Personal Narrative: My Duty In The Army

I enlisted in the Army as a Field Artilleryman in 1995 just after graduating from high school. Since that time, my service in the Army has provided me several positive and negative experiences. One experience that will permanently remain with me happened during my second tour in Iraq in 2007. I was called back on active duty in the Army Reserves after working as a teacher and coaching high basketball for over two years. I came back on active duty as a 1st Lieutenant, the same rank when I left active duty in 2004. I was assigned to 719th Movement Control Battalion (MCB), an Army Reserve unit from Boston, Massachusetts. I reported to the unit as individual augmenttee, therefore I did not know anyone in the unit. Furthermore, the battalion …show more content…

I was not told what my duty position was in the S3, even when I asked I was not given an answer. As time went along, the situation got worse within the section. Besides feeling like an outsider, I was not informed of the meeting within the section and when I was there for a meeting, I was told to leave. When I volunteered to attend meetings for the section I was told no. If I was tasked to a meeting, I was told about it at the last minute. The officer leadership, which included the Battalion Commander, Battalion XO, and Battalion S3 were so bold that they made racial jokes or conversation right in front of staff and soldiers. It was not only jokes about African American, but Hispanic, Asian, and people from the Middle East. In addition, the leadership made jokes about Jews and Muslim. I had never experienced prejudice at this level in my life. I did inform the Battalion Command Sargent Major (CSM) of the situation, because I did not trust any of the officer leadership. However, talking to the CSM was like talking to a brick wall and it did not change the current situation. On the contrary, my situation in the battalion did change to the point and I was moved from the battalion staff to another location in