More from: "My Time in Service:"

"Area X...alert. Live Ammo. Give all your personal gear to the Quartermaster. Make sure you have your Dog Tags. And write your Mom. Load Up...."

With all the things going on right now. Troops are moving around the Globe to position themselves in case things go South. Or they are doing Special Opps Missions galore. Some are fighting. some are preparing to fight, and some...are getting it all ready...just in case. So this post is a bit long, but I wrote it for Civilians. And I think they need to know that the Military never rests. So here goes:

What is like to be a Soldier prepared to fight, but hoping not to?
Civilians don't understand the stress on Soldiers - even in “Peace Time”. What’s it like when “War” is waiting right around the corner, or
across the border? The psychological toll is high. Will we go, or will we stay. For hours on end. Then days. Then Weeks. Now…months.
Prepared for Action, but not allowed to either relax, or join the battle. Alert. High Alert. And…then you wait.
Before I continue, let me make it perfectly clear…there is a huge Gulf between a Combat Veteran and a Soldier on Duty. Serving on the
DMZ in Korea, along the Czech Border, in Poland with a war just miles away, or Germany. Soldiers are caught somewhere in between Actual Combat, and GarrisonDuty.
Alert…but no Action. Much different than training…but not full Combat. In my mind, I compare Combat Soldiers to Women who have
had a baby, they get a new higher commitment…Motherhood.
Soldiers like me, who served, and went on Alerts that could have been the start of a War- we are like women in General. We could have a“baby” (Orders to Combat) but we aren’t Mothers. So we are different. One has had a “baby”, the other might, or could have a baby…butnot yet. Some of the same worries overlap…some of the same sacrifices, but a whole lot of differences in experience.
In live fire training exercises, the people aiming at me…weren’t trying to hit me, let alone kill me. The bullets flew a good six feet over my
head in training. That is scary enough. Good training, but not war.
What I do want to say is in support of all the Troops on High Alert. It isn’t easy. It isn’t war…but you don’t know if it will be. All it takes is a command…and your life is changed forever.
The Military calls “Alerts” all the time. They have varying code names, and levels of “Alert”. Some are just practice drills to see how you load equipment, transfer troops to “battle areas”, and carry out Logistics. Some are more geared to see if Strategies and Tactics match the terrain and situation. This is what our Professionally trained troops do every day. It is there job. And they are damn good at it.
Our Army (and all our Services) have NCO’s. Non Commission Officers. Soldiers (both men and women) who have extensive training, or Combat experience. These are the backbone of transferring mission goals to the: Cherry, Newby, Trainee Soldiers. It is why our Troops can continue the mission without an Officer…if necessary. Every Unit I was ever with, kept training the Privates to become, Corporals, Specialists, and finally Sergeants.
And then the Sergeant Ranks kept going up to another level equivalent to your time and experience. The Officers start out as Lieutenants, and they are continually upgrading their skill set and knowledge, until they become Commanding Officers and even Generals.
The point is this: every Soldier is prepared to take on more and more responsibility at every rank. Training gets broader and broader as you move up in your MOS (Military Occupational Specialty).
Even a Soldier stationed to his first Permanent Party Unit, can: read a map, call for Fire, shoot several kinds of weapons, Field fix their weapon or vehicles, give basic First Aide, handle the radio, and understand how to deploy his squad in certain situations.
A lot of skills to master, and you never know when you might need any of them. So you keep training to keep your edge.
I was taught and trained by brave Soldiers who fought in World War II, Korea, or Vietnam. Nowadays, because of the Gulf Wars, Iraq, and Afghanistan, we have tons of Combat Experience as Mentors, Teachers and Trainers. And our Special Operatives have had to spill their blood in places like: Africa, Central America and the Balkans. Their missions are often Classified, and we will never know the battles theyfought. And they train hard. All the time.
I tell you all this, because I want folks to know (I am just guessing but I am fairly certain even tho times change…Alert Levels don’t) how difficult it is on the Troops - our Troops, and Nato Troops, to “Stand by”.
First, many Soldiers spent ten days on Tarmacs around the World, fully equipped with live ammunition, and basic combat loads for their tanks, cannons, or missiles. No leave was granted. No going home for lunch. No evenings with their kids, hubbies, or wives. Just waiting.
Not knowing. Bases all over Europe cancelled Home Leave. Soldiers who thought they were going home for three weeks to get married, visit relatives, or just as a vacation…are not. Plans made a year ago, foiled by the unstable situation (which just weeks later became an actual War) in a part of the world where they happened to be needed. Even if they are in Garrison in Germany, Poland, or Italy….they are now on High Alert. What we used to call “Area X”. The highest Alert Status, where even the Generals don’t know if it is a Training Exercise, or the Real Thing.
You grab all your gear, you are given live ammunition. You get code books for the Radio and how to call in a “Fire Order” for ground support, air support, and as Fire Missions assigned to you. The Quartermaster Corp brings up body bags, portable morgues, and makes sure you are wearing your “Dog Tags”. You are encouraged to write to your loved ones…so you can get the mail out before the situationgoes “Hot.”
Supply amps up the Logistics. Bringing truck loads of equipment, armament, and ammunition to keep you fully loaded in case of battle.
Other Units spring into action…MASH Units (or whatever they call Field Hospitals Nowadays) and Medics make sure they have everything
from bandages to plasma to take care of the wounded. The Air Force is busy figuring out Medivacs and lifesaving extractions …and sadly, lining up flights to take the Dead back home.
All of these Branches of Service are acting in Concert and Ready to Deploy. For now…they sit and wait. Who knows what tomorrow will be.
The Longest I ever sat on a border was ten days…without knowing what was going to happen next. In every case it ended with a “Stand Down Order.” Which meant we could pack up our gear, return the ammo to the depot, and our weapons to the Armory. A huge sigh of Relief. For some…disappointment. Why? because they didn’t get to test their mettle against the enemy. Not me. I was glad not to fight. I would have, just like every other Soldier I have known…if the orders came down…I was ready. I was trained well. But I never tasted the fire of
battle. And that is fine with me.
Those ten days were tense. I can’t imagine what is like for those Soldiers who have been prepared, “locked and loaded” for over a month now. I know they haven’t had much free time…except to much time to think about what might happen…and when. I know they can’t go far from their Duty Stations…and I would bet most of the Critical MOS’s have had their Leaves, Liberties, or Schools Cancelled.
I hope and pray our Soldiers don’t have to fight. If they do, I know they will fight well. Their Training will help, their experienced brothers and sisters will help. The fact that they want to do the job they were trained for …that will help too. It is their job, and they are all Professionals.
Men and women who Volunteered to serve their country. I am so proud of them all.
I wrote this, because I don’t want folks sitting at home... safe... to bicker and assign blame to whatever particular path they think led us to this point.
To think that very brave men and women are just sitting around doing nothing. They are preparing to go to war…maybe today…maybe tomorrow…maybe never. They don’t know. Imagine what dinner is like for them, or their relatives. The News shows them every day what it will look like if they are unleashed. Not all will come back. Some will come back missing pieces of their bodies, or with minds that have to deal with what they saw…or did. They know that.
And yet they sit in their “Area X” staging areas waiting for an order to go in. The tension must be enormous. The Frustration of knowing they could help turn the tide if they were just allowed to, must be stewing in the hearts of many of them. While all their loved ones hope they don’t go to battle. March 29th, is Vietnam Veterans Day…so stop and thank them, the ones that came home. Say a prayer for those on the Wall. And remember, all the Soldiers who gave their all.
And somewhere in a field in Poland, a Tarmac in NC, an Airbase in Germany, or a Aircraft Carrier Group in the Baltic, thousands of Soldiers stand on high Level Alert, their own form of “Area X”. It isn’t easy being a Soldier. Even in “Peace.”
Remember that they are out there…waiting to be called. They are not sitting idle…they are preparing. Training more intensely than ever before. For Orders might come down at any minute. Or they may be called in to provide much needed clean up and rebuilding support if the war ends. The Mission might change and our Soldiers will adapt. Engineers and SeaBees will do what they are trained to do…and perhaps Infantry Units will be called in for either Security or as Laborers. And they will do their jobs.
Let’s just hope they stay in Area X…and don't have to cross a border. But believe me, if they have to cross the border…they will. They are
Soldiers.
God Bless them all, and keep them safe.