Spc Nestler
Essay on accountability
26 January 2010
Having the proper gear is essential to the survival and training of every
soldier, marine, airman, and sailor in the United States military. If a soldier
cannot maintain accountability of his or her equipment in a garrison
environment; then how can a leader expect him or her to maintain their gear in a
combat environment; when that particular piece of gear may be needed to save
the life of a fellow soldier.
The fact is, the proper accountability and maintenaince of gear, which we
as combat ready soldiers rely upon to stay alive and physically fit, is recoming a
rampant plague upon the lower enlisted personnel as well the more "combat
complacent" non commissioned officers and officers. Combat complacency is
where officers and non commissioned officers maintian the "I've been to combat
so I know exactly what I'm doing so I do not need to train" attitude. As leaders of
soldiers, we have a responsability and a charge to train and lead soldiers into
combat, and feel confident that we have done a good enough job training the
soldier so they will perform their duties under the stress of combat. How can a
leader train and prepare soldiers for combat when they do not have
accountability of their proper gear for the given tasks of training?
Here is an example, there is a range for qualification on the M16 carbine,
and soldiers do not bring their Army Combat Helmets. Can those soldiers safely
perform the training on the given task? The answer is most deffinatly NO!
Soldiers that are not properly prepared to train cannot be prepared for
combat conditions and reacting under fire. Soldiers that are not properly trained
and prepared for combat can be a burden to the soldiers that are properly
trained. The reason I say this is because a fully trained and combat ready
soldier has to pick up the slack because his...