I've been here for just under two months now. After two months it seems like nothing is really changing. Things go on the same schedule every day...which is not that bad because it makes things go by a little faster I think, but it also makes all the days kind of blend together. Your perception of time skews when you do the same thing every day with no weekends. The only thing that really helps me keep track of the days are the various meetings that are scheduled to mark the weeks that we plan off of. That's one of the reasons I'm so looking forward to going to take command. Not that I'll work any less than I do now, but it will be a change of pace. That's one of the reasons I enjoy being an officer in the Army for. Every year or so you get to change jobs or at least who your boss is. For now, I enjoy my boss and who I work with, but I've been working for the same boss now for almost a year and a half. That's long enough for me! I don't know how I would do in the civilian world if I had to have the same career or specialty for my whole life. Not that I'm knocking that, I just think I would get so bored. I see why people go through mid-life crisis...I wonder what the correlation to that is with their job satisfaction? Interesting study for someone like my sister-in-law.
On another totally random note- I got an email from an old friend from high school today who happens to be over here in Afghanistan as an F-15 pilot in the Air Force! Kind of neat considering he is a couple years younger than me. It seems like our school had a LOT of service members per capita...word to recruiters, go see Tully High school in Central New York! Kind of makes you feel like you're from a place with the right priorities. Found out my cousin (also named Joe Mroszczyk) is on a Human Terrain Team in Iraq right now too. With less than 1% of Americans serving their country, I feel blessed to know so many. Kind of makes me wonder what the rest of the country is doing? Oh well, motivate your friends and have them go see a recruiter! That's all for now, I'll rant some more later!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
The leave problem-forgive my vent.
Leave is always a good thing right? I mean, who wouldn't want some time off? Why not take it when you can get it? Well, when you know that it's going to be the only time in one year that you get it, and that the rest of the time you'll be working 16-18 hour days in a combat zone with no breaks outside of meals and gym time, you make damn sure you get it at the most opportune time. That is, if the Army allows you to. Why wouldn't the Army let you take leave when it best suited you? Well, there are several competing reasons, and I'll lay down a few.
1. Only 10% of the unit can be on leave at any given time.
2. You get 18 days of leave, plus almost a week depending on travel time on either side. So essentially, you're not doing your job (so someone else is picking up the slack) for a whole month.
3. There are only 8-9 months during the deployment that we can take leave...so if you think about the 10% rule...you should need 10 months to make that work right? So it has to be managed very carefully.
4. There are priorities to leave. People who have due dates are generally given priority for those times. Then there are other scheduled things like surgeries for loved ones, or graduations for Soldiers with seniors in high school. All those things need to be weighed by the leadership.
5. Then there's the obvious, how many people can do the same job you do to cover down while you're gone? When will it hurt the unit least to have you out and still be able to accomplish the mission? For folks like myself in a rather key staff job, there will need to be a serious effort put into the several aspects of my job by other staff members splitting it up on top of their normal duties.
6. As a commander, your presence effects the morale and direction of the unit. Continuity in planning and execution are critical from the CDR. Normally that applies to maneuver type units like an infantry company. I will be taking command of a firing battery of artillery. That battery is split of accross Eastern Afghanistan in 4 locations and I will not be present at any one of them for more than a couple days a month due to that. The platoon leader at each location steps up to control that platoon and receives guidance from the CDR whenever possible. The difference is, the missions for them don't really change. Shoot here, shoot there, keep the guns working, make sure they have enough ammo and that they're doing the right things right. So, would my absence for a couple more weeks as a commander from a platoon like this make much difference while I'm on leave? How about if you consider my having an executive officer to visit and take charge in my absence. Or my 1SG being able to do the same.
These are the arguments I have about the unit wanting to put me on leave in a few weeks...with 9 months left in the deployment by the time I get back. I understand there are factors to consider, but for heavens sake, let me and my guys work around it when the time comes. I just can't go home so early after Porter and Robyn are starting to adjust to things and mess that all up and then leave for even longer.
I AM thankful for the opportunity to command the battery and do not want to downplay the commander's role in that. There are many aspects that I will affect for the better of the battery, but when does the Army factor in my personal concerns too? That's a problem I have seen accross the Army. Soldiers are taken care of by leaders and officers, while senior level officers assume that junior officers aren't bound by the same emotions and concerns as their Soldiers. Officers are expected to simply deal with the extra time away and still want to remain in a position where we are undervalued, rarely thanked or appreciated for our contribution, and if we exceed the standard, usually given even more work to do to make up for the lazy officers who somehow get by making the same amount of money with less stress.
Hopefully, if I am ever in a position of authority of which I am complaining, I will remember this plight and not repeat the same mistakes.
Please pray that I hear good news from West Point about my application to teach...I have heard bad news from 2 of the 5 departments already. I'm still trying to figure out what my plans are if they all come back with bad news.
Please also pray that I'll be allowed to take leave later in the deployment while in command. Deployments are hard enough...taking leave at the wrong time...interfering with plans for another child, and Robyn's new job (that she won't have leave for) will only compound the pain.
Well, hopefully the next post finds me in a better mood and with happy news! Goodnight.
1. Only 10% of the unit can be on leave at any given time.
2. You get 18 days of leave, plus almost a week depending on travel time on either side. So essentially, you're not doing your job (so someone else is picking up the slack) for a whole month.
3. There are only 8-9 months during the deployment that we can take leave...so if you think about the 10% rule...you should need 10 months to make that work right? So it has to be managed very carefully.
4. There are priorities to leave. People who have due dates are generally given priority for those times. Then there are other scheduled things like surgeries for loved ones, or graduations for Soldiers with seniors in high school. All those things need to be weighed by the leadership.
5. Then there's the obvious, how many people can do the same job you do to cover down while you're gone? When will it hurt the unit least to have you out and still be able to accomplish the mission? For folks like myself in a rather key staff job, there will need to be a serious effort put into the several aspects of my job by other staff members splitting it up on top of their normal duties.
6. As a commander, your presence effects the morale and direction of the unit. Continuity in planning and execution are critical from the CDR. Normally that applies to maneuver type units like an infantry company. I will be taking command of a firing battery of artillery. That battery is split of accross Eastern Afghanistan in 4 locations and I will not be present at any one of them for more than a couple days a month due to that. The platoon leader at each location steps up to control that platoon and receives guidance from the CDR whenever possible. The difference is, the missions for them don't really change. Shoot here, shoot there, keep the guns working, make sure they have enough ammo and that they're doing the right things right. So, would my absence for a couple more weeks as a commander from a platoon like this make much difference while I'm on leave? How about if you consider my having an executive officer to visit and take charge in my absence. Or my 1SG being able to do the same.
These are the arguments I have about the unit wanting to put me on leave in a few weeks...with 9 months left in the deployment by the time I get back. I understand there are factors to consider, but for heavens sake, let me and my guys work around it when the time comes. I just can't go home so early after Porter and Robyn are starting to adjust to things and mess that all up and then leave for even longer.
I AM thankful for the opportunity to command the battery and do not want to downplay the commander's role in that. There are many aspects that I will affect for the better of the battery, but when does the Army factor in my personal concerns too? That's a problem I have seen accross the Army. Soldiers are taken care of by leaders and officers, while senior level officers assume that junior officers aren't bound by the same emotions and concerns as their Soldiers. Officers are expected to simply deal with the extra time away and still want to remain in a position where we are undervalued, rarely thanked or appreciated for our contribution, and if we exceed the standard, usually given even more work to do to make up for the lazy officers who somehow get by making the same amount of money with less stress.
Hopefully, if I am ever in a position of authority of which I am complaining, I will remember this plight and not repeat the same mistakes.
Please pray that I hear good news from West Point about my application to teach...I have heard bad news from 2 of the 5 departments already. I'm still trying to figure out what my plans are if they all come back with bad news.
Please also pray that I'll be allowed to take leave later in the deployment while in command. Deployments are hard enough...taking leave at the wrong time...interfering with plans for another child, and Robyn's new job (that she won't have leave for) will only compound the pain.
Well, hopefully the next post finds me in a better mood and with happy news! Goodnight.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
The weather
Well, since my last post was about the rain...why not follow it up with snow? Last night began the onslaught of snow here. By the time we woke up in the morning, the front of our tent had collapsed from the weight of the snow on the roof. One of the guys that sleeps on the top bunk said he woke up and felt like he was suffocating from the ceiling in his face! The camo net hanging in front of the tent had collected a bunch of snow too, and made the extra weight too much to bear. Hopefully the poles aren't completely broken and we'll be able to get it fixed here soon. Part of the problem is that those of us who live in the tent all work about the same hours and when we're not at work (or in the MWR) we go back to the tent just to sleep. So, that doesn't leave much time to fix the tent. Part of the problem is that I'm so dang short that I can't reach the ceiling to try to fix it without help. Maybe tomorrow night I'll get one of the guys to help me with it. We've been working to update all the old unit's stuff to transition over to our ways of doing things. In part of the transition from my perspective, we've been fixing some of the errors with pre-planned target packets (very time consuming). Each time we shoot, there's a packet that goes along with it, and the locations, imagery, etc. all have to line up. While I was reviewing one of the target packets that the old unit had done, I noticed that there were a couple of discrepancies, so we went back and looked through all of them. Well, time's up on the computer, more next time!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Rainy Days in combat
Rainy days in a combat zone can be many things. Just like back home, they have their place in the world. Rainy days at the right time can help you get some peaceful sleep at night, the rain drops on the tent, lulling you into a stupor. Rainy days can also complicate things, make everything muddy, harder to see, and slower to get the job done. One thing rainy days do in combat though is prove how hard our Soldiers are and what they can accomlish despite adversity. Soldiers still pull guard, man their weapons, and remain vigilant. Our ability to fight in any condition is what keeps us ahead of the enemy. With the weather the other night, one of the Soldiers asked if we would still shoot one of our fire missions...
"Hell yeah!" was my reply.
"But, Sir, isn't that dangerous? Couldn't the round drift somewhere it's not supposed to?"
"Artillery is an all-weather weapon system...we're not the Air Force. We're going to shoot, and we're going to do it to make sure they know we can."
It's times like that when I love being an Artilleryman. Guys out there, manning the guns, putting rounds out no matter what.
"Hell yeah!" was my reply.
"But, Sir, isn't that dangerous? Couldn't the round drift somewhere it's not supposed to?"
"Artillery is an all-weather weapon system...we're not the Air Force. We're going to shoot, and we're going to do it to make sure they know we can."
It's times like that when I love being an Artilleryman. Guys out there, manning the guns, putting rounds out no matter what.
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