Plan? What Plan?

When I was in Ranger School I can remember one of the best lessons I ever learned. I was the Platoon Sergeant for a mission and had to write paragraph 4 of the OPORD (Operations Order – this is the tool used by the Army in planning any mission). I barely did anything with the OPORD, that was up to the Platoon Leader to write, I was just going to make sure everyone was awake (food and sleep deprivation at Ranger School made us all want to catch some zz's whenever we could). One of the Ranger Instructors approached me wanting to know what I was doing. I told him I was making sure everyone was awake. He told me to get to work on the OPORD paragraph 4 – that was my job for now. Without skipping a beat he began to explain the importance of the P4 tasks. To that point we had really only focused on Paragraphs 1-3, the actual operation itself. Paragraph 4 was for all the behind the scenes, non-flashy stuff. But Paragraph 4 is probably, as I now know, the most essential Paragraph to the OPORD. This paragraph includes the Medical Evacuation Plan (MEDEVAC). What this RI explained to me was that this Paragraph fueled a soldiers motivation to fight hard and not cower behind his rucksack when the bullets start flying. If a soldier knows that they will be cared for if shot, or worse, the will fight harder knowing that. The Ranger Creed obligates us to “Never leave a fallen comrade,” and the details of the MEDEVAC plan enhance soldiers’ faith that leaders will not only not abandon them, but have a plan to take care of them, especially in the “golden hour,” where life hangs in the balance.

The shittily planned Iraq war had no Paragraph 4. The only large scale logistics have been pocket padding to high-paying politicos. The only MEDEVAC plan is failing. Look only as far as any Army hospital to see the sad state of affairs for wounded soldiers. They are the forgotten ones. Those who live on impaired are forgotten and further punished with he burdens of their injuries and the sketchy medical care they receive. And once the VA takes over – shit, where do I start.

How long will it be before soldiers realize that there is no MEDEVAC plan and they lose the will to fight at all?