Appointed Place of Duty

Appointed Place of Duty

WHY BEING AT MY APPOINTED PLACE OF DUTY IS IMPORTANT

In the Army, it is vital to be at your appointed place of duty because your whole squad, platoon and company are depending on you to do your job. You do not ever want to be the weakest link in the chain.

In my seven years in the Army, I have learned that unit cohesion is the most important thing there is. If you cannot work with and depend on the people around you, then you can never get anything accomplished. I know that by me not showing up, it could have put a whole lot more pressure and stress on my fellow soldiers. I understand that the reason I was not there was something very stressful for me, but it is not really an excuse to miss formation.

If this was a battle situation and I had failed to be at my appointed place of duty on time, my buddies could have ended up killed or wounded because of my inability to focus on what was important in my job. I can usually differentiate between work life and personal life. This time I was just really scared because this is my first child, and I want to make sure everything is ok. I saw my girlfriend really scared also and crying and in pain, and I just couldn’t bring myself to leave her.

I should have realized that things would take their natural course whether I was there or not. It was a huge mistake on my part to think I could stay up late with her and still think I could make the drive back in the morning, especially considering my sleeping condition and the medications I take.

Most importantly, I know I let my squad leader, platoon sergeant and fellow soldiers down by not being there when I should have. For all I know, I could have been needed for an important mission or to take over for someone who was sick. I know everyone understands my situation right now, but I will do my best to not let it affect my work anymore.

Also, when my chain of command doesn’t know where I am, they start to worry that something may have happened to me,...

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