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Wed. Oct 22, 2003

Taking Care of the Troops

Taking Care of the Troops – In the military, when you complain about your conditions, things often get worse. But often the first step is to deny there’s even a problem: ”Complaints of ’second class treatment’ from dozens of Army reservists and National Guard personnel are understandable but invalid, the garrison commander of this sprawling military base said Tuesday.”

”Col. John Kidd said the reservists’ and guard members’ complaints that they play second fiddle to full-time soldiers are caused not by a double standard, but by a severe shortage of physicians and other medical personnel.”

It would appear the Colonel doesn’t even understand the basic concepts involved. When 3rd ID soldiers are being given first priority, while reservists on full-time active duty wait up to six months to get treated, living in what even the Colonel would have to agree are ”substandard” accommodations, that’s a double standard. If you can point me to a 3rd ID soldier who has been living in a bug infested concrete shack for six months waiting to get his knee fixed, you’d have an argument. But since you can’t, you have a double standard.

And if the complaints are invalid, then why is the Pentagon sending a team to investigate after the original story was published? And, what else would you expect the garrison commander to say about the accommodations he offers?

How about, ”drop and give me fifty”?

”When 400 or so of the men and women stood in formation Tuesday morning, they were harshly criticized by their commanders, said several, including Sgt. Dennis Stewart, 41, a firefighter from Terre Haute, Ind. ’They said we’d be doing more cleaning up, more work, and to keep our mouths shut,’ he said.”

”Several other soldiers also said they had been dressed down during their morning formation, but they were afraid to allow their names to be used. Other soldiers, like Sgt. Michael Wilson, 32, a Clayton County police officer who lives in Henry County, said they just want out of the military.”

It should be noted that the original complaint in the press mentioned a few guys by name, but much of the material was attributed anonymously. It could have been a few guys, could have been a few dozen. Could have been their families. But now, all of them are getting punished. Men in medical limbo are being given extra clean up work in order to keep their mouths shut, and intimidated to the point they no longer even want to give their name. All the men want is to get the medical treatment they’ve been waiting up to 6 months to get, and then many of them want to get the hell out of the military.

Nope, no problem here at all. That is, if you don’t mind seeing hundreds of Reservists unable to return to their civilian lives because it’s taken them six months to get medical treatment (let’s see, 600 men times 40 hours per week times 24 weeks equals up to 576,000 man hours … completely wasted). And as long as you don’t mind Reserves at half strength due to the re-enlistment rate crashing over treatment like this.

Some of these men have been there long enough to build their own accommodations, if they’d been allowed. And the long term cost of this (wasted man hours plus reduced re-enlistment rates) is likely an order of magnitude above what it would cost to bring in some doctors from other areas, and improve the physical accommodations for these soldiers.

Of course, that would require a long term view of the situation. The short term view is clear: ”Don’t address the complaint, punish the complainant.”

Let me spend 30 seconds trying to address the complaint: [1] Since Fort Stewart’s medical capabilities are understandably maxed out by the fact the 3rd ID is the only division to fully return from battle in Iraq, quickly bring in extra doctors from units uninvolved in Iraq, or transfer these Reservists to less crowded facilities. [2] If you can’t schedule a man to see a doctor in the next 4 weeks, give him two weeks leave and let him get some TLC at home (it’ll sure keep him from talking to the press). And, [3], since we’re talking about a few hundred men, check with surrounding motels to see which business would like to offer a bulk deal … get the surrounding civilian community involved, and you’ll be amazed at what help you can get (after all, this has now become a public relations issue, so you’d best work it as such).

There. I hardly burned a brain cell, or more than a minute off the clock. Professional strength brain cells and more time can surely do better. But if nothing else (this one’s for you, Col. Kidd), once it becomes clear you’re in the middle of a national story with public relations implications, if you can’t sound entirely 100% sympathetic (”However, the part-time soldiers, mostly older than regular Army counterparts, may be a little ’tender’ for the rigors of soldiering, Kidd said.”), or offer positive hope of a solution (”You don’t get physicians at Wal-Mart”), the best thing you can do is shut the #@$! up!

And if your anger should tempt you to punish the complainants en masse, ensuring even more complaints … stop, and slowly count to ten. If that doesn’t work, drop and give me fifty. You’ll feel better, and so will your public image.