It has certainly been an interesting time away from the rest of the company, as this element of 3rd herd has been. Interesting good in many ways, interesting bad in a few. First the good of being not quite a full strength platoon far away from the rest of the flock: There is far greater freedom to get the job done without the tedium of just being another duck in the gaggle. Too often there are communication issues that effect everyone's morale back in the gaggle. Here, our Platoon Leader sees each of us every day, as does our Platoon Sergeant, and our Warrant Officer so information flows much better both up and down the chain and if there is some confusion about something it can be remedied pretty quickly. The other good things are the ability to get up, work on the project, finish the days work (anywhere from 10-15 hours generally), talk with family and friends online, sleep, and do it all over again. Most of us on the night crew only have one real meal a day (by choice, kind of) and snack through the rest of the day - we've all lost weight, but I think in good ways as our teamwork, safety, and speed have all grown. Being separated and learning to rely on each other as a nuclear (squad level) family, and extended (platoon element) family have really helped our cohesiveness. We'll come back stronger and more focused on success than we were before we left on this mission.
The bad is mostly that we get left out of things. Fun things. The members of our platoon who stayed at our home station in Iraq have had some days off and had time to have a barbecue! I would love to have a burger or brat cooked on a grill! They also get their mail. It'll be far too long for those of us here since last we received a letter or a package and I'll say it; it's because of poor communication at a higher level. We've had members of the company come and visit us, and members of the battalion above us, too, but no one has thought to bring everyone's mail with them. Even sailors in the middle of the ocean get their mail. I digress.
We've felt a little cut-off from whatever it is that goes on back at our home station - what the other platoons are up to, what the company is up to, what the battalion is up to. That may just be the nature of the beast as far as lower enlisted go, but we're all a bit more used to knowing what is going on so far as the bigger picture is concerned. Communication here specifically is still very good.
Next, and I'm certain that I'm just upsetting the world, or at least my own portion of it, with all of this, but according to Ar670-1 Chapter 28-17, pg. 246 and Appendix F, pg. 336:
28-17. Shoulder sleeve insignia-former wartime service (SSI-FWTS)
a. General. Authorization to wear a shoulder sleeve insignia indicating former wartime service applies only to soldiers who are assigned to U.S. Army units that meet all the following criteria. Soldiers who were prior members of other Services that participated in operations that would otherwise meet the criteria below are not authorized to wear the SSI-FWTS. Wear is reserved for individuals who were members of U.S. Army units during the operations.
(1) The Secretary of the Army or higher must declare as a hostile environment the theater or area of operation to which the unit is assigned, or Congress must pass a Declaration of War.
(2) The units must have actively participated in, or supported ground combat operations against hostile forces in which they were exposed to the threat of enemy action or fire, either directly or indirectly.
(3) The military operation normally must have lasted for a period of thirty (30) days or longer. An exception may be made when U.S. Army forces are engaged with a hostile force for a shorter period of time, when they meet all other criteria, and a recommendation from the general or flag officer in command is forwarded to the Chief of Staff, Army.
So as you can see just from the army publication, we've earned our SSI-FWTS, we've been in theater over 30 days. Those of you checking facebook have certainly noticed that in our pictures we all still look like cherries (new guys), and it's pretty disappointing that we're here, we've served the time, and we've yet to be awarded them. There certainly exists some confusion about which patch we're supposed to be wearing on the right shoulder, but rather than launch into the 4 patches that I believe we will be authorized (5 if you're members of one of the platoons that had a man with stars on his hat sign off on it) I'll let people who make more money than I do explain it.
I don't mean this to be a gripe session (and no, I'm not done yet) but as good as things are where we are, as far as creature comforts go (our TV, our DVD player, our refrigerator, more than two uniforms and a week of underwear) we don't really have much out here. The cellular service isn't very good, and the internet is expensive (no real surprise there) and the free net that we've found in the MWR is only fast if there are less than five people using it, or less than two if Avalos is using it. Is it really that much to ask that our mail be forwarded to us, or that our SSI-FWTS (combat patches) be awarded to us? There might not be other people voicing it so loudly as I am, but it is on everyone's mind, and a lot of the soldiers have already secured the patches that we understand we should be able to wear just waiting for that day that someone says, "oh, yeah, you can wear those."
This brings me to the things soldiers do when their company doesn't have a motto: unofficial mottoes happen. Soldiers are taught from day 1 of basic training to adapt and overcome, and the members of 3rd Platoon did. Other companies that we've trained alongside have been, "Fight to Win," or "Sapper's Forward," or "Out Front!" I've suggested some mottoes in the past (Gloire et Victoire - Glory and Victory(other troops have suggested "Strength and Honor")) and things like that, but they were nixed by our former commander. In the absence of something tangible, (unofficially) we've become 485th Engineers: Destroyers of Hope. I'll let you work out the meaning, but there are plenty of people who will end up with 'Destroyers of Hope' tattoos on their leave, and it's amusing to see D.O.H. show up on facebook walls. It's actually become a phrase that we all bond over, and I think that actually makes it a really positive thing :-)
The last gripe is that the horizontal company who came out here seems to think that 'Vertical' (that's us) also means horizontal. I don't grade surfaces, I don't dig holes for people who half-ass their jobs, and I wish that they'd step things up so that we can get to our project already, and then maybe we can back to where we came from, rejoin the gaggle, and read our mail. I think that there may be some SSI-FWTS patches in mine.
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