Although he endorses the hatred of Astros there isn't a milblog I like to read less than Blackfive. Today he posts a letter from Questing Cat in Iraq where QC talks about being the leader responsible for making the newly minted Soldiers competent.
Although it's been more than a decade I can still remember being that Young Soldier. And now that I'm the Old Soldier I've realized how important what we were trained on as Young Soldiers really was. The NCOs to whom I owe my career are never far from my mind. I don't even need to think back to clearly remember every section sergeant, PSG, or 1SG I've served under. I can name them off like I can name off the starting infield of the Astros. Nothing I've accomplished in uniform could have been done without those NCOs there leading and training me.
Even now, on the downslope towards 20 it's a process that never stops. As a recruiter I like to convey the honor I've had to serve with those fine men and women. Sometimes (often times?) you're dealing with a young boy or girl who's never had someone to whom they owed so much that wasn't related to them. It's actually a bit gratifying to see them return from Basic or AIT, filled to the brim with the very shallowest of inklings about the Army, but eager to delve deeper into the life.
The power at MEPS went out leaving two applicants from our office dead on the floor, waiting to enlist, and a tester for me stranded without a test to finish. The power outage is probably related to the light rail construction going on right outside the MEPS center. I've added Light Rail in Phoenix to my enemies list.
0 comments:
Post a Comment