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thedrifter
10-02-03, 06:18 AM
09-30-2003

Guest Column: The Grunts Patrol, the Generals Junket



By Joseph Conrad



I am currently activated for the KFOR policing mission in Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo. And like my other airmen and soldier brothers, I am entitled to tax-free status and hostile fire pay. To be honest, I’m snug as a bug in my weather station, but the soldiers that I am deployed with are not.



On a daily basis, the run patrols to snoop out the local Albanian and Serb terrorists, try to arrest them and bring them back to our local jail. This, of course, often necessitates a little lead in the air. Maybe this is not as dangerous the rice paddies of SE Asia, but they earn their benefits. There are those, however, who do not.



What I am talking about here, are the frequent interlopers from staff positions (O-4s through O-10s) throughout the military who Blackhawk into Bondsteel to eat lunch, shake a hand or two, and its wheels up by sundown – all the while collecting the same hostile fire pay as one of us who spends the entire month here. As if this were not enough of a slap in the face, they also get the month’s tax-free status. Of course, all of their pay isn’t tax free (only that portion up to what the Sergeant Major of the Army makes) but it is a lot more than any of the soldiers who put it on the line make – something up to $5,000 of their salary will be tax free for less than a day’s work.



One of the preferred tricks is to come on the 31st of the month and leave on the 1st of the next month, thus gaining two months of benefits for two days.



Amazingly, our CG put a stop to that. But he has not been able to stem the tide of “dignitaries” coming to our camp. Indeed, there are so many that the font size has to be made smaller to fit on the daily brief. As if this were not enough, these same “Perfumed Princes” begrudge us the visitation of an E-4 or E-5 technician to fly out an fix our radar system – something that adds safety to the flight mission here. Of course I Haven’t even begun to get into the cost to taxpayers for flying them into camp, feeding them and flying them back out. We are talking about millions of dollars here.



Let me give you the most recent case in point. On Sept. 17, JCS Chairman Gen. Richard Myers came for a meet and greet. He was here for lunch, a small speech and time for three soldiers to ask questions – all the while the three Blackhawks assigned to him were revving up on the pad.



Why three, you ask?



Because he brought more than a dozen O-5s and O-6s with him. Hell, I haven't seen so many Navy captains ever this far from sea. (There is only one Navy person assigned to Camp Bondsteel and, of course, the Navy folks never visited with her).



I won’t even get into the “special recons” conducted by our own staff here – paid junkets that are not open to the lower-ranked enlisted men. This leaves a rather bad taste in the mouths of the troops.



Is this what the military has come to? Is this why I’m here – to provide a place for the brass to soak up some taxpayers’ dollars?



Why the hell are we here?



Joseph Conrad is the pen name of an active-duty military serviceman serving on Kosovo.

http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=DefenseWatch.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=209&rnd=579.7798356829276

Sempers,

Roger
:marine: