War can be hell...

[rotorgun]

All this talk about uniform discipline reminds me that the guys who usually gripe the worst about it are the same guys we, in the old days referred to as REMFS...Rear Echelon Mother . They are also known today as FOBBITS...those who never or rarely venture outside "the wire". In my section we sometimes refer to them as BLISTERS or HEMORRHOIDS, because they hurt, no one wants them, and they always show up when the work is done.

Now I am an NCO and can appreciate the need for discipline during operations, and I have great pride in the wearing of my uniform, in which many comrades have given it all. I don't give a spittle however, for the needless harassment of good soldiers, who are bone tired, dirty, hungry, far from home, and whom, after coming into the FOB after a hard days operations might have their uniforms and kit in disarray. I witnessed a serious incident between some backwater Sergeant Major, probably fresh from his air conditioned hooch, and the NCOIC of a patrol of a Stryker platoon that had just finished such a mission. They were only wanting to get some chow at the DIFAC...dining facility, when this stopped them from going in because their uniforms were out of order, and of course the men were dirty, as anyone would be after a being in several firefights. As the DIFAC was going to close soon, there was no time for these people to get cleaned up.

As the word spread down the line to the Sergeant First Class in charge, there commenced the biggest fur ball of an argument I have ever seen. Before it was over it almost turned into a first class @@@whipping. I even think I saw pistols start to be drawn. It was a good thing that word had gotten to the Stryker Brigade commander, who was a Brigadier General, or there would have been a killin'. He told the Sergeant Major that his men had just come from the game, and of course had their game face on, and had better "by God" better be allowed to eat or the Sergeant Major would "by God" find himself the Master Sargent in charge of the burning detail for the rest of his tour, and that the rest of his career would likely follow him down the along with the crap. The general then literally shoved him aside and put these men at the front of the line.

We never saw that Sergent Major again after that. I think he was transferred to somewhere were he couldn't impact morale, like the Brigade.