Housing inspector

During my army service I did a lot of things, and one of the more interesting ones was a housing inspector for post quarters in Fort Richardson, AK. I’d recently been promoted to Sergeant (E-5) and this was a problem for the Battalion S-1 (Personnel office) as they had no slot for me to be assigned into. The Battalion Headquarters & Headquarters Battery (HHB) had a more fluid organization and I was temporarily assigned as an aide to the Battalion Command Sergeant Major (CSM). The CSM is the most senior (Non-Commissioned Officer aka Sergeant) NCO in the battalion. He is the person that makes sure that the desires and directives of the Battalion Commander are carried out. In garrison, one of these tasks was to ensure that the assigned area of post enlisted housing was maintained to standards. While working as his aide, this was my primary duty when we were not deployed.

I think this tasking was one of the turning points in the way I reacted to situations in my life. Up until the time I entered the military, I had always been plagued with self-doubt and a lack of confidence. But as I moved up in the military, I started learning a lot about myself and how I was seen by others in the military. If you have ever had self-confidence issues, you know that every time you something, you have doubts about it. Is this the right decision? Will my boss like this? This kind of thoughts can consume your confidence and paralyze your decision-making processes.

I entered active duty with 6-years’ service credit for my time in the National Guard, and this allowed me to rise up in the active duty enlisted ranks much faster than normal and arriving at Sergeant with only 18 months of active duty time. This speedy rise also afforded me a look at how my chain-of-command looked at my performance and was part of my realization that my personal standards were higher than those I was being evaluated with, and as long as I met my own personal standards, my life in the military would go pretty well.

Anyone who has lived in post housing knows that there are post policies that are to be followed about maintaining the quarters (Mow your grass, trim the shrubs, keep the place neat and tidy). Other regulations have to do with following safety guidelines and even common-sense directives (Don’t have a charcoal grill against the building while having a cookout, etc.).  The job is similar to dealing with the management at an apartment complex of condominium. There are also some differences.

Being a very junior NCO, one of the things I had to deal with was more senior NCOs who felt that I could either be intimidated by their rank and experience or they thought that I was naive about how their rank and position applied when I was doing my job. I recall one such interaction pretty vividly.
One major safety issue was the storage of gasoline operated machinery in or near the buildings. In this case, a motorcycle that was parked and tarped on the front porch of the building. The regulation was precise and clear. Each quarters unit had an assigned parking space (only one, parking was at a premium) and if you had a motorcycle, it was to be parked crossways at the front of the space next to the sidewalk allowing you to park your car in the same space. A Staff Sergeant (SSG) lived in these quarters took exception for my giving him a notice that he was in violation of regulations and that he had 24 hours to resolve the issue.

He then proceeded to inform me that I had no authority over him as he out-ranked me and wasn’t in my chain-of-command. I listened patiently to his diatribe and smiled and told him that was fine, he didn’t have to do anything that I said. I also reminded him that I was working on behalf of my Battalion Command Sergeant Major and I was sure he’d enjoy having a discussion with the Staff Sergeant’s CSM later that day and I walked away. Mysteriously, within an hour, the motorcycle had moved to its assigned location, so much for his bluff and bluster.

Since the aide to the Command Sergeant Major was a make-work position that the Battalion created just to slot me somewhere until a TO&E (Table of Organization and Equipment) position could be found for me to be formally assigned to fill. I only worked that position for about two months before I was re-assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) 5-327 Infantry as a Sergeant in the Motor Pool. Housing inspector was a fun little job, but I was glad to get back to some real work.