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I feel like a veteran
of the area, even though I really haven't served that long of a tour.
At least it doesn't feel like it. There are all sorts of people out
there. Every once and a while you get a "virgin," a person
who never had hours before the five they just got. They're usually disgruntled
and have this attitude as if some great injustice has been done. There
are the people who pop on and off the area for small hits, missing lectures,
late to classes. That group is mix of veterans and whiners. Even rarer,
a person with rank and a position gets out there. Higher ups don't like
to put "leaders" out there though because it makes the leadership
look bad, but sometimes one ends up out there. The one I'm thinking
of was some nobody kid with ornate rank, probably some obscure regimental
position. Those kids look like they're beating themselves up with every
step, don't talk to the rest of us on our breaks, and march as if they
are in the chute for a pass and review in front of the president. You
can tell the veterans by the way they act. They're usually pretty cheerful
because they know the system and the people and they've usually been
through a day that was much worse than the current day. Then there's
the myriad of OCs, BDOs, etc.
The first time I met
Captain Ballard was on the area. I had heard about him from some of
my friends in D2, they said he was a nice guy, turned around the morale
of the company considerably. From my experience on the area I agree,
you could tell he cared and seemed real. He was talking to some of us
out there, told us that he was proud of us regardless of the fact that
we were out there and that he wants us to graduate and do good things
in real units. He said some other things that earned my approval as
well. When he went to inspect us, he let the RDO lead the inspection,
explaining that he was the officer in charge. When they went though
he was really picky about our uniforms, but in a respectable way, if
he had a correction that the RDO didn't make he'd ask the RDO if he
felt it was gig worthy. If the RDO didn't think it was and he gave a
reason, then he would follow the RDO's judgment.
When you're out on
the area, you're often treated like you're sub-human by cadets and green-suiters.
Humanitarians like to believe the prison system is for reform purposes,
reality proves that it's mostly to keep the convicted criminals separated
from the public. There's a famous social-psychology experiment that
takes college students and assigns them roles of prisoners and guards.
Even though the roles were arbitrarily assigned both groups assume the
role they were given, and act in the way they interpret as proper for
it. The area is a transitory place, one weekend a person will be CDO
the next they're walking, and regardless, five hours the area is gone
and everyone is intermingled again. Maybe they forget that supposed
to be a reformative process.