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EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: \u00a0This article first ran back in August of 2014. \u00a0As evidenced by the Reservist who recently set off a .50 caliber tracer round by taking a blowtorch to<\/a> it, it doesn\u2019t look like things have changed much since then. \u00a0This article is possibly \u201cnot safe for work\u201d due to mild language and an image of a graphic physical injury.<\/em><\/p>\n If you\u2019re in the Army, you\u2019ve probably already heard all about Joe.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe\u201d is a term of endearment used to describe Army personnel of both genders and all ranks, but especially the lower enlisted.\u00a0 The term can be used individually or collectively, but is most often used as a collective term.\u00a0 \u201cLeaders, take care of Joe.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t ever screw with Joe\u2019s pay.\u201d \u201cJoe loves hot chow.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cYou never know what Joe is going to do next.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe is a great guy.\u00a0 He\u2019s the one that bears the brunt of the fighting, handles the crappiest jobs, and does the majority of bitching about it all.\u00a0 In short, Joe wins wars.\u00a0 It has been this way since the beginning of our Army, long before we were all known as G.I. Joes.\u00a0 Our Army would be nothing without Joe, and his earlier incarnations:\u00a0 ground pounders, dog-faces, doughboys\u2026 the list goes on.<\/p>\n As I said, Joe is great.\u00a0 Unfortunately, Joe also does some really dumb stuff.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been in the Army a long time, and I\u2019ve seen Joe do a lot of\u2026 interesting things.\u00a0 Some have been worthy of a simple head-shaking, others required a double face palm.\u00a0 When I work with the young people who are going to be the future leaders of our Army I explain to them, \u201cOne of your primary duties is to help keep Joe from doing dumb shit.\u201d\u00a0 That always seems to shock them, but it\u2019s 100% true.<\/p>\n Examples of dumb shit might be hooking up with the First Sergeant\u2019s underage daughter, taking out a loan for a five-year-old Mustang at 25% interest, marrying another service member just to get the BAH, \u2026or trying to use a live .50 caliber round as a hammer.\u00a0 More on that later.<\/p>\n They think they\u2019re getting into junior leaders\u2019 business if they show up in the motor pool, the barracks, or training areas unannounced every once in a while.\u00a0 Basically, they think that a hands-off approach is best in our modern Army.\u00a0 They are wrong.In an era of EO, SHARP, extreme political correctness and general liberalization of our Army, leaders these days are too afraid to get into Joe\u2019s business.\u00a0 They think that they\u2019re being too intrusive or that they are interfering with their Soldiers\u2019 rights if they make spot corrections or engage in hands-on leadership.<\/p>\n Being a hands-off leader briefs well (much like \u201cI<\/a>\u2018m an outside the box thinker<\/a>!\u201d), and makes the individual sound enlightened.\u00a0 Some Army leaders, particularly officers, use hands-off leadership because they are lazy.\u00a0 To them, all Soldier issues are \u201cNCO business,\u201d and they know that being involved means they have to tear themselves away from their iPhone and whatever passes for the O Club these days.\u00a0 Hands off is good because it\u2019s cleaner.\u00a0 Or so they think.<\/p>\n But being a leader, a real leader, a combat leader, is always messy, and complicated, and time-consuming, because you\u2019re dealing with people.\u00a0 Dealing with people is always messy, complicated and time-consuming.\u00a0 It\u2019s also enormously satisfying when done correctly, and is the whole reason we assumed the mantle of leadership in the Army in the first place.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t want to get your hands dirty with Joe\u2019s business, helping him accomplish the mission, stay out of trouble, and be successful in life, choose another profession outside the military.\u00a0 Like, maybe the Air Force.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a little war story involving a literal \u201chand\u2019s off\u201d incident (you\u2019ll see what I did there shortly) to emphasize the point:<\/p>\n During one of my deployments to Afghanistan, we received a Weapons Safety Message, more commonly known as a \u201cSafetygram.\u201d\u00a0 Weapons-related Safetygrams can be issued for a number of reasons, but the two most common types I came across were either related to a major weapon malfunction, or were due to what my old First Sergeant used to refer to as \u201coperator headspace and timing.\u201d*<\/p>\n In this particular case, it was the latter.<\/p>\n Thinking that a little pounding would help, the young troop looked around for the nearest hard object that he could use as a hammer.\u00a0 Well, this is Afghanistan, so maybe a rock?\u00a0 That didn\u2019t work.\u00a0 Hm\u2026 what\u2019s something that\u2019s small, hard, that fits in a hand, is strong enough to pound a pin into a gun mount, and that Joe .50 cal gunner is going to have handy?<\/p>\n Well, he\u2019s going to have lots of .50 caliber cartridges.\u00a0 That\u2019s right, for whatever reason, Joe decided to use a loose .50 cal round as a hammer to pound in the pins to hold his machinegun in place in the turret of his vehicle.<\/p>\n Those of you who understand how modern bullet cartridges work probably already know how this little story is going to end.\u00a0 For those of you who are not familiar, in general terms the way modern bullets work is that a firing pin strikes a primer on the flat end of the bullet cartridge, which in turn sets off the primer, igniting the propellant, separating the bullet from the cartridge and sending the bullet downrange.\u00a0 The percussion of a weapon\u2019s firing pin against the primer is what causes it all to happen.<\/p>\n So yeah, you can use a .50 cal round as a hammer, but it\u2019s not a good idea.\u00a0 Now, if Joe is trying to use a .50 cal round as a hammer, is he going to strike using the tiny pointy end, or the broader, flat end?\u00a0 Of course he going to use the flat end.\u00a0 Which in this case Joe did.<\/p>\n And of course the bullet fired.<\/p>\n
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