"Bag Man" (Scout Law: Trustworthy)

(extracted from "Patches and Pins (or "The quest for Silver Animals and
other assorted crap")", written by Mike L. Walton =A9 1988 )

"Bag Man"

In Germany each fall, there's a large-scale military exercise which is
conducted called "REFORGER". REFORGER, or the "REturn of FORces to GERmany"
allows military planners from the United States and other member nations of
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, the chance to do some
"fine-tuning" on defensive and offensive plans should the Soviet Union and
its allies come across the "steel curtain" which separates the western
nations of Europe from the eastern nations.
REFORGER also allows, in my case, the United States Army, to train its units
in what they would do if such an attack occurs and to orient new soliders
and their leaders on "the real thing". Like the acynomn, the exercise
involves returning large number of military personnel back to Germany,
getting them the equipment and supplies they need to do their jobs, and
getting them to the "war area".=20

My first REFORGER occured when I was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th
Infantry at Cooke Barracks, in south-central Germany. The "Blue Spaders" was
my first military assignment in my role as a Signal Officer. I had just
completed a stateside training course which taught me how to run wire, hook
up telephones, run manual and automated switchboards. How to
manage my people and how to deal with commanders and others wanting "their
commo now". How to run AM and FM radios, how to do some light maintenance on
them, and most importantly, what is the purpose of that one white button on
the AM radio.=20

(I'll clue you in: It serves no purpose at all. It's a "dummy button",
designed if the radio was to be expanded. There has been a lot of new Second
Lieutenants left "holding that button in" while the soliders left the
shelter in which the radio was housed, having a great laugh at the expense
of the new officer that was left in that hot, confining place for HOURS
sometimes, "holding that button in".)=20

So now, I was ready to "do my job" or so I thought to myself as I started
work with the "Spaders".=20

New Lieutenants in the Army have a lot of those kind of things happen to
them. It's a part of the new unit and it's personnel "getting to know" the
new officers. New LTs also get a wide variety of "additional duties" piled
on them as well: motor officer, in charge of insuring that all of the
vehicles run or are being repaired; NBC officer, which has nothing to do
with the National Broadcasting Company and much to do with protection of the
unit against a nuclear, biological or chemical attack; admin officer, in
charge of the unit's paperwork; and other essential jobs that are "left to
the new guys to do".=20

During REFORGER, an officer is selected to serve as "Class A Agent". Because
the REFORGER exercise happens all over Germany and central western Europe,
there are many occasions whereby the military must pay for meals, for
damages and lodging. No, because of German laws, we Yanks just cannot pitch
large numbers of tentage just about anywhere; we cannot cut
down trees or clear farmland with our tanks and armored personnel carriers
without PAYING for it; we cannot "take over" recreational fields or areas
without compensation to the owners.=20

Nor could we operate large numbers of field dining halls because during
REFORGER, speed and rapid movement from one area to another was most
important. The longest a unit stayed in a particular area was about two=
days.=20

That's the job of the "Class A Agent": to represent the Army and the unit in
paying for those kinds of things.=20

And it was usaully a Lieutenant that had that job. I had that job.=20

The unit "affectionally" called the person with the Class A Agent job "The
Bag Man".=20

You start by presenting an "addititonal duty order" signed by your Commander
to the local Finance center. They take you back to where they keep the
money, and they tell you to "start counting" the German currency. They have
it figured out for the lenght of the exercise times the number of soldiers
involved from the unit as to how much money to give you, plus a little more
for "emergencies".=20

I was used to money: my mother would have me or one of my two brothers to
count her daily reciepts from her job as owner and worker at her beauty
salons. We would count well up into the hundreds during those evenings after
dinner on the table. It was IMPORTANT to count it accurately, for any
mistake, however slight, can mean the difference between a check clearing
and its return from the bank with the red marks "insufficent funds". And WE
would hear about it.=20

So, when I was sitting there, counting well over the American equal of four
thousand three hundred dollars and some smaller change, it did not even
bother me in the slightest. I just had to make the "count right".=20

It was.=20

Next, I was given a receipt for the amount and told to "keep up with what
you've spent. It's your responsibility as to what the unit spends and how
much....and get receipts for anything over 300 DM (Deutsche Mark, roughly
equal to $100 at the time I'm writing this)"=20

[note: this was in 1985; in 1995, the exchange rate is down to half, which
makes the equal amount $150 or so]=20

I was then given a cloth bag with a zipper and told "That's it". I was
escorted to the door and back to my unit, where I locked the money up in the
unit's safe until the day of our departure.=20

*****

Out in the field, fellow officers would find me and tell me "Hey LT Walton,
I need 200 Marks to feed my folks!", "I need 400 Marks to get some copper
wire and barrier materials", "I need some money to pay for damages over
here". "Hey "Bag Man"! I need 100 Marks!" I was a really busy person,
confident that everyone had legitimate reasons why they need the Army's
money and also confident that my own soldiers were doing the jobs they were
supposed to do in my absences to "dole out money". Like my mother taught
me, I also brought with me a ledgerbook, so that I knew who asked for how
much for what purpose on what day and time.=20

I still have that ledgerbook with my military stuff.=20

Being the newbie officer I was, I asked a fellow lieutenant why they called
me "the Bag Man" one rainy afternoon. Then, I received the significance of
the term.=20

"It's not because you have the bag, its because you're left holding it when
this is all over. There's no way that you will get everything balanced out,
and you'll have to pay the difference from your paycheck!"=20

Now I know why everyone fought over NOT getting this additional job!=20

After the exercise was over, once again, you go back to the Finance office
and "settle up". It was a rather busy day over there at the Finance and
Accounting Section, and they were extremely short-handed. I sat there,
counting the money and sure enough, I was $323.74 short. A little over a
thousand German Marks!=20

A young Specialist Fourth Class came into the "counting room", introduced
himself, and started to recount the money.=20

He finally finished, wrote some information down on a form, and looked up at
me. "Lieutenant Walton, you're cleared. It balances."=20

"No, it doesn't, Specialist. It's short a thousand marks....to be exact,
it's short...."=20

The enlisted soldier interrupted my explaination. "It's okay, sir. I'll
cover for you. This happens all of the time...it was your first time, wasn't
it? Lots of officers take advantage of the person "holding the bag". We know
it, but when the Army regs say that you don't have to account for every
penny, just that over a certain amount, it makes it hard for us to
accurately keep track. Don't feel bad, sir...we've had some officers come
back in here short thousands.=20

A strong nauseating feeling overcame me as I sat there, listening to this
soldier tell me that officers were "taking the Army for a ride" financially.
No wonder they had smiles on their faces whenever they would see me. I then
remembered the Scout Law point:=20

"A Scout is Trustworthy. He can be trusted. Honesty is a part of his code of
conduct."=20

"Can I sign this over to you and then come back with the difference?", I
asked, as I looked at my watch. It was almost sixteen-hundred, 4pm. The
finance "cage" closes at 4pm.=20

"Yes sir, you can, but it's not neccessary. As far as the Army is
concerned," the Specialist signed the release form, and then gave it to me
to sign, "You've turned it all in or accounted for it all".=20

"According to ME, Specialist, I'm a little over three-hundred dollars short.
I'll be right back!" I got up and moved quickly to the front of the office.=
=20

"Sir, you forgot your copy..." the Specialist stood there in the gated
hallway. I did not respond, but to go to the front of the center where the
disbursement cages were. I cashed a personal check to the Commander, Finance
and Accounting Center Stuttgart, for $323.75, one cent more than what was
short. I did not bother counting the German currency after asking for it in
the host nation's currency.=20

I did not even think about what my wife would say when I would get home and
tell her that we are now short almost $350. It's a good thing that we had a
savings account set aside Stateside!=20

I took the money back to the enclosed area and placed it on the table.=20

"Now, please recount it and it should balance out to the pfinning."=20

It did.=20

As I got up after signing my release form, the Specialist looked at me and
said "Boy Scout, right?"=20

As I folded the bag and placed it on the chair, I responded in the
traditional Army yep, "Hoohah!"=20

Setttummanque!=20

(MAJ) Mike L. Walton (Settummanque, the blackeagle) (
co-Owner, Blackeagle Services of Kentucky (502.826.7046) __)_
174 Chapelwood Drive, Henderson, Kentucky 42420-5036 | ** |]
(H) 502.827.9201 (F) 502.826.7046 (W) 888.284.4848 (yea!) coffee?
anytime!
(Email) blkeagle@midwest.net/kyblkeagle@AOL.COM
(WWW) http://www.vhm.com/~uscardnl/index.htm
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