Mobilization – Day 26 – 22 December 2009

Today was probably the worst day ever in my Army career, a day that proved that one person with a little rank on his chest can affect the lives and careers of anybody he deems necessary. What horrible news to find out the day before our “Holiday Exodus;” what horrible news that may ruin our whole deployment. Hopefully it will all be fixed in a way that we will be able to do what we are supposed to do, but I guess we will just have to wait and see what ultimately happens.

If this does not get fixed in a favorable way, this deployment may turn out to be a whole new animal entirely. The balance of power will dramatically shift away from the people looking to do the best for the mission and shift towards those that may be here just to make contacts to further their careers or simply waste government resources by collecting a government paycheck while not doing any actual work. This has already occurred anyway since they decided to keep people around who they know will not perform at a high level, leaving much of the work to be done by the few people who actually have some idea what to do while there.

This also shows what can happen when somebody with a little more rank than a few days ago decides that his position may be threatened by someone with a little more operational knowledge of our upcoming mission. Could Big Boss have influenced this decision as much as a week ago, before that full bird showed up on his chest? I severely doubt that. But what makes it worse is that immediately after playing puppet master behind the scenes to fire the CSM, he immediately walks over to the higher headquarters to find a replacement, if only to remove the position for the CSM to come back to if he is able to clear himself YET AGAIN!!

I still find it hard to believe that one man, the CSM, can be the best CSM in the Army Reserve for two and a half years and then suddenly become this horrible leader who needs to be replaced because someone won’t be able to run roughshod all over the deployment the way he wishes, at least in my humble opinion. If my opinion of Big Boss hadn’t been negative before, it most definitely is now. I am even more grateful for Major M now and his mentorship over the past 18 months. I truly know how a field grade officer is supposed to act because of him. Big Boss, Bigger Boss, and LT M sure aren’t good examples at this point.