Month 4 Day 8

Notebook entry
Samir returns, roster, 59 grads from course, two Captains selected.

Journal Entry
Dragging ass yesterday. I did BATing [Biometric Automated Toolset] in the morning, tightened up the roster a little bit. I have a little more work to do on it today. Here is the major bone from yesterday. The Major decided to tell the General that he couldn’t send his officers on leave via coalition aircraft because the leave policy that the ANA want is crazy (they basically want leave every 40 days for about two months). The major then links an issue with no causal connection to this. He tells me that I have to cough up a roster of the contractors on Camp Garmsir. The ANA basically wants to hit these guys up for money and the contractors have been unwilling to give their personal information to the ANA. I have been working on this roster for some time with the Garrison Support Unit (eg MCB Camp Pendleton), they already had all of the information. My response was, the ANA already have this info, we want the GSU and Brigade to work more closely together, make the Brigade get it from the GSU if they want it so bad. The brigade has no interest in it outside of the extortion of contractors. They tried to produce a document that said they needed it, but when translated, it did not say they required this information. So I am told by Capt Nowak to give this to the Bde, I basically tell him I’m not going to do it unless the Major tells me to because this makes no sense. I ask the Major, and what happens…He tells me to give it to the Bde. We set a stupid precedent and undermined ourselves, the contractors will trust us less, the brigade will get involved with base operations, the Bde and GSU will not talk, the GSU will be less likely to work with me if they know I have to give the information to the Bde, we enhanced the ability of the ANA to participate in corruption, we gave in to the Bde temper tantrums and lies and we provided them with something that they already had because it was simply easier to ask the Marines than it was to ask their own subordinates (who for a change were actually safeguarding the information appropriately). This is retarded.

Worked on the roster again. The Major found out the tough love can work with the ANA. He said that no officers were going on leave via coalition aircraft. The officers pushed their way onto the bus, Maj Hesco simply walked all of the enlisted guys to the aircraft, some of the officers followed and he explained that they were not getting on the aircraft. The soldiers were elated that finally the Marines were sticking up for their interest. The general caved and said that the officers and soldiers would have the same amount of leave time, 45 days per year, three times per year, still over MoD policy of 30, but better than nothing. Maybe the Major will start tough-loving the general even more. I don’t know if he is worried that the Colonel will cave if the General asks him for something. There seems to be this stupid impression that you need to give the ANA stuff to make them work. We already pay for and give them everything they have, all these personal servitude items are thinly veiled corruption.

Dirty Dog Samir showed back up. I am about to work him to death. I also found out that there is already one capable, literate Sgt assigned to S-2, but the XO decided that he would be his aid-de-camp. Does such a billet exist, hell no, but he took him anyway and didn’t even cough him up when there was no one reporting for duty in the S-2 section.

The Capt Nowak and Capt Brawny were both selected for Major.