The other day I was reading an article about a unit that was equipped with an older Stryker vehicle. The gist of the article was that the maintenance issues, after having been deployed to a war fighting insurgents, coupled with a significant shift in their mission, was creating “challenges” for the soldiers involved in the program. Reading a little closer, the article mentioned the poor state of the vehicles being used in an exercise, and the mission shift from fighting insurgents in Afghanistan to a newer, more large scale global type mission. In keeping with my last post about budget issues for the Defense Department, this seemed to me to drive home the point. You plan, equip, and train for one thing, and then wind up doing something completely different. Throughout history you will find only a few examples of any Army, or Navy, that was truly prepared for what actually hit them. Moreover, even the ones that appeared to be ready, (e.g. Japan in 1941), discovered that this only lasted over the short term.
The formula is actually pretty simple, especially in leaner times. Maintenance neglect is the real killer with older equipment, lower budgets, and shifting missions. Simply put, if you neglect maintenance, then what equipment you have definitely won’t work. If the wheels are flat, or the weapons won’t fire, then you have taken what little you have to work with completely out of the mix. Sadly, it has been my experience that when an operational tempo becomes too great, then basic things become less important to some rather short-sighted people. Sort of like the closer to the front you get in any war, the more likely you are to find that the rules have been ignored. Sometimes this is a matter of necessity, but in most cases, it is just being slack in the face of what you think must be accomplished, as opposed to what has to be done. Any good infantryman, who expects to live long enough to see another sundown in combat, knows you clean your weapon and keep it serviceable. Same with aviators, who know that if an aircraft isn’t properly maintained, it will ultimately serve as your tombstone somewhere in a remote area. Unfortunately, the soldiers in this article were far to quick to make excuses, and less likely to do something with what they had available. To me that is a “non-hunting dog!” Never blame the mission, when it is your own damn fault that a piece of equipment doesn’t work. That is like blaming the cookie jar when you get busted by your Mom for trying to steal the cookie. So instead of whining, get off your ass, grab the POL and the applicable “dash-10" and start making it serviceable. ~ Michael S. Pauley
The formula is actually pretty simple, especially in leaner times. Maintenance neglect is the real killer with older equipment, lower budgets, and shifting missions. Simply put, if you neglect maintenance, then what equipment you have definitely won’t work. If the wheels are flat, or the weapons won’t fire, then you have taken what little you have to work with completely out of the mix. Sadly, it has been my experience that when an operational tempo becomes too great, then basic things become less important to some rather short-sighted people. Sort of like the closer to the front you get in any war, the more likely you are to find that the rules have been ignored. Sometimes this is a matter of necessity, but in most cases, it is just being slack in the face of what you think must be accomplished, as opposed to what has to be done. Any good infantryman, who expects to live long enough to see another sundown in combat, knows you clean your weapon and keep it serviceable. Same with aviators, who know that if an aircraft isn’t properly maintained, it will ultimately serve as your tombstone somewhere in a remote area. Unfortunately, the soldiers in this article were far to quick to make excuses, and less likely to do something with what they had available. To me that is a “non-hunting dog!” Never blame the mission, when it is your own damn fault that a piece of equipment doesn’t work. That is like blaming the cookie jar when you get busted by your Mom for trying to steal the cookie. So instead of whining, get off your ass, grab the POL and the applicable “dash-10" and start making it serviceable. ~ Michael S. Pauley
RSS Feed