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Physical security of arms, ammunition. The importance of securing weapons comes down to maintaining accountability for operation security, mission success, and a soldier’s over all readiness. The habits of exercising security and accountability of a soldier’s items allow the soldier and their team to operate to the highest standards or have items be accessed by an opposing adversary creating loss of overall mission success. Any time anything happens or you are preparing to go to the field or deployment of course you have to have accountability and order. Without that there would be chaos.
Accountability is not an abstract concept, it is actually really simple. Accountability means saying what you mean, meaning what you say, and doing what you say you are going to do. In short, accountability is taking responsibility for your words and actions. I have compiled a long list of strong reasons why weapons accountability is critically important, but I believe they boil down to three central issues: First, I am ineffective without my weapon; Second, an unmonitored weapon puts all of us in danger; and Last, a lost weapon will prompt many undesirable bureaucratic consequences.
Finally, I will conclude this essay with a look at why I joined the military and what I hope to personally gain from this experience. What’s the worst that could happen? The worst that can happen is for a bad guy, either foreign or domestic, to take your weapon and use it against you or your buddies. It is bad enough to lose one’s life with one’s own weapon. It is even worse, in my opinion, to live with the knowledge that your weapon was used to take the lives of others. Thus proving not only is one ineffective without their weapon but it puts everyone else in danger. Why does it happen?
It seems that weapon accountability is something we take for granted. There will be many times when a soldier is not within arms length of his weapon. Whether he or she is eating, working on a vehicle, or just hanging around the living quarters, their rifle is not likely to be in hand or slung behind their back. Another fact of why weapons can get left unattended is complacency. Soldiers will get in the habit of thinking their firearm as something you have to carry around all the time and less as an actual weapon that is used for the protection of themselves and their comrades.
Lastly, distractions can play a key role in why weapons are left unattended. Different situations can bring their own share of distractions which makes it hard to concentrate on anything else. What can we learn from it? So what does this teach us? It teaches us that even if your in a place where you would think that your weapon is the most important thing you would think about, it is not. Being only human, highly trained, intelligent soldiers will forget where their weapons are. How do we ensure that this never happens to us? To ensure that this never happens to us, there are some common sense steps to take.
First, team leaders must stress accountability. Each team member should be able to answer for where every important item they own is at any given time of day. When a team goes out for training, the team leader must make certain that every person in the team can account for their weapons and other important pieces of gear. The team leader can perform inspections, make sure that sensitive items are placed in a standard location when not in use, develop standard loading plans for vehicles, have weapon racks inside tents or buildings, and even stacking arms.
The habit must be formed by each team member to always be conscious of where their weapons are. And the buddy system is great because buddies can watch out for each other. They will supervise and check each other, which can save the team leader a lot of headache. It is always good practice to keep your weapon within arms distance at all times. If I was to forget my weapon in a combat situation, I would have no way to defend myself or my fellow service members. Then I would have to live with that for the rest of my life.
The repercussion of my actions could have fallen back on my platoon sergeant and my squad leader and cause embarassment for the entire platoon and company. That is not something I would want to happen as a result of me being complacent. One example of the dangers of leaving weapons unattended takes place in northeast Philadelphia. A police officer left a loaded gun on a table and a neighbor used it to accidentally kill his host. Another incident is a hunting accident. A twenty-one-year old male was killed while hunting when a shotgun accidentally discharged.
The loaded weapon had been lying on the ground with the safety off and discharged when a dog stepped on the trigger. As important as it is to remember where your weapon is at all times, it is equally important to remember a few gun safety tips: • Always treat every gun as if it were loaded. Never point a gun at something you would not want to shoot, hurt, or destroy, even if the gun is empty. • When you are not shooting, always keep the muzzle of your weapon pointed in a safe direction. Never leave a loaded weapon unattended. Always keep your trigger finger outside of the trigger guard until the moment you’re going to fire. • Always know what you are aiming at. Besides keeping weapons safe for the obvious reason of accountability, it is also important to remember your guard duties and responsibilities as a soldier. Guard duty is a very important job as a soldier serving in the US Army. When you are selected for this task, you are required to follow the Three General Orders. First General Order: I will guard everything within the limits of my post and quit my post only when properly relieved.
Second General Order: I will obey my special orders and perform all of my duties in a military manner. Third General Order: I will report violations of my special orders, emergencies, and anything not covered in my instructions to the commander of the relief. Besides being on guard in a constant state of readiness, you are also obligated to perform various secondary tasks, such as verifying and maintaining one hundred percent accountability on personnel, weapons, and other equipment essential to the mission.
When mission essential equipment is involved, special care and supervision is to be taken to make sure these items do not just “walk away”. Sometimes guard duty can result in a long amount of time with no relief, even temporary, such as a break to utilize the latrine. These situations happen, but under NO circumstances are you allowed to leave without proper relief. If proper relief, such as a soldier who was briefed on the same mission and is authorized to relieve you happens to be available, then he or she may relieve you. You are to make sure to report back in a timely manner.
If you are on guard duty and an emergency issue, such as missing or damaged personnel or sensitive items, arises, you are to immediately report this to your relief and/ or your non- commissioned officer in charge. Should you fail these actions, you can and probably will ultimately be held responsible for these incidents or losses. Falling asleep on guard duty is highly discouraged. Falling asleep on guard duty can result in an Article Fifteen. Leaving weapons unattended is also punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which falls under the category of punitive orders.
This order is described as leaving any tools, keys, weapons or any other work related materials necessary to perform your mission unattended or within the reach of persons unauthorized to possess them, or bringing any materials not necessary for the performance of the mission into a sensitive area or detainee area. A person who violates this order either negligently or intentionally may be punished under Article ninety-two for violating a lawful general order, or receive adverse administrative actions, or both.
Consequences of violating this order could result in an Article Fifteen, which can result with loss of rank, pay, extra duty, or even jail time. The U. S. Army values are as follows Loyalty bear true faith and allegiance to the U. S. constitution, Army, your unit, and other soldiers. Duty, fulfill your obligations. Respect; treat people how you want to be treated. Selfless service put the welfare of the nation, the Army, and your subordinates before your own. Honor live up to the Army values. Integrity Do what’s right legally and morally, And Personal Courage, face fear, danger or adversity (physical and moral.
Loyalty… Loyalty is faithfulness or a devotion to a person or cause. I’m sure my trust with my NCOs support chain is all but gone. What I did was wrong and not loyal to the trust and respect you once had placed in me. When I took my oath on the day I joined I swore to serve the United States of America both honestly and faithfully. After the 27th of October I believe I have a lot of work to do before I am a responsible adult and soldier. I come a long way since I joined the army, but I still have a bit to go. Duty… is a term that conveys a sense of moral commitment to someone or something.
The moral commitment is the sort that results in action, and it is not a matter of passive feeling or mere recognition. When someone recognizes a duty, that person commits himself/herself to the cause involved without considering the self-interested courses of actions that may have been relevant previously. This is not to suggest that living a life of duty precludes one from the best sort of life, but duty does involve some sacrifice of immediate self-interest. By not being where I said I was going to be, I in no way fulfilled my obligations to the army, the company, or any of my NCOs.
The formation I missed was important because I missed information that was prudent to me alone, which in fact I only hurt myself by having to miss even more time to take care of what I should have been doing on Monday. RESPECT… Respect is esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability. Along with the trust that I need to gain back from not only my NCOs but everyone else in my company, I also lost and have to gain the respect back from all the people who I lied to and hurt by my actions.
I totally disrespected all soldiers and have no excuse for my actions. Selfless service… Selfless Service is a commonly used term to denote a service which is performed without any expectation of result or award for the person performing it. I didn’t put the welfare of anyone in front of my own. Instead of selfless service I was only selfish and need to mature a lot but I have time to do it I believe. Honor… honesty, fairness, or integrity in one’s beliefs and actions . What I did was a great dishonor to me and most of all to my platoon in the eyes of the 1st Sergeant Syndnor.
I made it to where the 1st sergeant now doesn’t trust the word of my platoon sergeants, and now she is second guessing them and making them double check everything. Personal courage… Personal courage isn’t the absence of fear; rather, it’s the ability to put fear aside and do what’s necessary. It takes two forms, physical and moral. Good leaders demonstrate both. I believe that I showed some personal courage in finally telling the truth and facing what I had coming. Physical courage means overcoming fears of bodily harm and doing your duty.
It’s the bravery that allows a soldier to take risks in combat in spite of the fear of wounds or death. Physical courage is what gets the soldier at Airborne School out the aircraft door. It’s what allows an infantryman to assault a bunker to save his buddies. In contrast, moral courage is the willingness to stand firm on your values, principles, and convictions, even when threatened. It enables leaders to stand up for what they believe is right, regardless of the consequences. Leaders, who take responsibility for their decisions and actions, even when things go wrong, display moral courage.
Courageous leaders are willing to look critically inside themselves, consider new ideas, and change what needs changing. Accountability is a concept in ethics with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as answerability, enforcement, responsibility , blameworthiness, liability and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving. As an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in both the public and private worlds. Accountability is very important because it allows for your chain of command to know where you are at the moment, It is also important because it ells the unit commanders also the none commissioned officers how around how many personnel are available to perform certain tasks, If a leader does not know around how many troops are available then he/she will not know who is available to do what, Everything must be accounted for, from food, rounds, troops, vehicles, fuel, and so on. Discipline and accountability to your unit is a must, so they know where you are and that you are safe and the military is run off discipline without it we wouldn’t be the greatest military/army in the history of the world. Also the U. S. rmy values imply that soldiers are accountable for their actions. Being accountable means being dependable-arriving to work on time and appointments on time, meeting deadlines, being in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing at the right time. Morning formation is the most important formation of the day. It is made to get accountability of everyone and put out any information that there needs to be dealt with. Without having accountability there is no knowing of where everybody is or what’s going on. As a result of me showing up late and not calling in or lying I am pending U.
C. M. J action under article 15. Knowing and realizing the severity of what I have done, I have realized that is an important asset always showing up on time at the right place of duty. Not only does accountability matter in formation it is also imperative to have accountability of all your weapons and sensitive items. The obligation imposed by law or lawful order or regulation on an officer or other person for keeping accurate record of property, documents, or funds. The person having this obligation may or may not have actual possession of the property, documents, or funds.
Accountability is concerned primarily with records, while responsibility is concerned primarily with custody, care, and safekeeping. Accountability can be is a responsibility anyone can have at any time. The accountability usually goes to the higher ranking that is in charge at that time. I have been in charge many times to keep accountability on things that were sensitive items. The importance of keeping accountability of your weapon, and other equipment you may have, is very high because if in the wrong hands it can be used against us. It can be used against us in war. It also can be used against us on our own streets.
Whether we leave it around for a couple minutes or a half an hour, someone can take our equipment with us not realizing it. Leaving your equipment or weapon around can not only be bad for you, but for your buddy next to you. Your buddy might also get into trouble if he was there with you when you lost track of that equipment or weapon. In order to be a good soldier, and a good leader, you have to understand how important it is to keep accountability of your equipment and weapon. If your are in a position to take care of other soldiers or you are higher ranking of other soldiers, you can not be messing up.
Soldiers will follow what you do and think that it is okay to slack off. Meaning that if you are not accounting for something that you should be accountable for, you do not care about your job or the ones around you. If you do not keep accountability of your weapon, your are not following the Soldiers Creed. In the Soldiers Creed, you swear to always maintain your arms, your equipment and yourself. This is a very important part of the Soldiers Creed. If you do not do this, you can not complete your mission to the standards you are required to meet.
Not completing your mission can and will cause the lives of you or other soldiers. So you can see that losing or not keeping accountability of your weapon will not just have one effect on you or others, but many more beyond that. We all know the worst that could happen-that’s easy. The worst that could happen is for a bad guy (here or at home) to take your weapon and use it against you or your buddies. Frankly, I don’t know which is worse; losing one’s life to one’s own weapon, or living with knowing that your buddies are dead through your carelessness. What’s this teach us?
Very simply, it teaches us that even in a place where you would think your weapon is the most important thing you think about, it ain’t. Highly trained and intelligent soldiers, being only human, will forget where their weapons are. No sense denying it. It happens here and can happen to you or me at home. Now what do we do to minimize the likelihood of this happening to us? There’s no one foolproof system. As a former co-worker of mine back home used to say that “there’s no such thing as foolproof…the best you can hope for is ‘idiot-resistant. ‘” There are common-sense steps to take, though, and they must be scrupulously observed.
Team leaders MUST stress accountability. Every team member must be able to answer where every important thing they own is at any given time of day. This doesn’t happen overnight, it must be trained. Whenever a team goes out for training, the team leader must ensure that everyone can account for their rifles and other important pieces of gear at all times. The team leader has a number of tools at his disposal to ensure this is done. He can perform inspections. He can ensure that “sensitive” items are placed in a standard location when not in use or carried (as when bivouacking). He can develop standard loading plans for vehicles.
He can have weapon racks inside tents or buildings. Even stacking arms in a bivouac site has merit; there’s a very good reason soldiers are still taught to stack their assault rifles, just like their great-great grandfathers stacked their muskets. Team members must get in the habit of always being conscious of where their weapons are. I have only a few places I keep my rifle at any given time, and I put it in the same place every time. While at work, my rifle is stored in a rack, in the same slot every time. At the mess hall, it’s at my feet. When I’m in my living quarters, it’s next to the same corner of my cot every time.
I never have to think about where it is, because I’ve learned to leave it in the same place every time. Buddies have to look out for each other. Buddy teams are great. When they work, they save the team leader tons of headache and indigestion, because buddies will supervise and check each other, if for no other reason than to keep from getting in trouble with the team leader. The bottom line is for everyone to understand that people WILL misplace their weapons, and must train themselves into simple, common-sense habits that minimize the possibility of it happening to them.
Team leaders must also understand this, and make accountability an important part of everything their team does. The other day, when I left my weapon back at work, I not only ruined my image more, but I showed everyone in the platoon that I still have some work to do when it comes to my accountability skills and my attitude. By the end of this paper I hope I have shown those who’ve read this that I do understand the seriousness of maintaining accountability of not only my personally assigned weapon, but all of my sensitive items and everything else I’m personally responsible for.
After taking some time to think and brainstorm about what I wanted to get across with this essay, I think weapons accountability simply comes down to three basic concepts. First is the fact that I am pretty much useless in battle without my weapon. Second is that a weapon left alone is a weapon begging for the enemy to pick it up and use it against us. And third, a lost weapon or lost anything really, shows a lack of self discipline and a ‘I don’t really give two shits’ attitude. Accountability, in some way, shape, or form, has something to do with pretty much everything we do in the rmy, from everyday formations, to field exercises, to combat deployments. I also feel that sometimes something as simple as weapons accountability is taken for granted. I should never go anywhere without it and it is always good practice to keep it within a arms distance at all times. If i was to forget it in a combat situation i would have no way to defend myself or my fellow service members. Then i would have to live with that for the rest of my life. If the company had done one hundred percent accountability the repercussion of my actions could have fallen back on my platoon Sgt. nd my squad leader and cause embarrassment for the entire platoon and company. That is not something i would want to have happen as a result of me being complacent. And although it may have been a simple oversight, this simple oversight could have compounded into a massive issue. The army gives us the M9 to defend ourselves if the situation arises and I would not of been able to do that so instead of helping the situation I would have been hurting it. I would never intentionally hurt or set up my battle buddies for failure. Keeping your rifle on you is just as important as keeping it clean or count of the ammo that goes with it.
This equipment is critical to our war fighting capability and highly desired by criminal and terrorist elements. It is imperative that commanders and leaders at all levels of command manage the control of sensitive items. While on base, weapons and sensitive items will be centrally controlled by a designated individual. Hand receipts will be utilized during training events where weapons or sensitive items are needed and will be signed out to the individual soldier. Weapons and sensitive item not being accountable, is a very big mistake on who is supposed to keep track of these items.
Equipment accountability is crucial to completing any and every mission placed before a soldier, a squad, a company, platoon, team, etc. If the necessary obligation of accountability is ignored, a duty, a mission, or aborted due to the lack of cooperation and respect to the rule of equipment accountability. The soldier’s creed states the following “I am physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills, I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself” This can not be done without the proper equipment.
The only way to keep track of the right equipment is to write information down, remember the location of the written note or remember which person has the proper information for which duty, drill, or any other assignment. Like weapons, vehicles and round counts, a soldiers ID card is one of the most important elements and pieces a soldier should and must ave on his person at all times, day and night, rain or shine. Without an ID card, military personal may be subject to not only failing to report to work on time, or be unable to buy groceries on base but, also more importantly failing to comply with the soldiers creed.
It is an official document used by the military: a way of life to one’s life and obligation to our government and the nation’s families. The ID and the weapon are extremely vital and sensitive article for a soldier. A soldiers ID is not only a picture, it carries personal information from the color of your eyes to one’s social security number. It Is kind of like a secret folder that holds all the key information needed by another person to steal one’s identity and gain access to personal information for multiple uses.
It is expected of the soldier who’s picture and social is on the card to care for this item, and to hold it in utmost security. A soldier is one individual. A soldier is one person of one group, in a group to create our army. The army must act as one unit, cooperate with one another, communicate amongst each other, put faith in one another – in all, put one soldiers life in the hands of the army. This is for the protection of our nation’s people. Therefore, equipment accountability for even one warrior must be held as if he was the highest chain of command.
It is so simple: each soldier is one piece to the whole; if one is astray for the pack, then where is the unit? The group? The leadership? None are in existance because of one unaccounted-for-piece of information. This is because there is a hole in the system: a lack that must be repaired immediately to ensure the safety and smooth duties, missions, and every other obligation out military is called upon for. It is very important at all times for a soldier to know where their weapon ,headset or any equipment are. Especially when at war.
A soldier without his/her equipment is handicapped, he she can not defend him or herself from enemy fire without having their weapon ready ,nor communicate with people in their convoy without their headset. Having your weapon and headset secure is also a matter of safety. Going out on any mission in the military without necessary equipment is dangerous. A soldier can not be ready to engage the enemy without his/her necessary equipment near and ready. Also when you know where your weapons, headsets, and other equipment are you are providing a good xample to other soldiers on how to always keep track of important items. Keeping track of important items is part of a soldier’s many duties. Accountability in the Army is very important. Whether it be with people or with items and weapons. In the United States Military, losing a weapon is unacceptable. I could write this five thousand word essay and fill it with excuses as to why I forgot my weapon, but the fact of the matter is that there is no excuse. Being accountable is very important. The U. S. Army values Soldiers that are accountable for their actions.
Not only does the U. S. Army value Soldiers who are accountable for themselves, they value dependable Soldiers. To be a dependable Soldier you must show your NCO’s that you can arriving to work and appointments on time, meet deadlines, be in the right place at the right time, and doing the right thing at the right time. Morning formation is the most important formation of the day. It is made to get accountability of everyone and put out any information that there needs to be dealt with. Without having accountability there is no knowing of where everybody is or what’s going on.
Now knowing the severity of my actions, I have realized that is an important asset to always be accountable for my weapons. Not only does accountability matter in formation it is also imperative to have accountability of work and appointments. In case of emergency and something were to happen to myself no one would have any knowing if I was hurt or involved, therefore causing a lot of confusion and drama within my Change of Command. Without accountability the U. S. Army would be unorganized and chaos. Accountability is concerned primarily with records, while responsibility is concerned primarily with custody, care, and safekeeping.
A leader takes charge and takes accountability for all those who fall under his or her leadership. Personnel accountability is critical in the event of a disaster or national emergency. Ensuring strict accountability for our military members is relatively easy because they are required to provide supervisors with contact information when they depart on leave even on there off time they are required to be accounted for. One who takes responsibility for those who works under his or her authority needs to have accountability at all times. Being accountable is what the military is all about.
Being accountable means being dependable, arriving to work, and appointments on time, meeting deadlines, being in the right place at the right time, and doing the right things at all times even when no one is looking. Being accountable also includes being in the right uniform, and having all necessary equipment, gear, and documents that you might need for that day in order to accomplish that days mission. Accountability is a vital part of all military operations. If one person is late, missing, or doesn’t have the required military equipment or documents then the entire mission is compromised and has the risk of failing.