Decompression yes/no
- Thread starter SHELLDRAKE!!
- Start date
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 210
Kevin has a valid point.
The next question arises when elements within the unit (or even sub-unit) have seen/done things that the others haven't. A case in point would the grave excavations that a platoon from C Coy 2PPCLI conducted during 3 PPCLI's Op TORRII in Tora Bora. Those poor bastards had to go down into that town and dig up 27 graves associated with the U.S. bombing of OBL's hide-out in December 01. But they didn't just have to deal with 4-month old corpses - they also had the added "joy" of expecting booby traps in each grave, etc, etc. We're talking serious stress....
The remainder of C Coy, who searched ravines and blew up suspected cave sites didn't have to deal with the utter disgusting frigging horror of digging up and replacing mouldy Al Queda bodies. Yet the entire company went on decompression together... Devil 39 is eminently more qualified to speak about this than I am, since he was OC C Coy 2 PPCLI and it was his troops who did the gave-digger task. All I will say is that using C Coy's example, one platoons's "war" is not necessarily another's.
At the end of the day? I stand by my original contention. If you are in "the shit" (define it how you will), then "decompression" is a very necessary stepping-stone to normality. Some folks will require it moreso than others (eg. grave-digger platoon of C Coy), but at the end of the day a "non-tactical pause" is good for all concerned.
At the end of the day, I am here to tell you that I greatly benefited from the "decompression" experience. The specific location (eg. Guam) was irrelevant. You could have stuck me in Saskatoon, as long as the locals were understanding and I was able to get my act squared away in an accepting atmosphere. The key was getting my collective shite together before facing my family for the first time in 6.5 months......
Which leads me to the "institutionally-ingrained necessity" of HLTA and R&R leaves. I'm not going to go down that particular road right now, other than to say that I believe the current system reinforces the undeserved expectation of entitlement. "garb811" addressed it well. In my view, all the average soldier requires are one or two short "R&R" escapes from the combat zone to blow off some steam during a 6-month deployment. As far as HLTA is concerned? Leave that for the end. Notwithstanding the horrific force employment implications, HLTA is quite simply a "bad thing". It is a distraction of the highest order, both before and afterwards. Just who the hell has the intestinal fortitude to live the Op APOLLO life, go home to a fundamentally different reality plus Wife and kids, and then go back to living in a Crew Tent on gravel, eating hard rations, and burning your crap in a 40-gal drum? It is a distraction. Furthermore, the ingrainded importance of HLTA has taken on a significance all out of proportion to its value. The minute that HLTA becomes a significant factor in deployment manning (and it is), then we have lost the mission focus. Full-stop.
The next question arises when elements within the unit (or even sub-unit) have seen/done things that the others haven't. A case in point would the grave excavations that a platoon from C Coy 2PPCLI conducted during 3 PPCLI's Op TORRII in Tora Bora. Those poor bastards had to go down into that town and dig up 27 graves associated with the U.S. bombing of OBL's hide-out in December 01. But they didn't just have to deal with 4-month old corpses - they also had the added "joy" of expecting booby traps in each grave, etc, etc. We're talking serious stress....
The remainder of C Coy, who searched ravines and blew up suspected cave sites didn't have to deal with the utter disgusting frigging horror of digging up and replacing mouldy Al Queda bodies. Yet the entire company went on decompression together... Devil 39 is eminently more qualified to speak about this than I am, since he was OC C Coy 2 PPCLI and it was his troops who did the gave-digger task. All I will say is that using C Coy's example, one platoons's "war" is not necessarily another's.
At the end of the day? I stand by my original contention. If you are in "the shit" (define it how you will), then "decompression" is a very necessary stepping-stone to normality. Some folks will require it moreso than others (eg. grave-digger platoon of C Coy), but at the end of the day a "non-tactical pause" is good for all concerned.
At the end of the day, I am here to tell you that I greatly benefited from the "decompression" experience. The specific location (eg. Guam) was irrelevant. You could have stuck me in Saskatoon, as long as the locals were understanding and I was able to get my act squared away in an accepting atmosphere. The key was getting my collective shite together before facing my family for the first time in 6.5 months......
Which leads me to the "institutionally-ingrained necessity" of HLTA and R&R leaves. I'm not going to go down that particular road right now, other than to say that I believe the current system reinforces the undeserved expectation of entitlement. "garb811" addressed it well. In my view, all the average soldier requires are one or two short "R&R" escapes from the combat zone to blow off some steam during a 6-month deployment. As far as HLTA is concerned? Leave that for the end. Notwithstanding the horrific force employment implications, HLTA is quite simply a "bad thing". It is a distraction of the highest order, both before and afterwards. Just who the hell has the intestinal fortitude to live the Op APOLLO life, go home to a fundamentally different reality plus Wife and kids, and then go back to living in a Crew Tent on gravel, eating hard rations, and burning your crap in a 40-gal drum? It is a distraction. Furthermore, the ingrainded importance of HLTA has taken on a significance all out of proportion to its value. The minute that HLTA becomes a significant factor in deployment manning (and it is), then we have lost the mission focus. Full-stop.
Similar threads
