Matt McKenzie
10-09-2009, 01:43 AM
Well, after 15 years of being an Infantryman, deploying 5 times to combat, 2 drug operations and 1 peacekeeping deployment as well as numerous training deployments...the Army has been nice enough to order me to finish out my fours years until retirement to Ft. Sam Houston, TX!!! A year and a half ago I had neck surgery, which took me off the front lines and put me in the S3 shop, apparently my records were never updated, I did that while I was over here...and now they are sending me there to be a WTU Cadre (that comes with Special Duty Pay).
For those that don't know what WTU is, it is a Warrior Transition Unit. Units where Soldiers go to complete all their medical and physical therapy stuff until the can get back to a real unit, or get out of the Army. WTUs at posts like Drum, Bragg, etc are kind of shitty because you end up getting a lot of guys that don't want to go to war and make excuses whether mental or physical to get out of it. The WTU I will be at is part of the hospital and burn center, so I will be dealing with Soldiers that have serious injuries, and a lot of them are from combat...guys that are pissed they are there and not with their units in Iraq or Afghanistan.
I know this will be a sobering duty, but I am looking forward to helping people for a change, instead of always killing people. I report to San Antonio on 10MAY10, and at that time will have four years left until I retire...it will be quite a change and a way to finish out a long and very hard career.
For those that don't know what WTU is, it is a Warrior Transition Unit. Units where Soldiers go to complete all their medical and physical therapy stuff until the can get back to a real unit, or get out of the Army. WTUs at posts like Drum, Bragg, etc are kind of shitty because you end up getting a lot of guys that don't want to go to war and make excuses whether mental or physical to get out of it. The WTU I will be at is part of the hospital and burn center, so I will be dealing with Soldiers that have serious injuries, and a lot of them are from combat...guys that are pissed they are there and not with their units in Iraq or Afghanistan.
I know this will be a sobering duty, but I am looking forward to helping people for a change, instead of always killing people. I report to San Antonio on 10MAY10, and at that time will have four years left until I retire...it will be quite a change and a way to finish out a long and very hard career.