I could not have written this any better, the perspective was right on! From what I've observed over 8+ yrs albeit, not as you have (a soldier in the trenches) but as soldier's Mom and leader of a group, families and paratroopers); I have uttered some of your exact statements and others I've thought of but never put them down quite as eloquently as you have! I used to ask "why?" a lot more, now I don't bother. Sometimes though I am at a loss for a reasonable explanation for a question a ‘new’ mom to the unit has asked. Here’s my take: "If I have to sit through one more 'suicide awareness' briefing, I'm going to kill myself." For as long as I have been researching this very topic, I’ve lost count of all the ppt presentations, videos, audios, workbooks, etc, etc. There is not lack of mandatory "suicide
I know the best leaders have been the ones that were serious about their responsibilities because they really understood what those responsibilities entailed first hand. These were the LTCs who patrolled along side their men on the streets of Samarra or Fallujah; ate the same food (if there was food and when there wasn't they didn't eat much either) or didn't get 'stressed out' if they saw a soldier with a few days worth of facial hair.
"The burden comes when he uses that technology to apply uniform and equipment regulations on a Warrior climbing from 7500 to 9000 feet".
Imagine a place, not even considered a "COB"; a soldier, wearing a "PT' t-shirt with an ACU pant, non-regulation. Why are they breaking a regulation when they know better? Because those were the only two pieces of clothing left not caked in mud and sand ("Shake n Bake") because insurgents had mortared the laundry tent/facility weeks ago and the hand washed clothing could only be hung to dry inside the tent because if placed outside ('shake n bake'). Those things never get communicated back to the 'office'.
About an SF team being pulled out of an exercise to ‘stand down’. Most people (outside the realm of the military) probably believe the ‘deployment’ is the real training, that nothing could be more realistic than that. Anybody reading this, who has deployed at least once or twice, is shaking their head “no”. Certainly, it is as realistic as it gets but the training already had to be ingrained into the very muscle fiber of the soldier, ‘automatic’.
I have ‘heard’ once back rather than getting into the job of ‘training’ and getting the new ‘kids’ ready for the next deployment, and working on the things that will prepare them physically and mentally for ‘the deployment’ they have to put on their class “A”s for inspection … because they probably have forgotten egad… where they are supposed to pin all their stuff (thank God for ACUs and Velcro)! Or, after months of very little to no structured “PT”, having to run the 100 mile (ok, its 10) run so then you have a bunch of people on ‘sick call’ for sprains and other varieties of musculoskeletal problems from the lack of running while deployed. I am in no way disparaging ‘discipline’ or order - but it should (I say “should”) make sense, purposeless things is just that purposeless. The intention may be totally ‘noble’ but the ‘exercise’ has to have purpose.
“For a Warrior, it is a plan of action to overcome the challenges that have led to the loss of control. A Warrior often trudges through the bogs of mud mentally and physically, despite conditions that would cause others to quit. As the upper echelons see the Warrior successfully complete extraordinary missions, it adds to the taskings, it adds to the weight a Warrior must physically and mentally carry.”
That very principle is what contraindicates the stand downs, 10,000 page training manuals, ppts, etc. There can never be a substitution for the training exercises in a ‘controlled’ environment, not only are lessons taught and learned tactically but there are also lessons taught and learned between two men, or three together out in the field … not inside a classroom listening (or dozing off) to yet another briefing. . Mental health issues in any population of people are extremely complex, there are no easy answers. So, I do give the military credit for acknowledging that a problem does exist rather than just acting under the ‘just suck it up’ principle.