More National Guard Troops Are Being Hospitalized In Washington, DC For Eating Metal Shavings While Army Leaders Are Mostly Silent And Speaking Foolishly When They Do Speak
I've been talking about this story for about a week now, and there has not been much movement from Army Brass to rectify an easily rectifiable situation. The Army and the National Guard have a great amount of leeway here that they aren't using. The National Guard and its spokespeople arent in some forward-deployed area and relying on contracted work from other countries on this mission. They don't have to concern themselves with international logistics in order to provide meals to the soldiers currently assigned in Washington, DC. There is no food shortage in DC.
National Guard leaders are acting as if feeding soldiers food that is free of worms, metal shavings, and raw meat is as complicated as explaining the origins of Pangea. It's not, and it should not be.
The Sergeant Major of the Army is probably the most vocal enlisted leader I've ever seen on Twitter and all social media. Recently, he came on Zero Blog 30 to talk about haircuts, hair regulations, and earrings. Over the last week, he has been posting thank you messages from troops about the loosening of standards while also explaining the new physical standards in the Army. Great.
He has been silent on the issue that currently has impacted 59 soldiers, at least, and hospitalized more than a dozen soldiers. I find that to be odd. The role of the senior-most enlisted person in the Army is to provide guidance to the Chief of Staff of the Army while also being the voice for the enlisted personnel. Last night on Twitter, I wanted to see why he was being silent. Because he's so active on Twitter, I know that he's seen the posts.
The fact that the Sergeant Major knows and has a response like "I'm more concerned about fixing it" is baffling to me. If you do know and are trying to fix it, you have the platform of Twitter and Instagram that you use consistently to spread information that you deem to be important. For something as important as basic troop welfare, why not take to Twitter and address your troops and say something like... oh... I dunno....
"Listen up everyone in DC. We hear you. We appreciate you. We are doing and will do everything we possibly can to rectify this situation. Your command team takes full responsibility for what you're going through right now and I will not rest until it is rectified. Feel free to use this platform to send your concerns or your individual small unit updates. I want to know. I need to know. My role is to serve you while you serve the country that is forever grateful for your continued sacrifice."
That took me 2 minutes. Take the two fucking minutes, Sergeant Major. Those on the ground in the capital seat of the free world need to hear it. They don't need to hear it from some fucking dickhead at Barstool Sports. They need to hear it from you, but if you don't, you'll keep hearing from us and them.
To those in the guard reading this, keep sending me those updates and we will shove this shit up everybody's asses until you get decent chow. It's insane that this is a thing. Insane. Troops shouldn't be eating worms, metal shavings, and raw meat in Washington DC. Figure it the fuck out.