Leadership

Working these last few weeks as the acting First Sergeant for my company, I've talked a few times with junior NCO's about leadership. Shockingly, I'm sure, I have strong opinions about leadership. I've served under a few good leaders and a lot of bad ones. I thought I'd put down some thoughts on what I've come to believe after 22 years in the Army.
This will probably go to several parts so I'll make a tag for these posts.

First and most important, I think, is that leaders have to understand that they get what they deserve. Unless you are stepping into a unit or group that has suffered under poor leadership before you get there, you create the atmosphere in your unit. You teach your troops how you want them to act towards you and react to you. For good or for bad. You get what you give.

If your troops are undisciplined, slow to respond to orders and generally don't give a shit about the unit, (with rare exceptions,) that's the leaders fault. It may have been different once, but for a long time now all Soldiers have been volunteers. So we are starting with troops who want to be in the Army. There is a certain number of kids who realize they made a huge mistake and they can be a problem, but even they will usually step up if you treat them right.

But for the most part, if you have a bad Soldier, a leader created that bad Soldier. A failure of leadership took place, or more likely a series of failures. From what I've seen it's also pretty rare that poor leadership effects only individual Soldiers. More likely an entire squad, platoon or company will be effected.

At some point, when I have time, I'm thinking I'll write about a couple of specific aspects of leadership.
Being liked vs. being respected.
The fine line between hardcore and stupid (setting the example.)
Responsibility vs. authority (and exactly why you have to do what I say.)
Answering questions.

Camelback perfection

Okay, I bought this new Camelback. It's pretty much exactly what I've been looking for, I can't really think of any improvements.

I have an issued assault pack that I keep everything in whether I'm in the field or in garrison. I also have an issued Camelback. Obviously I can't wear both at the same time, so the Camelback goes into the assault pack when I'm carrying both. The camelback takes up a lot of space in the pack and is kind of a pain in the ass with all the straps and extra webbing. (Loose webbing dangling all over the place is a pet peeve of mine.) All in all, not a big deal. Certainly not worth replacing a perfectly good Camelback that was free.

Now in full gear in the field, especially in body armor, things get more complicated. Wearing the Camelback over the IBA drives me nuts. I almost always forget it's on (which is good), but I strangle myself when I go to take it off. Plus sitting in a vehicle with the Camelback on puts me in a forward leaning position which is uncomfortable.

Enter the "Armorbak." It's a small Camelback that comes with clips that allow you to attach the thing to the back of an IBA or other body armor, or even vest. So no straps across the front of the vest. It sits higher than the issue Camelback and is shaped differently, which should make sitting in a vehicle more comfortable.

Plus when I unclip it from the IBA, it fits beautifully in the assault pack. It even clips to existing quick-disconnects on the outside of the assault pack. A couple of pics.





We will be getting the new generation body armor before we leave, so I'll have to get a couple of pics of that set-up when I put it together.

So we were issued sleeping pads

I'm a little pissed off that we didn't know we were getting self-inflating sleeping pads. I went and bought one a while ago. Mine is a little thicker, but they are made by the same company, Cascade Designs. The one I bought is branded Thermarest.

Danner Mountain boots

After spending some time wearing these boots I'm ready to express an opinion.
That opinion is: they're okay.
Are you thrilled?



The boots are pretty much your average pair of hiking boots. I've got another really nice pair I bought at REI at home. In fact, I like the REI boots more. The Danners would benefit from a good pair of custom insoles, but they fit my feet well. Others weren't so lucky and many people had to get the wide size because they felt the boots ran narrow. I find Danner boots run a little small and both my Danner's are 10.5, where I normally wear a 10. Although my feet could be getting bigger as I get older. My first pair of Army boots, 20 years ago, were 9.5s.

Speaking of those other Danners, (the TFX boots from this post,) I bought Aaron a pair before he left on his deployment. He says he loves them. Since he's a grunt and has been carrying a heavy load on multiple foot patrols, I'd say that's a pretty good endorsement. I'd bet I'll wear the TFX boots the most, until it gets hot. Then it'll be the Blackhawks.

But the Danner Mountain Boots are cool because they were free and you only get them if you are in the Army getting ready to go to Afghanistan. So when I'm wearing them as motorcycle boots a few years from now, I'll feel cool 'cause I have boots very few other people have.
Unless Danner starts selling these to civilians...

Which is likely. I can see the ads now: Troops marching through the Hindu Kush, burdened with heavy packs... shot closes in on one Soldier's boots - the Danners... As the shot widens back out, it's the same Soldier, wearing the same boots, hiking through the Colorado back country.
"When your life depends on your boots...
Available at your local outfitter..."

I should be on Mad Men.

Lots of cool gear

I was issued all the RFI gear last week. Been wearing it out here in the brutal cold of Wisconsin on the ranges. Looking forward to posting some thoughts about it when I have more regular internet access.

The Underwear Bomber

So the take-away lesson from this attempted terrorist attack appears to be that if we have a suspicion that a likely terrorist living in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iraq is plotting an attack on the U.S., we can kill him in his home with a large bomb. No lawyers, no trial, no appeal.

But if that same guy gets on a plane, flies into an American airport and is actually caught in the act of trying to kill Americans, he is entitled to Miranda rights. That includes a free lawyer and the right to remain silent.

It's a strange time we live in.

Declaring defeat

I can't just let this go by so I'm reverting to politics for a post. Hey, it's my blog.

I watched Obama's speech at West Point last night. What I saw was the president declaring defeat. We are going to send 30k more troops starting in 2010, and then we are starting to pull out in 2011. WTF?

So the message is: you've got a year to win it, then we're going home. He said we would take into account conditions on the ground, well if so, why put a date on it? What I think this really does is give Obama cover for quitting. I think he would have us leave now if he could. What he can do now is say "I gave the military everything they wanted, but they failed. So we're pulling our troops out." He saves face, the military gets the blame.

Everyone will take that date into account. When an Afghan considers joining the Afghan army, he has to consider that the Americans have already said they are leaving in less than two years. And how realistic is it that the Afghans will be ready to fight the Taliban on their own? Pakistan will take that date into account when they are deciding how to deal with Al Qaeda in their country.

The absolute best we can hope for at this point is that the bad guys will just lie low for a year and wait for us to leave before they rush back in to take over. Why fight when you just have to wait less than two years and your enemy will leave?
But we know they will fight. Soldiers and Marines will die and it will be for nothing because we've already decided when the war ends.

They can put any spin on the decision that they want, and I'm sure they will over the next few days. What I'd like to know is what I'm supposed to say to one of my Soldiers when they stand if front of me and ask: "What's the point?" (Actually that's the question I'd like to get an answer to myself.) This makes my job a lot harder.

Quitting is quitting, it doesn't matter how long you hang on for if you are just going to quit. If you're going to quit, quit early.

I've got to stop talking to people

I'm an impatient bastard. I know this about myself. And it's getting worse. This is pretty common for me around deployments. It's happened pretty much every time I've gone on a hardship tour or on a war deployment.

I get irritated easily, especially by people who are not deploying. That mostly means civilians. Sorry. It's not the civilians fault, I know that and I try very hard not to let people know that I'm irritated. But I know sometimes it comes across.

I've talked to my wife and she says she sometimes feels the same way. (She's also a Soldier for those tuning in late.) My son has also said the same thing. So I guess it's not that uncommon.

I suppose I'm posting this as a way of saying, if you know someone who is deploying soon, cut them some slack. You may think they are mad at you, and they may just be on edge.

More tips for care packages

Okay, I've been thinking about this. There are a couple of other things to keep in mind when sending care packages to troops overseas.

One is "Know your troop." That is, what I need overseas is different from what my son needs. I'm a support troop, he's a combat troop. I'm a senior NCO, he's a private.
Mainly this means I have more access to a PX (store), I am pretty much staying in one spot most of the time and I have money to buy what I need. At least more so than a young private.

So if you know a kid over there who is a combat troop on a small Combat Outpost (COP) like my son, send him or her anything and everything. The things on the list in my last post are all good. But if you are sending things to a support Soldier on a big Forward Operating Base (FOB), keep in mind we probably don't need baby wipes and ibuprofen. Our PX will have all that stuff. I should modify this a little, location trumps job type. If your troop is a REMF, but stationed on a COP, send the baby wipes. Of course, you should listen to your troop and send them whatever they ask for no matter where they are.

Something else to keep in mind, eliminate packaging and ziploc everything. This is especially important for a grunt like my son who is living out of his rucksack. Ziploc type bags are extremely useful. You can keep little stuff organized and dry, and you can see through the bag so you don't have to open everything up to find what you are looking for.
Eliminating packaging means less garbage your troop has to deal with, and makes the package you are sending lighter and cheaper to mail.

Last, if you want to hear from your troop, include some self addressed envelopes or postcards in your care package. You don't need to put stamps on them, letters and postcards are free from combat zones for the troops. You might even put a couple of sheets of paper in each envelope, especially for the grunts. When I was a Cav Scout I could never keep letter writing paper clean and dry, it always ended up getting thrown out.

PS, I think I need to add this. Don't send your troop contraband items. You may think it's cute to include a couple little airline style bottles of booze, but you can get your troop in a lot of trouble. I don't think I need to say it, but don't send drugs either.

Sending your kid to war is harder than I thought

This staying behind thing sucks. I never realized it was so hard to be the one staying home where it's safe. I've always been the one leaving.

I went to the PX today and picked up some things for Aaron's first care package. He lost his watch so I got to shop for a new one for him. Being a watch nut, that was fun for me. In this case I found him a cheap Casio digital, just in case he loses this one too.

Some of the other things I picked up:
Anti-bacterial wipes
Eye glass cleaning wipes
Single load packs of laundry detergent
Q-tips (for ear and weapon cleaning)
Ibuprofen
Moleskin (for blisters)
Self heating hand and foot warmers
Book of crosswords
Couple of decks of cards
A set of dice
Vitamins
Batteries (AA)
Protein bars
Sunflower seeds
Ziploc baggies
A magazine and a paperback book

(If you know anyone over there, all this stuff is nice to get.)

Since Aaron's birthday is coming up, I got a big Hanna Montana gift bag in which to put all this stuff. Not because he likes Hanna Montana, but just for laughs. Imagine a Marine infantryman in combat opening up his care package and everything is in a little girls gift bag.
Well, maybe it's funnier in my head, but I'm sending it anyway.

Then on the way home a song on the radio hit me funny and I had to pull over because of the tears. I'm not the crying type, but there it is.

Aaron flies tonight

My little boy gets on a plane tonight and flies to Afghanistan.

Danner Combat Hiker

Come to find out the mountaineering boots the Army is issuing is the Danner Combat Hiker. Looks like this:

Casio Pathfinder

I really prefer mechanical watches (you can click the "watch" label at the bottom of this post to see some of my previous watch posts.) But I recently had to take my Omega in because it stopped. Mechanical watches are, relatively speaking, fragile. What makes them fascinating to me, the working of tiny gears and springs, is also their weak point when it comes to toughness.

So I decided to get a Casio Pathfinder. This is a digital multifunction watch. I'm replacing the Suunto Vector I've had for five or six years.

The Vector is a great watch, but it's beat up and it's huge. I can't wear it, I just hang it from my web gear. Casio came out with a couple of new models of its Pathfinder line that are smaller in size and more wearable. The reason these are so big is that they are combine time and an altimeter, barometer and compass, called an ABC watch.

With these watches you have to pick your priorities. If you want the best ABC functions, you go with a Suunto, a Highgear or, suprisingly, the Timex WS4. But for me the ABC functions are secondary.
My priorities are:
Chronograph (stopwatch) functions, for crossfit and running.
Multiple time zones, since I'm going to be far, far away.
Day of the week display. I can never keep track of the day of the week in the field.
Alarms, for wake ups, meetings, etc...

Now since I'm not a big fan of digital watches, I want to get as much bang for my buck as possible. That's why I like the ABC watches. They have all the functions mentioned, plus more!

The altimeter function isn't huge for me. These are not all that accurate, although some are really pretty good, based on the reviews I've gone through. More important to me is the barometer. This shows the trend of barometric pressure over a period of time. If the trend is rising, good weather is coming. If the trend is falling, bad weather is coming. I made a habit of checking my Vector before bed and again in the moring to have an idea of what weather to expect.

Then the compass. Why not? Useful to orient a map, decide which direction to angle a shade tarp (the south side.)

So which watch to choose? Only one choice really. The Casio Pathfinder (PAW 1300) has the right combination of features, in the right priority for me. The stopwatch is easy to use, it displays a second timezone with one button push, has 5 alarms, has the barometric pressure trend line, and the day of the week. It also is made to stand up to abuse.

To top it off, it's solar powered. More specifically, it has a battery that is charged by light. So no worries about changing batteries in Afghanistan. (Though to be fair, many of these watches have batteries that are easy to change. You open them up with a quarter.)

This Pathfinder also syncs with atomic clocks regularly, if you are in range. I don't expect to be in range, but I'm not too worried about the time getting out of sync.

Here's a pic.

Boots!

So a little update on how the shopping is going for the deployment.

So I got the duffel bags, and some small stuff sacks to organize my gear in. Life should be a bit easier back in the tent now.

The next issue was boots. I want my boots to disappear as soon as I put them on, I don't want to think about them again. Luckily there are a lot of options now. I managed to find two very comfortable summer boots, although I had to compromise a little. These boots wear like tennis shoes, but they are a bit hot. I mean they don't breathe as well as the old fashioned "jungle boot" style desert boots we were issued in the past, or even the new issue boots. But the comfort factor makes it worth it.
Here are pics. Bates M-9:




Blackhawk Warrior Wear:

Then, since Afghanistan is not Iraq, I decided some new waterproof boots would be a good idea. I settled on Danner TFX boots. These come with or without Gore-Tex and the GTX ones come with or without insulation.

I went with the GTX but without insulation. My feet get hot when I'm working even when it's cold. These are super lightweight and comfortable, right from the start.

The other reason I went without the insulation is we are supposed to get issued a pair of "mountaineering" boots. Which I believe are Bates Tora Bora boots, or something very similar. They look like this:
They are insulated, so that's covered.

This gives me two good pair of summer boots and two waterproof winter boots. That ought to cover it.

Got the North Face bag

Two of them actually. I found a closeout on last year's bags, so I picked up two of the XL size bags in black for $50 each. Then I found a sale on the medium size bags at REI, and picked up a red one.

Life is good.

Gear time

This blog is going to get into gear because I like gear.

So I've been looking at duffle bags. I have several green army duffles of course. The army has been using it for about 60 years, I think. It's evolved a little, but basically it's a canvas tube with shoulder straps. Looks like this one here:

The basic problem with the Army duffle bag is that it is top-loading. Whatever goes in first is buried until you empty the thing out. I am hoping to do better for this deployment.

I started looking around online and I found this bag that the Army is issuing to some units.

It's okay, I hope we get them. But I'd like to have a bag that isn't digital camouflage. I found a really nice, tough duffle bag from North Face.
The standard Army issue duffle bag is 5200 cu in. The wheeled deployment bag is 7000 cu in and the North Face bag is 9000 cu in. Either way, I've got more room than the standard bag, and I've got the U-shaped zipper that will allow access to all parts of the bag when it's packed.

If I have to choose between the two, I'll get the North Face bag. It has shoulder straps that can be taken off and compression straps that allow it to be cinched down to a smaller size if it's not completely full. It's made of a water resistant fabric and it won't scream "MILITARY" at the airport if I use it later for travel. It comes in red, which is always a good thing. I want the red, but I'll have to think about whether I should get it in black to take on a military deployment.

Best case, we get issued the wheeled bag and I buy the North Face bag. I'd be happy to leave all the old green duffle bags behind this time around.

Getting deployed again

It's on! Not going to give a lot of detail here, of course. But I think I'll use this blog to talk about deployment issues and how the training is going and, well, whatever else comes up.

For now I'll just say, we're going next year, probably to Afghanistan. That's not giving too much away.

Hmmm

Might have to start blogging again.

We had a little rally

At the DNC on Sunday. Ours was a small gathering, but we had a good time. I was impressed with the concept that on one side of the street was an anti-war rally and on the other was a rally supporting victory (saying "pro-war" doesn't really work, no one is pro-war.) I feel pretty good that, for the most part, we can have our political battles with words and signs and not bullets.

Our message is that the goal should be victory in Iraq, not abandonment. We shouldn't just be looking for the fastest way out, but the way that is best for us and the Iraqi people.

Here are some pics of the rally. You have to click on it to see the whole thing.

This one of me is courtesy of www.lookingattheleft.com




These pics are mine.





We had several speakers.



Even the poor horses had to have protection.

Ready for cap-and-trade?

So ready or not, here it comes! The cap-and-trade bill is making it's way through congress. This bill will force evil polluters (like your power company) to limit their CO2 emissions (that's the cap) or buy carbon credits (the trade.) Read the summary here.

Of course this will result in higher energy and gas prices. Much higher. The EPA did a study found here, that estimates the cost. They estimate that gasoline will cost 22 to 49 cents more in 2020 and electricity will cost 44% more by 2030.

They make some longshot assumuptions though. They assume, for one thing, that most power plants in the country will be replaced in the next 20 years with new ones that include a system for "carbon sequestration," capturing and storing CO2.

From Wikipedia: (Bold emphasis mine.)
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an approach to mitigate global warming by capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from large point sources such as fossil fuel power plants and storing it instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. Technology for large scale capture of CO2 is already commercially available and fairly well developed. Although CO2 has been injected into geological formations for various purposes, the long term storage of CO2 is a relatively untried concept and as yet (2007) no large scale power plant operates with a full carbon capture and storage system.

CCS applied to a modern conventional power plant could reduce CO2 emissions to the atmosphere by approximately 80-90% compared to a plant without CCS[1]. Capturing and compressing CO2 requires much energy and would increase the fuel needs of a coal-fired plant with CCS by about 25%[1]. These and other system costs are estimated to increase the cost of energy from a new power plant with CCS by 21-91%[1]. These estimates apply to purpose-built plants near a storage location: applying the technology to preexisting plants or plants far from a storage location will be more expensive.

The EPA also made the assumption that many new nuclear power plants will be built and that CO2 emitters will be able to buy carbon offsets. Read this story to see how well these programs work.

Here's the really scary part from the EPA: "The absence of these technologies is estimated to significantly increase compliance costs." In one section they estimate doubling or quadrupling costs. That's just gas and electricity.

The EPA estimate also states that total Gross Domestic Product for the U.S. will be lower by $444 billion to $1.3 trillion... in the best case scenario. This will be due to the higher cost of doing everything and the fact that folks will have less money to invest.

How will this effect the trucking company that brings the food to your local grocery store? How about UPS? Farmers?

So my question? Is it worth destroying our economy to slow global warming, if there is even a tiny doubt that CO2 is the sole cause of the warming?

Well, it doesn't really matter what we think. Both Obama and McCain support this bill. So we are in for it no matter who wins this fall.

Better start saving your pennies now.