The 214 should have all of your awards listed on it and should be considered valid proof.
Your old unit should have retains for everything going back three years. They also should have sent a copy to the equivalent of whatever the Army's central admin is. Both are possible ways to get a copy of it.
All this assuming your old unit did what they were supposed to do regarding paperwork.
This is the right answer - just a reminder that you're looking for a Memorandum, not published orders.
Also - your OMPF on iPerms should not have been deleted, like period. I'd suggest double, triple, and quadruple checking that, then calling the HRC help line direct because shit doesn't just 'get lost' or 'deleted' on digits.
So they have a program for my MOS where supposedly the best of the schoolhouse in AIT can deploy for 4 months right after graduation. I might've mentioned it before, I don't remember.
I almost didn't volunteer, since I had orders for Germany and really wanted to go there. But they said, "No problem, you'll get to keep your orders." I took that with a grain of salt, but figured what the hell.
MMMMMmmm, salt! When I got back, instead of Weisbaden, I had orders for fucking Fort Meade. Turns out the civilian in charge of getting our shit together hadn't bothered and had gone on leave a week prior, so there was nothing to be done. Thanks for volunteering to deploy, now go fuck yourselves.
Got the choice of meade, hawaii, or Korea. Korea, here I come! At least I still get to go OCONUS.
Anyone have experience with going from enlisted to officer? If so, any observations from the process that could benefit someone looking at it now, or things to watch out for? I've already got a degree, so I've been told I just need to drop an application packet for it. I'm not looking for instructions on how to do it, just things you might've learned while doing it.
There is a huge difference in military lifestyle between being enlisted and being an officer.
To say that more is expected of you is an understatement, but not in the ways you're probably thinking. I get in at 0530, start doing work, do PT from 0630 to 0800, have a shower and then work until 1900 or later on a typical day. As opposed to enlisted life where I would show up for pt ten minutes early and usually get out of work around 1700, if not earlier depending on the day.
Leadership is also very different. As an NCO you are directly involved in the lives of the men you are with. For me leadership enlisted was a lot like being a good older brother. Being a good friend and always being there.
You don't do that as an officer. You can't, and if you try other officers will correct you. My battalion commander pulled me aside while on a training exercise and told me bluntly that I needed to be less friendly, more separate, and more demanding from my men. Period. If you want to be directly involved in mentoring and training don't become an officer.
Being enlisted you walk into a bit of responsibility - and that responsibility increases with time and training, based on qualification and worth. As an officer they will drop a mountain of redundant, unclear, obtuse, and generally unhelpful guidelines on you and expect you to turn it into gold, regardless of your background or level of training.
Most LTs I know hate their lives, who they work for, and the jobs they do - especially on staff positions. In my experience CPT are usually a little more happy about life but I think it's because they aren't LTs. I think most new officers are generally unprepared for the level of commitment their jobs demand, the independent study and learning they need to do to become proficient, coupled with military life in general. They also usually have a poor idea of what constitutes good time management as well as team building.
If you can deal with all that shit though go for it.
EDIT:
I say this not trying to dissuade you, but because a lot, and by a lot, I mean the vast majority of my peers were straight unprepared for the level of responsibility that they got thrown into, in both factors of maturity and skill. Our officer corps would be have a leg up if kids going through ROTC were actually trained on anything in regards to their jobs when they enter into the army. Honestly, it's like the army fucking has a spin wheel with darts. Degree in home decorating? Landed on infantry. Degree in Linguistics? That one hit Combat Engineer!
I never really view being an NCO as a big brother; more like being a step-dad because of how involved and how much I actually had to mentor and lead people. A big brother they can tell to go F-off, but a Step-dad? If you don't listen to me, so help me......you're getting the belt! But I still care about your well being, I still care about your training, your personal issues, what I can do to make your time in the military better; but never forget that your step-dad is fucking your mother and when push comes to shove, you're getting the belt.
Sometimes you need that fear to convince others into following your orders.
I don't know if Army get to choose which officer community they join but if you do get to be sure to feel them out. There can be massive differences in behavior, treatment, and expectations in the smaller vs bigger communities. Though going off the duty stations you just listed I'd hazard a guess you're shooting for intel. But God knows H3ndu's right that Army tends to just reach in to a hat to choose jobs.
I never really view being an NCO as a big brother; more like being a step-dad because of how involved and how much I actually had to mentor and lead people. A big brother they can tell to go F-off, but a Step-dad? If you don't listen to me, so help me......you're getting the belt! But I still care about your well being, I still care about your training, your personal issues, what I can do to make your time in the military better; but never forget that your step-dad is fucking your mother and when push comes to shove, you're getting the belt.
Sometimes you need that fear to convince others into following your orders.
This depends a lot on where in the chain you are too. When I was an E-5 I'd say I was more of a brother to the more junior guys right up til the end once I started getting leadership piled on. And then God help you if you end up somewhere super top heavy cause then you pretty much are just the oldest brother.
Honestly, it's like the army fucking has a spin wheel with darts. Degree in home decorating? Landed on infantry. Degree in Linguistics? That one hit Combat Engineer!
but wouldn't it be hilarious if the guy with a home decorating degree turned out to be some sort of savant in TSE? :P
I never really view being an NCO as a big brother; more like being a step-dad because of how involved and how much I actually had to mentor and lead people. A big brother they can tell to go F-off, but a Step-dad? If you don't listen to me, so help me......you're getting the belt! But I still care about your well being, I still care about your training, your personal issues, what I can do to make your time in the military better; but never forget that your step-dad is fucking your mother and when push comes to shove, you're getting the belt.
Sometimes you need that fear to convince others into following your orders.
Wall to wall counseling would be a pretty horrible thing if it weren't so damn necessary. It's a shame the Army's making such a hard push to stop smoke sessions and wall to wall counseling. If the recent build up proved anything, it's that the uppermost echelons of the chain of command care more about numbers than actually having obedient Joes. Negative counseling statements alone won't compel your joes to do the right thing in combat.
The one aspect where I'd say enlisted leadership is more like a big brother is where it comes to defending your guys from your peers or superiors. Your guys come first and sometimes that means telling people to 'fuck off' on their behalf, even if it's to your detriment. Officers do that too (rarely LTs from what I saw), but it's mostly an NCO thing.
Can anyone give any advice on where to start if I want to be a combat photographer? It's something I've thought about for about 2 years now. I don't have the money to finance my own photojournalism (jump on a plane and hope for the best) and I'm not sure what any other avenues are. I have a reasonably extensive nature/street photography portfolio if that helps at all.
Yeah, I'm in intel right now, and really want to stay in that branch.
My little brother is a 1LT, plans on getting out after making CPT. He and most of his buddies were pretty disgusted with their LTC (super micromanagey, but also won't make decisions when they have to be made), and that's what's driving most of them toward separation. I'm hoping I can slog through similar circumstances if they arise.
I'd recommend you do. Shitty leaders are never more than a couple year burden. My brother nearly separated for the same reason but now loves his new colonel to bits.
One of the good things about this line of work is that your bad bosses never stay around for more than a few years.
One of the bad things about this line of work is that your good bosses never stay around for more than a few years.
It kind of averages out to how good or bad all your potential bosses will be. If only 30% of bosses in your field are good, well then your leadership might be more frustrating than not.
So they have a program for my MOS where supposedly the best of the schoolhouse in AIT can deploy for 4 months right after graduation. I might've mentioned it before, I don't remember.
I almost didn't volunteer, since I had orders for Germany and really wanted to go there. But they said, "No problem, you'll get to keep your orders." I took that with a grain of salt, but figured what the hell.
MMMMMmmm, salt! When I got back, instead of Weisbaden, I had orders for fucking Fort Meade. Turns out the civilian in charge of getting our shit together hadn't bothered and had gone on leave a week prior, so there was nothing to be done. Thanks for volunteering to deploy, now go fuck yourselves.
Got the choice of meade, hawaii, or Korea. Korea, here I come! At least I still get to go OCONUS.
Anyone have experience with going from enlisted to officer? If so, any observations from the process that could benefit someone looking at it now, or things to watch out for? I've already got a degree, so I've been told I just need to drop an application packet for it. I'm not looking for instructions on how to do it, just things you might've learned while doing it.
You're intel and you didn't want Meade? You're crazy, man. I'm of the opinion that unless you want to do tactical stuff, Meade would be worth all 20 years.
Wall to wall counseling would be a pretty horrible thing if it weren't so damn necessary. It's a shame the Army's making such a hard push to stop smoke sessions and wall to wall counseling. If the recent build up proved anything, it's that the uppermost echelons of the chain of command care more about numbers than actually having obedient Joes. Negative counseling statements alone won't compel your joes to do the right thing in combat.
Properly applied, smoking the living dogshit out of a soldier is doing them a substantial favor compared to throwing paperwork at them.
The one aspect where I'd say enlisted leadership is more like a big brother is where it comes to defending your guys from your peers or superiors. Your guys come first and sometimes that means telling people to 'fuck off' on their behalf, even if it's to your detriment. Officers do that too (rarely LTs from what I saw), but it's mostly an NCO thing.
The officers I've seen stand up for their people the best were former enlisted, FWIW. 2/3 of the officers I would consider exceptional leaders were former enlisted.
Wall to wall counseling would be a pretty horrible thing if it weren't so damn necessary. It's a shame the Army's making such a hard push to stop smoke sessions and wall to wall counseling. If the recent build up proved anything, it's that the uppermost echelons of the chain of command care more about numbers than actually having obedient Joes. Negative counseling statements alone won't compel your joes to do the right thing in combat.
Properly applied, smoking the living dogshit out of a soldier is doing them a substantial favor compared to throwing paperwork at them.
Agreed. When I say "wall to wall counseling" I'm talking about putting fear into Joe by snatching them up by the throat or giving them a swift punch to the solar plexus.
In all honesty most women know what they sign up for when they start a relationship with a SM.
They might not say it out loud or even want to think about it during the relationship, but they have thought about it.
APPARENTLY NOT, which I found very hard to believe.
There were many good questions about what I do. None of them were about this. What I thought was implicit and made explicit fucking floored her. How did it get to be like this?
They either know that you will be moving and will try to make something work, or they want to get married, or they just wanted to have a good time for couple of years until you move on.
And this is what I said. Someone essentially gives up their career; it's a sacrifice.
It did not go over well.
I'm sorry to hear that the conversation didn't go well. Did she grow up in the area of the base? Hard to believe that she didn't know that the Military would be moving you after a few years.
My first real relationship after joining, we were about 2 years in before I went to Iraq for my first deployment. She cried and made all kinds of promises to be my rock and to continue our relationship while I was deployed.
Three months in she transfers from UH to Berkeley and I get an email telling me that I'm putting too much stress on her, because she is worried about me constantly.
I'm sorry, but that is such a horse shit reason. Oh well, met my wife a week after I got back from said deployment and we were married 4 months later on the beach. We have an amazing relationship and son together.
So I guess moral of the story. If your relationship falls apart, you best believe that you will find someone who is right for you and will understand your lifestyle in the military.
Good luck to you brother!
So yeah. We had a conversation last week. She said we'll work out issues as they come, and that she'll find options to follow me. If it doesn't work out, it won't be because of my job requirements. She wouldn't consider that our time would be wasted either way.
Went to a New Years Party together and had a blast.
Wall to wall counseling would be a pretty horrible thing if it weren't so damn necessary. It's a shame the Army's making such a hard push to stop smoke sessions and wall to wall counseling. If the recent build up proved anything, it's that the uppermost echelons of the chain of command care more about numbers than actually having obedient Joes. Negative counseling statements alone won't compel your joes to do the right thing in combat.
Properly applied, smoking the living dogshit out of a soldier is doing them a substantial favor compared to throwing paperwork at them.
Agreed. When I say "wall to wall counseling" I'm talking about putting fear into Joe by snatching them up by the throat or giving them a swift punch to the solar plexus.
Yeah. I've heard it threatened a couple times, but never actually done in practice. I imagine no small part of that is being in a POG unit.
I see the benefit in edge cases, but wall to wall as opposed to smoke sessions I can really see the Army's reluctance.
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Waffles or whateverPreviously known as, I shit you not, "Waffen"Registered Userregular
I called HRC today and the website they said the server that held the files was down. Everything's back up. Now I just need to call my old Reserve unit this week to get a copy of that memorandum for my Reserve Good Conduct Medal.
Wall to wall counseling would be a pretty horrible thing if it weren't so damn necessary. It's a shame the Army's making such a hard push to stop smoke sessions and wall to wall counseling. If the recent build up proved anything, it's that the uppermost echelons of the chain of command care more about numbers than actually having obedient Joes. Negative counseling statements alone won't compel your joes to do the right thing in combat.
Properly applied, smoking the living dogshit out of a soldier is doing them a substantial favor compared to throwing paperwork at them.
Agreed. When I say "wall to wall counseling" I'm talking about putting fear into Joe by snatching them up by the throat or giving them a swift punch to the solar plexus.
Yeah. I've heard it threatened a couple times, but never actually done in practice. I imagine no small part of that is being in a POG unit.
I see the benefit in edge cases, but wall to wall as opposed to smoke sessions I can really see the Army's reluctance.
Oh yeah, it should only be used in edge cases. Otherwise it's straight up abuse.
Top commanders in the U.S. Army have announced publicly that they have a problem: They have too many "toxic leaders" — the kind of bosses who make their employees miserable. Many corporations share a similar problem, but in the Army's case, destructive leadership can potentially have life or death consequences. So, some Army researchers are wondering if toxic officers have contributed to soldiers' mental health problems.
One of those researchers is Dave Matsuda. In 2010, then-Brig. Gen. Pete Bayer, who was supervising the Army's drawdown in Iraq, asked Matsuda to study why almost 30 soldiers in Iraq had committed or attempted suicides in the past year.
EDIT - Out of nowhere, some emergency happened and now I'm a Resource Advisor, and I'm going to train to be one as soon as possible. Is anyone familiar with this job? They already warned me it becomes a nightmare at the end of the fiscal year.
My old unit was so stupid. Everyone had all their multicam and RFI gear from our 2011-2012 deployment, and we never turned it back in. So up comes another deployment, and rather than going through and just getting the new stuff, everyone gets another full load of RFI. So every person has three rucks (two big, one small), two assault packs, a whole shit-ton of cold weather stuff, etc.
My old unit was so stupid. Everyone had all their multicam and RFI gear from our 2011-2012 deployment, and we never turned it back in. So up comes another deployment, and rather than going through and just getting the new stuff, everyone gets another full load of RFI. So every person has three rucks (two big, one small), two assault packs, a whole shit-ton of cold weather stuff, etc.
And then the deployment was canceled.
That's typical man. Everyone with a little time in has eight sets of shit they never use because it's in multicam and not UCP. I've got four duffel bags right now of my UCP issued gear and multicam issued gear.
Waste of taxpayer money.
Really hoping the army makes the switch over to multicam permanently (though I know they've been debating it for a while). Such a better pattern.
EDIT - Out of nowhere, some emergency happened and now I'm a Resource Advisor, and I'm going to train to be one as soon as possible. Is anyone familiar with this job? They already warned me it becomes a nightmare at the end of the fiscal year.
I do, yeah. What kind of annual budget are you working with?
I should have clarified, all that was on top of their ACU camo stuff. So a total of three big rucks, three assault packs, one medium ruck, and a whole bunch of ridiculousness. Maybe that's typical too, I don't know.
I should have clarified, all that was on top of their ACU camo stuff. So a total of three big rucks, three assault packs, one medium ruck, and a whole bunch of ridiculousness. Maybe that's typical too, I don't know.
Thats more than average.
Lo Que Sea, Cuando Sea, Donde Sea.
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spookymuffin( ° ʖ ° )Puyallup WA Registered Userregular
The only thing I got for my most recent deployment was a pair of Wiley X goggles. I didn't need anything else except for a CamelBak, which got denied.
PSN: MegaSpooky // 3DS: 3797-6276-7138 Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
EDIT - Out of nowhere, some emergency happened and now I'm a Resource Advisor, and I'm going to train to be one as soon as possible. Is anyone familiar with this job? They already warned me it becomes a nightmare at the end of the fiscal year.
I do, yeah. What kind of annual budget are you working with?
I don't have that info yet.
I did however take the massive CBT with financial management and fiscal law. Fascinating stuff. And valuable $$$$
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Waffles or whateverPreviously known as, I shit you not, "Waffen"Registered Userregular
edited January 2014
Figure I'll leave this gem here from the 1st ID Confession's page.
So I'm an AF contracting officer select (go go paperwork) and I put in for bases. My top two were Hanscom and Wright-Pat. I figured they were safe choices because our commandant printed out a sheet before I applied that had, at that time, all available spots for LT rank contractors. Both bases had 15+ spots and they're close to locations my girlfriend could go to grad school for.
Funny thing was that there only five 2Lt spots were available on the sheet, but he said that was because any base that can request something other than a 2Lt will do so, and that makes sense. Who wants butter bar babies?
Well apparently Minot does. Of the five 2Lt spots one was Minot. That's some desperation.
So in the FB group for contractor selects some dude posted that he put in for all overseas bases and got Minot, so thank god. He didn't seem upset so maybe he was ok with it. But how do you think you'll avoid that when you put in for nothing but sexy bases like Aviano or Rammstein?
Every LT that goes to Minot means I'm less likely too. Of course many, many bases need like one contracting officer at the LT level so my chances for other... Rural Opportunities... are fairly high.
I'm a little concerned because even though both Hanscom and Wright-Pat have a lot of open positions they were all for 1LTs. My cadre said 2nd/1st doesn't matter, it's just a preference, and nearly all 1LT positions can be filled by a 2LT (and most will have to).
I'm hoping that Hanscom or Wright-Pat are far removed from the desirable/sexy bases, but they are both central hubs for the contracting career field so they may pull a lot of LTs
Here's the rub, AFPC (Air Force Personnel Center) allocated those as "CGO" slots for the most part. 2nd, 1st LT or Capt doesn't really matter.
Now obviously there are some positions (think a 1 deep job, where you are essentially a contracting CC) that would require a more seasoned Captain. Or a position that has historically struggled.
That's why you end up with a shit ton of 2Lt's at Minot, because both Hanscom and Wright-Patt are largely civilianized contracts for the base maintenance (re: 75% of the bases money and contracts) so they're high performance jobs. Minot on the other hand has a huge Mission Support Group (MSG) with Comm, SF, CE that are all active duty Airmen. Less contracts, less stressed contracting, does that make sense?
That's the first part of it.
The second part, is that you have nothing to give. Not saying you're not smart or whatever, but assignments wise you're a new member. The places you listed? And those overseas locations? Those are going to guys who just got off a 365 deployment, or 2 years in Korea, or something like that (either what we call an iTDY or a remote tour). They've essentially traded some of their time for a future assignment at a better location. Of course this isn't official like it is on the enlisted side, but it happens all the time. In Germany you see a large percentage of your inbound folks coming from other overseas locations like Korea because it was their gateway to Europe.
All that being said, I bet Hanscom and Wright-Patt have a TON of contracting officer spots, so I'd say your odds are still pretty good. I think VeritasVR is up there, but a 62E engineer.
If I remember on Tuesday when I get back to work I'll check the authorizations and see how many officer spots are listed. Do you happen to know the unit numbers for Hanscom and Wright-Patt? If I recall correctly its sorted by location and not unit but I haven't looked in a while.
Ok, that makes sense. Unfortunately the print-out for assignments is at my apartment and I'm home for the weekend.
There were a lot of bases with one-deep assignments, so it's possible I'll end up at any of those. We'll see though. Going to a contracting hub as a first assignment could be ballsy. A few of my choices were one-deep, like Charleston, MDL, Langley, and Dover. AFPC has probably noticed my preference for the east coast and will decide to stick me in the middle of nowhere.
I didn't put in for the cool overseas bases, it was just that other guy. I knew from previous cadre you have to usually 'do your time' at someplace like Korea before you get stuff like that. Also it's pretty common sense that some fresh LT isn't going to commission and go straight to Hawaii or Italy. Or so I thought.
Honestly it really depends on the commanders at those bases at the time. In my unit in Germany we had nobody below captain (I pinned on about 6 months after I got there) so our Colonel asked for new 2Lt's, as we essentially had the ability to mentor a ton of folks. When I left we had like 6 new 2nd Lt's and 3 1st Lt's. Crazy!
The second part, is that you have nothing to give. Not saying you're not smart or whatever, but assignments wise you're a new member. The places you listed? And those overseas locations? Those are going to guys who just got off a 365 deployment, or 2 years in Korea, or something like that (either what we call an iTDY or a remote tour). They've essentially traded some of their time for a future assignment at a better location. Of course this isn't official like it is on the enlisted side, but it happens all the time. In Germany you see a large percentage of your inbound folks coming from other overseas locations like Korea because it was their gateway to Europe.
I'm finding that I Korean assignment is a roll of the dice, both in location and assignment for new Lts. My buddy became a flight commander. Another was in my squadron for four months until he got "traded" into the wing in exchange for a Major, the rank thats "supposed" to fill the flight commander's spot (we joke that he was traded for a case of beer). I've just been taking on the "tough" additional duties for six months. I was merely the Emergency Management Rep, which is far more important in Korea than elsewhere but still just an additional duty. Squadron leadership and NCOs love what I've done for them as an EM rep. Now I'm taking a G-9's place. My supervisor talked to me at a going away party, asked "psst, are you good at math?" I said "yes" and the next Monday I was the Resource Adviser, my first "job" job. But the arrival of the real flight commander and my new job mean I'll probably never become a flight commander while I'm here. The slightest personnel problem becomes a gap an Lt gets to fill, for better or worse. Make no mistake, I'm delighted to be a Resource Advisor and learn how to handle organizational finances. That's an important job that teaches valuable skills. The trade-off is that the ADP for my job code says I'm supposed to be a flight commander or I can't move forward in my career. An Lt becoming a Flight Commander is an exception, not the rule.
Also, Kunsan sucks balls, while Osan is better. Yongsan is a holy grail of an assignment but that base is closing soon.
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This is the right answer - just a reminder that you're looking for a Memorandum, not published orders.
Also - your OMPF on iPerms should not have been deleted, like period. I'd suggest double, triple, and quadruple checking that, then calling the HRC help line direct because shit doesn't just 'get lost' or 'deleted' on digits.
The picture was of an EPT test that reads pregnant.
She is such a dick, but I love her!
Been trying for a second one. Now I just have to worry about being seperated too soon and not having insurance to carry us through the pregnancy.
― John Quincy Adams
I almost didn't volunteer, since I had orders for Germany and really wanted to go there. But they said, "No problem, you'll get to keep your orders." I took that with a grain of salt, but figured what the hell.
MMMMMmmm, salt! When I got back, instead of Weisbaden, I had orders for fucking Fort Meade. Turns out the civilian in charge of getting our shit together hadn't bothered and had gone on leave a week prior, so there was nothing to be done. Thanks for volunteering to deploy, now go fuck yourselves.
Got the choice of meade, hawaii, or Korea. Korea, here I come! At least I still get to go OCONUS.
Anyone have experience with going from enlisted to officer? If so, any observations from the process that could benefit someone looking at it now, or things to watch out for? I've already got a degree, so I've been told I just need to drop an application packet for it. I'm not looking for instructions on how to do it, just things you might've learned while doing it.
PS4:MrZoompants
To say that more is expected of you is an understatement, but not in the ways you're probably thinking. I get in at 0530, start doing work, do PT from 0630 to 0800, have a shower and then work until 1900 or later on a typical day. As opposed to enlisted life where I would show up for pt ten minutes early and usually get out of work around 1700, if not earlier depending on the day.
Leadership is also very different. As an NCO you are directly involved in the lives of the men you are with. For me leadership enlisted was a lot like being a good older brother. Being a good friend and always being there.
You don't do that as an officer. You can't, and if you try other officers will correct you. My battalion commander pulled me aside while on a training exercise and told me bluntly that I needed to be less friendly, more separate, and more demanding from my men. Period. If you want to be directly involved in mentoring and training don't become an officer.
Being enlisted you walk into a bit of responsibility - and that responsibility increases with time and training, based on qualification and worth. As an officer they will drop a mountain of redundant, unclear, obtuse, and generally unhelpful guidelines on you and expect you to turn it into gold, regardless of your background or level of training.
Most LTs I know hate their lives, who they work for, and the jobs they do - especially on staff positions. In my experience CPT are usually a little more happy about life but I think it's because they aren't LTs. I think most new officers are generally unprepared for the level of commitment their jobs demand, the independent study and learning they need to do to become proficient, coupled with military life in general. They also usually have a poor idea of what constitutes good time management as well as team building.
If you can deal with all that shit though go for it.
EDIT:
I say this not trying to dissuade you, but because a lot, and by a lot, I mean the vast majority of my peers were straight unprepared for the level of responsibility that they got thrown into, in both factors of maturity and skill. Our officer corps would be have a leg up if kids going through ROTC were actually trained on anything in regards to their jobs when they enter into the army. Honestly, it's like the army fucking has a spin wheel with darts. Degree in home decorating? Landed on infantry. Degree in Linguistics? That one hit Combat Engineer!
Sometimes you need that fear to convince others into following your orders.
This depends a lot on where in the chain you are too. When I was an E-5 I'd say I was more of a brother to the more junior guys right up til the end once I started getting leadership piled on. And then God help you if you end up somewhere super top heavy cause then you pretty much are just the oldest brother.
but wouldn't it be hilarious if the guy with a home decorating degree turned out to be some sort of savant in TSE? :P
Wall to wall counseling would be a pretty horrible thing if it weren't so damn necessary. It's a shame the Army's making such a hard push to stop smoke sessions and wall to wall counseling. If the recent build up proved anything, it's that the uppermost echelons of the chain of command care more about numbers than actually having obedient Joes. Negative counseling statements alone won't compel your joes to do the right thing in combat.
The one aspect where I'd say enlisted leadership is more like a big brother is where it comes to defending your guys from your peers or superiors. Your guys come first and sometimes that means telling people to 'fuck off' on their behalf, even if it's to your detriment. Officers do that too (rarely LTs from what I saw), but it's mostly an NCO thing.
Thanks for any help.
My little brother is a 1LT, plans on getting out after making CPT. He and most of his buddies were pretty disgusted with their LTC (super micromanagey, but also won't make decisions when they have to be made), and that's what's driving most of them toward separation. I'm hoping I can slog through similar circumstances if they arise.
PS4:MrZoompants
One of the bad things about this line of work is that your good bosses never stay around for more than a few years.
It kind of averages out to how good or bad all your potential bosses will be. If only 30% of bosses in your field are good, well then your leadership might be more frustrating than not.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
You're intel and you didn't want Meade? You're crazy, man. I'm of the opinion that unless you want to do tactical stuff, Meade would be worth all 20 years.
Properly applied, smoking the living dogshit out of a soldier is doing them a substantial favor compared to throwing paperwork at them.
The officers I've seen stand up for their people the best were former enlisted, FWIW. 2/3 of the officers I would consider exceptional leaders were former enlisted.
Agreed. When I say "wall to wall counseling" I'm talking about putting fear into Joe by snatching them up by the throat or giving them a swift punch to the solar plexus.
So yeah. We had a conversation last week. She said we'll work out issues as they come, and that she'll find options to follow me. If it doesn't work out, it won't be because of my job requirements. She wouldn't consider that our time would be wasted either way.
Went to a New Years Party together and had a blast.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
Surprising how many people don't and everything falls apart and they always blame the other person.
― John Quincy Adams
Yeah. I've heard it threatened a couple times, but never actually done in practice. I imagine no small part of that is being in a POG unit.
I see the benefit in edge cases, but wall to wall as opposed to smoke sessions I can really see the Army's reluctance.
Oh yeah, it should only be used in edge cases. Otherwise it's straight up abuse.
Link
My old unit was so stupid. Everyone had all their multicam and RFI gear from our 2011-2012 deployment, and we never turned it back in. So up comes another deployment, and rather than going through and just getting the new stuff, everyone gets another full load of RFI. So every person has three rucks (two big, one small), two assault packs, a whole shit-ton of cold weather stuff, etc.
And then the deployment was canceled.
That's typical man. Everyone with a little time in has eight sets of shit they never use because it's in multicam and not UCP. I've got four duffel bags right now of my UCP issued gear and multicam issued gear.
Waste of taxpayer money.
Really hoping the army makes the switch over to multicam permanently (though I know they've been debating it for a while). Such a better pattern.
I do, yeah. What kind of annual budget are you working with?
Thats more than average.
Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
lolwat
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
Move on!
― John Quincy Adams
I don't have that info yet.
I did however take the massive CBT with financial management and fiscal law. Fascinating stuff. And valuable $$$$
semi nsfwish (Text picture/story type
A dysfunctional mother who needs to be arrested.
Funny thing was that there only five 2Lt spots were available on the sheet, but he said that was because any base that can request something other than a 2Lt will do so, and that makes sense. Who wants butter bar babies?
Well apparently Minot does. Of the five 2Lt spots one was Minot. That's some desperation.
So in the FB group for contractor selects some dude posted that he put in for all overseas bases and got Minot, so thank god. He didn't seem upset so maybe he was ok with it. But how do you think you'll avoid that when you put in for nothing but sexy bases like Aviano or Rammstein?
Every LT that goes to Minot means I'm less likely too. Of course many, many bases need like one contracting officer at the LT level so my chances for other... Rural Opportunities... are fairly high.
I'm a little concerned because even though both Hanscom and Wright-Pat have a lot of open positions they were all for 1LTs. My cadre said 2nd/1st doesn't matter, it's just a preference, and nearly all 1LT positions can be filled by a 2LT (and most will have to).
I'm hoping that Hanscom or Wright-Pat are far removed from the desirable/sexy bases, but they are both central hubs for the contracting career field so they may pull a lot of LTs
Fingers crossed.
Now obviously there are some positions (think a 1 deep job, where you are essentially a contracting CC) that would require a more seasoned Captain. Or a position that has historically struggled.
That's why you end up with a shit ton of 2Lt's at Minot, because both Hanscom and Wright-Patt are largely civilianized contracts for the base maintenance (re: 75% of the bases money and contracts) so they're high performance jobs. Minot on the other hand has a huge Mission Support Group (MSG) with Comm, SF, CE that are all active duty Airmen. Less contracts, less stressed contracting, does that make sense?
That's the first part of it.
The second part, is that you have nothing to give. Not saying you're not smart or whatever, but assignments wise you're a new member. The places you listed? And those overseas locations? Those are going to guys who just got off a 365 deployment, or 2 years in Korea, or something like that (either what we call an iTDY or a remote tour). They've essentially traded some of their time for a future assignment at a better location. Of course this isn't official like it is on the enlisted side, but it happens all the time. In Germany you see a large percentage of your inbound folks coming from other overseas locations like Korea because it was their gateway to Europe.
All that being said, I bet Hanscom and Wright-Patt have a TON of contracting officer spots, so I'd say your odds are still pretty good. I think VeritasVR is up there, but a 62E engineer.
If I remember on Tuesday when I get back to work I'll check the authorizations and see how many officer spots are listed. Do you happen to know the unit numbers for Hanscom and Wright-Patt? If I recall correctly its sorted by location and not unit but I haven't looked in a while.
There were a lot of bases with one-deep assignments, so it's possible I'll end up at any of those. We'll see though. Going to a contracting hub as a first assignment could be ballsy. A few of my choices were one-deep, like Charleston, MDL, Langley, and Dover. AFPC has probably noticed my preference for the east coast and will decide to stick me in the middle of nowhere.
I didn't put in for the cool overseas bases, it was just that other guy. I knew from previous cadre you have to usually 'do your time' at someplace like Korea before you get stuff like that. Also it's pretty common sense that some fresh LT isn't going to commission and go straight to Hawaii or Italy. Or so I thought.
Thanks for the help!
I'm finding that I Korean assignment is a roll of the dice, both in location and assignment for new Lts. My buddy became a flight commander. Another was in my squadron for four months until he got "traded" into the wing in exchange for a Major, the rank thats "supposed" to fill the flight commander's spot (we joke that he was traded for a case of beer). I've just been taking on the "tough" additional duties for six months. I was merely the Emergency Management Rep, which is far more important in Korea than elsewhere but still just an additional duty. Squadron leadership and NCOs love what I've done for them as an EM rep. Now I'm taking a G-9's place. My supervisor talked to me at a going away party, asked "psst, are you good at math?" I said "yes" and the next Monday I was the Resource Adviser, my first "job" job. But the arrival of the real flight commander and my new job mean I'll probably never become a flight commander while I'm here. The slightest personnel problem becomes a gap an Lt gets to fill, for better or worse. Make no mistake, I'm delighted to be a Resource Advisor and learn how to handle organizational finances. That's an important job that teaches valuable skills. The trade-off is that the ADP for my job code says I'm supposed to be a flight commander or I can't move forward in my career. An Lt becoming a Flight Commander is an exception, not the rule.
Also, Kunsan sucks balls, while Osan is better. Yongsan is a holy grail of an assignment but that base is closing soon.