Thursday, July 10, 2014

My Life as a Leaf Eater

I was recently introduced to the term “leaf eater”. This term was referencing me and my fellow support folks within a certain military community. “Herbivore” was later used by the same individual and that made me smile while my brain went to thinking. Is being a leaf eater, really a bad thing? Now this rant, I am sure, will infuriate a few but I mean no harm and hope to simply shed some light on an area that often gets forgotten.

I am a logistician, I am by no means a line soldier. I support those boys, and girls now(?), who chose a weapon as their craft instrument. I chose parachutes. I will say that again, I CHOSE parachutes. I had the same opportunity to be one of those trigger pulling heroes but I took a different route. For the last 13 years I have been folding nylon and shoving it in a bag, rigging up trucks and boats on platforms, or sitting behind a sewing machine bringing a parachute back to life. I have supported a myriad of different units and done many different tasks , away from logistics, along the way. I don’t ever boast but I am pretty good at what I do.  I am a quartermaster, I am a combat enabler, I am a support guy, I am a rigger, and I volunteered to do those things. 

Do we, as support soldiers, get the chance to become the weapon experts you are? No. More often than not we go out to the range once a year, qualify as fast as we can, and then head back to work. Those parachutes aren’t going to pack themselves. We also don’t get the tactical training as often. That doesn’t mean we aren’t useful in a fight, we just may need a couple more rounds through a shoot house than you to get comfortable. We do on occasion eat a hardy salad because our physical training time doesn’t allow the mass protein and carb intake that yours does. If I could spend 4 hours a day, during the duty day, under a bench press bar or in front of a cross fit gym mirror I would too. Ok that’s a lie, I hate the gym, but I would run my tits off or find a mountain to climb. (The last one was a jab but come on, we all know one of “those” guys at the gym.) 

We often get overlooked or worse not looked at at all. As support guys we have to listen to how tired you are and how much harder you work then we do. Even though we were there hours before and I don’t let my guys go usually til you are done and comfortable. We get put in the expendable pile far too often and get told frequently that you, the carnivore, could do our job. Well let me tell you that that is entirely true. You sure could. A well trained monkey could do our job to be honest. It is often repetitive and monotonous. The same 8-10 steps 20 to 25 times a day. But if you had to do our job, how well could you do your job? We SUPPORT you. We are not your slaves or bitch detail, we are there to take over aspects of your mission so you can focus on your primary objective. Shooting bad guys in the face. Every single person in military logistics chose to take on that responsibility for you. Now if you want to run my rigger shed on top of doing a requal, preparing your next training concept, range time, and shaking that very heavy rope for an hour, then by all means come down and give it a try. You really don’t need to though. That’s why we are here. The leaf eaters are here to help. We are not in the business of saying no. We have to on occasion because training plans often reach for the stars and are based in a reality that simply does not exist or is unattainable. But its rare. We compromise, my soldiers bare the weight of my trying to meet your training goals, but we are not, I say again, in the business of saying no. 

I am a Leaf Eater. I chose to be one. My career in this man’s army will be as a Parachute Rigger and I am proud of that. I have done some incredibly cool things as a rigger and will cherish them all. I appreciate the things you do and the sacrifices you make to do them. Thank you for choosing that job so I had the ability to choose mine. I will do my job to the highest standard I am able and keep you all in the fight. All I ask in return, is while we are out melting under the Arizona sun, hating life on the DZ at 29 Palms, or picking up pieces of a load that didn’t quite make it(We can collectively blame the Air Force almost every time right?), remember the same guy that called me an Herbivore said “You(carnivore) volunteered three times to be here. Congratulations. Get over it.”  

Sincerely,
SFC Herbivore Rigger

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