With the exception of some photos of myself, I will be using generic pictures for this post to keep the parties involved in this post private.
We had been training for a test of our skills that would have required us to go under the watchful eye of outside evaluators. This mission assigned to us, came in three parts.
- The ability to go into a new area and clear it
- The ability to set up our command post and communications
- Effectively engage targets while mounted in our vehicles and move our command post to a safer location.
This training took extensive work, and as part of it, our Soldiers had to be picked for specific jobs. Our combat engineers were chosen to go recon with our m113 a new area to set up our command post. This area would then need to be cleared with mine detectors while providing security.
The Soldiers that were chosen for this specific mission were high performers, and they would always go above and beyond what was asked of them.
I enjoyed getting to know each of my Soldiers, and one of them shared a story with me of how they saw service members in their country when a kid, saw the good they did for their community, and decided that one day, they would go to the United States and serve in the military. Decades later, this Soldier did just that, joined the Army and found himself in my company.
This Soldier would always volunteer for tasks, would study up for missions and was always curious to learn. This service member, was one of my best Soldiers.
That is, until he made a career ending mistake.
My time had come in my military career to become company commander of an engineering unit. For those that have not served, this brings with it great responsibility, as you are tasked with authority of all the equipment and service members that serve under you.
This was an exciting time for me, as I had served in the military as an enlisted Soldier for 8 years before deciding to become an officer. The time I spent as an enlisted Soldier, allowed me to learn the day-to-day grind that Soldiers go through,
The annoyance of the
"hurry up and wait"
the aggravation of a
change of mission
and the inside scoop on the
E-4 mafia
All of this, taught me how to empathize and speak with service members.
I thought that that would make a good officer alone, until I learned the challenges that comes with being an officer. It's not an easy position, and you are tasked with so many responsibilities, that you start to lose sight of what is important.
Me in Afghanistan
I made it a point to not lose sight, and I would always be there for my Soldiers, even if I wasn't their company commander anymore. One of those had come, when I had to make one of the biggest decisions of my life.
The Event
The office was quiet, my staff wanted to speak to me. I was unsure what was happening but I was certain it was something serious. My readiness NCO had asked everyone except for me and my First Sergeant to leave the room. What was said next, hit me hard.
Due to privacy reasons, this Soldiers name will remain private
"Sir, SPC Smith just tested positive"
I thought to myself, okay, well this isn't always a big deal, sometimes depending on the service member, we can demote them, flag them for promotion and perform other administrative actions.
"Okay, what are our options?", I said
"Sir, there are none, he tested positive for a class B substance. The only option he will have is to be released from the Army", he said.
I was in disbelief, this was one of my best Soldiers, how could something like this happen? I had to speak to him.
The next thing that happened was that the Soldier was called into our office, I read him his rights, and advised him that he could have a lawyer before proceeding. He wanted nothing to do with that process and decided he would come clean.
The story he had told me was of great concern. He had found himself with a group of friends he had just met through work. Being a reserve unit, each of my service members, including myself, have a full time job outside of the military. We end up living two separate lives, one as a service member, and another as a civilian.
This separation makes a lot of situations difficult especially when you go out with friends who do not need to have a drug test to remain employed. I am unable to go into specifics, as it will breach my oath to privacy, but his friends were careless and tricked him into ingesting a drug. He knew right away what had happened, and when he showed up to our unit, he knew he wouldn't pass. Being young, he did not know he could have approached us right away and told us before the test. Something could have been done, now, it's too late.
The decision
I had to make a choice and the paper was sitting right in front of me.
Do I believe his story and fight for him, or do I sign the paperwork to get him out of the military.
I took a stand, I believed his story and I knew others would see the same in him that I had seen.
It was a slim chance, but I filed to retain the Soldier, and waited to see what would happen.
The end of my service
It was time for a new Company Commander to lead the unit, as my 2 years of command had ended. The new Commander was an intelligent and experienced woman who I had known for the past couple of years.
She had looked over the roster of the Soldiers and met with everyone of them. Not knowing this Soldier, she was uneasy about my decision, and didn't see the value of retaining a Soldier who was clearly not committed. I told her that he was one of my best, and that she would soon see why I had seen that.
The result
10 months later, I receive an email from her asking for a letter of recommendation for the Army to retain the Soldier. I dropped everything, as I was at work and made sure to write the letter, to the best of my ability, and sent it.
It has now been a year, and today, I received the following text from the Commander.
This Soldier has a future. He can continue his career and serve in something he truly believes in. He serves because he wants to, and he is one of the best Soldiers I have ever met.
It is moments like this that I remember why I decided to become an officer, because having the experience of being an enlisted Soldier, I know how you can get caught up in situations you wish you never had been in.
This Soldier was given a second chance when the odds were against him.
Being that this Soldier is a high performer who loves the Army. This Soldier may become a senior enlisted non-commissioned officer one day, and with the lessons he has learned, and the support he received, may make him one of the best leaders in the military.
I look forward to one day seeing that.
A lot of people get to a fork in the road like this, on the one side is potential life ruining situations and on the other side is a path we can learn from. I’m glad that although he got peer pressured into a poor choice he was able to be redeemed! I’m glad you stuck up for him man, there’s not enough people to do that type of stuff. I’m sure he understands the weight of you sticking up for him.
He was such a good kid and if it wasn't for him already having good character and integrity before this I would have kicked him out. By this point I had known him for 2 years and he was the type of kid that would drop or give you everything he had to make sure you would be all set. The commander coming in didn't know this, so she didn't agree with me until she saw it for herself. That's why she sent me that text. Truly amazing individual, unfortunately he was young and impressionable and so his friends took advantage of that.
I’ll be honest. Without knowing the full details and the person, I would have never thought twice about the being “tricked” story. It would have been a no-brainer to let him go.
That all being said everyone deserves a chance to redeem themselves.
I hope you don't employ anyone.
I hear yeah, and my boss definitely gave me a hard time. I said this to complxty, but he was such a good kid and if it wasn't for him already having good character and integrity before this I would have kicked him out. By this point I had known him for 2 years and he was the type of kid that would drop or give you everything he had to make sure you would be all set. The commander coming in didn't know this, so she didn't agree with me until she saw it for herself. That's why she sent me that text. Truly amazing individual, unfortunately he was young and impressionable and so his friends took advantage of that.
I get it. I’ve fucked up plenty in my life. It’s so hard to make those decisions when your ass is on the line. To me, I wouldn’t care to take a risk if I was my sole responsibility but it’s extra hard to make those decisions when you have a child to feed. I can’t take chances there. Kudos to you man. Glad it worked out.
This was a really good read, thanks for sharing your story. And more importantly, thank you for doing what you do.
Thank you! I appreciate that
WOW! Thank you everyone for the upvote and thank you for the reblog @gasaeightyfive . As always, thank you for your support as well @cmplxty . I have another situation ongoing in the military and I'm wondering how to go about it. Two of my previous Soldiers that used to be under my command reached out to me that they were getting deployed to Iraq. Just recently they let me know they are depressed and having a hard time in this unit. If I get their address, would this community support by sending them letters and telling them how awesome they are? OR Should I write a post about them and share all the support in the comments? Just looking to see what you all say about it. Here's the convo exchange.
Furthermore, I did reply to this in the comments but to answer any question someone may have about the Soldier who tested positive. I make it a point to get to know each of my Soldiers, their background, about what they are currently doing and what they want to do in the future. This Soldier was such a good kid and if it wasn't for him already having good character and integrity before this I it would have been a different story. By this point I had known him for 2 years and he was the type of kid that would drop or give you everything he had to make sure you would be all set. The commander coming in didn't know this, so she didn't agree with me until she saw it for herself. That's why she sent me that text. Truly amazing individual, unfortunately he was young and impressionable and so his friends took advantage of that.
I would see if they would be willing to give a mailing address for wherever they are. I would love to send them a letter of appreciation and we would try and send a small care package as a thank you.
Maybe a post in the weekend or the pew community could help? Both would be good spots for it, to see if we could gather some support.
By the way, there's no o in my name, you had a typo there so I didn't get tagged lol
I was wondering why you were ignoring me lol. That's a good idea, I heard the pew community was very military friendly.