The Last Centurion by John Ringo

[Frank Castle]

I never considered RSO's as a "shadow chain of command", but extra set of eyes that has nothing else on their plate but ensure no one was about to die unnecessarily. Calling RSO's a shadow chain of command is kinda insane at best. I'm quite sure there are bad RSO's that "confuse" troops and make things unsafe, they obviously need either training or a different slot. The ROLE of RSO should be to facilitate training while improving.

I thought you need to be shitbag NCO or Officer to become a RSO.

Army NCO current !

[Fitz]

I thought you need to be shitbag NCO or Officer to become a RSO.

Army NCO current !

Don't know what kinda outfit you're in, but we don't put shitbags on RSO duty here.

[Tom Kratman]

I thought you need to be shitbag NCO or Officer to become a RSO.

Army NCO current !

True story, somewhat related.

In 83 there was, shall we say, a rifle company exec, running company deliberate attack LFXs for 3/5 in Panama.  A range control CJ-5 (I think it was) pulls up.  "Sir, you have to shut down your range."  "Why is that, sergeant?"  "Because you've lost commo with range control.  You have to shut down until it's reestablished."  "I see.  Tell me, Sergeant, does that motorola on your belt work?"  "Ummm..yessir."  "Good.  Stand at attention. I now have flawless commo with range control."

Only place I've ever heard of you could get away with something like that.

[Fitz]

True story, somewhat related.

In 83 there was, shall we say, a rifle company exec, running company deliberate attack LFXs for 3/5 in Panama.  A range control CJ-5 (I think it was) pulls up.  "Sir, you have to shut down your range."  "Why is that, sergeant?"  "Because you've lost commo with range control.  You have to shut down until it's reestablished."  "I see.  Tell me, Sergeant, does that motorola on your belt work?"  "Ummm..yessir."  "Good.  Stand at attention. I now have flawless commo with range control."

Only place I've ever heard of you could get away with something like that.

Yeah... that company XO was a turd. Rather than re-establish commo, he decides to be a dick to some E-5 just because he can?

[Tom Kratman]

Don't know what kinda outfit you're in, but we don't put shitbags on RSO duty here.

Making them great, fantastic, peerless folks doesn't actually help.  They're responsible.  They suffer career death if there's a shooting.  So they take charge.  They take charge even if they're morally courageous enough to suffer career death in a good cause. They take charge because they've been made responsible.  And the effect is, on the whole, bad.  And needlessly dangerous.  Hence immoral.

It's a bit like walk-crawl-run for a live fire.  By the time the troops have done three non-fires and seven blank fires at slow speed, then another six blank fires at a faster speed, when they finally do it with live ammunition they're not running.  They're still crawling, only they're crawling on a moving sidewalk.  Any real training benefit was lost 11 renditions prior.

[Tom Kratman]

Yeah... that company XO was a turd. Rather than re-establish commo, he decides to be a dick to some E-5 just because he can?

How did the E-5 get dicked?  ANd are you sure, since you were not there, that he did it to dick the sergeant rather than, say, to keep training going?  And are you sure that the sergeant, who, by the way. was smiling, didn't understand and approve, being very happy to have done his duty and then have the officer volunteer to take the blame if something went wrong?

Also, since you were not there, are you sure re-establishing commo and stopping the exercise until then was practical, what with 150 men spread out over 4 klicks of jungle? 

[Jamisjockey]

Enough is enough is enough.



Everyone take a step back, take two deep breaths, and chill.  Mr. Kratman if you'd like to hang around and peruse APS, feel free.  But barging in and pissing in the punch bowl is bad form. 
This thread is locked.

[Gewehr98]

Stepping in here just to say a few words.

1.  Mr. Kratman - Welcome to APS!  It is my understanding you found this forum via Google Alerter.  That's neat, but I do invite you to explore the rest of the forum and not limit yourself to just this thread.  It sounds like you could add value and insight.

2.  We're human here.  We may at time devolve into the petty and offensive, but as a whole, it's a good-natured gaggle representing a very diverse slice of humanity with all sorts of differing opinions and beliefs.  Somehow we still manage to make it work at APS.

3. Whenever in doubt, remember the forum's name is Armed Polite Society.  Firearm ownership isn't mandatory for members (we can fix that in time), but politeness is.  The diversity of the forum means one must always consider their audience when posting.

4. Godwin's Law has been, and shall remain, in effect.  I like the fact that this particular thread has stabilized without mentioning Mrs. Schicklgruber's son anymore.  We don't need that, one can go to ARFCOM for such silliness.

5. Might I request this thread get back to the original topic?  To preclude thread veer, we can always have an Army thread open up elsewhere.  Or not, I'm flexible, being retired Air Force and all...