I wouldn’t usually prepare a rebuttal to a comment, but since this is my first one that wasn’t spam or from a family member, and because I think the guy has a point, I really do feel the need to. So this is the comment from my last post (some parts have been edited out becuase they aren’t necessary for this post):

It’s kinda funny reading this. You’re a Soldier and you’re complaining about doing your job. So you have to work when you weren’t expecting to, but as a Soldier you have to always be prepared for that. Sure it sucks, I agree with you there.

These guys/gals are coming home from a deployment and you want to complain about a couple days when they’ve been gone for a lot longer? That’s why I think it’s funny. It’s not like you have to unload their pallets of foot lockers or CONEX’s of gear….you have to take pictures.

I understand these people have been gone a long time. I’ll understand more since in June I myself leave for Afghanistan for a year. This is why this Christmas is so important to me. Because I won’t be here for next Christmas. And I realize I have to be prepared to work when I’m not supposed to. Believe me, as a journalist, I have to work a lot outside of the normal duty day.

There may be NCO’s or Officers in the Army that don’t take care of troops like they should, but I think it’s harsh to say that the “Army” doesn’t take care of its people. Flip it to the other side……I think the Army is taking care of its troops by making sure they have a photographer at their coming home. You know….memories….Unit history….blah blah blah.

You act like you fucked up by joining the Army. By the way you talk I think the Army fucked up by letting you call yourself a Soldier. Do you remember the Army Values? How about Duty?

My feeling that the Army doesn’t look out for it’s soldiers goes way beyond this incident, as does the prevailing thought that I made a mistake joining the Army. Believe me, if this were the only crap happening to me right now, I wouldn’t be complaining. Remember how I just mentioned going to Afghanistan? I forgot to mention I’ll be going there 6 weeks after my husband returns from Iraq. By the time I return from my deployment, I’ll have been married for 4 years and only have spent 8 months with my husband. This would be one thing if I were deploying with my unit, but this assignment is a tasker my branch manager specifically put me on knowing full well that my husband was deployed. How did he know this? Because I’d called him two weeks before seeing if there was a way my husband and I could be stationed together when he returns from Iraq.

As for the photos, I work with 6 other photographers, 3 of whom live on post and are spending the holidays on post. Why can’t they take the photos? It’s only a 5 minute drive from home for them. Even if I didn’t have plans to go out of town, it would still be a 45 minute drive to post at 2 a.m. on one of the most dangerous roads in the state (we’ve had 5 people die on it in the last 6 weeks alone). That doesn’t sound like taking care of soldiers to me. I’m an NCO myself, and that’s not how I would take care of my soldiers. If I had any since we are all a bunch of sergeants with no soldiers.

Yeah, I’m in the Army and I don’t like my assignment but I know that it will get better when I go back to Ft. Bragg. I have a friend at Ft. Irwin and he doesn’t like it there. Maybe it’s just Ft. Irwin. Is that your first assignment? If so, consider giving the Army a chance. I’ve been in for 8 years and I love it.

This is actually my second duty station. I absolutely loved my first duty station. And anyone who knew me before I got here would be absolutely shocked to know I feel such anger and resentment towards the Army now. I had to go through a lot to join and I’ve worked my tail off to get where I’m at now. I’ve worked hard for the Army. Harder than a lot of soldiers I know. And the Army repays me by treating me like I’m just a number. Not a human with a family, with emotions and with a life outside of that uniform.

When I joined the Army, all I heard about was what a family it was. How the leadership is supposed to look out for soldiers and what an amazing organization it is. And don’t get me wrong, the Army is great for a lot of people. It’s been said to me that I shouldn’t blame the Army becuase one or two people are bad, but I’ve had to deal with enough of the bad lately that I’ve realized that I don’t want to work for an organization that doesn’t even care, just a little, about me. I’ve given the Army a chance. But in the end my husband and my real family comes first. I thought I could have both, but that simply isn’t going to happen. So when my time comes, I will not be staying in the Army’s family. Because it’s not really a family at all.