Pillage: Just another old Army tradition, really
First off, we're going to discuss the duality of integrity, one of those high held ideals on the military. Trust in another is a very important thing in this business, of course. Lives literally depend on it. Integrity, the soul of a man is in keeping his word and standing by it. 'To do what is morally and legally right'. Not quite the 'yes' of our Islamic brethren, who have a compulsion towards telling you what they believe you want to hear, so as not to disappoint, rather than the truth. (Am I now so confused as to often define myself in contrast to the culture I look about myself in?)
And yet here, where it is so prized to trust, we are the most paranoid, micromanaged sort. Everything is logged, numbered and accounted, double checked and inspected. We aspire to trust, but do not trust, perhaps? I am issued equipment and then regularly checked to make certain I have not broken, lost or stolen it. And I can not simply be held accountable for it, I have to present the items physically to be viewed. Responsibility is not yours, but it should be and you're asked to be responsible, but when you take initiative you are condemned for operating outside the scope of your rank and position. Add to this the bureaucracy of office workers and politics of any organization, and it seems a small wonder I ever get what I need, and unsurprising when I don't. In this mire of the game of paperwork that Vogons would be proud of, one hardly wonders why thievery is considered an artform amongst soldiers.
Scrounging, Scavenging, Acquiring, Borrowing... 'Steal' itself I have learned to actually be an acronym: Strategic Transfer of Equipment to Another Location. If it's not chained down, locked up and marked with a serial number, it's practically being offered up. Anything with a serial number is off limits, often due to the sensitive nature of any equipment tracked such, but also because it's not something easily concealed. Something like that comes up missing and we find ourselves tearing apart our vehicles looking for another platoon's lost set of NVGs. And it's not the sort of thing you can 'Oh, I didn't know it was yours,' handwave. In such actions theft is publicly frowned upon by our leadership and punished, whereas privately the whispered word is 'don't get caught'.
But other sorts of material? All open. Some simple rules of brotherhood, you don't steal from your own. Sometimes that means platoon, sometimes that means Brigade. If the 25th ID is getting bitched at because one of their vehicles came up missing a tow bar, no sweat off my back. Just be sure to CYOA(cover your own ass) and it's all gravy, and the 1st Sergeant stops bitching you out for not having a tow bar on your vehicle.
'There's only one thief in the Army, everyone else is just trying to get their stuff back.'
The strap on my helmet has broken. The PX does not carry replacement chin straps, my supply office doesn't know the NSN to order new ones and I routinely get asked why I'm 'John Wayne-ing it' (In Army lore, the only time you didn't have a chin strap buckled was in the John Wayne movies)
Likely the answer is found in Amazon, patron god(dess?) of mail order shit.
And yet here, where it is so prized to trust, we are the most paranoid, micromanaged sort. Everything is logged, numbered and accounted, double checked and inspected. We aspire to trust, but do not trust, perhaps? I am issued equipment and then regularly checked to make certain I have not broken, lost or stolen it. And I can not simply be held accountable for it, I have to present the items physically to be viewed. Responsibility is not yours, but it should be and you're asked to be responsible, but when you take initiative you are condemned for operating outside the scope of your rank and position. Add to this the bureaucracy of office workers and politics of any organization, and it seems a small wonder I ever get what I need, and unsurprising when I don't. In this mire of the game of paperwork that Vogons would be proud of, one hardly wonders why thievery is considered an artform amongst soldiers.
Scrounging, Scavenging, Acquiring, Borrowing... 'Steal' itself I have learned to actually be an acronym: Strategic Transfer of Equipment to Another Location. If it's not chained down, locked up and marked with a serial number, it's practically being offered up. Anything with a serial number is off limits, often due to the sensitive nature of any equipment tracked such, but also because it's not something easily concealed. Something like that comes up missing and we find ourselves tearing apart our vehicles looking for another platoon's lost set of NVGs. And it's not the sort of thing you can 'Oh, I didn't know it was yours,' handwave. In such actions theft is publicly frowned upon by our leadership and punished, whereas privately the whispered word is 'don't get caught'.
But other sorts of material? All open. Some simple rules of brotherhood, you don't steal from your own. Sometimes that means platoon, sometimes that means Brigade. If the 25th ID is getting bitched at because one of their vehicles came up missing a tow bar, no sweat off my back. Just be sure to CYOA(cover your own ass) and it's all gravy, and the 1st Sergeant stops bitching you out for not having a tow bar on your vehicle.
'There's only one thief in the Army, everyone else is just trying to get their stuff back.'
The strap on my helmet has broken. The PX does not carry replacement chin straps, my supply office doesn't know the NSN to order new ones and I routinely get asked why I'm 'John Wayne-ing it' (In Army lore, the only time you didn't have a chin strap buckled was in the John Wayne movies)
Likely the answer is found in Amazon, patron god(dess?) of mail order shit.