So here’s the story of how it all happens. The U.S. divides the entire world into broad regions and a four star general or flag officer, known as a Global Combatant Commander (GCC), is assigned to command all military operations in the assigned region (FYI, the U.S. is the only nation in the world to assign every single square inch of the earth to a military commander…what does that tell you?). These Generals and Admirals are the warfighters, the field commanders, the implementers of national policy; think Swartzkopf who commanded central command during the first Gulf War or Franks for Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom (ego much?). As these commanders conduct operations and/or pursue conflict within their assigned area, to do their missions they need some/additional forces or individuals. The GCCs send requests to the Joint Staff for whatever or whomever they need. If the Joint Staff approves the request, they then task a service (Army, Navy, Air Farce, Marines) to fill the requirement. Of course, GCCs get fairly specific on what “widget” they need to accomplish their mission. For approved requests for individuals, they are directed through the Worldwide Individual Augmentation System (WIAS pronounced “Y-Ass”) pushed to the service.
Services attempt to find that exact individual to fill the requirement. Eventually the requirement filters down the units and ultimately the “stuckee” for the tasking. That dreaded result is bemoaned as “I’ve been tasked for a WIAS.” There are some volunteered and voluntold individuals, but by and large selectedindividuals only comply when they’ve called in every favor, played every trick, danced with the devil, and sold off all of their children…if they have any worth selling. Welcome to my world “I’ve been tasked for a WIAS.” Now, truth be told, but I’ll deny it if you repeat it, I had been due for some time to deploy, and I knew it might be coming, although the sunset of our current conflicts appear to be rapidly approaching, I asked for a tasking to get the one that fit my needs the most instead of whatever was left. To wit, working as a planner on the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF: NATO’s command in Afghanistan) staff. This seemed interesting and advantageous so along I went a willing partner in this dirty little process. So perhaps I should say “I asked for a WIAS” instead of “I was tasked.” Now, let’sconfuse this one step further…what widget was asked for…let’s call it a Major, Branch 02A, Additional Skill 6S…is that me? Not exactly, I’m a Major, Branch 59A, Additional Skill 6Z, but the Army, in its omnipotent wisdom declared; “close enough” spit into its proverbial hand, we shook on it, and the deal was done (or so I thought at the time).
So, you’re probably asking yourself, “Why did he ask for that? Didn’t his Dad teach him that, in the Army, you never volunteer for nuthin’?” Well, here’s some of my ill-conceived reasoning.
Immediately following my last deployment in 2005, I submitted my packet and was accepted as a Tactical Officer for the United States Military Academy at West Point. That four year tour along with additional schooling and a stateside assignment left me a lot of time since returning from my last deployment. The Army, in its bureaucratic wisdom tracks such inane things…in fact, they don’t just track it, they track it in your records brief…the single document that tells ever single assignment and school you’ve done in the Army….the single document that tells what you’ve qualified to do in the military…the single document that shows your picture in (hopefully) a flawless uniform updated every time your records change…themain document that goes forward to promotion boards…the single document that new bosses pull up to consider where you’ll be assigned; I figure, by putting it there, it’s the Army’s way of telling me…”hey, don’t worry about it, deployments aren’t that important.” Did I mention that the Army is getting smaller, and promotion rates lower…we’re about to start supplying the civilian sector with even more unemployed folks to enter into the Insurance Exchange? Right, no pressure at all. Now, some have avoided deploying all together; I’m proud to say that’s not me…I don’t know how they did it, but I did have a couple of deployments early in the conflict so maybe I’m a little safer (I don’t have the kind of luck that lets me skate by like some.)
So away we go, but can you take an Army Officer, picked for specific specialties and just send that individual to work for a GCC…that would be too easy, this is War, damnit. In addition to whatever led to selection of a “widget” that was close enough, the GCC requires a whole battery of prerequisite training and screening before they will accept an individual. Theater Specific Individual Replacement Training (TSIRT) is now consolidated for soldiers in beautiful Fort Bliss, Texas at the Continental United States (CONUS) Replacement Center (CRC)for a lovely seven days in sunny El Paso. Running hundreds of the other-than-with-a-unit deployees through the required gates every week, this brings me to the first chapter of my story....(to be continued...)
No comments:
Post a Comment