army-hoosier-blog

[army-hoosier-blog]

Well that doesn't sound so bad now does it?

End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it: white shores…and beyond. A far green country, under a swift sunrise. 

[army-hoosier-blog]

Captains log stardate 04 May 18

I'm feeling better.

I'm feeling like my old self again.

Mr Mackey always said, "Drugs are bad mmmkay," but there's more to it then that. Abusing drugs is bad. Slamming two tall boys of Bud heavy to help me sleep at night is bad (oh 21 year old me. How stupid you were).

Prescribed medication you take as directed by a licensed professional after a week of in patient observation is great!

I used to think I never had problems. I thought this for a couple of reasons:

1) I'm a corn fed country boy who grew up around old farmers. Old farmers don't have problems. And they certainly don't need any pills to get them through the day. (That's not 100% true. If they were on medication they sure as hell didn't talk about it.)

2) I refuse to be labeled a precious snowflake millennial who needs his safe space and medication while I describe my feelings and read Walden's pond. I love the old school- the greatest generation. The men who busted through at battle of the buldge or took the machine guns nest in Korea. John Wayne and Mel Gibson. The man with no name staring down his adversary in a graveyard while ecstasy of gold plays in the background. You think mike dikta or john madden took medication? Hell no.

3) I am a Soldier, an officer, and a Leader. I am assigned to provide outstanding leadership to every Soldier I work with every day (I know, I like kool aid). Uncle Sam defines leadership as "providing purpose, direction, and motivation while operating to complete the mission and improve the organization." Nowhere in doctrine does it say, "but if you need to take a knee and get checked out go for it. Chill out in the in patient pysch ward for a week while someone picks up your slack.

No. Lead from the front damnit! Set the example. Be that Leader young troops aspire to be. Bust through styrofoam walls and put out fires. Set out a plan and execute violently. Make it happen LT.

Hey, Roger that. I may be feeling a little down but who doesn't? I don't have a mental problem. I've never fired a round in combat. I've never experienced anything tramatic (burning buildings, rounds hitting the FOB, mas casualties, etc.).

I was wrong.

It's ok to get help and to seek out assistance.

If you tear your MCL do you just Solder on? Nope.

You get repaired and rehabilitated. You go to occupational therapy and you take (pause for dramatic effect)....medication.

Our brains are processors, and if there's a chemical imbalance we don't operate like we should-we get the red ring of death (xbox) or the spinning color wheel of death (mac) or whatever happens when internet explorer poops the bed.

I said all that to say this. I'm getting better. Medication is good, writing and therapy is good. Keep on keepin on.

J

[army-hoosier-blog]

Caissons

One of my mentors once told me "words have meaning." Well that didn't click for me until JRTC rotation 18-06, FPLA. There was a flow to my thoughts. COIN is winding down, Mr. Trump is our commander in chief and the money is flowing again. Decisive Action is the word of the day. GRF assignments to task org and BDE validation exercises in preparation for a near peer threat. Most likely threat is Russia, China.... Korea. North Korea. North Korea. I joined the army in 2008 as a Tuba player. 42R. Soft MOS. I joined bc I was damn good at it and I wanted to serve and earn a living. First assignment was Yongsan Garrison, Seoul Korea. My main mission was conducting ceremonies for General Sharp on Pike field with the 8th army honor guard. In 2008 Korea was a sham station to get out of a deployment. If someone asked "hey brother have you ever deployed?" And you answered "yeah, Korea a few times," you got laughed out of the room. "Korea? Thats not a deployment. I asked if you've been on a COMBAT deployment. What about Iraq or Afghanistan, you soft weak baby bird. Why didn't you get over there and do patrols in Baghdad or Faluja or the triangle of death with the Black Hearts? Why didn't you get your ass on a plane to Bagrahm and patrol in the mountains and build an OP like those sky soldiers in Restrepo? You weren't even a weak Fobbit. You were too scared to even get on a plane. It bugged me that I never had that patch. It bugged me that I stood on the tarmac at fort hood and watch my buddies get on that plane to bagrahm. And I was left on the bench.  I realize the army changes, times change, the pressue is building up. Nations are trying to show how much their packing. Linear warefare is back in business. Infantry gets it. Armor and Cav scouts get. Artillery with their cannons and FISTERS get it. Pilots.....pilots still have growing pains. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “man, we’ll never do this.  We’ll never be out in the field so close to the forward line of troops.  It’s too risky.” They dont get it. Time of flight for an AH-64D is 4 hours down and 4 back before bingo.  Let’s look at History: What happens when Patton busts through the Battle of the Bulge and is marching towards Berlin and he wants his Apaches? Are you going to tell old blood and guts "well sorry, Sir but we're still in the rear and you don't have aireal coverage." Not a chance. So how do you fix it? You get those pilots into the field and train with everyone else. You hone your field craft. You monitor your consumption rate and crossload and forecast your burn rate. You utilize speed through deliberate planning and violence of action. You kick those pilots out of the ALOC and tell them to link up with their 1sg for their damn nightly ration. No chief. You can't have that MRE. That is for someone else. This isn't the AAFES chow hall with all you can eat buffet. Get out of my 307 and link up with your 92y to get chow. I got the DATE mindset bc I was there.  I went green to gold and became a quartermaster officer.  First assignment: Camp Casey, Korea. 1-38 MLRS battalion. Steel behind the Rock. I remember walking into my battalion commander's office and that old man took a look at me, asked me what my pt test score was, and told me, "All right. Welcome to 1-38 steel. We shoot rockets and missles. Figure it out LT." “Roger that, Sir. Oh btw thanks for that 2007 super bowl championship you gave to the peyton manning and the Colts during the battle of I-65.″ (he was a bears fan). "Go fuck yourself LT. Get out of my office". My first assignment was a deep dive into the bde go to war opord in case the balloon went up and we actually went to war. I was to plan and brief the sustainment warfighting function of the counterfire fight. I can’t share the details of the order on this website.  Just know there are a lot of people and equipment on the north side of the DMZ.  I had to plan the sustainment with that in my mind.  How do we keep the trucks on the road delivering rockets and missiles to the launchers?  That was my job to figure out.  Good luck LT.  Back to the present: the pilots and 15 series cats weren't getting it. I talked to one guy saying "why the hell aren't we in the damn woodline?" Response: "shit, sir. The counter attack isn't for another two days." WHAT?! We were in artillery range (simulated) the moment we got off the plane. All it took is one drone. One drone to notice all our trucks parked like a motorpool and the red cell to put red tape over the trucks and deadline our equipment. But in the back of my mind I knew it was those cannons laying waste to my entire battalion. And nobody got it....there was no planning. There was no urgency. They didn't know what we're up against. Those koksan cannons. All of them. Staring right down at us. My role as a s4 officer was to monitor, brief, forecast, and verify the sustainment of my battalion. To keep I III and V coming.  Food, Fuel, and Bullets. But it was 2 days of the training exercise and our security was still poor. Half of the forward support company was gone. A SSG was the fsc commander. A sgt was the fsc 1sg. I had to link up with them and the bsb to get the sustainment flowing. And I got a call "hey LT. The birds haven't launched yet bc they're still waiting on updated FARP numbers from you. "WHAT?!" stress... The tipping point was I started taking it personal. It stopped being a game. It wasn't the dirty dozen anymore. It was apocalypse now. It was platoon. Platoon. It was my platoon. In camp casey korea there is a mountain. Soyosan Mountain. Nested in the base of that mountain is a motorpool and a company cp. In that cp is an distribution platoon whose mission was to run combat trains of 1, 3, and 5 to the rally points to keep those launchers firing. And their mission set wasn't just a task in an opord. Their names weren't just names on an alpha roster. That platoon wasn't just a freakin square on a powerpoint presentation. That platoon was my platoon. And my hard charging platoon daddy and I ran that platoon. I was their leader and he was my right hand. That was my platoon. Those were my trucks and my troops driving those trucks north to ao cat and rooster. 580th fsc was my guidon that I saluted every Friday during retreat. Those were my troops learning how to do mounted vehicle security and combat logistical patrol command and control and send 9 line medevacs and plan overlays in JCR and honing their craft as combat logistical warriors. I couldn't quit thinking about them over there. We never fired a bullet, but everything was tactical. Everything. No more cruising down hwy 3 and waving at the bompo trucks. No. That was fury road, and we were the warboys. What a lovely day!!!! Readiness wasn't just a header in an email. It meant something. We had to be ready. And we were. We were ready to throw the hammer down if any of those communist bastards tried to mess with us. You're either the hammer or a plastic nail. We were the hammer. I realize now when I should have stopped and gotten out of the game. The first hot breakfast served out of the ck. That first hot a ration cycle. I walked up into that kitchen and I saw the 92 Golfs. The cooks. There was one private serving oatmeal And I saw here face. And she was so excited to do her job and serve me a spoon of oatmeal. And I felt her joy. It was like forrest gump sleeping next to bubba in Viet Nam and looking at the stars. I felt her joy. But then Jenny creeped in. And I thought about that containerized kitchen in Korea. And that same golf being excited to do her job and put hot food in the bellies of troops and run mermites out to the launcher bubbas in their hide positions. And one mortar round. One artillery shell and she's gone. The cannons... That stress got to me and I collapsed from heat exhaustion. I took the game too seriously. I couldn't quit thinking about all those guidons in that taskord and where they were on Casey. 580th, 579th, 70th Bsb. 70th bsb. The lumberjacks that were named after operation Paul Bunyan when an entire carrier fleet launched to the Yellow Sea and pointed the big guns right down Kim Il Sung so one detail could cut down a tree and dared that communist bastard to move a muscle. 46th transportation company with their flatracks and their hard charging 88m NCO running flat rack operations and rehearsing crossloading to the cargo hemtts from the fsc's all because one butter bar called around and set up a training plan and threw it on the calander. Mission command. Disciplined initiative. Get better each day. The highs of being a part of that group of sustainers and hard chargers and good Aarrrmmmy training Sir! Then the lows hit. The demons came. The cannons. Those damn cannons. That million man reserve. And those guidons...gone. all of them gone. That distro pl from 580th who went on a honeymoon to new zealand with his new wife for two weeks, landed in Houston, and turned and burned...gone. And I broke down. I was trying to put out too many little fires and the forrest was burning. And those cannons wouldn't go away. And I put down my firehose and hit the dirt. As I was winding down I've realized something: that platoon is not alone and unafraid. Usfk and forescom would not do them dirty like that. And if that 3 star thought 580th wasn't worth the effort, there would be one pissed off LT that would march straight past his assistant, slap his desk, and demand to know why that leader isn't utilizing his every available asset to get to my fucking platoon. Because those were my men. And my trucks. And my ncos. I pulled out of the rabbit hole and realized something. The caissons are going to be ok. My warboys are going to be ok. Because they are not alone on that Major Supply Route. They are going to be backed up by firepower from the ROK and the Indian head that's second to none and always ready to fight tonight. My platoon is backed by first team armor and guam with B52's and Osan with the warthogs and 3 BDEs from tropic thunder from hawaii. And following that is 82nd high speed paratroopers and fucking 18th fires on grf as a reserve. And my battalion, the wolfpack, is nested in that 96 hour sequence. And if any of those communist bastards with their false God who shoots farmers and starves their people while he chums it up with Dennis Rodman mess with the Caissons all that FSC commander has to do is hop on the net and call one wolf in the air with 30mm and hedp rockets and longbow hellfire missles that is messing with that combat logistical patrol. That is trying to block and overrun my warboys. Because that supreme leader has his kocsan cannons and his million man reserve. But on our side? On our side we have the wolves. We have the wolves. We have a CW4 with 8 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan who is the BN SP and can fly that AH-64D with his eyes closed. And his front seater is a Lieutenant Colonel from the SF aviation community who can lay leathal and accurate fires on that enemy position. We have a prior service ranger regiment trooper who runs a tight supply cage as an additional duty. We got a female LT from Omaha who runs marathons is sharp as a tac backing them up in that air weapons team. And they are flying the wolves. The enemy better be on the lookout. Because it's open season boys. And the wolves are on the prowl.  I'm going to call up that distro platoon leader. I'm going to call him and tell him to rest easy. Because he is not alone on that combat logistical patrol alone and afraid in the wilderness. I’ll tell him “Don't worry about those rusted out cannons and that reserve with broom handles and 2 rounds per weapon. Because on our side. On our side. The wolves are in the wilderness too.” And that false god tyrant better pray to his ancestors.  Because he’s going to need all the help he can get. And I'll tell that PL who kissed his new wife goodbye and is on a 15 month tour to rollover to our frequency and call any wolfpack callsign. Any one at all. Because if you call one wolf, you get the pack! Sustain the Fight.  All the Way. Caissons.

#army #stories #korea #2ID

[army-hoosier-blog]

My platoon

[army-hoosier-blog]

Hi Everybody

So this is my first blog (go easy on me).  I’m 31 and probably a little behind the power curve with this whole social media...thing.  I found out last week I would not be able to serve in the Army anymore.  It sucks.  I wanted to hit 20 and be in the “old retired Soldiers who reminisce about the good times” club. I guess Uncle Sam, God, Jesus, Allah, Buddha, The Flying Spaghetti Monster, Universe, whatever had different plans for me.  So 10 it is for my Army career.   I had a mental breakdown during a training exercise and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.  I’ve spent the last week in the psychiatric ward being evaluated and given time to just chill out a little bit.  As I was decompressing I realized how much I missed writing, and that I’m not that bad at it.  I mean I’m no Stephen King or Charles Dickens, but I know how to put thoughts on paper.  I want to use Tumblr as my zen place to talk about whatever.  Army, sports, life, stories, whatever.  So if you want to stop by and read my stuff, go for it.  If you would rather hop over to porn hub well I can’t stop you from doing that either.  So come with me down the rabbit hole and lets see what we can find. #army #manicmonday