Just Ranting I Guess

I am trying to post as often as I can about my experiences in the Army but there just hasn't been a whole lot going on in my unit since we got back to Hawaii except for a lot of paper work required for preparation to leave for deployment. Man you wouldn't believe the mountains of paperwork involved. Even in this electronic age we still have to kill a tree or two per soldier in order to get them to Iraq. I think I read somewhere that even though we have the capability to store and send every piece of paper document that human kind has ever created on a single computer console, with a surety of security mind you, we still have increased our consumption of paper products in the last ten years or so. I probably have it all wrong but not all that hard to believe either I guess.

I'm going to earn my next promotion come this December. Whether or not I'll actually be given that rank will be determined but I have met all the criteria and my superiors like me enough to not have a reason not to give it to me so we'll see. I'll become a specialist. The highest rank you can become without being some kind of leader. although you are expected to have some influence over the lower ranks being a rank system and all but ultimately no real accountability for day to day tasks. So the next step will be sergeant. I have real mixed feelings about trying to obtain that one. The army engineer corp has quite the array of personalities but the predominant one is "construction" type. I'm not totally sure if that's the most accurate way to describe these guys but it's the easiest. Just imagine the difference between a desk job and working on a job site the different types of people you might be prone to work with. I love it! Having grown up around construction types my whole life, it's real easy to be myself.

Here's the thing though, these construction types eventually have to step up to the plate and become NCOs and higher ranking NCOs leaders. Whether they are ready for it or whether they like or not. Thanks to this War almost every individual who actually had talent and leadership capabilities figured out real quick that there's greener grass else where. Be that in another career field in the Military or in the civilian sector. So that leaves the ones that are still here. I can't say that they are all that way because there are good leaders still left behind and they are the ones picking up the slack for their peers incompetence. Enter me, I already see how much slack I'm having to pick up for the NCOs appointed over me. I can only imagine how much more work that would involve earning sergeant on top of having souls that I am personally accountable for, while in Iraq or elsewhere.

On the other hand I know that I have the talent and ability to lead a ragtag group of guys. Keep them out of trouble and lead them at least to some degree of success. I just don't know if my emotional, physical, mental, and even a little bit spiritual investment into it would be worth it. I mean I don't even know for sure yet if the Military is what I want to do to myself and my family for the next seventeen years.

Like my post title says, I'm ranting and I find that blogs are pretty good for that. Just read my buddy Blair's blog and you'll know what I'm talking about. Very soothing I find to dump your mind in word format and not feel like you're talking some one's ear off.

er. The Muppets!