Apparently, accountable for your actions does not transfer to all people...
So to explain the strange title, in the military we have certain trades that are considered "purple". By purple, we mean that either navy (black), army (green), or airforce (blue), can be this trade without having to be a specific arm of the forces. But there is a problem with these purple trades. Because they are purple and there seems to be no loyalty among them, they are quite out for themselves, though within their own trade, they are also very backstabbing. The typical scenario with these trades as well is that they are support trades, as in they exist purely to support specialized trades, like mine. I'm guessing this doesn't make them too happy, but that's not my problem with all of this. If they want to backstab, fine. If they want to be assholes to each other and to me, fine. But for goddess' sake, if they have to make a mistake, and I mean a huge, pigheaded, moronic, "I seem to have lost my head up my ass, Sir" mistake, then be accountable for your actions! This, apparently, is not the case. The instance that has me so up tight is with a certain clerk here in Afghanistan. Now since names are not exactly my strong point as few of you who might read this will actually know who I am, the clerk in question will simply be called "Bitch", as this is what I have been referring to her as for the past two days.
So the story goes like this...
Our original travel plans for coming home were simple, easy painless. Our crew of ten was to board a service flight from KAF to Spang, Germany, stay overnight in Bitburg, then at stupid o'clock the next morning board another service flight from Spang again direct to Trenton. Easy, no? Of course it was. It was so easy the Bitch who was in charge of booking everything (and note that we were to leave KAF in the first place at 2am on April 30th) decided of her own accord to book us an entirely different way. We are currently booked to leave at 2am on April 26th on a service flight to Spang, stay over night in Bitburg, get up at moronic stupid o'clock to shuttle all the way to Frankfurt, Germany to take a civilian airliner to Heathrow, England, stay in an airport for 3-4hrs, get on a different plane, fly to Toronto, then take a shuttle bus back to Trenton to arrive late on April 27th. To most people this might sound like then better plan other than the plane hopping parts, but I will list the various reasons it is not. Forst is the fact that the more days we spend in KAF, the more money we make. Of course the 400-800$ each of us would make more with those extra four days (pay depends on rank) does not compare to the 2200$ each that was spent to send us on civilian flights, not to mention the added cost of the shuttle buses. So more than 22000$ spent to send us home when they could have sent us on FREE service flights that take us directly home and less than 10000$ spent to pay us is apparently a better decision to the Bitch. Second, it was her office's idea and request to send us on the service flights rather than the civilian choice, so it makes little to no sense that she would, of her own accord, make a completely different decision than that of her own chain of command, and I am also seriously questioning the reasoning of the person who approved of her choice, as it is known that she would have needed higher approval in the first place to make such extravagent purchases. Third, through a terribly blown up miscommunication and tattle-taling from Bitch, my unit was accused of misappropriation of funds. Now logically, all my chain of command was asking was if the problem could be rectified, as it had not been our fault and we were now being robbed of more days in KAF and a promised simpler ride home. Of course we were shit on for asking such a question because heaven forbid that we ask those who make the mistakes to hold themselves, and be held, accountable for their actions. Do I shrug my shoulders, say "Oops!" and walk away scot free if I cause a severe accident to occur on the aircraft? No. I would practically strung up, especially if it were negligence that caused the accident. But if you've paid attention, where is this negligence? There isn't any, is there? And I come to my final point. The email trail that was left after this disaster occurred followed as such. The Bitch emailed our CoC to ask if we would mind staying until the morning of the 30th. We responded on the 2nd of April through CoC that we agreed to that. This email was ignored. The tickets for the civilian flight were purchased April 11th, a whole 9 days after receipt of the email confirming the 30th, not the 26th. We were then notified of the change on April 15th, when a call was made to ask if it could be changed due to the mistake. It was then during that call that she found the "missing" email... So as I said, it really pisses me off that certain people, and trades when it comes to the military, are not held accountable for their actions. Especially because her entire office has been nothing but rude to our crew ever since the incident, and not one of us have had actual contact with this woman, but she lives right next door, happy as a clam and completely unaware how close we are.
I hope she sleeps with her eyes open, because I would.
Revenge is best served cold,
Lady S.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
9 April 2011: So Anxious It's Insane!
Like clutching the edge of the desk waiting for the bell to ring, it won't make it come any faster, but you still hope...
That is what I feel like right now. I am going crazy to ride, and I almost want to do that as the first act I make as soon as I get home. I'm eager beyond bbelief to get into the saddle and start showing this summer. It will be my first summer of english shows and I hope to do well enough to put some miles under both Forest and I in order to move forward in that area. What will help will be my new truck and trailer. It's almost a good thing that I wrapped my poor little Ranger around a telephone pole because this enables me to get a new vehicle so that I can tow my new 2 horse trailer. Lucky for me again that my wonderful boyfriend was willing to lend me the money to buy my trailer before I left for Afghanistan because it was an absolute steal! All I have to do now is change the registration, along with pay the almost 300$ in taxes I'll owe on it, and get it insured for the year. Also actually procuring my truck once the old one is officially paid off will be good too.
But otherwise I am jumping in my skin to start practicing for shows, take some much needed lessons to prep, and enjoy the show season. I'm very lucky that my boyfriend is not incompetant, one of my friends, Leslie, is totally stoked to be my groom and help me through the show season by giving me tips from her days of eventing on the east coast, and to be independant when I do go and start these new classes. Gaming last year was a lot of fun, but with how much stress it put on my gelding's back and how little room for improvement I had without buying another horse as Forest was the biggest animal competing, I figure I'll use his stature and his confidence over the jumps to good use. Plus he is such a handsome boy with his mane all braided and his coat shiny. Hopefully he'll be calmer than he was the first show I did in english with him, but honestly I wasn't as ready for that as I could have been, and he didn't have enough experience to be ready either. But I have a different angle this year and a great support group. Sterling will be there to film my rounds so I can learn from them and take some awesome pics, though I doubt they'll turn out as well as Curtis' photos, which I will probably still buy a few for my family. But also I plan to take Forest everywhere..... all the time. He'll get so used to seeing new scenery that it will be nothing new for him to show up somewhere and just go like he's at home, because he is wonderful and fluid and a beautiful mover at home, but one ounce of stress and he tightens up and freaks out on me. I just need to keep him at a good pace and get him to not be lazy so he doesn't drop down to a trot in the middle of a round, because god knows he does it at home! I'm still super excited though. I have a new saddle, new trailer, I'll have a new truck, my own groom, new support system, and a new attitude. I can do this, and I will blow people out of the water this year!
Here I come HCRC, Windfield Meadows, and Quinte Cup! Laugh if you may, but I will make the attempt!
Here goes,
Lady S.
That is what I feel like right now. I am going crazy to ride, and I almost want to do that as the first act I make as soon as I get home. I'm eager beyond bbelief to get into the saddle and start showing this summer. It will be my first summer of english shows and I hope to do well enough to put some miles under both Forest and I in order to move forward in that area. What will help will be my new truck and trailer. It's almost a good thing that I wrapped my poor little Ranger around a telephone pole because this enables me to get a new vehicle so that I can tow my new 2 horse trailer. Lucky for me again that my wonderful boyfriend was willing to lend me the money to buy my trailer before I left for Afghanistan because it was an absolute steal! All I have to do now is change the registration, along with pay the almost 300$ in taxes I'll owe on it, and get it insured for the year. Also actually procuring my truck once the old one is officially paid off will be good too.
But otherwise I am jumping in my skin to start practicing for shows, take some much needed lessons to prep, and enjoy the show season. I'm very lucky that my boyfriend is not incompetant, one of my friends, Leslie, is totally stoked to be my groom and help me through the show season by giving me tips from her days of eventing on the east coast, and to be independant when I do go and start these new classes. Gaming last year was a lot of fun, but with how much stress it put on my gelding's back and how little room for improvement I had without buying another horse as Forest was the biggest animal competing, I figure I'll use his stature and his confidence over the jumps to good use. Plus he is such a handsome boy with his mane all braided and his coat shiny. Hopefully he'll be calmer than he was the first show I did in english with him, but honestly I wasn't as ready for that as I could have been, and he didn't have enough experience to be ready either. But I have a different angle this year and a great support group. Sterling will be there to film my rounds so I can learn from them and take some awesome pics, though I doubt they'll turn out as well as Curtis' photos, which I will probably still buy a few for my family. But also I plan to take Forest everywhere..... all the time. He'll get so used to seeing new scenery that it will be nothing new for him to show up somewhere and just go like he's at home, because he is wonderful and fluid and a beautiful mover at home, but one ounce of stress and he tightens up and freaks out on me. I just need to keep him at a good pace and get him to not be lazy so he doesn't drop down to a trot in the middle of a round, because god knows he does it at home! I'm still super excited though. I have a new saddle, new trailer, I'll have a new truck, my own groom, new support system, and a new attitude. I can do this, and I will blow people out of the water this year!
Here I come HCRC, Windfield Meadows, and Quinte Cup! Laugh if you may, but I will make the attempt!
Here goes,
Lady S.
Friday, April 1, 2011
01 April 2011: Hello from sandy plains!
Well, I finally made it to the desert! I realize it's been a long time and I have been lacking in attention to my blog, but I was so busy that I forgot all about the little things I've needed to do while the big things were taking up my attention. A lot has gone on in the past few months so let me explain...
Before leaving on my adventure, during February it became apparent that the relationship I have with Sterling just dived down to another level of seriousness. We are officially considering buying a large piece of land and setting up a stable while he goes further with plans to set up giant solar panels on the property as well. This scared me a little at first, but as I am in no place to put any money on such an endeavor other than towards the monthly bills, I think it scared him more. I was shocked to find out he`d be up for this since he knows nothing about horses, but he wants us both to have a guarantee of staying in the same place, and of course him being brought back to the area where his son is as the threat of him being posted for a time looms nearer.
The second was preparations to leave for up to two months. There were various courses and tests I had to complete in order to prove worthy of coming to Afghanistan. The worst one was the 13km ruck march we had to complete in under two and a half hours with approximately 55 lbs on our backs. My feet hurt so bad after that, you have no idea! It was aweful! But I survived needless to say, and completed it under the required time limit. But that wasn`t the only hurdle. There was also the complications with the herd at the stable having strangles and having to hand over my beasts to my friend Leslie making her responsible for their decontamination when the time comes because I am not there and it is still not time yet. Asl making sure both my babies get the exercise they need while I am away. The cats and snake I don`t worry about because DJ, my trusty neighbour and longtime friend, is there for me and I know my furry friends and legless companion are safe and sound and happy, though missing mommy endlessly as Belle will rip around the house everytime DJ comes in to feed them, and she goes crazy when Sterling visits the apartment on weekends. And Belle isn`t the affectionate one, Marvin is, so I can only imagine how he`s doing. But I know Shadow doesn`t even notice my absence. Oh well, I`ll find her exactly where I left her, sleeping on the end of the couch.
The last a final thing was the process of getting all the things I needed to come here in the first place. The packing was hectic, paperwork is never ending and even the flight here was chaotic as we got on and off the plane three times. Thank god we didn`t have to drag our stuff off the plane everytime too. The military is great for handling things like that. But in the end I am here safe and sound, we`ve had several rocket attacks already and I have experienced my first repatriation ceremony on the flight line. It`s not something I want to see again for obvious reasons. I am however having a blast otherwise, I`ve already gone on a flight, celebrated my brithday here in style, and the gym keeps me occupied since there are no horse in KAF. I`ll see everyone when I get home and hopefully this blog won`t go completely ingored during that time!
Stay out of the shit,
Lady S.
Before leaving on my adventure, during February it became apparent that the relationship I have with Sterling just dived down to another level of seriousness. We are officially considering buying a large piece of land and setting up a stable while he goes further with plans to set up giant solar panels on the property as well. This scared me a little at first, but as I am in no place to put any money on such an endeavor other than towards the monthly bills, I think it scared him more. I was shocked to find out he`d be up for this since he knows nothing about horses, but he wants us both to have a guarantee of staying in the same place, and of course him being brought back to the area where his son is as the threat of him being posted for a time looms nearer.
The second was preparations to leave for up to two months. There were various courses and tests I had to complete in order to prove worthy of coming to Afghanistan. The worst one was the 13km ruck march we had to complete in under two and a half hours with approximately 55 lbs on our backs. My feet hurt so bad after that, you have no idea! It was aweful! But I survived needless to say, and completed it under the required time limit. But that wasn`t the only hurdle. There was also the complications with the herd at the stable having strangles and having to hand over my beasts to my friend Leslie making her responsible for their decontamination when the time comes because I am not there and it is still not time yet. Asl making sure both my babies get the exercise they need while I am away. The cats and snake I don`t worry about because DJ, my trusty neighbour and longtime friend, is there for me and I know my furry friends and legless companion are safe and sound and happy, though missing mommy endlessly as Belle will rip around the house everytime DJ comes in to feed them, and she goes crazy when Sterling visits the apartment on weekends. And Belle isn`t the affectionate one, Marvin is, so I can only imagine how he`s doing. But I know Shadow doesn`t even notice my absence. Oh well, I`ll find her exactly where I left her, sleeping on the end of the couch.
The last a final thing was the process of getting all the things I needed to come here in the first place. The packing was hectic, paperwork is never ending and even the flight here was chaotic as we got on and off the plane three times. Thank god we didn`t have to drag our stuff off the plane everytime too. The military is great for handling things like that. But in the end I am here safe and sound, we`ve had several rocket attacks already and I have experienced my first repatriation ceremony on the flight line. It`s not something I want to see again for obvious reasons. I am however having a blast otherwise, I`ve already gone on a flight, celebrated my brithday here in style, and the gym keeps me occupied since there are no horse in KAF. I`ll see everyone when I get home and hopefully this blog won`t go completely ingored during that time!
Stay out of the shit,
Lady S.
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