From the very moment I showed up at my first duty station I was abruptly introduced to the concept of a commodity. Or, more precisely that I as an individual am a commodity. The thing about Reserve units is they are usually filled with two things; Old War Goats and College Students. Mostly Old War Goats.
Old War Goats are people who are above 40 years old, they served a long time on active duty and now switched to the reserves. The thing about Old War Goats, and I think it’s kind of systemic of anyone who has a blue collar job and is above 40. They have absolutely no clue how computers work. I don’t mean like the actual electronic functions of a computer I mean; how to use windows, word, powerpoint, excel. Frankly, if you were born after 1980 you probably would be considered an expert on the functions of these software’s in their minds.
College Students refer to actual college students, and people who wanted to join the military but thought it might be a good idea to try out the reserves before joining the regular army. Or, basically anyone that is young and has only served in the reserves.
My first duty station was an Area Support Group which is mostly office jobs. To be fair a lot of the Non-Commissioned Officers usually coming into the reserves were infantrymen or mechanics of some sort. So they would rather eat a MRE than figure out how to Copy and Paste. However, the Commissioned officers were exactly the same. At the heart of the job of a commissioned officer is button pushing and memorandum writing. So I don’t know what their excuse is…
Now this is where I start getting to my point. What was my point again… oh Right! Being previously in the IT field and having classes in high school that covered Microsoft Office I quickly became the unit Computer Expert and was told time and time again I was a valuable resource. The problem with being a “Resource” in the military is commanders have the power to decide whether or not to let you leave the unit and join another unit. Which is why people are ultimately are terrible at everything can leave whenever they want. Commanders are more than willing to give someone else a problem child. If you love your unit this is not a problem, but if you hate your unit and you hate the policies of your command… it can be hell. Also, for people who joined the military to get specialized training, sometimes it can be hard for career development if your commander won’t let you leave. The National Guard is the worst in my opinion on this particular issue.
This might seem trivial, but it makes for a good example (I lied it’s the first thing that popped into my head). Say the commander of the 33rd Baton Cleaners Detachment makes a policy of no one can wear headphones while working out in Army PT uniform. Also, even while in civilian clothes during your off duty workout you may not wear your Ipod or IShuffle (or IBucket… IGlasses) while doing an off duty run on the road. Solely basing the policy to prevent Soldiers from getting hit by cars while running on the road. Before you ask, yes, this is a real policy on pretty much every single base I’ve been on. Now while it’s admirable to prevent Soldiers running along a road to run in front of a car because they didn’t hear it coming. It’s also a clear infringement on personal choice. (To further point out how stupid this particular policy is every military base has a Maximum speed limit of 25MPH. Also I remind you we are talking about trained killers, not children… so to think they are responsible enough to take a life but not run on a road while listening to music is fundamentally flawed)
If a Soldier is unhappy with the policies of their command, right now their is nothing they can do or say. However, if a free market existed pertaining to Soldiers switching units of their own free will. It would be a positive by forcing commanders to change unreasonable policies to hold onto exceptional Soldier that might be convinced to work for a different command. This is what I’m advocating, give Soldiers the same right as normal Americans. You have a choice whether or not to stay with a company that treats you well or poorly. If the pay or the benefits are good. Now, I’m not saying let people out of their military contracts. I’m saying take away the power of commanders to control if a Soldier can move to a different unit or not.
Would you not agree this is a free market solution?
The fact is that keeping “Good Resources” “Smart/Educated/Self Motivated Soldiers in the military is hard because many people get frustrated with the way they are treated. Keep a good Soldier in the Army, Re-enlist! (Sorry don’t like your policies I’m outta here! (by outta here I mean the left the military completely (Man, we need a free market system)))
Tags: conservatism, free, free market, ideology, jack, jack valenteen, jack valentine, market, military, valenteen