Friday, April 23, 2004
A Soldier's Griping
A Reserve MP speaks out:
Am I wrong for assuming that Reservists and National Guardsmen are part-timers? How is it that the active duty troops like 1AD were only doing six-month rotations while we are doing one year? If so then, why did all of the active-duty units we saw coming in behind us leave already?
Good question.
There's already an MP shortage. Treat your reserve units like that and as soon as they get home it will only get worse.
The 82nd Division also arrived in August and is pulling its troops out now, after a 6 month rotation, although in fairness they bounce back and forth from Iraq to Afghanistan.
They don't have MPs?
The 4th Division, which just came home, doesn't have active duty MPs?
Here's a particularly nutty example:
The 3rd Bn, 124th Infantry Regiment, out of the Florida National Guard, crossed the border with the 3rd Infantry Division and was attached to it during the march up to Baghdad. Everybody thought the 3rd ID did a great job, and when their families started piping up and the griping started to become an embarrassment to Rumsfeld and the Administration, they were quickly ushered home.
But not the 3-124th Infantry. Those guys who had fought all the way to Baghdad as part of the 3rd Infantry Division were stripped from their parent unit and got to watch the Active Duty guys go home, just as the part-timers got the word like everybody else that they'd be extended for a year boots-on-the ground.
Sure, we needed the light infantry more than we needed the mech monkeys of the 3rd ID at that point. And yes, we need the MPs something awful, too.
It is kinda tough to explain to the troops, though.
Splash, out
Jason
Am I wrong for assuming that Reservists and National Guardsmen are part-timers? How is it that the active duty troops like 1AD were only doing six-month rotations while we are doing one year? If so then, why did all of the active-duty units we saw coming in behind us leave already?
Good question.
There's already an MP shortage. Treat your reserve units like that and as soon as they get home it will only get worse.
The 82nd Division also arrived in August and is pulling its troops out now, after a 6 month rotation, although in fairness they bounce back and forth from Iraq to Afghanistan.
They don't have MPs?
The 4th Division, which just came home, doesn't have active duty MPs?
Here's a particularly nutty example:
The 3rd Bn, 124th Infantry Regiment, out of the Florida National Guard, crossed the border with the 3rd Infantry Division and was attached to it during the march up to Baghdad. Everybody thought the 3rd ID did a great job, and when their families started piping up and the griping started to become an embarrassment to Rumsfeld and the Administration, they were quickly ushered home.
But not the 3-124th Infantry. Those guys who had fought all the way to Baghdad as part of the 3rd Infantry Division were stripped from their parent unit and got to watch the Active Duty guys go home, just as the part-timers got the word like everybody else that they'd be extended for a year boots-on-the ground.
Sure, we needed the light infantry more than we needed the mech monkeys of the 3rd ID at that point. And yes, we need the MPs something awful, too.
It is kinda tough to explain to the troops, though.
Splash, out
Jason
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