Jim Seggie said:
Thank you very much. I guess that maybe you know better about how The Canadian Army should work than I or any of my esteemed colleagues. I will tell you this - I treat my troops like adults and I expect them to act like adults in return - and that includes dress and deportment, which in case YOU forgot is one of the Sergeant Major's duties to attend to. If you don't like it - tough.
As for the 21st Century crack - I am there and was there in the 20th century.
You didn't read my post - I expect as the DSM of the Winnipeg Infantry Tactical Group - troops to be properly dressed. In GARRISON - in case you missed it - that means BLOUSING your combat pants.
The crack about education - hmmmm - Grade 12 with some college courses taken. Not called for. You have NO idea who I am.
Two tours Cyprus, Croatia 93 (Medak) and Bosnia 97 are the only tours I have.
I am glad that you are proud of your service in Afghanistan. Good for you - standing up to bad people is what we do. I am not one of them.
Taking my drill cane and....well you know....I carry a pace stick now.
Now take a look at my icon and google the name "Mike Seggie".
Have a nice day.
Jim,
Before I rant (its may be extensive as I write, apologies for this as well) I am saying now this is a profound apology. What you do with this email is your choice, I am typing this so I sleep better tonight. The fact that you suggested to me to research your son has nothing to do with this message. It is very much a terrible thing for one to lose a family member absolutely and for this I offer my condolences. On my tour I knew 3 people who died as well as a suicide when we got back to Canada. My conduct on itself is the reason why I am writing this message to you with a newly created account. My conduct on itself is why I am ashamed how I am.....I am proud of everyone who I had the honour of working with over there, especially the ones who came back under the power of 6 others.
**(details omitted to protect my identity as well as the identity of my unit....yes I am still in)**
1. Yes I am sure you have determined that I am mad at the institution. I was infact deployed outside of the wire, I am not a robot "controller" as it was suggested about me. I am not a gamer, I think MW2 is junk as a matter of fact and that the only good video game if I were to play one would be a car racing game. I am the namesake Grandson of a WW2 veteran (which is why I am even more ashamed of my action) who was at a certain place I am sure you can figure out on 6June1944, his actions during his tenure resulted in issuance of 7 medals, and to be a local public figure with the Canadian Corps Association and the RC Legion where I am from. I am eternally greatful to this era that I do not speak German.
2. As much as I hate the Regieme, (believe me I want out) I chose to leave my units name out. It is not my right to tarnish history, or the name of an organization which may in fact be a perfect fit for a particular person. Reference your comment about treating your subs like adults and so on.....I wish you were my boss, that does not happen where I work. We get micromanaged like f***, an educated Corporal or a Private may very well pass something useful up the chain to only get belittled.... "Who the f*** are you to tell me my job?" (Says the un-educated _______ with 92 deployments and 17 divorces).....I also want to make note that I know and realize that there are guys out there who do not require college to be smart so to speak.....but where I work supervisors use their years in, number of medals to justify stupidity.....I am victim of such stupidity because I am on a TCAT for a stupid decision that someone else made, and I require surgery now. My life is on hold for probably 9 months.....I wanted out to become a police officer where I am from. After my surgery I may not be able to do the police testing....all because of one persons poor choice in issuance of an instruction that I had to carry out because technically it was not unlawful command...... and his 6 deployments, 19 years in, and 2 trades during his career trumped my outburst of common sense. In all honesty I even had a higher ranking NCO type of a person (omitted for my opsec) tell me he did not care that my Father was sick and I was trying to get a compassionate posting closer to home so I could help him with household chores....for me, that is the straw that broke the camels back. I even resigned myself to get a deployment to AFgh with the hopes that my mood would settle.....for my first year of my current posting I was a marked man based on vexatious lies and I hoped that my performance overseas would negate this, it didn't.
3. I know for a fact I am not a super soldier or a symbol of perfection. I had my little outburst directed at you because from what I gathered about you, you are a person of the very authority who has screwed me over so much.....and there you go. You did not cause my TCAT, you did not display sheer ignorance toward my family issues years ago, and you are not the one who wears your ass for a hat like how people do in my world.
4. Its pretty bad when instead of approaching my own CoC I rant on here, and put myself to a situation where I can potentially get into a huge bit of trouble regardless because of my outburst; but this is in fact the state of my unit. There are guys like me, and guys who get in trouble for being politely honest. I try my hardest to shelve my feelings when I go to work...because for now this is how I pay my bills. Sometimes it is so god damn hard going to a place where people at my level are smart enough to figure out (its not hard) that our bosses don't care, blatently come up with b.s. taskings to fill time without any effort at all to make said tasking useful.....or better yet, not even putting in the effort to come up with a b.s. tasking and having soldiers sitting around wondering why they joined and the mistake that they made. There was another user on the thread who replied to my comments who said something to the effect that...it is a sad state, but there are many Cpls and PTe's across the country who feel this way and who have fallen victim to idiot supervisors. That particular forum user is not far from the truth. People are afraid to speak up more for fear of retribution or career implications.
I joined as a short term solution. My hometown is hugely lacking jobs at the moment with a majority of mfg sectors going for a dive when things went stale in 2005, and I was fed up with my 2 College diplomas earning me maybe $12/hr if I was lucky. Perhaps I should have picked a different trade, I don't know anymore. All I know is I need to start being honest with myself.
I would like to apologize for my rant on the forum. You did not cause me my hardship, and I am confident you would forget about the rank on your chest and go at it as if it is a Jim and *(opsec)* conversation if I were to approach you in person. I do not feel I can accomplish this with my CoC. I also want to say sorry for the lack of details and so on. At the end of the day I want to protect my own identity, my unit's identity, and the future soldiers who may pick my trade. That is not my right, and I do not want to deface the history of my unit. No further offence to you, I approached someone who I thought I could trust concerning the issue of my Father, and I was in turn branded as a s****ump....so I do not really trust too many people aside from my immediate family and my Wife. So for this, you will never find out who I am, or where I work....it does have to be this way. The CF is small in the sense that everybody knows somebody somewhere else. What is left of my career I would like to be intact, for when it comes time to try to tell them I want out, I want time off for police testing, and I want references.
I am sorry for offending you how I did, I had to write this message to you out of the interest of my own mental health, and to save what little face I have left.
~ Cpl Anonomous the Pawn