OH YEAH...That's why I left the Army!

So today has been pretty aggravating! Everything was going well until about 5pm. Let me back up and start at the beginning. We(SPC Bramble and I) are now volunteering back at the schoolhouse. That is so we can avoid as much of the regular Army stuff as possible. We sit in radio studios and digitize (put into the computer) music. That way the students can do an all digital radio music show without having to use actual Cd's. Anyway, that really consists of us listening to the music while it is digitizing (we have to get the audio levels perfect). We really are left alone, and we can take a break whenever we want. That is from 8am - 4pm. Then... we have to go to a formation, to get the info we need for the next day. THAT is where the day started to go downhill. I had to check in with the personnel office, and found out that we still have no idea when our orders will come to go on to Fort Benning, GA. Second, I had to go see the Platoon Sergeant and ask about taking a 4-day pass this weekend so I can go spend a few more days with my family before I'm deployed to Iraq. It should be a no-brainer for me to get it approved because number one, we already graduated so we are just hanging out till we leave. Number two, it is a holiday weekend and thus a 3-day weekend anyway. So it shouldn't be that hard to get them to say yes, right? Wrong! Earlier in the day the Platoon Sergeant asked me to mapquest the distance from here to home as part of the needed paperwork. When I brought him the distance, he said that it was over 300 miles and that the pass is denied because it is too far. (If it is over 300 miles you have to take leave) So I said, "Well, then can I take leave to go home for the 4-day?" He then asked how much leave I have saved up (in the Army leave is accrued at 2.5 days of leave per month of service). I told him I had 2.5, since I'd only been back in the service for a month. So, I asked if I could use 1.5 days of advanced leave as well. To which he replied that is up to the commander because since I am deploying I might not be around long enough to earn back the advanced leave (he said this while drawing his finger across his throat, indicating I could die before I "earn" 1.5 days of leave!). So, needless to say I am pretty pissed off about that. So, in order to see my family I am re-doing all the pass paperwork with an address for a hotel in Hershey, PA. They evidently don't really care where I go or what I do, as long as the distance matches up on their paperwork. So, the end result should be the same (I'll go home), but as is the way of the Army, I need to jump through pointless hoops to get there.
Then I went to the formation where we were talked to like children about people not cleaning up after themselves, and what the punishments will be for those who continue to be messy. The worst part was that to say that took, no joke, over 30 minutes! This is the kind of stuff that cemented my decision to get out of the military. I'm hoping that this kind of thing doesn't happen on deployment, but maybe that is just too much to ask. Maybe though, since the unit is National Guard and tend to have a more realistic(civilian) approach to things.

Quote of the Blog:
Common sense is not so common.
Voltaire