2014

So let's just take this year by year.  In 2014 I was in my "one man armory".  I had started there in August of 2012.  Normal situations for the Army National Guard have 3 full timers in an armory:  A readiness NCO, a training NCO, and a supply NCO.  Because our unit was a detachment to a larger unit, I was the only full timer in the armory.

When I took the position it was a way to get my foot in the door on the Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) program, which is a very good program, especially if you have children, for health care, benefits, and retirement.  I probably didn't know exactly what I was getting into, because it was drinking hard core from the firehose, so much information coming at me.

Basically you are in charge of anywhere from 14 million to 18 million in facilities and equipment (depending on whose value sheet you are looking at), and 60 Soldiers who drill there once a month, and two weeks during the summer.  The facility itself consisted of the armory building, maintenance building, cold storage building, fenced in motor pool, along with parking lots, sidewalks, the usual. 

In the motor pool were 30 trucks with trailers, and another set of 30 trailers (the "B" trailers as they are called) in a location 50 miles from us.  The trucks were M1088 field tractors, and the trailers were M871 field trailers.  They give you a maintenance guy, which in my case was a 65 year old who didn't mind cleaning inside or riding on the mower, but you couldn't get him to weed wack if his life depended on it.

Now you may think that being in a one man armory would be boring, or ideal, but it was not either.  You basically had about 6 bosses.   You had  the readiness NCO at the larger unit who was your actual boss on paper, and wrote your evaluation reports (90 miles away), the supply sergeant who provided you with the equipment and gear for your building, vehicles, and Soldiers, you had the company clerk, who in this case was an E7 who outranked me, you had the area officer who was responsible for ALL the full timers in 5 companies for the battalion (who would lean heavily on your readiness NCO to put things in your evaluation report), you had "facilities", who you answered to for repair and upkeep of the entire area, and you had the vehicle maintenance shop foreman, who you had to answer to for all your truck issues.

On top of that, there were different groups within the Guard who would inspect the armory or request info, often times unannounced.  Environmental, physical security, asset management, even the adjutant general and his command sergeant major, all would visit from time to time.  In the building itself there was the unit recruiter, and our building also had the 1SG for recruiting for our quadrant, because he lived in the town.  But recruiting didn't interact  much with the unit itself, aside from new Soldiers, so I didn't see them much.  Often times you had one boss/group wanting you to do something, while 2 or 3 others (or more) expected you to be doing something else.  It often times was simply ridiculous. 

Personal life at the time obviously wasn't ideal, and contributed to stress, but the kids and I did well regardless.  The town itself was great.  Good farming community, the type of people I grew up around in my own hometown.  One interesting factor about the town was that there were three Subway (sandwich franchise) stores... for 6000 people.  Not sure how that works out, but they did it.

The Soldiers in the unit were great guys, especially the upper NCO's.  Our platoon sergeant was the stand-in "1st SGT", and even though 60 Soldiers would generally be the size of two platoons, he was responsible for one large platoon. He was great though, the kind of guy that could step into a room of angry people and calm everyone down to get them focused on what needed to be done. 

In a "line MTOE unit" that has regular drills/AT's, everything works in cycles.  The monthly cycle revolves around the weekend in which you have drill.  The week leading up to drill you are moving and working at about 200%, trying to get food ready, prepping for pay, trucks ready, classes and who will teach them, on and on and on.  Often times you are there till 1800.  Drill weekend itself gets even crazier, trying to fix everyone's problems all while reporting back to the larger unit. 

First one in the building an hour before anyone arrives at drill, then on Sunday  night, leaving often times 2 hours after everyone else is gone.  That's the life in a one man armory.  The 2-3 days following drill are still pretty hectic, but not near as bad the week before and drill itself.  Reports being completed, AWOL notices mailed out, setting up make up drill for those who were excused, etc. 

Then you have about 2 and a half weeks where the job is really not bad at all, in fact quite easy.  This particular armory had a very good reputation with the town, especially with our recruiter AND the 1st SGT of recruiting both being in the armory.  We had a lot of events, probably averaged between 2 and 3 a month, where the armory would be rented out. 

While I was there I also rented out a house directly behind our armory, just across the street. So that was pretty awesome, although I'd have to drop the kids off at school and/or daycare every day so I'd drive anyway.  Living that close though meant that if there were any emergencies, I was right there to handle them.  That's actually a pretty convenient thing, because, as I stated, one man armory, you are responsible for  most everything that happens there. 

By the end of 2014, I was ready for a change and started paying attention to job postings.  I stayed dedicated to my job, but knew that if the right position opened up, I would be moving on.