Here is one for throw back Thursday. I was going through some old records for the VA yesterday and found an investigation I was the subject of that seems to be still open! In Feb of 2007 I was 1SG of an Infantry Company at Camp Virginia in Kuwait getting ready to start route clearance missions along the main MSR in Southern Iraq and found 21 AT-4 anti tank rockets in the training ammo inventory down in Arifjan...so, I requested them (I was an Anti-Tank Gunner in the Marine Corps and have always liked things that go Boom). We got the rockets, conducted a range ex and fired them all and had a blast (pun intended) doing it. Once they are expended you have to return the tubes to the ammo supply point to show they were expended and clear the books so they were dutifully accounted for and returned to Arifjan by my Supply SGT Albert Burns (remember that Al?). A couple weeks later some officious prick from CID shows up at the CP and wants to question me about a missing rocket and states I am under investigation as the 1SG for misappropriation of a military explosive device. Since I was the range officer for the AT-4 range and knew we had fired all 21 rockets and returned 21 tubes all he did was piss me off so I asked him if he had any proof. He stated that the ammo techs thought one of the tubes looked different than the others (these rockets had probably been in depot since Desert Storm). I told him to GTFO of my CP and not to come back unless he brought me a lawyer but on the way out my ever mischievous PSNCO SSG Duane Middleton made a smart assed comment to the effect of Hey 1SG, was that what was in the long box you had me mail the other day? (Thanks Duane!) Well, I never heard back from CID in person but for a couple of months I would periodically get phone calls or missives in the mail about my need to cooperate with the investigation and I was mailed a copy of the investigative report that showed the investigation as still being open (and it mentioned Duanes comment) and that is what I found yesterday. It still makes me laugh because it was so bogus and likely driven by someone being pissed we used up the entire theater inventory of training rockets (you snooze you lose). I was fortunate to have a commander in CPT Jared Wandell who though ever the gentleman, had the stones to support his Soldiers and not back down when the rear echelon crowd occasionally (okay, frequently) got their nappies in a bunch. So that is my contribution to throw back Thursday, a rather amusing event among many in a confused war where Al Qaeda caused us less grief than the arm chair bureaucrats posing as Soldiers. Oh and if CID still wants to pursue this, go to hell!
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 14:45:20 +0000
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