proud, and wondered
why I never knew soldiers of this caliber and training existed
in my army! I learned so much from them and was actually PISSED
OFF that I was never afforded the opportunity for this type of
training! I felt I had wasted the first 20 years of my career.
Meeting them made me a better soldier. They, on the other hand,
learned quite a bit from me as far as females soldiers being squared
away and hard charging, and, yes, there are MANY females in the
military that are PROUD to be soldiers and would risk their lives
in an instant to defend their country and way of life. I am sure
that you know that but it felt good to write it! I still keep
in touch with many of those soldiers from my group and think about
them often, especially with the events unfolding around us today.
I
have seen you on FOX News and liked what you had to say and thought,
Wow, this officer is awesome, says it like it is, and most importantly,
Knows of What He Speaks! Thank you for that! I also found your
website today, joined SFTT and will volunteer in anyway I can!
It is helping me feel like I can still contribute, without having
to be a part of the politically correct military of today. My
heart is with each and everyone of them and I hope SFTT helps
make things better for their future.
My
Best Wishes to you and your organization
CW2
Colleen Crowley USA (Ret)
Colonel,
Just
a quick note since I realize how busy you are. I have another
great (grave?) example of the army's march toward porcelain soldiers.
PLDC. Camp Williams, Utah. 1998. As the CSM stood in front of
us NCO hopefuls, he touted his success rate of turning out quality
NCO's. Then, as if reading my unspoken thoughts, he continued
by saying no female soldier has ever academically dropped out
of PLDC. We were soon to find out why.
The
standard for academically passing PLDC was a minimum score of
80 on any written test. Any failure resulted in a re-test which
also had to be passed with 80%. There were no third tries. The
CSM went on to explain we had to make sure we filled in our answer
sheets perfectly, for even if we marked the right answer and the
computer couldn't read it, because for instance we had not darkened
the circles enough, we'll..too bad, so sad..you're out. Even if
all the answers were correct. This point was made very clear to
us.
Jump
to one week later. A number of our platoon did not pass a test
on the first time. They went for the retake. The story they told
when they returned should be old news to you now. A female soldier
did not pass on the first attempt and went with them for the re-take.
She failed the second test as well. Then began the drama. This
was an active duty soldier. She could not go back to her unit
in disgrace for failing out of an already watered down and spoon
fed NCO development course. This female fell into hysterics the
likes of which had been hitherto unseen by those present. It got
so bad the medics were called for. At the height of the show,
with the other classmates still present, and the medics frantically
trying to calm the now wailing, thrashing, and tear soaked soldier,
the CSM comes in the room declares that after careful examination
of the soldier's FIRST test, it appears she had gotten them 100%
correct, and had simply NOT DARKENED THE CIRCLES ENOUGH, and therefore
would proceed with the rest of her class.
Suddenly
the high academic success rate of female soldiers at this PLDC
course became suddenly evident. In Bosnia last year we had several
first line supervisors who seemed to have graduated from this
same PLDC course. But more on that next time.
Keep
up the good work Colonel.
To:
Hack
Read
your story about the abomination called Training at Fort Jackson
(March Of The Porcelain Soldiers) and found it HIT HOME so thoroughly
that I had to say, THANKS!
I was a DI there. Spent two tours. All I can say is this. My first
tour 73-76 we could train Soldiers and, by God we did! My second
tour 79-81 was a Professional Soldiers worst nightmare.
Integrated Training had just begun when I was reassigned to the
25th Division in 1976. I got to experience two cycles with Co.
C, 7th Bn., 2nd BT Brigade (The Us Army test Battalion for Integrated
Training) and thank God I was eligible to rotate my ass out of
that mess before it got really out of hand in the few years there
after.
What I just can't comprehend to this day is "If you know
it was such a failure in the seventies, why in Gods name bring
the shit back in the nineties "
My second tour (Non-Voluntary) I had been promoted to E-7 and
the US Army had just changed policy for E-6 qualified Drills.
Despite what I believed was an unjust ruling, I marched my ass
back to Drill Status once again. Assigned to D-8-2 as Senior Field,
I lasted half of one cycle. Short of a Courts Martial, I excepted
reassignment to the Reception Station until my tour was complete.
Needless to say, Training was no longer Training. Commanders,
First Sergeants, Senior Fields and many Drills were "Cow-towing"
to a Doctrine that literally tied the hands of everyone except
the almighty TRAINEE! Female Training was paramount! The OLD SCHOOL
DRILLS were a thing of the past or, had caved in to this new concept
that was forcing PURE AND DIVINE, 100% BULLSHIT onto the gaining
units in the field and in the trenches. During my first tour,
I may have seen or heard of as many as 5 cases of abuse and zero
cases of Sexual abuse. During my second tour, the doors to the
Post Court Room swung more often than the doors to the Post NCO
Club. NCO's and Officers being charged with every conceivable
charge under the sun and least of which was Sexual.
I
personally knew quite a few who had charges trumped up on them
but all in all, many just couldn't resist the temptation. Now
you may say, that's OK but, it's not OK. Some damned fine Soldiers
and most Combat Veterans bit the bullet because of this BS called
integrated training. If they had been left in there environment
and allowed to train there gender, none would have forfeited their
careers for some split tail that we were FORCED to call "SOLDIER."
I am sorry but, the truth is, the Army did itself an injustice
and is now reaping what it sewed.
When the US Army finally gave up in this integrated concept why
in Gods name didn't they learn from there mistakes? Where are
the documented records and reports of the failure? Who or which
asshole brought this nightmare back to my Army?
I remember vividly not to many years ago when the US Army and
Fort Jackson announced that it was going to begin Integrated Training
at Fort Jackson. Hell, I was one of the first to YELL at the top
of my lungs, "You Dumb Ass, We Tried That Before, It Failed,
What The Fuck Are You Thinking? They did it anyway and now, we
see the results. Everything is once again geared to accommodate
the Females and to Pamper the snot nosed pukes.
God help us if we are so blind that we cannot learn from our mistakes!
If I had not, I would have been one of the 58,000 names on the
wall in DC.
Thanks for your thorough look at Fort Jackson. I am not surprised
at what you saw and, I will not be surprised when we provide each
new Trainee with Condoms, Diaframs, Nintendo, American Express
Cards, and Free Disney Tours! Sorry about that Disney thing, I
forgot we already do provide that......
Sincerely,
Danny L. Medders
First Sergeant, Ret.
00F, 11B4X, Grunt
Sir,
I wrote earlier about the situation at Fort Knox. I wrote before
I was able to read your article about your visit to Jackson. I
am sad to say that the weaknesses you encountered there are taking
serious root here in the 1st Armor Training Brigade. One of my
former Drill Sergeant buddies was yelling at some trainees to
hurry up a few days ago and the Post CSM told him that he better
never raise his voice at trainees again. The CSM told him that
he looked at the trainees as if they were his children, and he
doesn't appreciate someone yelling at his children. I am a Cavalry
Scout, and the Squadron responsible for training Scouts seemes
to be one of the last places where somewhat demanding training
still took place, until a new command took over last July and
trainees who refused to train became more credible than dedicated
NCOs, and court martialing Drill Sergeants became popular.
I am told by another of my former battle buddies from "the
trail" that in their most recent end of cycle AAR, they were
told by the Brigade Commander that as Drill Sergeants they had
two primary responsibilities. One is to graduate as many soldiers
as they could, and two is to mold them to be "hometown recruiters".
Nothing was said about molding them to be combat ready cavalrymen,
but "hometown recruiters".
I think you might need to pay a visit to Fort Knox. It will no
doubt sicken you to see that the Home of Armor has buckled to
political politeness in exchange for teaching discipline and sacrifice.
The worst thing is we are not even talking about the support units
or the REMFs here, we are talking about tankers and scouts who
will be on the very furthest of front lines.
Anon
Dear
Colonel,
I'm writing in response to your article entitled "March of
the Porcelain Soldiers", which I read on your website. Four
years ago, I enlisted in the Army Reserve as a Military Policeman.
I spent the next four years kicking myself in the ass for not
enlisting Regular Army from the begining. I finally went to a
recruiter and began the process of re-enlisting for the RA and
on September 1st found myself at Fort Jackson, awaiting overseas
assignment to Germany. While there, I took note of a plethora
of incidents that ,at the very least, made do a double take. The
first of these incidents was the attitude of the recruits toward
their Drill Sergeants. Some recruits back-talked the Drill SGTs,
while some showed a down right lack of respect towards any NCO,
regardless of their headgear. At first, I thought it was because
they hadn't made it to "Shark Attack" yet and took some
gratification in knowing that that event would at the minimum
shock the shit out of them. But, to my horror, I witnessed a "Shark
Attack". It was what I remembered and it wasn't. In fact
at hearing a Drill SGT's characteristic voice, I almost snapped
to Parade Rest and I was just passing by. However, I don't remember
being able to hand my Drill SGTs a "stress card" to
puss out of a good old fashioned smoking. These kids could do
that. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I had a Basic like
your generation had, but we didn't have "stress cards"
either. We had to endure the smoking, yelling or what ever the
Drill SGTs threw at us. But the biggest shock to me came on September
11th.
When
that day hit, I was in the Allterations shop getting my Class
A's fitted, when another one of the prior service guys I knew
came in and said that buildings in New York had been bombed. Being
a native of Oklahoma, and living 25 minutes from OKC, I thought
that this was another disgruntled Skin-Head who had gotten his
hands on some cow-shit and a Ryder truck. Eventually, I learned
it was worse. Later that night, the entire post began implementing
Force Protection measures. Around the company I was assigned to,
post were manned by 1 prior service member( to be responsible
for the weapons and empty magazines that were issued) and 2 or
3 of these recruits. One night while working as CQ runner for
the Staff Duty, I saw one of these posts. The Prior service guy,
a PFC at the time, was telling the kids to shut up so he could
hear the walkie-talkie he had, but these kids just told him to
"Fuck off" or something. That was the straw that broke
my back. I finished my smoke and headed their way. When I got
about 5 feet from them, I let lose with my best Drill Sergeant
voice and the ass-chewin comenced. These kids didn't know whether
to shit or wind their watches. Finally, an actual Drill SGT comes
up and wants to know why I was scaring these "poor kids".
I told the Drill SGT what had happened and he "counseled"
me on the right way to "provide corrective training"
for the recruits. I fought back every flip comment that came to
mind and just listened to this NCO babble on about nurturing these
"young soldiers" and "molding them into'Tomorrow's
Army' leaders". The Drill SGT then asked if I had anything
to add. I did. I asked for "permission to speak freely",
he granted it unknowingly. I said that in order to "mold"
these kids, some need to learn a hard lesson. We are in a profession
that has two outcomes;1) you fight and die or 2) you fight and
live. I told him I prefered the second choice over the first.
The sooner those recruits learned that, the better. He said I
was wrong, that there's a third choice; grow old and retire with
a chest full of medals. I still think he and, for the most part,
the Army as a whole are obsessed with getting a degree, a chest
full of "I was there" ribbons and too many "Boy
Scout Badges", instead of doing the job of defending our
nation.
Having
relayed that, I can say only one thing about Fort Jackson: "I
feel your pain, Sir."
Sincerely
Anon