D.O.D. KILLS FUN FOR DEPLOYED SOLDIERS

“All work and no play makes Private Snuffy do stupid shit.” — Unknown Soldier

Most years we’re used to D.O.D. officials talking about new incentives and ways to convince volunteers to enlist and experienced troops to stay on. Today they’re issuing memos demanding the demise of popular pastimes and noted threats to National Security such as Bingo, Jenga, and the notorious Ping-Pong.

The Base Operations Support Contractor (BOSC) for Camps Arifjan and Buehring received a Letter of Technical Direction (LOTD) ordering them to cease conducting recreational activities. Arifjan is a major CENTCOM logistics hub and staging area supporting missions across the entirety of the Middle East including Special Operations, while Buehring is largely a training facility for troops rotating into hotzones in Iraq and Syria.

Everything from video game tournaments to karaoke has been cancelled in order for troops to “focus on warfighting” pursuant to guidance from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. It’s important to note the LOTD clarifies this isn’t about saving money, it’s so that “troops can focus on warfighting.”

Various Military leaders throughout history have issued similar directives. From British officers in WW1 banning football on rest days to American officers killing movie nights in Vietnam, it never ends with “and then the troops were even better focused.”

Maybe there’s something I don’t know. Maybe there’s some pervasive discipline problem at these camps that justifies paying for arcade games and Jenga sets ages ago then packing them up in boxes and yelling at anyone who goes near them. Personally, though, it reads like waving a steak in front of a dog. It’s right there in front of you but you can’t have it. It’s a complete waste of money and a sadistic joke that’s already flushed morale down the toilet for no material gain.

Now, in defense of the department of that same name, the LOTD does explicitly state that the contractor can still provision fitness and sports, so, if all you give a shit about is baseball then you’re in luck because now everybody has to play with you. If you’re not a complete weirdo who likes horrible sports like baseball, though, this order is making you miserable.

According to one source at the base speaking anonymously for fear of retaliation: “Everyone” from drivers to instructors and engineers has been “constantly bitching” about the changes and this “has actually replaced most of the previously available forms of recreation.”

Another Soldier put it even more bluntly: “All work and no play makes Private Snuffy do stupid shit.”, while a third anonymous Soldier put things a little more politely by saying that “Cancelling MWR stuff has been a brutal hit to morale.”

One thing none of the soldiers spoke about was the fact that forward logistics hubs like these frequently host CIA officers and other intelligence personnel. Every time I think of some poor CIA officer with 30 years of experience who just got back from meeting an informant in ISIS being told he’s not allowed to touch the Ping-Pong table anymore because it would distract him from warfighting I laugh my ass off.

A lot of very experienced people say they’re leaving now when their time is up. Does that really improve our country’s warfighting capability Mister Secretary?

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