CSM Teresa King - Drill Sgt School Cmdt With No Combat Patch

[LTC TANKER]

A CSM with over 29 years that has never deployed in the last 8 years to an active war zone and she gets picked as the new Commandant for the Drill Sgt School at Ft. Jackson??

That is just as bad as the large number of senior field grades running around the Pentagon that are "a little light on the right."

Looks like she got slammed pretty good in this week's Army Times in the Letters section and other internet sites.

From the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/us...pagewanted=all

"She says she regrets not having been deployed to a war zone during her 29-year Army career, though she has trained many soldiers who were. And now, in her new job, she will have significant influence over the basic training of every enlisted soldier."

[lrcharest]

or even needed for this position! Kudos to the SgtMajor for accepting this demanding and difficult position.

[LTC TANKER]

If you have never been in a war zone or faced combat, how can you have the "street creds" to stand in front of soldiers that are about to go to war or returning war vets on what it will be like when you get "downrange"???

Being able to say, "Been there, done that and got the T-Shirt to prove it" means its weight in gold.

[usa/usar13]

LTC Tanker,
Should I feel any less of a veteran since I was unable to go to the Gulf War when my USAR CSH went? And the reason was because my back was messed up and I ended up having surgery back in April '98 (spinal fusion/bone graft L-4/5 and S-1).
And FYI, I was in the Regular Army from March '78 - '81, and in both the Active Reserve/IRR from '81 - '98.
And it still bothers me that I didn't go with my unit.

[LTC TANKER]

You were non-deployable and a pre 9/11 vet. I missed out on the Gulf War, because it ended too quick and I was on the wrong side of the coast because we were USAR Korean War Theater Units. But I stuck around and went to Bosnia, but it was not considered combat to get a patch.

After 9/11 - things changed. CSM King must had been deployable or she would not had stayed in for all this time. It's like practicing for the Superbowl. Then you have a chance to play and you elect to stay on the bench and watch everyone else play.

But if you were deployable for the last 8 years, then you better have a good excuse for staying in CONUS and still be on Active Duty. Nobody is that valuable to stay at home. This goes for all those at the Pentagon right now without a patch on the right shoulder.

[Hooah2010]

Very nice site!

[LTC TANKER]

Go to the Drill Sgt School's website and you will notice that Sergeant Major Robert E. Maggard's, the Deputy Cmdt, bio doesn't mention that the unit he was assigned to in 2004 had deployed to OIF. It only mentioned that he has the Iraq Campaign and Bronze Star Medals. Why did the school sanitize his bio?


http://www.jackson.army.mil/units/drill/index.html

[Unregistered]

Very nice site!

[LTC TANKER]

Big Army did not have to send her on deployment. CSM King could had stepped up and volunteered for deployment. Back in 2004, when I was in Iraq, there was a huge surge of Drill Sgts on TDY to Iraq to train the New Iraqi Army. These were the first official trainers before they formed the adviser and training Battalions that you see over there now. Back then, if you really wanted to deploy there were ways to get there.

[Unregistered]

Very nice site!