Lou's Road To Perdition

Now being at a 'hub' base, I've been given the opportunity to run into friends across the battalion. Those outside of Delta Company who have been stationed at other various bases around this area. There is a lot of heartbreak and sacrifice that goes into not just this deployment, but every deployment. This one really no different than any from the past. The divorces that will ensue after we return to home. The relationships already destroyed are somewhat of a travesty. Even the loss of brethren for apparently no purpose and without justice is close to comparison to the worst tragedy of this deployment. Our chain of command.

I'm not talking about the intermediate chain of command, I'm talking about the top of our chain. The men who make the big decisions. The liars, the politicians, the ego-maniacs. They run a good campaign. They really do. They even had us all fooled from the day they arrived. We believed what they said, and they even attempted to convey it. Family first. The preached it all year. Got us days off before deployment to spend time with family. They told us what they wouldn't stand for, that we wouldn't be treated like second class citizens. That this deployment, they were going to keep us out of harms way and this that and every other lie that hasn't come to be true. Despite all the lies, and the politics that should be left out of the military, last night I heard the most heartbreaking story about the lack of care for us the soldiers our chain of command has. Even though they say they do.

I ran into my old section leader, now a part of Alpha Company, no longer a Misfit of Delta. His mother passed away from pancreatic cancer during this deployment. The events leading up to it, almost as tragic as his loss.

His mother was in remission, with one chemotherapy treatment. My friend, we'll call him Gary, had been home on leave while she was doing well. Because of how well she was doing, she told him to enjoy himself, to go on vacation with his girlfriend and see his kids. He obliged his mothers wishes, and didn't visit her. Things took a turn for the worse after he had already returned from his leave, and was back in Iraq. When his mother went into the emergency room because of complications in her basic life support systems, a red cross message was sent, requesting his presence. This is the process of getting a soldier home to family. An emergency Red Cross message. Usually, whether it's a death in the family, or a heart attack, or stroke, it's always something where the family wants the individual there. It could be the last chance they have of seeing that person, or perhaps it's the time they need to take care of their loved ones state of affairs. Whatever it is, usually you're given ample time to deal with it. 15 days.

Gary's case was not such. He was granted 5 days for leave. Granted isn't the best term. The men at the top, our battalion commander, and sergeant major, reluctantly let him take 5 days days, after they interrogated him, and even doubted that his mother was actually sick. Their reasoning for 5 days, because if he took 15, they wouldn't be able to allow him to take leave later on when she died. I've seen it before from our sergeant major, back in the rear. I received a Red Cross message while on Battalion Staff Duty. He was quite the detective, trying to figure out if it was an individual trying to get out of deployment. Had me call Red Cross, to confirm that the case number was real or not. Doubted that this guys Dad had died. Refused to believe that it could be something tragic and not just some guy trying to go home. I could believe it when I heard this coming from Gary's mouth, yet I still shuddered. He smudged his leave to say 7 days instead of 5, because those five days don't include 'travel days' which is basically a two day process to get stateside from here.

Not wanting to spend just three days with his dieing mother, he arrived home to find that it was much worse than he thought. She refused to stay in the emergency room, wanting to rather be surrounded by family, at home when she passed. The doctor let them know she didn't have more than a week to live, that her body was shutting down. The organs failing. When Gary called his chain of command, to request a leave extension, he was denied. Not by his First Sergeant or Company Commander, but by the Battalion sergeant major and battalion commander. He pleaded and pleaded. He was denied and denied, and even told that he was a grown man and to do what he thinks he should. Reluctantly he returned to theatre, fearing AWOL wouldn't settle well in his career he's established in the Army. Especially with years remaining on his contract. Two hours after he arrived in Kuwait, his mother passed away. The timeline of that, from flight stateside to here, he probably only needed another 2 days to be with her while she went. One of her last dieing requests to have him present.

After dealing with the run around of getting another Red Cross message sent, and another leave form approved, Gary was back stateside to handle the affairs of her state. After returning for a week home, he was called by his chain of command, them telling him that he was going to be considered AWOL. That our battalion commander didn't approve him the week that was on his leave form, and only another five days. After returning from the states again, with this ordeal finally behind him, Gary had a face to face with the battalion sergeant major. The face to face, was uncomfortable to say the least, because after all this is a rank that deserves a lot of respect, but the man wearing it who deserves little. After Gary was able to bite his tongue after some insults thrown at him, the battalion commander walked in the room. Instead of being the 'Lou' he wants us to believe he is, he took one look at Gary, no condolences or sorry's, and maniacally said, 'Oh, you're back.'

Gary's girlfriend was even harassed later by the sergeant major, as he called her at 4 in the morning stateside to wonder if there actually was a funeral, and what it was like. Not believing that there could've been a death. If any of you have loved ones over here, you know that a call at that time in the morning, from an individual that high in the chain of command, usually only means one thing. That they are dead. Instead it was an un-trusting man, who has little to no support for his troops. The battalion commander is another story. Gary has spent five years in the battalion. He's come down on orders twice, only to have the cancelled so that he can deploy with what was a beloved and good 2 Panter.

The insensitivity is not an uncommon thing in an Infantry Battalion, but the level that was displayed by those who are supposed to be the utmost professional, those who set and enforce standards, was such an extreme, and in such poor judgement, it's a wonder how they are 'in command' of us. The idea that these two individuals are in charge of so many paratroopers, that they've allowed paratroopers like SSG Bauer, and SGT Duffy to perish here in vain, along with causing even more hardships, stresses, to the soldiers still alive is nothing short of evil. They send us out on missions that only endanger our lives, have no real purpose but to help to advance their own careers. The selfishness, egotistical commanders who are in charge of your loved ones, don't give two shits about us. They are the worst politicians, working and striving towards personal achievement and advancement even if it's at the cost of my life, or your sons.

We are taught the Army core values, and even punished severely if we do not exemplify them on a day to day basis. Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless-Service, Honor, Integrity and Personal Courage. A simple break of one of these for someone like me, could me demotion, pay taken away, and days of extra duty. Yet, because of rank, which doesn't give privilege, these power hungry individuals are running around freed and unchecked. Some people deserve nothing less than divine punishment for the evil that they put on us. I know I'm not alone, even talking to an E7 who's returned from where I was in basic training, said that this isn't the way it's supposed to be. It's a mutual feeling throughout our battalion from brand new private, to 20 year veteran Sergeant First Class', and yet through the undiplomatic Army we have no power to stop it. I won't shake the hand or look in the eyes of men like Lou or Herb, only their rank earns any respect. They are despicable individuals who deserve nothing less than perdition.


The man who promises everything is sure to fulfil nothing, and everyone who promises too much is in danger of using evil means in order to carry out his promises, and is already on the road to perdition. -Carl Jung