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Letters

Be more sensitive to stress

I am a civilian Marine spouse who has worked in the family-readiness arena for more than five years. The job has given me an opportunity to interact with Marines of all ranks, spouses and extended family members.

I agree 100 percent with your editorial [“Fewer stressors may help,” March 16], in that commands should carefully consider initiatives that may add stress to people’s lives and perhaps incorporate incentives to reward good behavior and actively utilize their family-readiness officers to host events — paintball, barbecues and so on — that allow Marines to have some fun while building unit cohesion.

It breaks my heart to see Marines and spouses lean on alcohol to mitigate the internal pain and stress many suffer due to back-to-back deployments, shaky relationships at home and the stress of having to balance the military lifestyle.

Sometimes Marines experiencing emotional problems need to vent, so it’s ideal that chaplains keep a close relationship with the units they work with. And all units need to brief Marines on the tools they have to control stress, as in the stress management classes, counseling sponsored by Military One Source — which is confidential — and the current De-Stress project, which allows service members who have been deployed in the past five years to do online counseling, and most definitely classes on alcohol abuse.

Sometimes a simple question will free a troubled Marine to tell a stranger the things they keep bottled in. We need to be attentive, tough but compassionate and establish a relationship with our Marines. Marines are tough, no doubt, but they also are human beings who hurt and feel stress.

Giovana Velazquez

Camp Lejeune, N.C.

End fitrep shenanigans

The continuing problem with timely submission of fitness reports is appalling — and I wonder how much “advancements” in technology are to blame [“As gunny board looms, nearly 10 percent of E-6s missing fitreps,” April 13].

The article’s corresponding editorial, “Grade the evaluators,” hit the nail on the head. Given our “advancements” in fitness report technology, grading the evaluators should be easy if that technology is used to its full potential.

My first fitness reports included a handwritten “Section C.” My reporting seniors had to write what they thought — in longhand — on a form that a clerk in the company office originated. In those days (circa 1976), I don’t ever remember not being counseled on a fitrep, and I never had a “date gap.” The reviewing officer kept track of fitreps that were due and didn’t hesitate to call on — and chastise — a reporting senior who was late with one.

Then technology took over.

In my last decade as a Marine, fitreps became automated. The requirement to counsel a Marine on his fitrep and then have him sign the completed report was abolished because reporting seniors couldn’t man-up and look a Marine in the eyes to let him know he was “average.”

Fitreps became computer-generated and flowed uphill via electron beams. Not that this is a bad process — but taking the man out of the loop has contributed to the current problem.

Here’s my idea for the overseers at Headquarters Marine Corps: Have the fitrep program report on the timeliness of the reporting senior and the effectiveness of the reviewing officer. Establish a benchmark, and when the RS or RO falls below it, send a computer-generated “personal for” letter from the commandant reminding him of his responsibilities.

If the situation doesn’t improve, have the system review how the RO has evaluated the RS — and if, in the opinion of the RO, an RS with a track record of late fitness reports walks on water, send a letter to the RO’s RS. Until officers are held accountable, things won’t change.

We’ve lost accountability, and it’s usually the younger enlisted Marines who end up suffering. Our automated system can report on those lazy officers who don’t take fitness reporting seriously — and it can report on those officers who don’t hold their subordinate officers’ feet to the fire. Until they feel the pain, the situation won’t improve.

Let’s take advantage of technology and use it to make our reporting system more efficient by flagging the lazy officers who are habitually late reporting on those gallant Marines in their charge.

Chief Warrant Officer 5

Jim Gehris (ret.)

Midland, Va.

Make sure it’s just a cold

The article “Should you exercise with a cold?” [April 6, Lifelines] is correct in saying that exercising with a cold is not dangerous, and may even be good, but it fails to point out two important facts that could be dangerous.

• How is one to know that they have just a cold and not a more serious respiratory infection that really would be worsened by exercise? Aches and fever alone are not reliable enough symptoms to assure that the main organ of concern, the lungs, are not injured further by exercise, resulting in respiratory distress.

• Marine units do not train at a moderate pace, they train hard. They do not have the luxury of being able to slow their pace to a moderate level, but instead are paced by their leaders. Small-unit leaders will continue to need to look at their Marines who will be exercising with a “cold” with an eye toward safety, and all will benefit from their corpsmen’s assistance and their aid station’s ability to check for more serious conditions and prescribe exercise restrictions.

Cmdr. Joseph F. Penta

Camp Pendleton, Calif.