This incident should have given me a clue that no matter what I did after this, my military career was at an end. After this I still had five years left.
One day in Iraq, I was working the Operations Center, and we got a call from one of our patrols. They got hit by an IED. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, and there was very little damage to the patrol itself. They came back to base.
One day in Iraq, I was working the Operations Center, and we got a call from one of our patrols. They got hit by an IED. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, and there was very little damage to the patrol itself. They came back to base.
What got me was where they got hit: In the middle of a field.
Usually, IEDs in that area were set by the side of a major road to hit a 'target of opportunity'. They wait for a military vehicle to come by, and they set it off. Since this one was set off in a field, it means that they knew our patrol route, and were waiting for us.
So, I tell my Battle Captain about this. I advise that she let the Battalion Commander know that they need to vary their patrol routes. NOW.
She asks a couple of questions, but doesn't understand the answers, so she basically blows me off.
I figure that she will at least do her job and let somebody know about it. Either that, or the next shift would see what happened, and after I explain it to them, they would do something about it. Neither of those things happened, but I didn't know that.
A few weeks later, that same patrol got hit by yet ANOTHER IED in the exact same place. Our guys didn't vary their route at all.
There's a saying that I learned a long time ago: "Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action." I didn't want this to get that far.
This time, I told the Battle Captain, the Major in charge of our shift, and the Lieutenant Colonel in charge of the OC. Something else.... Nearly every morning, I made coffee for our Brigade Commander. He'd get a cup, go out on the back porch, and watch the sun come up. So, I managed to talk to him about it, too. I told him that he should get his underlings in order, otherwise, someone was going to get killed. He agreed, and told me that he would take care of it.
I assumed that he was a man of his word. I was mistaken.
About a month after the second incident, we got yet another call saying that the same patrol got hit in the exact same place. One change, though. A soldier was killed. The IED flipped the truck, and it landed on the gunner.
When the letters K I A were spoken over the radio, the entire room fell silent.
The shift NCOIC, a Master Sergeant, looked at me for a minute. He just stared at me. I could feel his stare in the back of my head.
I turned around and asked him what the problem was. His only response was, "What happened to our Intel? This shouldn't have happened." HE WAS BLAMING ME. I looked around the room, and saw that most of the people there seemed to agree with him.
I immediately stood up, walked over to him, looked him in the eye, and told him to fuck off. I had been telling all of them for over 2 months that something bad was going to happen, and that the people in charge needed to talk to one another and figure out how NOT to get a man killed.
I went outside, and started smoking. I must have smoked a half of a pack in 30 minutes. My battle Captain came out, and tried to talk to me. I told her to go away, or I would knock her out. I was done working with or for her, and I would have a replacement the next day. I finished up my shift, talked to my bosses, and let them know that I was no longer working in the OC. The Master Sergeant never said another word to me.
A little while later, I got word that the powers that be wanted to see me.
It turns out that they wanted to charge me with gross negligence, demote me, and have me kicked out of the Army. Their version was that I withheld vital intelligence that command needed to know, which resulted in the death of a soldier. Thankfully, I was writing a journal at the time, and had dates and times of the conversations I had with them about the incident. Plus, I had the backing of our Major who was in charge of Brigade Intelligence. I had told him about all this, too.
There was actually paperwork charging me. Can you believe that?
In the end, the paperwork disappeared. Mostly because I threatened to get the media involved, and tarnish the name of the Washington Army National Guard. If I or they had gone through with the Court-martial that I requested, I would have come out a little worse for wear, but still kept my rank. However, I would have made sure that at least 5 higher ranking officers and NCOs would have been busted down.
At least, that's how it would have went in my head. I probably would have made a big scene, and they would have just quietly given me an Honorable discharge from the Army.
Either way, my career was over at that moment. I was never promoted because I have an "attitude problem", and every year on Veteran's Day, I raise a glass to SPC Donald R McCune for what happened to him. I wish I could have done more.
A little while later, I got word that the powers that be wanted to see me.
It turns out that they wanted to charge me with gross negligence, demote me, and have me kicked out of the Army. Their version was that I withheld vital intelligence that command needed to know, which resulted in the death of a soldier. Thankfully, I was writing a journal at the time, and had dates and times of the conversations I had with them about the incident. Plus, I had the backing of our Major who was in charge of Brigade Intelligence. I had told him about all this, too.
There was actually paperwork charging me. Can you believe that?
In the end, the paperwork disappeared. Mostly because I threatened to get the media involved, and tarnish the name of the Washington Army National Guard. If I or they had gone through with the Court-martial that I requested, I would have come out a little worse for wear, but still kept my rank. However, I would have made sure that at least 5 higher ranking officers and NCOs would have been busted down.
At least, that's how it would have went in my head. I probably would have made a big scene, and they would have just quietly given me an Honorable discharge from the Army.
Either way, my career was over at that moment. I was never promoted because I have an "attitude problem", and every year on Veteran's Day, I raise a glass to SPC Donald R McCune for what happened to him. I wish I could have done more.
