Screwy Logic

[swoop_ds]

Hey everybody,
Let me know what you think about this:

My unit is having some financial problems at the moment.  It's a reserve unit, and currently we're running courses on weekends right now (BMQ, PLQ, etc) and it was passed down that you're only allowed to parade on the tuesday nights on a week that didn't have a course weekend on the preceding weekend.  Basically this ment coming in to the unit once a month because most courses are two weekends on, one off.  That was all fine and good but they changed it, now you aren't allowed to come in at all on tuesdays if you're on course.

Now I wasn't there to see this, but this is what happened:  The first tuesday of this new policy, pte. bloggins shows up when he's not supposed to be there.  His sec cmdr puts him to work.  An hour later the sec cmdr and the pl WO send him home and ERASE his name off of the sign in sheet saying that "he's trying to scam work".  When I heard this story from my friend that was parading(my friend isn't on course right now, I am) my blood started to boil.  I don't think that pte. bloggins even knew about this new rule in the first place, and even if he did, why didn't they send him home right away??  That seems to be against the rules to have someone work for free...  I know this is the army and all but in my opinion you don't screw around with someone's pay.

What do you think I should do about this?  The pte in question is on BMQ and I don't think he knows how to deal with this situation.  I was thinking of talking to the sec cmdr and pl WO about it and if that doesn't work, writing a memo requesting his pay.  What do you think?  Also, I don't have access to the QRAO etc from home but do any of them deal with this situation?

 

[badpup]

I wouldn't put a lot of stock in what is essentially "Hear say", sticking your nose into it might get you noticed in the bad way.
In my day erasing of names was a common occurence at this time of year (end of fiscal year) What I see is that your unit has exhausted their training funds, and rather than say parade without pay as they did with us, they are saying go home. As the new fiscal year starts in April, I think you will find things back to normal in less than 2 weeks.

 

[infamous_p]

I wouldn't put a lot of stock in what is essentially "Hear say", sticking your nose into it might get you noticed in the bad way.
In my day erasing of names was a common occurence at this time of year (end of fiscal year) What I see is that your unit has exhausted their training funds, and rather than say parade without pay as they did with us, they are saying go home. As the new fiscal year starts in April, I think you will find things back to normal in less than 2 weeks.

i agree. sticking your nose into it will not only get YOU noticed in a bad way, but may make that other private look bad as well. id say to just leave it be.... an hour of work without pay wont hurt him. it may have been unfair, but sometimes, in situations such as this, its beneficial to all parties if things are left alone. the private probably learned a lesson from this.

 

[swoop_ds]

Maybe you're right, but I'm still going to look into it a bit before I decide to make a stink about out it or not.  I think I've been in long enough that even if it did make others notice me in a bad way it wouldn't affect me that much.  From talking to a few others in the unit about it I can tell that I'm not the only one that feels this way.  I know what you're saying about the 'forget about it' aspect, and normally that's what I'd do, but since it's about pay I feel very strongly about it.  If this was just another "get a warning" for no reason kinda thing that'd be crappy but fine but money is different in my opinion.  In any case, thanks for your input!

 

[Highland Lad]

There are always 2 sides (at least) in a situation like this:

If young pte Bloggins really did not know that the order had come down from on high restricting parading for on-course recruits, then the WO was WAY out of line erasing his name from sign-in.

On the other hand, if anyone can say that the word was passed down, then the private in question stepped on his own pecker, and has learned a lesson the hard way.

Find out for sure what has been going on before rushing to judgement.

When a Reserve unit is approaching fiscal zero, this sort of thing does happen - I've had a few "vacations from the militia" or "volunteer parade nights" in the past, but things do (overall) seem to be getting better. I have also seen how difficult it can be to pass the word reliably, especially within reserve units, so all I can say in this case is that I don't know all the facts.