Room Security free essay sample

will explain an unfortunate situation that occurred to me due to being negligent and irresponsible. The way I handled a certain situation also leads me to be speaking about the importance of keeping your items safe inside your barracks room and securing your items. I will be explaining a recent theft that happened to me and how it could have been avoided, had I followed regulations listed in the barracks handbook. Unfortunate things happen when proper measures are not taken. I have witnessed firsthand what it is like to lose important items because of being careless. In this essay I will also be showing the proper way to secure your items in the barracks and why this is important not only inside of the barracks, but everywhere you go as a Soldier in the US Army. I will not only explain why it is important to secure your belongings in the barracks, and lock your barracks door, but I will also relate this to how it compares to actual moments in the battlefield where you may suffer if you are missing items of value due to lack of accountability for them. Before I begin to tell you about how important it is to keep your valuable secure and your barracks locked at all times, let me tell you what happened to me to make me realize that I was extremely negligent with my things. One weekend, I was away from my barracks room. I had the key to my barracks on my person at all times, or so I thought. When I came back home, I could not locate my keys anywhere. To my unfortunate luck, I found that I had lost my key. This meant that I was unable to lock my barracks door, leaving my room exposed to apparent harm such as theft. In an unfortunate twist of events, during an inspection of my barracks, someone found out that my door was unlocked. They quickly took advantage of the situation and of my lack of accountability for my belongings and items of high value. All of my electronics and high value items were in plain sight inside my barracks room. Nothing was secured. Nothing was in my locker. Nothing was put away behind a lock and key to keep it from being stolen. Because of my negligence and my disregard for finding a replacement key to my barracks room, someone that noticed my room was unlocked came into my barracks after the barracks inspection was held and proceeded to take all of my electronics and items of value. Despite my lack of security for my belongings, I returned home to find all of my things were missing and that I had become a victim of theft. I highly regret not replacing my barracks key as soon as I misplaced it. All of the grief I experienced as a victim of theft could have been completely avoided had I not been so negligent and careless. I proceeded to file a report with the police about the robbery. I went frantic searching the internet to see if people had started to sell my valuables on yard sale pages and Craigslist. I was also counseled on the matter. But, that is not even the worst part. Not only did I lose thousands of dollars worth of valuables that I cannot replace so easily as it took me many hard earned dollars to purchase them, but I also have to report to my NCO on a daily basis and show that I have my barracks key accounted for. I handled my situation in the most incorrect manner. The following things are what I should have done right when I lost my key. First, I should have gone right to my NCO and explained my predicament. I should have told my NCO that I lost my key and assumed accountability for the lack of responsibility and utter negligence that I had assumed with losing such a valuable item. There is no excuse for me leaving my barracks door unlocked. That should not have happened. Furthermore, I have learned my lesson in leaving valuable items laying around unattended and because of how my items were stolen, I will be taking more cautious and preventative measures to ensure my valuable belongings from now on. I will make better use of my locker and make sure to keep all the valuable things I own locked securely when I am away. There is also never an excuse for leaving my barracks door unlocked. That is something I will not be doing again. If I would have been more careful and responsible, none of these unfortunate things would have occurred and I would not have been robbed by my fellow barracks mates. The regulation in the barracks handbook states the following with regards to Keys: â€Å"Either metal or card keys are issued to residents. Residents must carry keys with them at all times as doors automatically lock when closed. Propping the door open or tampering with the door latch in any fashion is unauthorized. † Whenever you leave your room, you are supposed to make sure you remember to secure all of your high cost items into your assigned wall lockers, more importantly you have to be sure to lock your door when you leave. When you choose not to lock up your valuables and lock your barracks room door, then you volunteered yourself to be a victim of burglary. Regularly, I would keep my barracks key with me in a secure place, as to not lose or misplace it. Unfortunately, one day I lost track of it and was not able to locate it. It was my negligence and lack of consideration for my personal belongings and valuable items in my barracks that lead to the events that followed. Because I was not able to find my barracks key, I left my room unlocked. This was a mistake that I would dreadfully pay for. When I returned to my barracks, all of my valuable items had been stolen and were nowhere to be found. The sinking feeling of being robbed is something that I could have avoided had I been more careful and intelligent, and followed barracks guidelines when it comes to securing your personal items. I learned a valuable lesson that day. You cannot ever trust anyone. Even your best friend has had the temptation to steal something from you. I know now that even though I was away from my room for a few moments, that is all it took for someone to come in and remove all of my valuable items of worth. A great way to stop something terrible like this from happening to you is to lock all of your individual items of value up in your locker and safe place and to lock your door. If you decide to get up and go for a short walk outside to have throw out some garbage, do some laundry or even for a smoke and you think in your head, â€Å"well, I will only going to be away for a few minutes, nothing will happen to my things because nobody will come into my room. † Well you thought wrong. There is always someone wandering all over the halls checking to see who has their barracks door unlocked. Thieves are always on the lookout for those minor seconds when you let your guard down, as I did when I lost my barracks key. Also when you walk out and somebody is in the hall they can see whether you locked your door or not. The barracks is an extremely little place where every one talks to each other. Therefore, it only takes one Soldier to notice that you have left your items unattended and your room unlocked in order for a theft to happen in your barracks and then, just like that, you can lose all of the items you worked so hard to pay for. When your valuables are expensive, you shouldn’t play with the chance that someone won’t steal them. Chances are, living in the barracks, your fellow Soldiers have seen you purchase and bring in your valuable items into your room and they know hat you have and you cannot trust that even your closest friends will not give into that temptation if you leave your door unlocked. It is extremely important to lock your items up and your door. Keeping your items secure all comes down to maintaining accountability for the security of the operation, the success of a mission and a soldier’s success period. You are accountable for your things, nobody else is. You should build habits where you keep your items safe by exercising security to them and by assuming accountability of your items at all times so that you can work with piece of mind and peace. The habits of exercising security and accountability of a soldiers items allow the soldier and their team to operate to much higher standards and not have items be stolen by a comrade creating negativity due to loss of stuff you value. In the Army, the term for keeping your things secure is called, â€Å"Operational security†. It is a process that denies critical information to anyone that is not privilege to have it. If someone were to get the information given it could be used against friendly forces. When you use all of your means to maintain and secure sensitive items this promotes proper operational security and soldier readiness. When you do not do this, items of sensitive nature acquire the risk of loss by being intercepted by unintended people. All Soldiers should keep accountability of all of their things and personal belongings, including those that have high value in order to allow good morale and keep anyone is maliciously trying to steal from you, away from doing so. Operational security can be compromised with the loss of valuable or sensitive things because of the loss of equipment that you may have left unattended, unsecured, unlocked and open for anyone to take. Sometimes, this occurs with your military gear as well and then when you need it, it is missing and people can sell it and this jeopardizes your safety when you are in need of your gear. Imagine what it would be like if you were in the battlefield and your weapon landed in the wrong hands because you failed to care for it enough to keep it secure while it was unattended. Your valuable items should be kept as such. A stolen weapon can result in unwanted harm from a third party and even worse, casualties. You would not want that type of events clouding your conscience. You must always secure everything of value, wherever you are, whether it be on the battlefield, or simply in your barracks while you step out to do a load of laundry. It is very important to secure all your sensitive equipment and items, and maintain accountability. The way to do it is because you need to keep very important and high cost or high valued items and equipment accounted for so Soldiers that are all around you do not have to deal with the consequences of the lost or stolen item or equipment. Furthermore, every sensitive item or equipment is costly and very expensive so if you lose it then you will be hurting money wise by losing a grand or more easily right on the spot. That is what happened to me. I lost my laptop and all electronics in my barracks because I left it unattended and unlocked. I can only imagine what it would have been like if it were a sensitive item needed in important business. After me losing it like that, it is possible to do jail time from six months to a year and sometimes there can even be rank taken away or something along those lines. Worst case scenario is you can even get an article 15 after all that or maybe when you have to pay for the lost sensitive equipment or item so these should be a main priority to maintain and know where they are at all times and are accounted for at all times. Why is accountability for your valuables important to the US Army? Accountability is a very important part of an enlisted and a Non-commissioned Officers (NCO) job. The enlisted soldier is responsible for all items issued to him or her such as a weapon. I compare my valuables to this definition so that you can see that the lesson in this story is that as a Soldier, you have to take care of your belongings just like they were part of the Army’s things. Also, the NCOs responsibility is to make sure that the soldier is accountable for such items and can bring those items when needed, so that he can report it to his higher command when reporting to important missions. Accountability also includes the most important piece of equipment the soldier him or herself. In this instance, I slacked in being accountable for myself. When I lost my barracks key, the events that happened thereafter really changed the quality of my life and my attitude towards everything. It turned me upside down. I felt violated and hurt that something so cruel could happen to me. But, I stood back and realize that it was because of my actions and negligence that this happened. In the Army they say that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. This is especially true in combat. And, that is why the soldier should make sure the team leader or squad leader knows where his or her equipment is at all times. That also applies to your personal belongings. You should account for them and maintain them safe at all times so that you don’t go through the grief of losing them in an untimely manner, such as to a thief in your barracks. Thieves exist everywhere, so you have to be accountable for your things at all times, no matter where you are or what your valuable item is. The Army spends a lot of money on equipment and other important gear for soldiers, so the Army expects soldiers to know where their equipment is located. The Army also expects for the Soldiers to lock up their equipment and they are held liable for what consequences happen when this does not go as planned and items get stolen. There are things called layouts that are performed every once in a while throughout every year to take note of property assigned to all units, companies and to each soldier. There are hand receipts for the issued items that goes to the highest officer to the lowest enlisted personal in the chain-of-command and all the way back up again. Any NCO may randomly and out of the blue ask a soldier to produce an Army issued item in order to test the soldier’s ability to locate that item in a timely manner. When you leave your items unlocked, you risk the chance that you may get those items stolen. Much of the gear that the Army issues is expensive and highly wanted by people on the street to sell. You are putting a lot of loss into your career when you leave your barracks open, and you are risking that your gear, which is very important, can get stolen and sold off on yard sales or the internet for a profit. It is important for every person to secure their gear. By securing this means making sure you have positive control of it and that you are making sure your gear is locked up. Depending on what your gear consists of will make the difference if you were to lose it. The reason Im saying that is because of the price of it. Anyone who steals your items and was looking to make some money can very easily profit off of your misfortune and loss. Thieves know to go walking around to places people may leave things out, like lockers, vehicles, houses, or anything that people would leave items laying around. In this case, I am that someone who left their barracks open without a lock on it and had all of my valuable electronics in there. The thief of course came in checking around and started to open up my drawers and locker to try his luck. He then finds all of my goods laying around because I did not secure them with locks. So he takes it, and guess what, hen I returned to my barracks I was hurt because I had a laptop and an xbox 360 and a cellphone and then I didn’t have them anymore. Now because of my negligence and lack of accountability for my valued goods and belongings, it will cost a lot to replace them. Moral of the story is if you leave your items unsecure then its open for anyone wanting to ta ke it. Best bet is to always double check to make sure your items are secured. Other ways of securing your gear is always keep your eyes on it. If you are within a couple of steps from and you are only setting it down for a short time, then in my opinion its secured. Just make sure you don’t get side tracked and forget about it and leave it there. If you trust someone near you or a battle buddy, you can always ask them to watch over it while you do something for a short time. Ensure you trust them though. This goes the same for if you’re in a combat environment it is extremely important for you to always have accountability of your equipment. If any of it gets in the wrong hands, it could very well cause a death or harm to you or your fellow soldiers. Being in a tight knit organization like the US Army, Soldiers may not believe that their fellow barracks neighbors would steal from them, but it happens. When your valuables are left out in the open it makes the situation that much easier. Stealing happens everywhere and to anyone and can definitely happen in the barracks in the Army, and has happened. It is not impossible, so you cannot be gullible and leave your things unsecured, unattended and out in the open in plain sight where others can just swipe your things and run. If you leave the door to your barracks room unlocked and items are stolen from your room, the government is not required to reimburse you for your loss. The Army will investigate your loss and make note of it, but they are not liable for your negligence. You know that walking away from an unsecured barracks room, if only for a moment could lead to theft. Don’t let them turn you into a statistic. Always remember to fully close the doors in your barracks rooms, keep valuables locked up within your room and never tell people how many valuables you have, or what they are worth. Such theft is something that does happen. It is important that you do a number of things, like for one, have all documentation showing that you own your stuff plus the model and serial numbers on any of it. You have to be sure that this is kept safe, and ou may well be somewhere where you can put all this information on file with your unit. Keep your own copies, of course. Keep all receipts and records of things that you purchase that cost a lot of money and have warranties and theft clauses. This is especially important when it comes to having to file a policy report where you have to literally prove that the things that were stolen from you are really you rs and really did get taken away. Another thing you must do is, the army will provide a means to mark your stuff, an electric etcher, and you should use it to mark everything in such a way that it is difficult to remove. Your unit will help you determine just how this should be done. You should also be sure to keep a picture file of everything you own. There might be other security devices you can use, such as locks of various kinds which will secure your equipment in place where you use it. Also, keep your barracks room locked at all times. Sometimes that isnt possible, but do so if you can, and dont let others have your keys, or combinations to your locks. There are other things to really think about, the barracks life is often much like living in apartments anywhere, with people coming and going, some delivering pizzas or doing repair work on computers. These people are supposed to check in, maybe be escorted as they do their business, but thats not always the case. Keeping your eyes open helps here, and if you are not in your room, anything easy enough to lock up in your locker should be locked up when you are not physically there to watch your things. It is both a combination of prevention and common sense, just like it is anywhere. If somebody really wants your stuff, theyll get it. But, most times, loss through theft is something that occurs on an impulse basis, things just get picked up when some people pass by without any supervision. Its a shame, of course, but it happens and it happened to me. Anytime youre going to be gone for more than the day, its important for you to take extra measures. those 3-day passes or longer leaves pretty much make it mandatory to get your stuff secured in the supply room, Your unit will help you with that in some way, either by taking it into their storage and giving you a receipt, or by securing your room for the rest of your leave. There are different places and units that will handle things differently and the important thing is that you know to get with your chain of command and take care of things before you go anywhere. Keeping a good communication link with your chain of command is important. They will help you when unfortunate things, like having your stuff stolen from your barracks, happen. I have come to the realization that it is highly important to be extremely cautious and responsible with your belongings of value in the barracks and to secure them and lock your barracks room at all times. It is never okay to assume that because you live in such a close knit group of co-workers that none of them will be tempted to take your things. There is no excuse for leaving your things unlocked when they are unattended. Even if you think that no one has noticed that your barracks door is unlocked. You are wrong. Thieves know exactly where to look when they want to find something to profit off of. With my poor judgment and the bad decisions I took in my unfortunate situation, I set myself up to be a victim of theft. Being a Soldier in the US Army, and having been briefed on all the measures one should always take on securing your items, I definitely should have known better. I assumed my things were safe, but they were stolen within a few moments of me stepping away from my barracks and leaving my door unlocked. In conclusion, the situation where my barracks room was robbed and all my electronics were stolen could have been avoided completely. It was my responsibility to assume preventative actions and follow regular protocol when losing my barracks key. It is with the utmost regret that I write this essay and think to myself how easily this entire situation could have been avoided. From all that I have written, I have brought enlightenment to myself when it comes to managing bad situations. I will never be irresponsible and leave my barracks door unlocked.