Santiago you are the man!

I have to just shake my head and laugh sometimes, is it that I am just really anal retentive or is it that people are just idiots?

I get a phone call today from a spouse who's a friend of mine. She's upset and talking a mile a minute. Her youngest son is in the hospital, they are preping him for emergency surgery. The poor guy turns 14 and a week later gets his appendix removed. She needs me to get notice to her spouse as soon as possible. Turning into serious mode I ask about a RedCross message, has she started one. She tells me no because they keep making her turn the phone off in the hospital.

So I take some info and start working the phone like a maddog. I call the brother and sister-in-law who are stationed in Germany as well. Then I pull out my handy dany FRG roster and start calling them. First let me point out that the emergency numbers are DSN numbers. There were no conversions to a normal civilian number at all. I was calling from my desk so that wasn't a big deal, I had DSN access. What sucked was that not a single frickin' soldier listed on that phone list answered their phone. Okay okay I called at 12:50 so lets just assume that they were at lunch and wouldn't answer the phone. Now at 13:20 I start again and get nothing. It's not Thursday so I know they are not at SGT's time. This is the rear detachement so where the hell are they? I keep staring at the social roster which has the DSN number to the rear commander who is a LTC. Evil thoughts of dropping a dime hard core start me a smiling - but no I will wait this out and see what I can do. After another attempt at phone calls with no answer I see that the FRG liasion has a cell number attached.

I called her, identify myself and start telling her about the MSG son and that a message needs to go downrange right away. She sighs and tells me that she's not at the office and to call the HHC commander. I snorted and said I've been trying you, the HHC CO and the HHC 1SG for about 30 minutes now. Dead silence at the other end, so SSG I ask - how about the Staff duty number? This number has to be answered 24/7/365 - someone should be able to get a hold of the morons in the unit.

I take the SDO number and make my call. FINALLY! I get someone who is little confused but has such the willingness to try that I give the Capt some credit. Within 10 minutes the SGM for the group had called me back and started to take charge. SGM S is the MAN! We had the best communication, follow ups and everything. I couldnt' have asked for betters assistance than what I got from SGM S.

His surgery went fine and dad got to talk to his son after surgery which was great. Now only if I could get the fools at the Rear D to get it together. What if that was my child? What if I was so freaked and had a complete barnyard because I couldn't get a hold of my husband's father? I know, I know, they are deployed and this is war. I am not saying that he had to come home or that she even needed to talk to him right then in there but to have a whole list of numbers that you are supposed to use in an emergency that aren't even answered during duty hours? The RedCross message would bring him home if something really bad had happened but if you just had someone die and you need help on filling out the Redcross information it would be nice if someone answered the frickin' phone. I so wonder about this FRG and I could be a really good dictator but I don't have the time to do work, grad school and be the FRG dictator (opps, I mean leader). They need to get it together and fast.

So the next FRG meeting coming up you can bet I am going to stand there and ask why the SDO number wasn't on that roster and how lucky they had the calm, pain in the ass versus a upset mother.