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Date Posted: 02:12:26 04/17/03 Thu
Author: «șTone Caponeș»
Author Host/IP: 1Cust31.tnt1.coos-bay.or.da.uu.net / 67.225.118.31
Subject: The 507th Maintenance Company: Some food for thought.

I put this up at the www.ar15.com forums in a long thread about the 507th. As the days go on, I'm sure we'll learn more and more about what the soldiers went through from the time the left on their 'fateful' trip, to the time they get home.



I didn't read through the whole thread (I'll do that when I wake up), but I think I'd like to share something. Please don't take this as an insult to the troops, it is a command problem.

When I was in the Army, I finished my tour in Bravo Battery 3/43 ADA, 11th Brigade, Fort Bliss TX (I ets'd back in October 1998). I was in that unit from October 1996 to October 1998. My wife was in the same exact unit from March 1999 until March 2002.

The 507th Maintenance Company is in 5/52 ADA, 11th Brigade, Fort Bliss TX (we did fall under 32nd AADCOM which is the patch with the 3 'arrows' on top and the 2 'arrows' below it). 5/52 was our sister batallion, and right accross the street from us (our chowhall was in one of their buildings).

I had one deployment to Bahrain, listed as a combat deployment while I was there.

I can tell you a few things about Fort Bliss, and 11th Brigade in particular.

1) Training was not the focus. Police call (and numerous other details) was (were). I had been there nearly a year before I went to the range. Many of those who went to the range with me didn't qualify (I'd say about 25%). This wasn't a problem, and these people often didn't go back.

2) We touched our weapons only a few times a year. Before inspections, during and after the field problems, and maybe, if we went to the range. I was a section chief and learned that my soldiers had no idea how to do even the simplest tasks with an M16A2 (i.e. function checks, SPORTS, etc...).

3) During field problems, the focus was on politics once again. If you altered your sling to be more tactically effective, you were yelled at. If you wore a buttpack on your LBE, you were yelled at. We trained only on the Patriot equipment, with the exception of some NBC (Nuclear Biological and Chemical) training (i.e. hours in the desert in MOPP 4) and police call (yes, even out in the field).

4) During my deployment to Bahrain, I *never* touched my rifle. I was a Tactical Control Assistant (in short- the guy who pushes the button to launch a Patriot missile) and since I pulled no guard duty, I obviously didn't need it... Or so the 'big-wigs' thought.

5) 'Misplacing' weapons was not the exception, it was the norm. On many occasions weapons were misplaced (i.e. left behind) in the motor pool while we rolled out to the field.

This isn't an "Army/Marines" thing. I spent my first year after AIT in Korea, in a Patriot Batallion (Bravo Battery 1/43 ADA), and it was a whole different world. I qualified within a couple weeks of being there, we had numerous classes on all weapons used in our units with the exception of the 9mm (M60, M249 SAW, M2 .50 cal, MK-19, M16A2 (and M203 with it), and were expected to know how to field strip and maintain all of them, whether or not we were assigned to a crew served weapon or used that particular weapon. I remember many Sergeant's Times spent taking apart and putting back together these various weapons, discussing how to aim and fire, setting up fields of fire for stationary crew served weapons, how to deal with malfunctions, characteristics, etc...

That's just my $.02 (plus a few dollars more). I've been there and seen it first hand.

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