Gunnar is spending the month over at Ft Irwin California in the National Training Center (NTC). It's designed to be sort of a mini-Afghanistan to simulate what a deployment would be like. It's hot and in the desert and they have a mock village set up and battles etc. His unit gives us cheerful Facebook updates so we know they are all doing well and working hard. Here's the link if you want to read one for yourself.
The only problem is that it's all bullshit.
They aren't doing fine. They are sick, sunburned and shitting in buckets. They don't have enough facilities for the number of people that are there. They aren't being fed for days at a time.
This is worse than a deployment. It cost $22,000,000 to send the guys there. This is the National Training Center and this is the best they can do. Seriously?
I certainly don't appreciate being lied to, especially by my husband's employer. I'm not big into conspiracy theories either, but it's a fair warning to say that you shouldn't believe everything (or sometimes anything) that you read. I've been able to get only bits and pieces of info since Gunnar's been over there but hopefully he'll be able to give me the full picture when he gets his phone back. All of the soldiers had to turn in their phones over a week ago and aren't able to communicate with their families.
The purpose of this training is to make the soldiers ready for a deployment to Afghanistan. I'd just like to point out that soldiers that have already been to Afghanistan do not benefit from being treated like shit stateside. They certainly haven't forgotten what it was like to be out in the desert fighting. Gunnar was deployed already without any of this fancy desert training so it's not an actual requirement before a soldier is deployed. Not feeding people or not giving them places to poop doesn't build a team, or teach them a damn thing. It breaks down their motivation and their spirit. Is that what we really want to do to the people we send to war? I am realizing more and more that while I still support our troops, I have very little support for most of their leadership. This stuff is pissing me off.
I am so sorry. I can't imagine what it must be like to know that your husband is "safe" at "home" and this is how he is being treated.
ReplyDeleteIt's disgusting.
Not to mention how families don't need any sort of bullshit "practice" at having their daddy/husband gone.
Lora, that's a really good point that I didn't mention. The kids really don't need a practice round to see what it's like to have Dad gone. Gus turned 5 last week and was pretty bummed Gunnar couldn't even call. The older the kids get the harder it is to explain where he is, especially without adding all of my own negative feelings to the mix.
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