SOT-A section had a buddy fucker, 
Case Study: Sun Tzu, III/31
- Thread starter Marauder06
- Start date
LibraryLady
Verified Military
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- Sep 7, 2006
- Messages
- 5,071
I go away from the boards for a few days looking forward with keen anticipation that when I return, the end is going to be there... but just like the Mayans... the author is but a tease.
As I leave again for a few days, will I, should I look forward again....?
LL
As I leave again for a few days, will I, should I look forward again....?
LL
Well, I have the last bit written already, just trying to tie together the part I have now with the ending, through a complete re-write of the portion in between (I didn't like how it worked the first time, it kind of came across as "SF guys are assholes and support guys are the source of all goodness in Group" which isn't true, isn't how I feel, and wasn't what I wanted to convey in the story).
So, for you impatient types ;) who want to jump to the end, below is the last paragraph or so of the story. I posted it in white so it wouldn't be a spoiler, if you want to read it highlight it with your cursor and you'll be able to see it. It won't make total sense without the part preceding it (which is still in cut-and-paste pieces at the moment) so you'll have to use your imagination as to how we get where we are now in the story to this ending, but here it is:
Faith smiled. “Will, I’m going to be OK,” he said. It was true; Faith didn’t feel… anything. He was over the anger and the disappointment, he didn’t even feel a sense of emptiness that everything he had worked so hard for had crashed to the ground and the hands of The Dud. Faith had played the game, and had lost. This time. But not for long.
Faith looked down at his uniform shirt and unclipped the SCIF access badge. He tossed it gently on top of the pile of inspection material.
“Had to work hard to get that,” he mused. “Want to walk me out?”
And with that, Captain Scott Faith, formerly of the 2nd Special Forces Group, got into his truck and drove home, to find his wife already there waiting for him with a tall glass of Southern Comfort and Diet Cherry Coke.
THE END.
So, for you impatient types ;) who want to jump to the end, below is the last paragraph or so of the story. I posted it in white so it wouldn't be a spoiler, if you want to read it highlight it with your cursor and you'll be able to see it. It won't make total sense without the part preceding it (which is still in cut-and-paste pieces at the moment) so you'll have to use your imagination as to how we get where we are now in the story to this ending, but here it is:
Faith smiled. “Will, I’m going to be OK,” he said. It was true; Faith didn’t feel… anything. He was over the anger and the disappointment, he didn’t even feel a sense of emptiness that everything he had worked so hard for had crashed to the ground and the hands of The Dud. Faith had played the game, and had lost. This time. But not for long.
Faith looked down at his uniform shirt and unclipped the SCIF access badge. He tossed it gently on top of the pile of inspection material.
“Had to work hard to get that,” he mused. “Want to walk me out?”
And with that, Captain Scott Faith, formerly of the 2nd Special Forces Group, got into his truck and drove home, to find his wife already there waiting for him with a tall glass of Southern Comfort and Diet Cherry Coke.
THE END.
Click anywhere in the text of that post and hold down the mouse button. Then drag your cursor, with the button still held down, to the end of the post. This will highlight the text and cause the hidden text (actually just text written in white) to appear.
The text in my post above is the actual ending to the story, if I would have thought about it before, I would have put this instead:
Wait your turn like everyone else, bitches!!!!
Ah. So it's just white text. That's what I was getting at, how to "make" the invisible ink.Click anywhere in the text of that post and hold down the mouse button. Then drag your cursor, with the button still held down, to the end of the post. This will highlight the text and cause the hidden text (actually just text written in white) to appear.
The text in my post above is the actual ending to the story, if I would have thought about it before, I would have put this instead:
Wait your turn like everyone else, bitches!!!!
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2006
- Messages
- 2,766
So Faith dies in a car crash.. that sucks..
I can't read the end of a book before I get to it. So...I'll wait. As my hair starts turning gray.
Marauder06, if you have time to post fancy invisible endings, you have time to make real posts. Do push-ups then 'urry up!
Reed
Reed
I think maybe he contracted mad cow disease
Minus that one unfortunate incident, the rest of Operation GROSS went flawlessly. It was good to do it in conjunction with the change of command inventories, because a lot of the subcomponent parts that might have otherwise been “missing” were “found” due to the thoroughness of the program. As far as major end items, Faith was surprised to find that MSG Marion had memorized almost all of the “sensitive” items such as radios and crypto gear, and knew without checking his hand receipts which team or individual had signed for it. It was quite an impressive talent. When Faith once commented on it, Marion replied, “Yeah sir, I don’t know why, but I’ve always had a thing for numbers. I look at them once, maybe twice, and it sticks in my head pretty much forever.” Faith was duly impressed.
Working with him so closely in preparation for the upcoming inspections, Faith felt like he was beginning to understand why so many of the other senior NCOs and some of the young troops didn’t like MSG Marion: he upheld standards. In a world where it would be easy to coast, MSG Marion kept everyone going full-speed ahead. Soldiers were expected to come to PT on time. There were expected to put in a full day’s work for a full day’s pay. They had to wear the uniform, correctly, every day. Saluting and the wear of headgear outdoors was enforced. Accountability of self, subordinates, and supplies was expected from every NCO. Very basic “Army stuff.” Yet some people resented it. Faith thought it was just what the unit needed. Faith could see pride and discipline creeping back into the MID.
Chief Rollins did her part as well, falling on the task of preparing the SCIF with the enthusiasm of a zealot. Her enthusiasm was contagious; soon the enlisted personnel, NCOs, and even the other warrants who worked in the SCIF were working hard to get the SCIF up to standard. Chief Rollins not only made the SCIF personnel work hard; she made the work fun.
Eventually, everything was in place for the big inspection, with the change of command scheduled for the following Friday. Although it wasn’t stated implicitly, Faith felt it was understood that him assuming command was contingent upon the results of the inspection.
At last, the day of the big inspection arrived…
Working with him so closely in preparation for the upcoming inspections, Faith felt like he was beginning to understand why so many of the other senior NCOs and some of the young troops didn’t like MSG Marion: he upheld standards. In a world where it would be easy to coast, MSG Marion kept everyone going full-speed ahead. Soldiers were expected to come to PT on time. There were expected to put in a full day’s work for a full day’s pay. They had to wear the uniform, correctly, every day. Saluting and the wear of headgear outdoors was enforced. Accountability of self, subordinates, and supplies was expected from every NCO. Very basic “Army stuff.” Yet some people resented it. Faith thought it was just what the unit needed. Faith could see pride and discipline creeping back into the MID.
Chief Rollins did her part as well, falling on the task of preparing the SCIF with the enthusiasm of a zealot. Her enthusiasm was contagious; soon the enlisted personnel, NCOs, and even the other warrants who worked in the SCIF were working hard to get the SCIF up to standard. Chief Rollins not only made the SCIF personnel work hard; she made the work fun.
Eventually, everything was in place for the big inspection, with the change of command scheduled for the following Friday. Although it wasn’t stated implicitly, Faith felt it was understood that him assuming command was contingent upon the results of the inspection.
At last, the day of the big inspection arrived…
policemedic
Verified SWAT
SOT-A section had a buddy fucker,
Self-fucker, methinks.
Who knows. This is one part of the story that is actually kind of true. I think I told the "real life" story on the site once before.
The inspection went flawlessly. Better than flawlessly, it was, in the words of the inspectors, “the best security inspection in USASFC history.” Although it was a team effort and would not have happened without everyone’s input, Faith felt that Chief Rollins’ performance was above and beyond what was expected and put her in for an “impact AAM.” Faith asked MSG Marion to confer with the NCOs who worked in the SCIF to see if there were any other Soldiers who warranted special recognition. They recommended an AAM for one young specialist who had been particularly diligent with some very complicated paperwork, and a three-day pass for a private who had come in on two separate weekends, of his own volition, to clean the SCIF in advance of the inspection. All of the NCOs steadfastly refused any recognition, “we were just doing our job, sir. Give the credit to Chief Rollins and our Joes.”
The change of command inventories went off without a hitch as well. Between Operation GROSS, effective hand receipt maintenance, and some good old-fashioned scrounging, there were no shortages. None. No major end items unaccounted for, no items “in maintenance” without the right paperwork, no minor subcomponents missing. Everything was accounted for. This, too, was apparently a bit of a first for the Group.
After the change of command ceremony, the DCO called out Chief Rollins’ name, as well as the name of the specialist and the private who had been nominated for their roles in the inspection. He also called out CPT Faith’s name. Faith knew that this was for Rollins and the other two to receive their recognition for the inspection, and when his name was called as well, he expected that this was so he could accompany the DCO as he handed out the awards. When he stood beside the DCO, who was facing the three award recipients-to-be, the DCO hissed “What the fuck are you doing, TJ? Get your ass over there with the rest of the awardees.” Embarrassed, Faith joined the other three and listened while the citation for his own impact AAM was read out, followed by Chief Rollins’, and the other awardees. The last Soldier in line, the one that was nominated for a three-day pass, had his recommended award upgraded to a four-day pass.
As soon as the ceremony was over, Faith removed the AAM dangling from the left breast pocket of his BDU shirt and stuffed it into his pocket. “What’s the matter, sir, were you hoping to receive a higher award?” Faith turned around and saw MSG Marion approaching him, grinning, followed by some of the other NCOs from the MID.
“I don’t deserve this,” Faith answered, unamused. “Chief Rollins and the guys in the SCIF did all the work getting ready for the inspection, and the change of command inventory was your baby. If anyone should have gotten an award out of this, it should have been you, Master Sergeant, and the rest of the NCOs.”
“Who do you think put you in for that award in the first place?” Marion inquired, still smiling broadly.
“Yeah, that was kind of fun,” said another NCO. “Yeah, you should have read some of the initial citations,” chimed in another.
MSG Marion rolled his eyes. “I asked for recommendations for the citation, and most of them were along the lines of, ‘For Not Being an Asshole Officer,’ or ‘Finally, an O with some balls.’ But it worked out OK. Besides,” he said, “how many AAMs is this for you, anyway?”
Faith thought for a second. “Well, I guess this is… number two.” That, apparently, was pretty funny to the NCOs present.
“Damn, sir, I’ve got eight!”
“Eleven for me.”
“Fourteen,” said MSG Marion.
“Twenty-three!” exclaimed another NCO. Everyone stopped and looked at him. “What? I was in the Old Guard for eleven years, and before that I was the general’s driver.”
“Anyway,” MSG Marion said, “It was your plans that got everything together, your leadership that provided the direction, and it would have been your ass if it had ended badly. So it’s your AAM.
“It still doesn’t seem right,” Faith said, unconvinced.
“Look sir, trust me, there will be plenty of times in your career in the Army when the Great Green Weenie is going to screw you out of something you really, really deserve.” Several heads nodded enthusiastically to this. “Consider this a balancing action of karma. Now, fish that thing out and put it back on your coat where it belongs, and let’s get to that reception. You better not have gone cheap on the chow.”
“Or the beer!” the NCO with twenty-three AAMs added. Shortly thereafter, the party was on.
The change of command inventories went off without a hitch as well. Between Operation GROSS, effective hand receipt maintenance, and some good old-fashioned scrounging, there were no shortages. None. No major end items unaccounted for, no items “in maintenance” without the right paperwork, no minor subcomponents missing. Everything was accounted for. This, too, was apparently a bit of a first for the Group.
After the change of command ceremony, the DCO called out Chief Rollins’ name, as well as the name of the specialist and the private who had been nominated for their roles in the inspection. He also called out CPT Faith’s name. Faith knew that this was for Rollins and the other two to receive their recognition for the inspection, and when his name was called as well, he expected that this was so he could accompany the DCO as he handed out the awards. When he stood beside the DCO, who was facing the three award recipients-to-be, the DCO hissed “What the fuck are you doing, TJ? Get your ass over there with the rest of the awardees.” Embarrassed, Faith joined the other three and listened while the citation for his own impact AAM was read out, followed by Chief Rollins’, and the other awardees. The last Soldier in line, the one that was nominated for a three-day pass, had his recommended award upgraded to a four-day pass.
As soon as the ceremony was over, Faith removed the AAM dangling from the left breast pocket of his BDU shirt and stuffed it into his pocket. “What’s the matter, sir, were you hoping to receive a higher award?” Faith turned around and saw MSG Marion approaching him, grinning, followed by some of the other NCOs from the MID.
“I don’t deserve this,” Faith answered, unamused. “Chief Rollins and the guys in the SCIF did all the work getting ready for the inspection, and the change of command inventory was your baby. If anyone should have gotten an award out of this, it should have been you, Master Sergeant, and the rest of the NCOs.”
“Who do you think put you in for that award in the first place?” Marion inquired, still smiling broadly.
“Yeah, that was kind of fun,” said another NCO. “Yeah, you should have read some of the initial citations,” chimed in another.
MSG Marion rolled his eyes. “I asked for recommendations for the citation, and most of them were along the lines of, ‘For Not Being an Asshole Officer,’ or ‘Finally, an O with some balls.’ But it worked out OK. Besides,” he said, “how many AAMs is this for you, anyway?”
Faith thought for a second. “Well, I guess this is… number two.” That, apparently, was pretty funny to the NCOs present.
“Damn, sir, I’ve got eight!”
“Eleven for me.”
“Fourteen,” said MSG Marion.
“Twenty-three!” exclaimed another NCO. Everyone stopped and looked at him. “What? I was in the Old Guard for eleven years, and before that I was the general’s driver.”
“Anyway,” MSG Marion said, “It was your plans that got everything together, your leadership that provided the direction, and it would have been your ass if it had ended badly. So it’s your AAM.
“It still doesn’t seem right,” Faith said, unconvinced.
“Look sir, trust me, there will be plenty of times in your career in the Army when the Great Green Weenie is going to screw you out of something you really, really deserve.” Several heads nodded enthusiastically to this. “Consider this a balancing action of karma. Now, fish that thing out and put it back on your coat where it belongs, and let’s get to that reception. You better not have gone cheap on the chow.”
“Or the beer!” the NCO with twenty-three AAMs added. Shortly thereafter, the party was on.
Waiting for the other shoe/boot to drop...
What, that's not the end of the story?
It never said
"THE END".
Well, I guess there's more to come, then ;)
OK, so with the last bit I posted, we have come to the end of the flashback; Faith is done reminiscing about things that happened in the past, and we’re now all caught back up with him in present time. So if in subsequent posts you see ranks have changed, or that different people are filling positions that had someone else in them during the flashback, that’s not an error (well, I guess it could be an error, I need to go back and do some editing). We’re finally almost at the point where I can tie the re-write into the ending and call this one done.
Before that, though, I wanted to take some time to discuss some leadership-related issues associated with this thread. First off, a lot of people ask me how much of this story is true. The answer is usually “almost nothing.” Again, if it’s dangerous, exciting, heroic, or really even interesting, it didn’t happen in real life. Or at least it didn’t happen to me.
As far as other characters in this case study go, they are mostly based on real-life people but there are some pure inventions, and there are some characters that change over times in terms of who I think about when I write about them. There are some very close similarities between the senior NCOs in this case study and the detachment sergeants/first sergeants in these stories. In fact, if they ever read these they will probably laugh out loud at some of the inside jokes I have included. Chief Rollins is a total fabrication, I know that will disappoint many of you. She is actually a combination of the personalities of several female officers and NCOs I have worked with in the past, along with the work ethic and job knowledge of another warrant officer who happened to be male. Sorry, guys.
The Chief Michaels character is almost totally made up. There was a W5 at Group that I had an enormous amount of respect for and who kind of took me under his wing. He never knew my father, that part was made up because I thought it made a good story. And if I would have tried in real life some of the things Faith was pulling in this story, the real-life “Michaels” probably would have choked me unconscious and left me on the steps of the Division G1 with PCS orders stapled to my chest.
The DCO character is a compilation of several different SF officers who were on the Group staff, including two who really looked out for me. The GSC commander character is based on two former commanders of the GSC that I worked with. Both of them were awesome. Neither of them died in real life, unlike in the story. The characters named Sy Paulson and Al James are both based on real SF Soldiers who died during or shortly after the time I was in Group. RIP gentlemen.
Now, for The Dud. Although I had no love for the string of S2s who were in the Group while I was there, none of them were as bad as The Dud and I did not have a real-life relationship with any of them as the main character has in this story. The Dud in this story is a combination of a lot of different people I have worked with over the years and is NOT representative of a single person. But every good story needs a good bad guy, and for this story, The Dud is it. There is also another character, Major Roberts, who is again a combination of different “bad” people. He has come up a couple of times in the past, but he’s going to be a lot more important shortly.
There are several other characters who are either named after or based on our very own ShadowSpear members. The names and/or personalities of several of the SF Soldiers in this story are members, and the Simon Criss character is based (very loosely) on a very, very good friend of mine who is also a member of this site, although I’m sure as he’s reading this he’s saying “wtf dude, I don’t act like that in real life!” lol.
The “safe full of classified out I in the hallway” story is, unfortunately, nearly all true. And yes it was set to the factory default combo, and yes my wife was the one who suggested we try it. And the whole “finding the purple dildo” thing was, unfortunately, almost completely true. Although I am terrified of jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, I have done it many times. Unlike “TJ,” I have never had a malfunction and have never been at an Airborne operation in which one has occurred. My reserve did deploy once, my last jump with Group, when we jumped into very high winds and I hit the road and got dragged. Somehow in all of that my rip cord reserve handle pulled and the reserve “deployed” into the street as I was getting pulled along. That was fun to try to explain to the riggers. “Hey sir why did you pull your reserve AFTER you hit the ground?”
So, after having read this case study up to this point, what kinds of leadership lessons can you extrapolate? Some of the concepts I’m trying to impart are the following:
1) You can’t do everything on your own. You have to be a strong leader, but it’s important to trust and empower subordinates, particularly NCOs, to accomplish the unit mission.
2) Don’t be a jerk when you don’t have to.
3) If you’re in charge, you are responsible for everything that happens or fails to happen in your formation. This lesson will be especially important towards the very end of this case study.
4) A good part of “luck” involves working hard to get yourself in a position to be in the right place, with the right skills, at the right time to take advantage of opportunities that arise.
Do you agree with the points above? What kinds of other things come across to you in these readings?
OK, so with the last bit I posted, we have come to the end of the flashback; Faith is done reminiscing about things that happened in the past, and we’re now all caught back up with him in present time. So if in subsequent posts you see ranks have changed, or that different people are filling positions that had someone else in them during the flashback, that’s not an error (well, I guess it could be an error, I need to go back and do some editing). We’re finally almost at the point where I can tie the re-write into the ending and call this one done.
Before that, though, I wanted to take some time to discuss some leadership-related issues associated with this thread. First off, a lot of people ask me how much of this story is true. The answer is usually “almost nothing.” Again, if it’s dangerous, exciting, heroic, or really even interesting, it didn’t happen in real life. Or at least it didn’t happen to me.
As far as other characters in this case study go, they are mostly based on real-life people but there are some pure inventions, and there are some characters that change over times in terms of who I think about when I write about them. There are some very close similarities between the senior NCOs in this case study and the detachment sergeants/first sergeants in these stories. In fact, if they ever read these they will probably laugh out loud at some of the inside jokes I have included. Chief Rollins is a total fabrication, I know that will disappoint many of you. She is actually a combination of the personalities of several female officers and NCOs I have worked with in the past, along with the work ethic and job knowledge of another warrant officer who happened to be male. Sorry, guys.
The Chief Michaels character is almost totally made up. There was a W5 at Group that I had an enormous amount of respect for and who kind of took me under his wing. He never knew my father, that part was made up because I thought it made a good story. And if I would have tried in real life some of the things Faith was pulling in this story, the real-life “Michaels” probably would have choked me unconscious and left me on the steps of the Division G1 with PCS orders stapled to my chest.
The DCO character is a compilation of several different SF officers who were on the Group staff, including two who really looked out for me. The GSC commander character is based on two former commanders of the GSC that I worked with. Both of them were awesome. Neither of them died in real life, unlike in the story. The characters named Sy Paulson and Al James are both based on real SF Soldiers who died during or shortly after the time I was in Group. RIP gentlemen.
Now, for The Dud. Although I had no love for the string of S2s who were in the Group while I was there, none of them were as bad as The Dud and I did not have a real-life relationship with any of them as the main character has in this story. The Dud in this story is a combination of a lot of different people I have worked with over the years and is NOT representative of a single person. But every good story needs a good bad guy, and for this story, The Dud is it. There is also another character, Major Roberts, who is again a combination of different “bad” people. He has come up a couple of times in the past, but he’s going to be a lot more important shortly.
There are several other characters who are either named after or based on our very own ShadowSpear members. The names and/or personalities of several of the SF Soldiers in this story are members, and the Simon Criss character is based (very loosely) on a very, very good friend of mine who is also a member of this site, although I’m sure as he’s reading this he’s saying “wtf dude, I don’t act like that in real life!” lol.
The “safe full of classified out I in the hallway” story is, unfortunately, nearly all true. And yes it was set to the factory default combo, and yes my wife was the one who suggested we try it. And the whole “finding the purple dildo” thing was, unfortunately, almost completely true. Although I am terrified of jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, I have done it many times. Unlike “TJ,” I have never had a malfunction and have never been at an Airborne operation in which one has occurred. My reserve did deploy once, my last jump with Group, when we jumped into very high winds and I hit the road and got dragged. Somehow in all of that my rip cord reserve handle pulled and the reserve “deployed” into the street as I was getting pulled along. That was fun to try to explain to the riggers. “Hey sir why did you pull your reserve AFTER you hit the ground?”
So, after having read this case study up to this point, what kinds of leadership lessons can you extrapolate? Some of the concepts I’m trying to impart are the following:
1) You can’t do everything on your own. You have to be a strong leader, but it’s important to trust and empower subordinates, particularly NCOs, to accomplish the unit mission.
2) Don’t be a jerk when you don’t have to.
3) If you’re in charge, you are responsible for everything that happens or fails to happen in your formation. This lesson will be especially important towards the very end of this case study.
4) A good part of “luck” involves working hard to get yourself in a position to be in the right place, with the right skills, at the right time to take advantage of opportunities that arise.
Do you agree with the points above? What kinds of other things come across to you in these readings?
I am soo fucking confused?
1) Choose your battles wisely/know your opponent
2) K.I.S.S.
3) Don't worry yourself with things you can't change
2) K.I.S.S.
3) Don't worry yourself with things you can't change
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