SSG C is Killin Me!

Task Force ODIN, 21st Cav, Fort Hood (at the time), TX

I had requested this assignment to be part of Task Force ODIN, which meant I would be flying the Warrior-A (essentially, a MQ-1 predator). My motivation was through the roof, 2 months prior to reporting to A Troop, I was promoted to SFC (E-7) and had just competed the Senior Leaders Course. In the back of my mind was a SSG C that I went to Basic Non-Commissioned Officers Course (BNCOC) with, he was supposed to be my roommate, but decided that he would rather have his own room and stayed in a hotel. Now, I will save that story for another time, or better yet, let one of my battle buddies tell you about it. Anyways, back to Fort Hood.

The sole purpose of the unit was to deploy in detachments, but first, you had to successfully complete the MQ-1B Warrior A course in Fort Huachuca, Arizona. I was assigned to detachment 3, with 2 other SFC’s, 6 Staff Sergeants (E6), 2 Sergeants (E5), and our Detachment Leader, a CW2 (WO2). In my mind, this was going to be the best and easiest managed deployment ever.

The sole purpose of the unit was to deploy in detachments, but first, you had to successfully complete the MQ-1B Warrior A course in Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

I was assigned to detachment 3, with 2 other SFC’s, 6 Staff Sergeants (E6), 2 Sergeants (E5), and our Detachment Leader, a CW2 (WO2). In my mind, this was going to be the best and easiest managed deployment ever.

This is also where I learned that all Unmanned aerial Systems Operators (MOS: 15W at the time) didn’t have to have common sense to become an operator. SSG C, we will just call him SSG Joker, Some of our detachment had already been qualified to fly the Warrior-A and didn’t need to attend the course. So, all 3 SFC’s and 5 SSG’s were sent to Fort Huachuca to take the course.

Due to the length of the course and the fact that once you were complete, you went out the door to deploy very shortly after, we had to complete some admin tasks, deployment training, and paperwork to prepare us for deployment. This is where SSG Joker gets burned into my thoughts. We had a task to fill out our next of kin information and they decided that I should collect the info. Too easy, right?

Not so much, Joker, was filling out his information and asked me which address he should put, I told him to put the one of his physical addresses. He then stated that he didn’t have a physical address and only a P.O. Box.

I explained to him why we needed a physical address and he continued to want to use his P.O. Box, so then I asked him which address would you like your next of kin to be notified if something happens to you, I even put a quantifier in the statement, in the form of, “Where could someone knock on door and notify your next of kin.” He stated, “My P.O. Box is the only address I have” and he just couldn’t wrap his head around that I needed an address where his next of kin lived. Eventually, he won, and I gave up the good fight and said, “Ok, that works”. When I sent it to the First Sergeant, I was just going to kick the can down the road and see if someone else could explain it better.

So, now we move onto the next section of the next of kin sheet. Children, that’s got to be especially easy, correct? Again, not so much. He looks at the paper for a couple of minutes and then looks up and all I think is: Here it comes. Then he states which children to put down. Ok, ill bite, and give him an answer of, “Your kids”. This begins the mind numbing, painful, stress inducing problem that, to this day, still hurts my brain to think about it. He says, Well, I have 3 that are my kids and 3 that are step kids. After I reached severe disappointment that Joker had reproduced 3 and is an influence on 3 more, I explained to him that he puts all his kids down on the paper. That’s when he states, “But, sergeant, 3 are my kids and 3 are my step kids.”

I just looked dumbfounded and said, “Put down your kids that are your responsibility”. Again, “but…., sergeant, 3 are my kids”, “and 3 are my step kids”. I start to lose it with him, so, I say, “Just list your kids, any and all kids”. For the fourth time, yep, you guessed it, he stated, ”but 3 are step kids and the other 3 are my kids.” So, to help make him understand, I just told him to list the kids that are associated with his address, that’s when he says, “My P.O. box is only for me.” It was at that moment; I gave up.