Fun With Paperwork
I was stationed at USAH Vicenza, Italy, as a 91P20 (X-ray Specialist), and for about 6 hours after my arrival I was the new NCOIC. Then suddenly a SSG arrived in command, a brand new 91P30 who had been promoted in his old MOS of helicopter mechanic! Needless to say, he was just about ready to be trained.
3 years later (he had actually become a reasonable tech) Rick got orders to Ft Sam Houston, a TDY to 91P Instructor’s course, and a PCS following that to Health Sciences Academy to be a 91P instructor. The day before he was to fly out with his family we were having an extended lunch at a local pizza and wine place (common in the early 80s).
Half way through the roast/farewell the PSNCO came racing in with a manila folder full of orders, saying, “Rick, you got to go to personnel NOW! You’ve been diverted! Here’s your new orders!”
Stunned, Rick began reading orders with the official seals, correct signature, proper format, etc, which diverted him TDY to Baum Fok, Egypt for Camel Driver training, and PCS to Eskimo Village, AK to join the 9th Camel Corps. This was the first time I’d ever seen a jaw LITERALLY drop open! Rick remained in shock until he reached the authority line which quoted AR 210-10, some silly USAREUR reg, and SP5 Paul G.
At that point he turned to me and said, “You SON OF A BITCH! You GOT me!”
I simply agreed!
Seems my wife was working in the base personnel office cutting orders for folks, and she’d fixed the “orders” for me to present to him. The OIC thought they were so good that he signed off on them, after being assured the funding numbers were completely fictitious.
I recently called Rick after at least a decade of no contact, and he vividly remembers that lunch farewell.
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October 6th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Lol. Nice.
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October 6th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
It’s Bum Fook, Egypt! Been There, Got the T-Shirt!
First Post Yippees!
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October 6th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Oh well, tied for first. :-)
capcha = caches Mr – must have me confused with someone else.
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October 7th, 2009 at 6:09 am
Don’t mess with the admin clerk, either in your unit or in the Personnel Services Bn – most commanders, especially after spending a while working with a particular clerk, never look at what they’re signing.
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October 7th, 2009 at 7:21 am
hell I lawled :P
nice story I cna imagine his surprise
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October 7th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
His original transfer makes perfect sense. Helicopters, X-ray machines–they’re the same thing, really.
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CCO reply on October 7th, 2009 7:46 pm:
Maybe he was a Non-Desctructive Inspection (NDI) specialist? Naw, probably not; the Army lets you change jobs, sometimes, at certain points in your career–if your job has too many people of your rank, you can change to another field. Otherwise, the Army would be like the Air Force, and it’d take forever to make rank. (Says the guy who had his specialist rank sewn on his uniforms in AIT.)
I had a good first sergeant who had switched from combat medic to chemical specialist at some point in his career to make rank faster. Usually you go back to Advanced Individual Training. Come to think of it, I worked for a supply sergeant who had been in EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) and later in Criminal Investigations Division (CID) before Supply.
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Raven Prometheus reply on October 12th, 2009 9:43 am:
Are you sure that he didn’t just wash out of those chools and get sent to supply? Having looked at the lists handed to friends in EOD school (thankfully I never had one of my own), I know CID is usually on it. And choosing to go to supply, one of the crappiest of crap-fest jobs, from EOD where you’re in small units and get to blow things up, or CID where you get to forget about rank and wear civilian clothes… kinda makes more sense that he didn’t exactly CHOOSE that route.
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