Set Up For Failure

How the Army screwed the careers of an entire platoon

I feel for my brothers back in Texas.

Especially SPC Nobody Special and other non-JUsers, who got out of the Army at roughly the same time that I did and have found little to no success in post-Army life. In fact, X-SPC is still looking for work beyond shade-tree mechanic and pizza delivery... oh wait, the pizza is his wife, LadyCleve. He recently has been posting that he's going back to the Army. Poor sod.

Meanwhile, I'm doing well. I've got a great job with the US Department of Defense, doing essentially what I (and the rest of them) was doing back in Texas for the Army. In fact, I got this job based on my prior military intelligence experience. I had been writing reports and performing analytical work since just after 9/11... that makes four years' practical intelligence experience, not including almost two years of language training in Korean. I also have been blessed with a nice house in a great Baltimore suburb, two decent cars... well, one decent car and one cheap piece of crap car. My bank account has seen better days, but hey, what can you do? I am enjoying civilian life and a continuation of my career in intelligence analysis.

I'll tell you what happened to them and why my story is different than theirs. It's the story of fairness. Or at least perceived fairness. Oh yeah, and being proactive.

Our unit was about 3 months out from Texas (November 2004-ish), still in Iraq doing what they do best, and all the linguists and analysts in our unit are back in Texas. I sent my resume to the National Security Agency, figuring two things: it takes a long time to get the government application process going, and the mission should be over next summer and I should be available by fall 2005.

Took about six weeks (late December 2004) to hear back from the Agency. They wanted to know when I would be available to fly out for an interview. I told them, maybe February... I would put in the leave request. I didn't make it any secret where I was going, and keeping it hush hush wouldn't have done any good. Because all that destination information would have to be on my leave request anyway. So 'they' knew where I was going. And by the time I got on my return plane from BWI, I knew I had the job. I got the acceptance call, and a letter in the mail a few days later.

(I know I'm going long way 'round the barn with this, here is the meat of the article... bear with me.)

After my trip was approved, the unit came down with an edict: no one is allowed to take leave for job fairs, interviews, or the like. If you want to job hunt, you have to do it on weekends. Yeah, right. How many job fairs are held on weekends? So that screwed everyone, except me.

Before you think that I screwed everyone in my unit, then please use this analogy: I was on point and tripped the wire to the mine. I set off the mine that killed all the guys behind me! I did not place the mine, I didn't arm it, either. All I did was misstep. In a similar way, all I did was try to make plans for post-Army life. That brought the hammer down upon people who hadn't gone that far yet.

It was done in the excuse of "fairness". It wasn't fair that guys in Iraq couldn't apply for jobs and go on interviews like I did. So a complete moratorium on leave for job hunting was upheld until July of 2005. After all our boys came home from Iraq and had separate-but-equal opportunities to find work.

But at that point, what good was it? It was two months before the people getting out were supposed to have found work and started it. We were all in Texas, and not really conveniently located for government contractor job fairs, which are mostly located on the east coast.

So a couple of people reenlisted. What else were they gonna do? They had to have a job.

Some of them moved to DC without a job, hoping that something would happen quickly. Or they were promised a good job... that never materialized due to budget constraints for FY2006.

A couple of people, like X-SPC, hung out in Killeen. God help them. And now X-SPC is becoming an Army guy again.

I honestly feel blessed beyond measure that my foresight got me here. I love my job and my lifestyle. I am very happy here, both professionally and geographically. I am so glad that I was proactive in my job searching. Can't believe that others were not afforded that same fundamental commom-sensical right.

Does that sound fair to you?

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