So I figure enough time has passed that no one can trace this tale back to me. Additionally, this is the kind of story that damn near everyone who has served in FORSCOM, nay, the entire Army, has experienced. I am about to tell you the tale of an entire company hunting for one single item on a hand receipt. Specifically, a KGV-72. Which is a Sensitive Item (SI). I can feel many souls flinching at this, memories of late-night recalls, of long days laying out entire connexes and hunting through seemingly endless rows of random items.

Point of order: I shall be referring to the NCO's by their rank and position (SFC S3 is the Sergeant First Class of the S3 (Operations) section, SSG S2 is the Staff Sergeant of the S2 section (intelligence), etc.)

In the days long past which have now passed into legend, I was once an HHC XO within a BEB. I was a MI LT, so the vagaries of engineering quite escaped me, but the BN CO seemed quite set on rousting me from my comfortable billet in the UAS Platoon to be the HHC XO.

After many months of coasting by, relying on the extreme competency of my supply sergeant (seriously, I often think the only reason i wasn't relieved for incompetency was because my supply NCO seemed to like me and completed tasks before I even realized they need to be completed. What a guy.) I received word from the company commander that we were due to have a commex (communication exercise). Essentially, this was to make sure everyone had all their radios and such in working order and knew how to put them in vehicles, etc.

Well, as I was inventorying everything, things were going well. S1 had 2/2 KGV-72s, S2 had 2/2 KGV-72s, S3 had 5/6 KGV-72s...wait, 5?

Me: SFC S3, where is your 6th KGV-72?

SFC S3: Sir, I don't know. I checked with 2LT Newbie, he said that he verified it was in the cage 4 days ago.

Crap. Darnation. Tarnation. Festering Bollocks, and many other less flattering terms flashed through my mind in an instant. 2LT Newbie was new and he had been tasked with conducting the monthly SI inventory. I distinctly remember telling him to record the location that he inventoried everything at and so I called him over. Sure enough, I reviewed the inventory list and he had placed all 6 of the S3's KGVs as being on the second row of the third cage in the SI room. Things were looking grim. It was 1030 on a Friday. Normally, we got released at 1500 on Friday, but if we were missing a KGV, we weren't leaving until that damn thing was found.

Everyone in the bay was listening and knew what was at stake. The entire company's weekend was at stake.

Me: pull everything out of the SI cage. SSG S2, you're in charge of emptying every wall locker in the bay. SGT S6, search every vehicle on the line from front bumper to rear fender. SFC S3, recall everyone to the bay to help with the search.

Decisive action. That was the only way our weekend could be salvaged. I made one phone call and a single text message. The phone call was to my company commander. I informed him that we were missing a KGV and what I was doing to find it. The text message was to the XO group chat, asking for everyone to inventory their KGVs and make sure there weren't any extra lying about.

The search was comprehensive and feverish. Everyone knew the stakes. It was the difference between a weekend and sleeping in the bay. Total commitment from every quarter.

Both S3 connexes were completely emptied and laid out. Our first victory was in discovering the missing bore-sight kit for the commander's bradley. We had begun the FLIPL process for it (approx $50K IIRC) but our discovery of it saved quite a bit of money. The second victory was in reorganizing the two S3 connexes and moving the tent systems to the front since I knew we had have to pull those out for the TOC set up since the BN XO was keen on reorganizing things on that front.

While all this was going on, we had 4 different searches of the commander's Bradley (this is what we in the business call foreshadowing.)

The time is now 1630. We have been searching for 6 hours with no luck. Spirits are low, all the other companies have been dismissed the for the day. The commander searches through the BC's bradley and finds nothing resembling the missing KGV. I walk through the company bay with him, 1SG having gone to the smoke pit to relieve some stress, reviewing the much more organized and clean looking SI cage. All of a sudden, I hear a distant shout.

"WE FOUND IT! WE FOUND IT!"

From the gathering gloom, a SGT comes running, a KGV in hand, jubilation on his face and in his voice. Eagerly, I seize the device and examine the Serial number in question, its arcane numbers burned into my memory.

A match. A perfect match.

A sigh of relief is heard across the entirety of the company as the item in question is found.

I ask where it was found.

SGT S3: it was below the shelf in the BC's Bradley where the KGV goes, guess no one took it out after we checked if it was working on Motorpool Monday.

Five times. Five times was that damnable Bradley searched, and it wasn't found until now.

I turned to SFC S3: Counsel your soldiers on the proper storage of SI. I need a drink.

My company commander sighed a great sigh of relief as he realized he would not be relieved of command (for this incident).

1SG still smoked at least a pack of cigarettes from stress that day.

So what lessons were learned that day?

1. As monthly SI Officer, always record where and when you saw the items in question.

2. Make sure your soldiers know where to put SI when not in use

3. It doesn't matter how many times you have checked something, you can always check it at least one more time.

4. Being an XO is not worth the stress.