Crunch Time
When we last left our intrepid heroes from the All-American Division, they had just arrived at Kuwait Naval Base (KNB) expecting to see their equipment (vehicles and trailers) only to find nothing waiting for their attentions. Not to be discouraged, the brazen paratroopers immediately set about familiarizing themselves with the surrounding area. They were greatly surprised to find amenities abound the base. Real mattresses for their weary souls! A beach to erase the dreaded ACU Tan! Indoor swimming pool and gym to condition their bodies! A DFAC to nourish their rumbling stomachs! A library to edify their minds! And free internet to get back in touch with far away family! And this was no mirage in the desert.
Really, KNB was a good base to live for a short time. The worse thing was that the showers were all the way across the compound and we had to go through an access point and show our ID to pass. Having a clean, fully functional bathroom right next to your bedroom is a luxury we take for granted in the States. But that was the only downside to living there for that short time.
However, when we didn’t get the majority of our stock in the first week, we grew a little concerned. We helped at another wash rack because we didn’t have anything to do at KNB. We also knew we could use the extra help when our stock did arrive. Unfortunately, that wasn’t until two days before we were supposed to leave KNB. So we got into gear and started cleaning as much as we could. Now, we started off very nice. The trucks were beyond dirty. I don’t know what they (drivers up at Taji) did to them, but I think they were just out to give us as much work as possible.
So we start off nice, but that’s when you can see a clear difference between mud and no mud. The next day we had to get into the small crevices and that’s where we slowed down. Plus, Customs suddenly became a lot more strict on the definition of “clean.” This is also where I started to lose control. Now with all the chaos of the last day before scheduled redeployment and trying to finish everything up at the same time, there were some four or five pieces of stock being investigated at any given time. So it got hard to keep track of everything.
But… I have definitely matured as an officer. Before, I chafed at the idea of not helping in the work of cleaning the vehicles. However, now I realize that my duty is outside of doing the work. I can still do some work, but the majority of my time should be devoted to finding solutions and coordinating with different levels. I should have looked at the entire process to put out an accurate bottom line to the higher-ups and coordinating with them to provide the manpower and resources to complete the job on time. I should have defined certain points (the wash rack is composed of 100 points, one vehicle can be washed by two Soldiers at one point with one pressure washer and one hose) that fall under specific NCO’s responsibility to pass up the status to me (to monitor the progress at those points and keep me updated so I can do the same for my superiors).
Instead, I had been shooting from the hip and doing a lot of work myself while trying to keep an eye on the big picture. It simply doesn’t work. I should have been going around talking to each point to see how they see their progress going. Also, I had let them start the washing with no solid goal. It was just a “Let’s get this done!” That doesn’t focus them enough. So we had some people start off on washing HMMWVs while others did the trailers. Needless to say, the disorganization caused a couple trailers to get passed over until I pointed them out.
I really do wish foresight could be as accurate as hindsight.
Thankfully, we did get everything finished off and sterile. That is due in large part to a Major above me choosing to contract some third-country nationals (TCN) into washing all our stock. That was around 1000 that we had a large group show up and swarm over all the stock. The Major again got in touch with Customs and impressed on them the importance of clearing us before the next day. Suddenly Customs became a lot more cooperative and willing to help us out when they realized what might be required of them (staying up all night to finish it all).
So what I’ve taken away from all this, is that we always meet our deadlines… no matter the hassle and stress it takes. I hope I’ve become a little bit wiser from this experience and learned how the system works.
Oh yeah… No one actually used the beach. We are still deployed and can’t just go off on our own like that. We mostly stayed in the bay or got work done online.
2LT Adam Ochylski
