What makes things hard

Now that I'm three weeks into being a platoon leader, I have a better idea what's going on with my platoon, what challenges we face, and what it is that makes things so darn difficult to get anything done.

First off, as a "Force Sustainment" branch Transportation isn't cyclical; while other branches supposedly get a break when they they're in garrison, we're face just as many challenges at home as we are when deployed. In field, things are busier, but people are more focused. At home it's nearly impossible to get everyone at the same place at the same time.

Second, our battalion leadership doesn't insist that mission requests be made with any lead time. As a result, we get our next day's missions at about 4:00pm the day before. Given that everyone's required to leave the office at 5:00 (commanding general rule), that last hour is a madhouse of activity. And since we're the only fully capable transportation company on Fort Hood right now, the vast majority of transportation missions come to us.

This afternoon gave me a good example that I can share. The company got a request for 24 vehicles; each of the three truck platoons got tasked to provide eight trucks -- four 1088s and four PLSs (all with flatbed trailers).

M1088

M1075

So we go down the list and see which trucks are available -- the ones that have been checked and approved for dispatch within the past week. If we have too many trucks that have problems (like buckles in the support beams of the trailers), that's bad -- we can't do our job. So it's real key to make sure we get our problem trucks over to the maintenance company for repair.

Next we look at the people who are available. We have some people who are unavailable because they're getting trained, others who have medical profiles that effectively prevent them from going out, and others who are in the process of either moving (PCS) or getting out of the Army (ETS).

The number gets whittled down more by routine business appointents. We tell people not to schedule routine care appointments on Mondays and Thursdays, so that leaves the other three weekdays for them to get their business done, whether it's a trip to the dentist or the finance office. We look in our "appointments book" to see who's out, and the number drops again.

So of the 40 people on the roster for my platoon, here's how it worked:

• Training. My platoon sergeant's still away at ANCOC and I've got three drivers getting trained. (-4)
• ETS: Four soldiers are near the end of their enlistments, so they're not allowed to handle heavy equipment. (-4)
• Intra-company tranfers: I just lost four qualified people to the other platoons in a personnel leveling move, and gained one guy who doesn't have any licenses. (-3)
• Profiles: four soldiers are medically unfit -- one because of a broken ankle, another because of injuries sustained in Iraq, and a third with spinal injuries so bad he's not supposed to even go up stairs. Normally, these people would go to the post's Warrior Transition Unit, but it's full, so they have to stay on our books. (-4)
• Treatment issues: One soldier is undergoing treatment for alcoholism and another for PTSD. Neither of them is available for missions. (-2)
• Appointments: It's a Tuesday, so people have appointments. Since missions usually last all day, we can't schedule them. (-2)
• Miscellaneous: One soldier's a problem case and had extra duty -- can't use him. Another is trying to raise his GT score (the Army's version of the SAT), and is out for the whole month going to school. A third was detailed to the maintenance platoon to help them get caught up (they're about a week behind). Number four is on funeral detail. (-4)

After all that, we end up with 17 people (including me) to take the eight trucks out -- that's the required two people per truck with one lonely guy left over to sweep the motor pool.

I believe it when my people say they're getting burnt out -- there's just not enough people to share the workload of one of the busiest companies on post.