Army Community - Army Discussions - Army Times

Letters

USE IT OR LOSE IT

I have been deployed to Iraq four times now. Each time I go, I get new uniforms issued to me, as well as other new gear.

The new gear is great, but there is one problem: We can’t wear half the stuff or, if we can, it has to be during certain times, and then you have to have a letter from the president to wear them. Why issue gear and equipment we can’t, or won’t, ever use?

The perfect example is the new Army combat shirts. In order to wear them, a soldier must have his Army Combat Uniform top and a brown shirt becauseit can’t be worn where he can be seen.

There is a reason we were issued it — because it helps soldiers downrange fight the heat. But if it can’t ever been worn, why bother giving it to a soldier? If not, we all know the Army is 90 percent [about appearance] and 10 percent about it working. I guess if we don’t look right, we can’t fight right.

— Sgt. Billy A. Jones, Fort Stewart, Ga.

AVOID ‘FORT LIVING ROOM’

Second Lt. Maile Yeats brought up an interesting matter in the Sept. 14 issue [“End-strength increase eases new officers’ wait”]. There aren’t enough slots in the Officer’s Basic Course classes, so the Army is delaying bringing newly commissioned second lieutenants onto active duty for several months.

A solution may be to send the lieutenants to other professional development courses until their OBC slot opens up. Some examples include Airborne, Air Assault, Pathfinder and Ranger schools. Sending officers to one or more of these schools would benefit them throughout their careers and make good use of the time waiting for an OBC slot.

Another valuable course for junior officers is the Battalion Maintenance Officer Course, also called the Junior Maintenance Officer Course, where you learn many aspects of running a battalion motor pool.

With all the deployments going on in the Army these days and the increasing emphasis on language and cultural skills, perhaps a course at the Defense Language Institute would be a good use of time, particularly in languages such as Arabic, Pashtun, Dari and Farsi.

These are just some examples of valuable education opportunities that new lieutenants can take before ever going to their OBC. I’m sure there are a lot of others worth considering, as well. Sending new officers to these classes would pay dividends to the officers and to the Army for years to come. But letting newly commissioned lieutenants wait in a holding pattern at “Fort Living Room” does neither them nor the Army any good.

— Lt. Col. Thomas E. Shrader, Baghdad

IT’S ‘OK’ TO DITCH BERET

I don’t want this to sound like a complaint against many years in my beloved Army. I want this to be read as an opportunity to listen to new ideas.

I believe many of the soldiers in my unit don’t think the black beret is fit for garrison duties.

How many of us have been on detail at the last minute, or without notice? This is called flexibility, friends, and that is all fine and dandy. The only problem is that we are only allowed to wear the patrol cap when on a detail, and this is 99 percent of the time impossible, so we wear our black beret.

I don’t know how many generals or senior enlisted personnel have been on a detail with the black beret, but this is not a pleasant feeling. I’m an infantry soldier, myself, and trust me, I am not afraid of any detail. But it does hurt me to see my soldiers sweating their faces off with this thing over their heads. The beret in the Army is like eating cornflakes with water — it tastes OK, but we know that it isn’t right.

With that said, how many times have we heard or read many members of different ranks complain about uniform camouflage? It’s OK to talk about the fact that we need new camo, but we are forgetting that we have small issues when we get back to the garrison world. Someone needs to take a look at this and make a change.

The point I want everyone to see is that it is OK to change things. Our tactics change. Our soldiers nowadays are smarter and braver. Our weapons have changed. Why can’t something as simple as the black beret be changed?

— Sgt. Carlos Eulloque, Fort Benning, Ga.

IV TRAINING IS AN ASSET

Spc. Matthew L. Wellington has it right in his letter [“Bring back IV training,” Sept. 28]. Make sure all your team members know how to do an IV. As a member of a six-man long-range surveillance team, I felt better knowing my guys could help the Combat Lifesaver troop if we ran into trouble.

On another note, as a Vietnam vet (1971) I disagree with the letter by former Sgt. Daniel Peace [“More attention for injuries,” Sept. 28]. The Purple Heart should be awarded as it always has been. I see his point [to include injuries such as traumatic brain injury], but I still disagree. They changed the rules for the Combat Infantryman Badge. Leave the “wound” award alone.

— Staff Sgt. J.T. Cox (ret.), Romulus, Mich.

PACK A PISTOL THAT WORKS

There was a big push to test and identify a new pistol and a rumor that we would return to the .45ACP several years ago. Since then, nothing has been said or accomplished on that front. Why? Where is the sense of urgency needed to correct this problem? Where are the generals who could make this a reality?

Soldiers have to carry a pistol that is not as durable as it should be, and in a caliber that will not produce a reliable first-round kill. Bring back the .45ACP. If not in the Colt 1911A1, then do so in the Glock 21, Springfield Armory XD or one of the other excellent designs.

But don’t blow this problem off — people are being killed through inaction, and it ain’t the enemy.

— Sgt. Alan Griggs (ret.), Buckeye, Ariz.

NEW CAMO CAN SAVE LIVES

In response to the editorial “Field effective camo now,” [Sept. 21], I agree and only hope that the Army will now rectify the grievous error they made in fielding the Army Combat Uniforms using the Universal Camouflage Pattern, and choose a pattern or patterns that best fit the environments where the soldiers have to fight.

— Chief Warrant Officer 4 Richard Grace, Redding, Calif.

—————

Bottom line up front: If you’re going to fight in the woods, you had better look like the woods.

I have almost 20 years of service and have worn four different utility uniforms in all the environments you can think of. While I can’t flat-out hate the Army Combat Uniform, the camo blends in with nothing — unless you are lying down in the right type of gravel.

There is a reason no service in the world has adopted these schemes as an improvement: Because they wouldn’t be.

Marine Pattern was a great idea. MultiCam works. And after testing, when the Army Combat Uniform has failed in all the standards it was supposed to flourish in, and the money issues of refit will drown out protecting soldiers, understand that ACUs are less cost effective than caskets.

— Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Bicknell, Augusta, Ga.