In the United States military, generals and admirals take leave whenever they like. In recognition of the statuatory 30-days-per-year policy by which all federal employees are bound, most flag officers attend numerous official conferences in Miami, Las Vegas, Honolulu and Washington. Colonels, Lt. Cols and Majors on obsolescent but still-existent corps, division and brigade staffs haul ass whenever the General is gone, so long as they take care to ensure that they are not espied by their General or his wife in the DV (formerly VIP) lounge at Ramstein AB awaiting free transport via AMC to Andrews or Dover.
Captains explain to their Lts the absence of the Colonel due to "tactical" reasons.
The Lieutenant receives the ten pieces of mail for his platoon from his overstuffed and plaisant battalion Sgt Maj or company 1st Sgt, just returned from 5 days' R&R at Bahrain or Singapore. Notwithstanding the 500,000 parcels hopelessly backlogged in Dubai, Kuwait and Diego Garcia while nonplussed and woeful postal clerk reservists from
Baltimore and Compton collect their combat pay and grudgingly examine the sad turns of events that took them so unfairly from their promising lives in the booming inner city economies of the mainland U.S.
The Lt issues the mail as his men redistribute their ammunition and MREs and while he proclaims to them the latest, breathtaking, news from home about Britney-Ashley-Jennifer and her amours du jour or amours des temps. They neither quite remember, nor care, who is who and to whom or by whom what is being done, nor to what end. They are one month into an eighteen-month deployment. Who cares? They are either long-service or short-service men, by choice. There is no such official distinction in today's US Army.
The Lt. announces the current beauty contest between the army and the air farce over who has the cutest uniforms. The Marines chuckle derisively, while the Army soldiers shrug and a very few, sincere air farce men bow their heads in shame.
Everyone wonders how a Purple Heart can be considered a valorous award. They usually arrive in the wake of pain, bleeding and/or embarassment, if not death. They also wonder, if they were to cower on the floorboards of their vehicles as their weapons jam from lack of basic maintenance in an ambush caused by near-criminal lack of leadership and if they were "captured," would they receive heroes' accolades and medals galore? No, they say, we're infantrymen. We at least know better than that.
An especially well-read grunt or cannon cocker or tread-head wonders why none of his generals have read about John Boyd and fourth-generation warfare and the OODA loop. He ponders the existence of general staffs, DoD bureaux, and innumerable intelligence agencies who almost willfully ignore the tenets of modern warfare. Has no one read Guderian? Patton? Slim? Stirling? What about Boyd, Sun-tzu, Fall, Mao and Giap?
Finally this grunt, in anticipation of the lottery system that might give him a ten-day pass back home in the midst of his deployment (free air fare to Washington DC, the rest is on his own dime), reads an article that made it past the censors: "Air Farce General to Assume Pacific Command." He decides then and there to (a) assiduously avoid all RPGs, IEDs and small arms fire coming his way for the next 17 months, and to; (b) study business or accounting when he goes back to university after his EAS.
He makes notes:
(1) Purple Hearts are not cool and are oftimes awarded for quite stupid actions committed by ignorant or luckless people. Especial are those received by idiot naval lieutenants, out to recreate a farcical (and wholly fabricated) JFK heroism tale, and who, after chucking an M67 into a pile of rice, forget to duck.
PS: The original JFK got his boat rammed and got several men killed on a wartime patrol. Most officers are relieved, if not court-martialled, for that.
PSS: Poseur JFK II wrote and submitted his own after-action reports. These formed the basis for subsequent medals awards. Highly suspect from a guy who clearly was gunning to be a politician as quickly and neatly as he could, regardless of the brothers-in-arms he had to slander to get there.
(2) When filming or videotaping oneself in "combat" in preparation for a political career, always: (a) do something humanitarian; (b) do something heroic; (c) be cool; (d) make damn sure everyone is onboard with your future political career aspirations; (e) be relevant. (E) is obviously optional.
(3) Remember that reserve/guard service ca. 1970-2001 was completely about: "Sign here. Show up when you like. We don't care. We're just filling in blanks. Oh, yeah, flying jets is slightly more demanding and a bit more dangerous than, say, issuing press releases, even if they're being released from MACV."
Most reservists know this.
All active servicemen know all about who gets leave and who doesn't, especially in Mesopotamia.
