I found out yesterday that the Easter Candle which had been ordered from the Defense Logistics Agency in January, and which the Chaplain NCOIC had been following up on, almost weekly, since that time, will not be here in time for the Easter Vigil.
In fact, it's not going to show up at all.
Turns out that the candle which *was* going to get sent here, from somewhere, was a *used* candle. When SFC D found that out, much to his chagrin, he just canceled the order, seeing as we already have two Easter Candle stubs here on Post.
As late as last weekend we were being assured that the candle we'd ordered would be here this week.
And it turns out they were going to send us a USED candle!!!
A triumph of the military supply system, no?
I'm told that "it's because KFOR-10 and KFOR-11 didn't use that system in order to get Easter Candles; they either bought them on the economy or had them sent from home. Because the system hadn't been used in so long, no one could find an Easter Candle to send here."
Now, I speak English. I (usually) understand English. I even write English in generally-understandable sentences, I'm told.
That being said, I have no idea what that quoted statement means.
Easter Candles are listed in the official military supply system. They have NSN numbers. We ordered the correct candle for our needs, almost 90 days in advance of when it would be needed. The correct forms were filled out with the correct numbers, etc.
And "no one could find an Easter Candle to send here"??? Because "the system hadn't been used in so long"??
For the life of me, I do not understand!
I am going to file an Inspector General complaint.
Someone's incompetence -- or malfeasance -- has impaired my ability to support my Soldiers' Constitutionally-guaranteed right to worship according to their conscience.
This is unacceptable.
Tonight, as we concelebrate the Easter Vigil -- the most important liturgy of our Church calendar -- the Polish priest and the Ukranian priest and I will use one of the Easter Candle stubs that I found in the sacristy.
But we shouldn't have to.
Blessings and peace to one and all,
Fr. Tim, SJ
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1 comment:
Hi Tim! You are so funny. Do you know that to this day, my dad complains about the ineptness of the army? He was discharged back in the 50s, I think.
In fact, I just read a letter from my dad's supervisor explaining to his draft board why the work my dad was doing as a rocket engineer at Lockheed should preclude him from being activated from the reserves (back in the 60s).
I hope you're well! I'll catch up on your blog in a bit. I'm going to Palestine in May and studying Arabic over the summer.
love to you--
Diana
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