Chapter Seventy-Three: Salt Water, Leggings, and Resignation

Although he simply rejected Marshall's "kindness" neatly, after hanging up the phone. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoJohn still has a feeling of loss in his heart. He knew very well that what he had given up was a path to the "general star". If he follows Marshall's arrangement, I believe that in less than a year, he will be able to change the eagle on his shoulder into a star. And even in the future, it is highly likely that he will take a place in the Joint Staff, which serves the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

And choosing to stay in the 82nd Division, he was faced with a small road full of thorns. At every step of the way, he had to compete with hundreds of officers of the same rank who were much more senior than him. And not to mention the preferential treatment he received from Marshall, it would be nice not to be put into a separate book.

John doesn't regret his choice, though. Because he knows very well that only by staying in the combat unit can he truly enter the mainstream circle of the army and establish his influence in military circles. Otherwise, he is destined to become a passer-by in the army, and no matter how much he achieves in the field of military diplomacy, he will be rootless, and once he retires, he will inevitably disappear.

Moreover, before the passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Act in 1986 (the Department of Defense Restructuring Act), the Joint Chiefs of Staff was little more than a good-looking vase (an advisory body to the president and the secretary of defense) that could do nothing but intersect the branches of the armed forces and was nowhere near as much power as later generations. John didn't want to spend all his time compiling lengthy reports that would please all the branches of the military but were of no practical use.

After a few cigarettes in silence, John forced himself to gather his thoughts and refocus his attention from Stimson's call to the task at hand. Whether in his past life or in this life, he is not a person who likes to change his mind easily. Now that the decision has been made, there is no need to look ahead and try to do the best it can when you set the goal.

With this kind of nonsense, it is better to think about how to do tomorrow's 25-mile weight-bearing march training. Yesterday, there were a lot of problems in the training of the 504 regiment, so much so that there was a situation in which the whole regiment was basically "reimbursed" after the training. John had to hurry up and study countermeasures to avoid another "tragedy" in the 505th Regiment tomorrow.

John spent a long time alone in his office writing and drawing, and then called Steve to his office. Although he couldn't solve the problem of the soldier's lack of physical fitness for a while, there were still many small details that could be improved in the training.

"Steve, tomorrow you move the first two containment points a little further, and ask the 505th Regiment to prepare more light salt water, and fill each soldier's water bottle before leaving."

"Brackish water? Good. Steve hesitated and immediately agreed.

Originally, it was forbidden for the troops to drink large amounts of water when they were marching. Because this will not only not quench thirst, but also accelerate the loss of electrolytes in the body, produce side effects such as weakness in the limbs, and affect the speed of marching. Some of the stricter officers would even check the water bottles of the soldiers after their marches. Whoever drinks all the water will be punished.

But the current recruits of the 82nd Division are clearly not able to do this. Yesterday, more than half of the recruits emptied their kettles in the first five miles, which is one reason why most of them couldn't make it through the second half of the march.

John's idea was simple, since there was no way to stop the recruits from drinking water, he had to think of something to avoid electrolyte loss.

There were no sports drinks or oral rehydration salts in those years. There are some saline depots in them, but they are used by the medical battalion for intravenous injections to the wounded. If John dares to use it, Durant's old man will have to be in a hurry with him. Therefore, John could only let the 505 regiment make up with light salt water first. Anyway, the heavy labor of many industrial and mining enterprises is so hydrated in the summer, which is somewhat useful.

In fact, John also knew some tips about drinking water during the march. When the university military training was in session, an old squad leader taught them to slip through the army. To this day, he can still remember a few of them: "The sun is in the sky, the moon is in the earth, and you can't drink water in one breath; Moisturize your lips first, then rinse your lips, and don't regret a small amount many times; One big bite, one small bite, down the throat; Don't rush, don't be fierce, the interval between two quarters of an hour ......"

But John didn't intend to teach the recruits the "valuable experience" of the PLA. Because this is the job of a non-commissioned officer, the fact that he is a colonel meddling is too bad. As the acting chief of staff and logistics staff officer of the 82nd Division, he only needs to do a good job of supporting tomorrow's training.

"By the way, you can work hard for a while, go to the 505 regiment to have a look. If there is a company that has not been issued leggings, hurry up and make up for it. After solving the problem of drinking water, John thought of another problem that had arisen in the 504th regiment yesterday - there were many companies without leggings.

Don't underestimate a small legging, it's still very useful on the march. It is just like the high compression stockings commonly used by mountaineers and athletes in later generations, which can exert pressure on the legs, promote blood return, and improve endurance.

In his previous life, John, like many people, thought that American soldiers did not need such low equipment as leggings. In fact, before the U.S. military began to equip a large number of No. 3 combat boots (which are connected to leather leggings) in the late World War II, the U.S. infantry also used canvas leggings.

It's just that American GIs are more lazy, and the M-1938 gaiters they are now equipped with are not canvas strips but leggings. By simply threading the gaiter rope through the brass hook and buttonhole, you can tie the leggings to your legs like shoelaces, making them easy to put on.

In fact, the reason why some soldiers in the 82nd Division did not have leggings was, in the final analysis, caused by the new logistics supply system implemented by John.

At present, the logistical supply operations of all regiments of the 82nd Division have been transferred to the divisional logistics center. In addition to some necessary materials, small items such as canvas leggings were filled out by the quartermaster sergeants of each company first, and then the divisional logistics statistics and dispatch center directly arranged for the distribution of materials.

As a result, during this period of time, in the 82nd Division, there were some company quartermaster sergeants who were careless and lost their mistakes when applying for supplies. Before, a company in the 505th regiment forgot to apply for an accessory package, and as a result, the whole company did not have a paper to go to the toilet, which made a big joke.

Unlike accessory bags, which are used every day, items that are not commonly used such as leggings are more likely to be forgotten and difficult to spot in time. Yesterday, it was not until the departure of the 504th regiment that three companies suddenly realized that they had forgotten to apply for leggings. By this time, Pop had already gotten out, otherwise John would not have been squeezed to death by him.

But now that the mistake has happened, John can't just turn a blind eye to the past just because Pope isn't there. First of all, he had to make amends, and hurriedly helped the 505 regiment to complete all the leggings. If the same problem as the 504th Regiment occurs again in tomorrow's training, he, a "logistics expert", will really have no face.

Second, this mistake also served as a wake-up call to John that there were still many holes in his logistical reforms that needed to be filled. Not every quartermaster has the ability to fully adapt to this new logistical supply process. The logistical reform is far from over at this point. There is still a lot of important work to be done.

Previously, when Leith helped John train logistics officers and sort out the supply process, he reminded him that the current supply materials of the army are too many and too miscellaneous, which is very unfavorable to management. In the next step, the types of materials should be sorted out and integrated to form several commonly used combination modules. So that the quartermaster sergeants can order a la carte or choose a set menu just like ordering in a restaurant. Only in this way can we truly reduce the difficulty of grassroots logistics work and avoid human negligence.

However, now that John is the acting chief of staff of the 82nd Division, he must focus more on the training of new recruits, and it is difficult to take care of the next step of logistics reform. He felt it was time to suggest to Bradley that Steve take over his role as the division's logistics staff.

Anyway, after this period of contact, John is still very satisfied with Steve's ability. Moreover, Steve is also a major participant in the logistics reform of the 82nd Division, and he can take over the reform, which can also better ensure the continuity of the reform.

What's more, after John resigned from the post of logistics staff officer, he could withdraw from the specific affairs of logistics. After all, he no longer needs to go through logistics to open up the situation in the 82nd Division. His goal is not only to be a small division chief of staff, how can he be tied to a job that a lieutenant colonel chief staff officer can do.