I first arrived to my platoon as it was in the middle of a brigade field problem about six months ago. I had never worked with a mechanized force, had never met my NCOs or my men, and was entirely out of my element; the training we received as infantry officers was sadly lacking when it came to conducting the actual day-to-day functioning of a platoon. At that point it was just SSG Crunchberry and a few corporals leading a severely under-strength platoon, and they needed an experienced and knowledgeable officer to take control. Instead they got an OCS 14-week wonder with no mechanized maneuver experience. I can’t tell you that it wasn’t rough. My first weeks with Blue Platoon were filled with amateur oversights and rookie mistakes. At the end of the field problem I was put on notice, effectively. If my performance did not improve, and quickly, the CO would have no choice but to try his luck with the next LT they sent.
There was no way on earth I was going down without a fight. I wanted this. Badly. Ever since I was branched Infantry in OCS, I’ve realized that the only way to know I was doing my job right was to have a platoon. Infantry lieutenants without platoons are cursed to sleepless nights of self-condemnation and flagellation, deep introspective fits of depression and self-loathing, and long boring days behind desks working on things none of us were ever trained to do. When I didn’t earn my Ranger tab I was told that there would be no chance at me commanding an infantry platoon. I started resigning myself to the inevitable.
When I arrived at my unit and was immediately pushed to a platoon, I thought it was a combination of clerical oversight and divine intervention. It was a second chance. So there was no way I was going to give it up. The road from then to now is pocked with mistakes and embarrassing stories, yes, but I’m still here. And Blue Platoon is steadily improving with each day. The CO has honored me by letting me know, repeatedly, that I have learned faster and made more improvements in less time than he ever thought possible for any lieutenant; though to tell you the truth, I initially interpreted this as meaning that my beginning was very, very, very bad and the current status is just marginal. But recent events have made me wonder if we really are performing better than we had thought.
Yesterday the Commander informed me that we would be changing our battle space again. Brigade HQ had included a chunk of neighborhoods across the river into our AO, so our company now had territory in both East and West Mosul. There’s an entire brigade of combat troops here, but our company encompasses maybe fifteen percent of the city space and twenty percent of the population. We have the government district, the river, and three of five bridges spanning the river. Our neighbors in Alpha Company are also taking a considerable amount of territory, though nothing comparable to our chunk. It strikes me as odd that we would have all of these troops in sector and then lean overwhelmingly on two or three companies, but I suppose the fewer the men, the greater the share of honor (and all that).
Well, Blue Platoon has been given the government district, the river, and the few neighborhoods we are to control across the river. We’ve just received our tickets to the big game. This sector is NOT quiet. This sector is NOT peaceful. The Commander has noted our improvements as a platoon and has decided to place more trust on us. Additionally he feels that I might have a better chance of acting as my company’s diplomat (without portfolio, unless you count my ammunition…and I suppose all diplomacy is empowered by threat of coercion) within the area. I’m going to be surrounded by people who severely outrank me in my own military, in their military, in our government, and in their government, and the CO seems to think I’d be the most capable at holding my ground with them. I’m touched by the confidence—and I’ll work my ass off to prove that it isn’t misplaced. Blue Platoon is moving up in the world.
SSG Lark is passed out right now. He spent all of last night getting our Brads moved over to an equipment installation yard and was completely exhausted, but I still had to practically order him to go to sleep. When he gets his mind working on something he hits an admirable form of high-octane tunnel vision. He just won’t stop until it’s finished, and sometimes he won’t stop even after it’s finished, so occasionally I find myself worrying about his general health. My God, he even tried to wake up as I wrote this. I may have to knock him unconscious in a moment.
SSG Crunchberry, my old partner in crime, has been informed by the Commander and the First Sergeant that he himself may be on notice for a while. When he was Platoon Sergeant he was overwhelmed, yes, but definitely invested in his job. And when his dream came true and he reverted back to leading a squad he was thrilled. Finally a break, he thought. Well, the Commander is concerned that he’s trying to take too much of a break. That he may be getting a little lazy and that SSG Chase is following suit. This concerns me deeply, because under no circumstances whatsoever do I want to lose him and have him replaced by whatever refuse White Platoon is trying to throw off. 1LT Freddy in White Platoon (so named because he dressed as Freddy from Scooby Doo this Halloween, and yes, he does look just like him—so restrain yourselves, ladies) is a great guy, a very competent officer, and is fortunate to have SFC Stupendous Bad-Ass (I don’t have enough security clearance to know how many secret operations this guy has done) as his Platoon Sergeant. But even with that duo, they’re in a rut: their squad leaders are truly and completely awful. This is why Blue has moved up in the company, and White has moved down—and while I’m grateful for the opportunity, I have to admit feeling some pretty deep sympathy for 1LT Freddy’s situation. I don’t envy him. And I definitely don’t want one of his squad leaders coming in to replace SSG Crunchberry. Oh, hell no. So we’ve been pushing to get Crunchberry and Chase some limelight in the past few days. Make it clear that they’re working hard and effectively. They’ll be organizing a firing range in a few days, and mostly by themselves with only a few signatures and resources from me, so they should be able to prove themselves as capable and competent leaders to the Commander. I hope. I really don’t want to consider the possibility of losing one and gaining some dead weight after all of the progress we’ve made.
The other news? I’m happy to announce that on 1140 on 01JAN09, someone finally tried to actively kill me. Well, kill anyone, really. Mortars are a bit impersonal. But it is the first time anyone has fired a shot in anger capable of hitting me. I was under hard cover at the time, so I was pretty safe, but my heart rate still jumped for a second. KABOOM. Shook the room. My reaction startled me more than the act itself; for some reason, I was positively gleeful about it. Landmark reached and safely passed. Now they hold no real interest, as every subsequent mortar will just be a pitiful impression of the first. I felt a bit like a Midwest tourist in New York when it happened: eyes wide open, struggling to keep my excitement from bubbling over to everyone around me. “Aren’t these buildings just fantastic? Oh, and Bernice, have you seen the mortar impact? Just unbelievable!”
I’ll also be rolling outside the wire for the first time tomorrow (and as I’ll be posting this entry of the journal after the fact, I’d like to point out that operational security has been observed and adhered to). Six to eight hours of area familiarization with the unit we’re replacing. About time, really. I’m getting tired of this administrative aspect. As SSG Chase so aptly stated, it’s as if we went to war and garrison broke out. We’re all a little anxious to get started with the work at hand. So my next entry will contain a description of my initial observations and my first patrol. Fortunately I’ll be in the passenger seat on this mission, so I’ll just be observing. The unit we’re replacing—which I would like to point out has done an incredible job in Mosul with severely limited resources—will be conducting the actual tactical maneuvering and leadership. I’m just here to watch how they do business.
That’s all the news from Mosul, where the men are anxious, the women are armed, and the children are hiding behind concrete barriers. More to come as soon as I get a chance.
