Wow... the military really *IS* getting more like the corporate world!
I groaned when I read this section of ginmar's latest post from Iraq. It reads like Office Space with a body count...
"Mandatory fun is something to be dreaded in the military. For example, the Fourth of July. Takes place soon after the handover, and the terrorists have been beside themselves with glee at the juxtapositions. Driving up to Baghdad, I lost count of all the IED scars on the road---at least twenty. How many more will be planted for that day alone?
So the command ordered us to Baghdad for the Fourth, for a three-hour party amongst people concerned with formalities and stuff like that, during the most dangerous time of the year.
They finally cancelled that.
Then they sent us a safety video. In Iraq, you know, this concept----er....safety? Excuse me while I duck, there's an incoming mortar. But the fun part about this video? It's got to be watched by July 3rd---in person. So that means we have to convoy out to all the teams---Fallujah, Najaf, Karbala, Kufah---you may recognize some of those names----and show this half-hour video to the troops.
Because that's what the regulation says.
Formalities."
"Mandatory fun is something to be dreaded in the military. For example, the Fourth of July. Takes place soon after the handover, and the terrorists have been beside themselves with glee at the juxtapositions. Driving up to Baghdad, I lost count of all the IED scars on the road---at least twenty. How many more will be planted for that day alone?
So the command ordered us to Baghdad for the Fourth, for a three-hour party amongst people concerned with formalities and stuff like that, during the most dangerous time of the year.
They finally cancelled that.
Then they sent us a safety video. In Iraq, you know, this concept----er....safety? Excuse me while I duck, there's an incoming mortar. But the fun part about this video? It's got to be watched by July 3rd---in person. So that means we have to convoy out to all the teams---Fallujah, Najaf, Karbala, Kufah---you may recognize some of those names----and show this half-hour video to the troops.
Because that's what the regulation says.
Formalities."