Administrative garbage

There have been a lot of changes of command around post the past several months and as a result, things have stirred up a bit as all the different new commanders have each tried to make their numbers look good and to become popular. Some of their individual tactics have collided or otherwise backfired leaving the soldiers exhausted and angry. There's a massive tug of war between the actual Army aspect of things (PT scores, briefings, volunteer hours, ad infinitum) and the teachers who are also required to get results from these, our best and brightest minds.

Everyone is feeling stretched thin as punitive action after slap on the wrist get piled up on people just struggling to meet everyone's minimums, forget about exceeding any of them.

So Man's platoon sergeant ordered everyone to quit complaining. He said that sitting around talking badly about what's going on will only make everyone more angry and will spend what emotional energy they have left in pointless ways. Yes, things need to change and quickly before they have more than the average number of nervous breakdowns around post, but as Soldiers they have to be able to deal with a certain amount of pressure without it tearing them down.

So Man came home that day and said "you know, I'm so sorry I've been so negative about everything."

[double take] Eh? What brought that on?

He related the above order and said it got him thinking about the way he's expressed himself about every other job he's ever had, every college or U he's attended, every course of his life that hasn't gone as expected.

I've tried pointing it out before, you know, after I started to realize that my own frothing negativity was having less than happy effects on my poor family and friends. It took living this way, hearing that order, and whatever combination of events he couldn't possibly tell me about (you know the lovely subtleties of life we could never apprise our spouses of perfectly) to jog his understanding and realize what exactly attitude can do to a person.

Which is also a good refresher course for me, as well. I love talking to friend M and friend K who help me put things into positive, loving, practical perspective. Sister in law C also called the other day which was refreshing and delightful and positive.

I have actually typed up some very bitter posts lately but, thanks to their influence, had the perspective to say "is this really necessary?", give it up, and move on to funny kid stories instead.

Speaking of which, I was chatting with Tag yesterday. I don't even remember the topic but I asked him if he could pronounce a word correctly. He said "hmmmm, not necessarily."

lol Wow.

Then he asked "what does not necessarily mean?"

And having the kids question things like this tests my ability to define language, life, and perspective. "It means, it doesn't have to be that way."

"Oh, right, right, I got it." He's such a confident young man.