Paying taxes Pt 2

Day five we get our first briefing, including the uniform and no fun stuff orders. I ask for an SOP. They will ‘get one to me’. At least there is a vehicle antenna there for me to mount on the outside of the tower with zip ties.
We go about out business until around noon when the E-7 in charge comes down and hands me the SOP. After his departure I take a close look at it. It is over a year old and gets worse from there. We are to inspect every truck, patrol the Iraqi controlled area, and report all persons within 500m of our tower. With three guys in a tower. I pull out my pen and begin to make corrections. If it is physically impossible I line it out, poorly written I rewrite it to make it Barney simple. It takes ten minutes.
The SOP is a relic document, it refers to appendixes that are not attached the Rules of Engagement are from OIF 5 and it has been lightly edited and handed off between units for years. I have seen these before. It means lazy staff work on the part people who’s job it is to write these things. The trouble is that if I don’t do the impossible they can fry me for it.
I give the document back to the E-7 who happens to share the same last name with a cowardly deserter from OIF 1 who gained some little fame. I can see the confusion and anger in his face when a lowly sergeant hands his document back to him.
“How much longer are you out here?” He asks.
“Two more days.” I reply
“Good. I will get you a revised SOP when you go off shift.”
I smile and walk away. Well he told me to be a pain in the ass.
I get the new SOP as we go off shift and 20 minutes later an in front of Sergeant Major Poppa. Not standing at parade rest, but sitting on his desk as he reads the new SOP. Item Number 5 is my favorite, “Don’t allowed no one to park in road next to barriers.”
Does this mean I do allow everyone? Maybe I allow some people? Poppa takes his copy and tells me he will take it to the Sergeants Major meeting in the morning.
Day six I show up and receive a real SOP, from the SSG who works the early shift. He tells me that their SOP is under review by the commander, but this is the draft. It is clear and well written. I read it carefully and thank him, then hand it to SGT G3. On day two the Evil Mighty Mouse was replaced by PFC Stack, and the two of them head out to our ride. The SSG pulls me aside.
“Stop pissing people off.” He tells me.
I look at him, asses his posture and decide he deserves a little bit of the truth. He seems like a smart hard worker caught in a unit of fools.
“I am not doing this to piss people off. Normally our guys come out here, and things are fucked up, but they are only here for a week, so they suck it up and come back to the battalion and bitch. I am stop-loss’d when I get home I am done with the army. But I am too much of an NCO to let this pass. Things aren’t working out here, and you aren’t going to get the same three troops to stay out here. It has to be set up so that each group comes out, and everything is set up for them to do the job right. It wasn’t when I got here, but I will be damned if I am going to leave it broken.”
He gives me a strange look and shakes my hand as I leave. That day we get three pop inspections, that discover nothing wrong. They give us the cable so that we can call the command post. When chow shows up they even call and tell us.
Day 7 all the senior NCOs that I had issues with are in some form of training. I would later find that their Sergeant Major was more than a little embarrassed at their behavior.
My First Sergeant and Poppa tell me that night that I did a good job. Exactly what they wanted.
Back with my squad, and getting ready for the next trip out over the road I can’t help but think. These are the full time professional army, and they were phoning it in. Simple easy things were not done, basic soldier care was ignored. Easy holes in security were not plugged. I have sympathy to the enlisted soldiers stuck out there. That the NCO corps could let down their troops like that, is a shame. I hope I hear a loud ‘POP!’ tonight as they pull their head out of their ass.
I like it outside the wire, at least you know what expect, Hadji doesn’t like you, and every other guy out there has your back.