Army Accountability of Sensitive Items

1018 Words5 Pages
I have been tasked with writing a 2000-word essay about the importance of accountability of sensitive items in the military, the importance of responsibility, and safeguarding my room. I have been tasked with this essay because of my lack of attentiveness that caused me to lose accountability of my room key on the morning of 28JAN2013 at approximately 0700. I had been assigned to cleaning showers for GI that week, and was in the process of performing my duties (cleaning showers) when I found some toiletry items that somebody had left behind in the showers. After leaving the items on a dryer for 15 minutes to allow the owner the opportunity to reclaim them, I took the items to my room to throw them away in my personal trash bag because the latrine trash had already been taken out. In the process of throwing away the toiletry items, I accidentally threw away my room key, which I was still holding after using it to open the door to my room. I had been distracted because I was (ironically) too busy lamenting the lack of responsibility of whoever had left the toiletry items in the latrine showers. My preoccupation and negligent oversight caused me to lose accountability of my room key, potentially allowing it to fall into the hands of those who may want to gain access to secure areas, such as my room. Additionally, this type of complacency in the future could cause me to lose track of other sensitive items of greater potential risk to the combat readiness of my unit. In losing accountability of my room key, I have shown a general disregard for the Army Values of Duty and Respect, as well as violated several points of the Soldier’s Creed. In the Army Values, Duty is defined as a soldier’s ability and devotion to “fulfill your obligations”. All soldiers are required to maintain accountability to numerous basic items such as weapons and equipment. The importance of
Open Document