SSG. Will Heading Home; One Final Request
Category: War on Terror...
Posted Wednesday, November 23, 2005 at 08:21 AM [GMT-6]

The Good News

SSG. Will is wrapping up his official duties in Iraq and is preparing to hop aboard a C-130 for Kuwait. If things go according to schedule, he'll be back in the States in time for Christmas shopping with his wife and daughter. Please pray for continued safety and health as he prepares for that special first Christmas with his new (to him, anyway) daughter.

In an email I received this morning, he writes that if it weren't for having a wife and child to return to, he'd just as soon stay in Iraq and continue the work there until it's finished. He sees the value of what we're accomplishing and is proud to be a part of that. And, in case you're wondering, he and his fellow soldiers aren't paying much attention to the nonsense being spouted by certain politicians back in the States. That grandstanding is irrelevant to their recognition of and commitment to the job of giving democracy a chance to take root in the Middle East.

The Not-So-Good News

That's not to say that everything's hunky-dory in SSG. Will's part of the war. I've received an eye-opening education about how ridiculously bureaucratic the US military can be when it applies itself, and I want to share that with you...and then ask for your assistance, one more time.

SSG. Will's primary responsibilities are as a Supply Sergeant. As such, he's the guy who sees that the troops get the equipment and supplies they need to fight the war. In some ways, he's like a very well armed accountant. Not only did he occasionally go out on combat missions, but he also had to handle all the paperwork involved with keeping track of millions of dollars of US government property needed to execute said war.

Military Bureaucracy at Its Finest

Here's where my understanding of the process broke down. If a piece of equipment cannot be properly accounted for, the unit's Commanding Officer and Supply Sergeant are responsible for reimbursing the government for the value of that property out of their own pockets! So, for example, if SSG. Will issued a pair of M24 binoculars to a soldier who subsequently loses them (or sends them home as a souvenir, not that that ever happens), Will is liable for the $386 cost, unless he can produce written evidence that he issued the binoculars. The problem is that during a war, paperwork is often not the top priority, as you might imagine, and receipts can't always be located after the dust settles.

To make a long story short, it appears that SSG. Will and his C.O. are going to be liable for about $2,250 of unaccounted-for equipment, which will come out of their paychecks. In terms of percentage of total value of the equipment under their responsibility, this is just a rounding error...but it's a significant hit to an individual soldier's pay.

Now, I'm an accountant by education and I'm married to an accountant, and I understand perfectly the importance of having a strong system of controls in place to protect the US government assets that were purchased using my tax dollars. I applaud the philosophy of requiring personal accountability, a philosophy that should apply to each and every one of us who is an employee. But I also believe that such policies should be administered with an eye toward reasonability and materiality, and I don't think that sticking a couple of soldiers with a bill for $2,000 following a wartime deployment is reasonable.

Introducing the "Black Knight Fund"

Therefore, I'm putting forth the audacious proposal that we help SSG. Will and his CO with those expenses. I'd like to raise at least half of the money that Uncle Sam is doing to ding them for. I've bounced the idea off Will, who also visited with his CO about it, and they've agreed to the concept.

If you're in agreement, here's how you can help. We've converted the old "SGT. Will Fund" into the "Black Knight Fund," Black Knight being the call sign for Will's company. There's a PayPal "Make a Donation" button over in the right column, and if you'd like to help offset the amount described above, just click it and enter the amount you want to donate. 100% of the proceeds (minus PayPal's nominal processing fee) will be forwarded to Will for use in paying this assessment. If donations are sufficient to cover the entire cost, we'll deactivate the fund when the balance reaches $2,250. We're just trying to keep a couple of military paychecks whole.

I realize that this is a rather unusual request, calling for unusual trust. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me; my email address is available in the right sidebar also. Thanks in advance for your consideration of this request.