Army Accountability

Dictionary.com gives the following definition of reporting: an account or statement describing in detail an event, situation, or the like, usually as the result of observation, inquiry, etc..In the United States Army Reporting is one of the most important actions a soldier can display. Reporting is used to keep track of a soldiers location and or activities. Without some form of reporting, it would be impossible to monitor the actions or location of any given soldier. In a garrison environment, there are many reasons and situations, in which someone in a soldiers team would need to know where or what a soldier is doing. For instance, with our unit we dispatch trucks every Thursday for the following week. The order to dispatch a truck is given from the platoon sergeant and passed down through the ranks to the individual who is to dispatch the truck. if the soldier who is suppose to dispatch the truck fails to report to his command on the progress of the order given, then the command has no idea as to whether or not the truck was dispatched, if there is an issue dispatching the truck or if something is wrong with the dispatch. Reporting is also used in when inventorying equipment such as; weapons, nods, sights and optics, magazines, ammunition and other sensitive items of high value. During an arms room inventory, a lieutenant comes in with a check list of all items that should be in the arms room. He goes through the rifles, pistols and machine guns carefully reading each and every serial number making sure not to miss even one number. If a weapon has an attachment such as an optic, the optics serial number is also read . he or she then proceeds to mark the serial numbers called off keeping a record of every item. In the event the item is not on his or her list, he or she will write it into keep track of that item. After he or she is satisfied that all items are accounted for, he or she will take his or her list to the commanding officer for final