I have a very specific question about paperwork and AF performance reports. Everybody groan now.
So my deployment is scheduled to occur about halfway through this reporting cycle and last a few weeks after my performance report closes out. What is the best way to capture stuff from the deployment?
Does my deployment supervisor write an LOE for my stateside supervisor while I'm out there, in order to incorporate the stuff I did? And then the last few weeks will be essentially lost?
Or should they have a performance report close out before I leave and then have one close out after I get back?
I'm not entirely sure everyone involved in this process knows what's best for my situation...
Not sure if AF culture is different, but it's common in the Army to help write your own performance reviews / awards by providing bullets and discussing it ahead of time with your supervisor (less so for Joes). Independent verification is always nice, but probably write an email with specific accomplishments, preferably with metrics, and send it as the report is being written. You might also just drop a line to a stateside supervisor with a "here's what I've been doing" every once in a while along the way.
This is a really good idea.
Seriously, before I got out EPRs were due to the squadron CC 2 months before report close date. Flight leadership wanted them about a month before that. Providing your supervisor a consistent "this is what I'm doing" will help you both out, because at the end you'll have forgotten all the small little shit that could make a decent bullet, and he/she gets more time to write if that is a concern for them.
I have a very specific question about paperwork and AF performance reports. Everybody groan now.
So my deployment is scheduled to occur about halfway through this reporting cycle and last a few weeks after my performance report closes out. What is the best way to capture stuff from the deployment?
Does my deployment supervisor write an LOE for my stateside supervisor while I'm out there, in order to incorporate the stuff I did? And then the last few weeks will be essentially lost?
Or should they have a performance report close out before I leave and then have one close out after I get back?
I'm not entirely sure everyone involved in this process knows what's best for my situation...
Not sure if AF culture is different, but it's common in the Army to help write your own performance reviews / awards by providing bullets and discussing it ahead of time with your supervisor (less so for Joes). Independent verification is always nice, but probably write an email with specific accomplishments, preferably with metrics, and send it as the report is being written. You might also just drop a line to a stateside supervisor with a "here's what I've been doing" every once in a while along the way.
I have a very specific question about paperwork and AF performance reports. Everybody groan now.
So my deployment is scheduled to occur about halfway through this reporting cycle and last a few weeks after my performance report closes out. What is the best way to capture stuff from the deployment?
Does my deployment supervisor write an LOE for my stateside supervisor while I'm out there, in order to incorporate the stuff I did? And then the last few weeks will be essentially lost?
Or should they have a performance report close out before I leave and then have one close out after I get back?
I'm not entirely sure everyone involved in this process knows what's best for my situation...
Your deployed supervisor should be writing an LOE for you. You should also capture a proportional amount of bullets on your OPR (so if you're only hitting 1 month of your reporting period in your OPR, probably only 1 bullet).
It's really the best situation, because you can use whatever awesome bullets you've got (or will get) on your deployment on your current OR next OPR, depending on you situation and where you want them.
Got to do something I've only ever been on the receiving end of before. As the Adjutant for my BN I lead the ceremony for awarding the Combat Patch. It was an odd thing doing drill and ceremony for that large of a group. It was cool though, to stand with the commander as he handed out coins to young soldiers. We have a surprising amount of guys who have never been on deployment before, and who will (likely) never get a change again in their careers.
Got to do something I've only ever been on the receiving end of before. As the Adjutant for my BN I lead the ceremony for awarding the Combat Patch. It was an odd thing doing drill and ceremony for that large of a group. It was cool though, to stand with the commander as he handed out coins to young soldiers. We have a surprising amount of guys who have never been on deployment before, and who will (likely) never get a change again in their careers.
Don't worry, there will be more deployments. They'll just be to another continent.
Got to do something I've only ever been on the receiving end of before. As the Adjutant for my BN I lead the ceremony for awarding the Combat Patch. It was an odd thing doing drill and ceremony for that large of a group. It was cool though, to stand with the commander as he handed out coins to young soldiers. We have a surprising amount of guys who have never been on deployment before, and who will (likely) never get a change again in their careers.
Don't worry, there will be more deployments. They'll just be to another continent.
Oh I agree. I just say that knowing both the turnover rate of individuals who have just entered the army, and the current push to get people out. For a lot of them, I think this will be a one and done deployment.
Unless Ukraine speeds up. Or North Korea. Or Africa. Or really anywhere.
Got to do something I've only ever been on the receiving end of before. As the Adjutant for my BN I lead the ceremony for awarding the Combat Patch. It was an odd thing doing drill and ceremony for that large of a group. It was cool though, to stand with the commander as he handed out coins to young soldiers. We have a surprising amount of guys who have never been on deployment before, and who will (likely) never get a change again in their careers.
Don't worry, there will be more deployments. They'll just be to another continent.
Oh I agree. I just say that knowing both the turnover rate of individuals who have just entered the army, and the current push to get people out. For a lot of them, I think this will be a one and done deployment.
Unless Ukraine speeds up. Or North Korea. Or Africa. Or really anywhere.
Yeah, you never want to look at today's particular geopolitical climate when trying to forecast potential deployments.
This is coming from a guy who joined the Guard in August of 2001 coming off active duty, figuring that at worst I might have to do a six-month stretch in Bosnia or Kuwait or something. And that even that wasn't likely.
Got to do something I've only ever been on the receiving end of before. As the Adjutant for my BN I lead the ceremony for awarding the Combat Patch. It was an odd thing doing drill and ceremony for that large of a group. It was cool though, to stand with the commander as he handed out coins to young soldiers. We have a surprising amount of guys who have never been on deployment before, and who will (likely) never get a change again in their careers.
Don't worry, there will be more deployments. They'll just be to another continent.
Oh I agree. I just say that knowing both the turnover rate of individuals who have just entered the army, and the current push to get people out. For a lot of them, I think this will be a one and done deployment.
Unless Ukraine speeds up. Or North Korea. Or Africa. Or really anywhere.
Yeah, you never want to look at today's particular geopolitical climate when trying to forecast potential deployments.
This is coming from a guy who joined the Guard in August of 2001 coming off active duty, figuring that at worst I might have to do a six-month stretch in Bosnia or Kuwait or something. And that even that wasn't likely.
HA HA
Eh, some of it you can see coming. I was actually contemplating going military after during college as I was a shiftless layabout with good grades and a family history of military. Bush gets elected and it's "LOLNOPE". Not to make a political statement or anything, but regardless of sept. 11, you knew that guy was going to put troops somewhere.
Current climate? Depends on the next president, honestly, as I don't think Putin is crazy enough to push any further (he's just pushing to cement Crimea I think). Africa we don't touch these days, and no one wants to go there. North Korea? That will be over in 2 weeks, as it will require tacit approval from China.
Got to do something I've only ever been on the receiving end of before. As the Adjutant for my BN I lead the ceremony for awarding the Combat Patch. It was an odd thing doing drill and ceremony for that large of a group. It was cool though, to stand with the commander as he handed out coins to young soldiers. We have a surprising amount of guys who have never been on deployment before, and who will (likely) never get a change again in their careers.
Don't worry, there will be more deployments. They'll just be to another continent.
Oh I agree. I just say that knowing both the turnover rate of individuals who have just entered the army, and the current push to get people out. For a lot of them, I think this will be a one and done deployment.
Unless Ukraine speeds up. Or North Korea. Or Africa. Or really anywhere.
Yeah, you never want to look at today's particular geopolitical climate when trying to forecast potential deployments.
This is coming from a guy who joined the Guard in August of 2001 coming off active duty, figuring that at worst I might have to do a six-month stretch in Bosnia or Kuwait or something. And that even that wasn't likely.
HA HA
Eh, some of it you can see coming. I was actually contemplating going military after during college as I was a shiftless layabout with good grades and a family history of military. Bush gets elected and it's "LOLNOPE". Not to make a political statement or anything, but regardless of sept. 11, you knew that guy was going to put troops somewhere.
Current climate? Depends on the next president, honestly, as I don't think Putin is crazy enough to push any further (he's just pushing to cement Crimea I think). Africa we don't touch these days, and no one wants to go there. North Korea? That will be over in 2 weeks, as it will require tacit approval from China.
There's actually a lot of US involvement in Africa. Check out the "Africa" tab on CNN, or allafrica.com. Lot of Chinese there, too.
Got to do something I've only ever been on the receiving end of before. As the Adjutant for my BN I lead the ceremony for awarding the Combat Patch. It was an odd thing doing drill and ceremony for that large of a group. It was cool though, to stand with the commander as he handed out coins to young soldiers. We have a surprising amount of guys who have never been on deployment before, and who will (likely) never get a change again in their careers.
Don't worry, there will be more deployments. They'll just be to another continent.
Oh I agree. I just say that knowing both the turnover rate of individuals who have just entered the army, and the current push to get people out. For a lot of them, I think this will be a one and done deployment.
Unless Ukraine speeds up. Or North Korea. Or Africa. Or really anywhere.
Yeah, you never want to look at today's particular geopolitical climate when trying to forecast potential deployments.
This is coming from a guy who joined the Guard in August of 2001 coming off active duty, figuring that at worst I might have to do a six-month stretch in Bosnia or Kuwait or something. And that even that wasn't likely.
HA HA
Eh, some of it you can see coming. I was actually contemplating going military after during college as I was a shiftless layabout with good grades and a family history of military. Bush gets elected and it's "LOLNOPE". Not to make a political statement or anything, but regardless of sept. 11, you knew that guy was going to put troops somewhere.
Current climate? Depends on the next president, honestly, as I don't think Putin is crazy enough to push any further (he's just pushing to cement Crimea I think). Africa we don't touch these days, and no one wants to go there. North Korea? That will be over in 2 weeks, as it will require tacit approval from China.
There's actually a lot of US involvement in Africa. Check out the "Africa" tab on CNN, or allafrica.com. Lot of Chinese there, too.
Oh, I know there's involvement, but nothing that would get us embroiled in a real land action besides if something happened to South Africa. Or they discovered lots of oil.
I ETS soon and will be going into the reserves as a 35F (going from 13B so this ought to be interesting). One of the benefits on one of the handouts I got said something about being able to DX uniforms. Do any of you know how this works?
I ETS soon and will be going into the reserves as a 35F (going from 13B so this ought to be interesting). One of the benefits on one of the handouts I got said something about being able to DX uniforms. Do any of you know how this works?
Upon your arrival at your reserve unit, you speak with your Supply NCO and they'll go over it with you. You should also speak to your next in chain of command person about getting your initial TA-50. If you're extremely lucky, you might get a pair of pants, some pt gear and socks.
If your luck is like everyone else's then expect to get socks, PT shorts, and a camelback.
Also, if you're not a SGT already, fox points are in the gutter right now, I think it's like 15 or something. If you're alive and have time in grade, you can get promoted!
My class is getting active duty prep from our commander. Just basic stuff like how to get to your first assignment, what to do, etc etc. It's nice, but makes everything feel real. I'm for it at this point. College has been nice, but time for a new part of my life. And my first assignment being 30 minutes from Boston's city center does not suck.
How long does a non-command officer assignment last? I haven't gotten a solid answer if I'll be at Hanscom for 2 or 3 years. I ask because my girlfriend is going to grad school outside of DC. I figure if the stars align I can end up at an assignment around DC. There are a few in contracting that are off-base too, such as in an office area (weird assignments on the sheet which just had addresses, and didn't say *blank* base).
It'll be interesting. My first assignment will be dealing with the expensive side of contracting. Big contracts and the like. After this assignment I understand I'll be sent somewhere where I'll manage stuff like "Who takes out the trash on base? Who dispenses food in the DFAC?"
I hear the job market for people exiting from this career field is good. Hope the bubble doesn't burst for another four years!
My class is getting active duty prep from our commander. Just basic stuff like how to get to your first assignment, what to do, etc etc. It's nice, but makes everything feel real. I'm for it at this point. College has been nice, but time for a new part of my life. And my first assignment being 30 minutes from Boston's city center does not suck.
How long does a non-command officer assignment last? I haven't gotten a solid answer if I'll be at Hanscom for 2 or 3 years. I ask because my girlfriend is going to grad school outside of DC. I figure if the stars align I can end up at an assignment around DC. There are a few in contracting that are off-base too, such as in an office area (weird assignments on the sheet which just had addresses, and didn't say *blank* base).
It'll be interesting. My first assignment will be dealing with the expensive side of contracting. Big contracts and the like. After this assignment I understand I'll be sent somewhere where I'll manage stuff like "Who takes out the trash on base? Who dispenses food in the DFAC?"
I hear the job market for people exiting from this career field is good. Hope the bubble doesn't burst for another four years!
It's a weird base. Definitely not like any other. I've been told that's both a good and bad thing as a young CGO, but it really doesn't matter.
Your assignment is probably more like 3-4 years. There's a lot of engineers and program managers that stay for at least 4. Plenty of time to get a Masters in residence.
And if you get one of the off-base assignments, I hate you with the blazing fury of a thousand suns. The location is awesome, and I hate you.
There is a metric fuck ton of shit out here in DC. And it's unlikely contracting will loose steam much in the next 4 years.
If you are down by DC and not with the girlfriend, you should hit me up and I'll buy you a beer.
Also, if you're not a SGT already, fox points are in the gutter right now, I think it's like 15 or something. If you're alive and have time in grade, you can get promoted!
The reserves can't do anything with me till I ETS from active duty, so it will be after. I'm not a SGT yet, hence why I am ETS'ing, RCP is a bitch. The slot I am going into is an E5 slot and I have more than enough time in grade for E5 (October will be 6 years). Not sure if they will even send me to AIT, wouldn't mind going mind you, but I hear some units do their training in house, so to speak. That could be good in the sense that I would not be in a class of 50+ soldiers, but could be bad if the person teaching me just doesn't give a damn.
I'd be surprised if the reserves can grant an MOS qualification in-house. And you'll need to be MOS qualified for promotion.
You may not go to the actual active duty AIT, I believe the Guard and Reserve share the same reserve MOSQ courses. These are generally shorter, may be taught by civilians, and portions may be online but they are still theoretically properly accredited and evaluated training programs.
For instance, my school for 31U was six weeks, broken into two three week phases (could be done back to back), and taught by civilians at a small reserve training center (with barracks, dining facility, etc).
And yeah, your supply sergeant should do the paperwork to DX any uniforms you need. Reserves don't get clothing allowance, so at least on the enlisted side everything is provided. It can take a little time, depending on unit. My unit keeps a pretty decent stock of ACUs on hand, so we can usually get a guy at least one or two new uniforms that fit.
TA-50 is another story. Expect to beg, borrow, and steal for a while to meet training needs, right up until you are slates to go to a school of some kind (MOSQ, NCOES), at which point all of it will magically show up. Mainly because your supply sergeant doesn't want your CO and 1SG elbow deep in his ass, and that's what happens if you make the unit look bad showing up at school without your shit.
I'm being sent to the next available Time Management school because they're not happy its taking me over three months to learn a job I'm not trained to do with no experience and no turnover, and comptroller responding to my cries for help with "fuck off."
Typical Air Force culture. They don't train, they stratify. "Why can't you already _________" "Why can't you automatically know _________"
Cantido on
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Waffles or whateverPreviously known as, I shit you not, "Waffen"Registered Userregular
edited April 2014
Well, this is kinda irritating. I did the homework assignment for my BOLC Class that took quite a work a few days ago because I didn't want to do it last minute and stress out. Well, someone in my Platoon ran their mouth off and now I have like 3-5 guys calling me asking me to give them a copy of it. I've told them no, but I can't say that the person whose going to print it out for me has the integrity to say no to those dudes.
If any NCOs call our guys out for an ethics violation would I be better off saying, "Its mine, but they didn't have permission to use my homework assignment to cheat off of" and put the guy whose printing me under the bus? I'd say the ladder of course in a closed doors type of thing, but I seriously am pretty pissed about it. My class already had one ethics violation, I don't mean to put myself in the crosshairs of a second one.
Oh yeah. In other news, the Post Commander of Fort Lewis was here at Benning earlier this week and gave us a rundown of what's going on there. He hinted that the unit I'm going to, the 2-2, is sending two brigades on that Pacific Rim style mission where they'll be on boats for a few months and will then train peeps from Indonesia, The Philippines, and Japan in counter-insurgency stuff.
Also did the whole, "YOU NEED TO GO TO RAAAAAAAAAAAANGER SCHOOL IF YOU WANNA BE A GOOD OFFICER" spiel. I'm sick of that speech already.
Dont let some asshole print it for you, go to the fucking library and spend the dime to print it yourself. Fuck ethics violations, that shit kills things quick. Dont even risk being anywhere near that.
Edit:After the fact story time doesnt help anyone. It might not matter how they got your thing, and even if you didnt help them outright, the hammer can still come down on you. Dont givethem the chance to bring you down.
Dont let some asshole print it for you, go to the fucking library and spend the dime to print it yourself.
i.e. trust but verify. Seriously. That's my entire job.
I have a 12 people on my team and my success comes down to whether or not every single one did their job correctly. Since I'm the project lead, that responsibility comes down to me. I can't possibly do the work of 12 people by myself or micromanage them to death, but dammit sometimes I need to check 50% of one, 25% of another, and 5% of the rest. Yeah that means I do 225% the work of one job but that's what it takes.
If I wasn't a level five Powerpoint Ranger or an freakin Excel Wizard then I'd be in the office for 16 hours a day.
Edit:After the fact story time doesnt help anyone. It might not matter how they got your thing, and even if you didnt help them outright, the hammer can still come down on you. Dont givethem the chance to bring you down.
Plus you're assuming your story after the fact will even be believed. How, precisely, do you prove the work was originally yours anyway?
Had an issue with somebody in college turning in his partner's lab report as his own. We were encouraged to collaborate, and students would routinely shoot each other copies of reports to compare/contrast. This guy took his partner's, changed all the formatting, and tried to pass it off as his own. Of course, with all the time he spent changing fonts and making other slight cosmetic changes to try and avoid detection...he forgot to change the fucking name on the paper. So it was pretty obvious what happened. But if he were slightly less stupid? How much effort was the instructor interested in putting into getting to the bottom of that mystery, as to who copied who?
EDIT: This may or may not apply in your situation, just saying that in general it's a concern. Better to avoid the violation to begin with, rather than hope only the guilty parties are taken down.
Waffen there's no easy way to say it, but you need to throw someone under the bus. People might hate you for it, but it's the right thing to do. You'll have to do it as a leader eventually.
When I was in Kuwait someone found my Squad Leader's Sig handgun and custom 11" AR15 upper receiver in one of his boxes. The PSG (who had quite some time in and was frocked 1SG months later) had to turn him in and was in tears afterward. That might make the PSG sound soft, but my Squad Leader was demonstratively one of the most tactically competent people in my battalion and had a bronze star (with a V device) and several legitimate confirmed kills from when Mosul and Talafar went to shit early in OIF. Even though we all wanted him in our platoon in Iraq, it was the right thing to do.
Stuff like that is never easy unless someone does something so colossally stupid that all your sympathy evaporates. Fucking joes.
@waffen, if it comes down that they used your paper and you have to show proof it was yours. There is a little trick that everyone who copies stuff forgets about. Under the menu you hit prepare then properties. Your name should be there as the author. Even if they take your document and change the format, delete, or add things your name will still be the author.
That is unless they make a new word document and just copy/paste your entire paper. You can also digitally sign and make your papers final drafts. That way when you send it to your buddy to print that is all he can do.
Also, a couple of the CPTs from my S shop are co's over at 2-2 now. I might be able to get you there contact info if you want to get a heads up on that brigade.
I'm now at 16th CAB (combat aviation brigade) holy crap this is not the Army lol. I thought the NATO unit I was at in the Netherlands was bad. Today my 1SG rode up to the 0630 formation on his bike from his office across the street. PTs all a mess, then proceeded to send some texts standing in front of us all. Then turned and saluted with his phone in his hand still.
Lol wtf did I get myself into!
Bloodycow on
" I am a warrior, so that my son may be a merchant, so that his son may be a poet.”
― John Quincy Adams
I'm now at 16th CAB (combat aviation brigade) holy crap this is not the Army lol. I thought the NATO unit I was at in the Netherlands was bad. Today my 1SG rode up to the 0630 formation on his bike from his office across the street. PTs all a mess, then proceeded to send some texts standing in front of us all. Then turned and saluted with his phone in his hand still.
Oh that's glorious. Almost as good as that time I saluted a Captain with a cig in my hand.
In my defense we were in a temp smoke area, without our covers on.
She still wanted a salute, and I was too flustered to notice I still had the smokey treat in my saluting hand.
PSN: jfrofl
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Waffles or whateverPreviously known as, I shit you not, "Waffen"Registered Userregular
Nothing happened, so that's a good thing. I overreacted. I gotta stop doing that.
As two female soldiers and I were getting out of a cab by the base entry checkpoint, 1 of a group of 6 other soldiers walking past says "oh, looks like we got some potential here." I immediately start eyeballing the shit out of him. He says "oh, nevermind." Not sure if it was in response to my meanmug or to how he perceived one of the female soldiers I was with.
I immediately started talking trash to their entire group. I used the phrase "punk bitches" at least once, not sure what else I said, still kinda drunk. They ignored me and kept moving toward the check point. Sadly, when I asked the soldiers I was with if they wanted me to keep up the shit talking, they said no.
What the fuck. Grow the fuck up, you're nominally adults now, people. God damn.
so I broke my nose fighting the enemy falling in the bathroom this morning, and the on-base clinic saw me within 2 hours, had it xray'ed in 3, and gave me a final prognosis in 6.
The medical professionals in the family were quite impressed.
(I was just happy my nose was objectively not deviated.)
Man, that is a thing I miss about being in. Shit gets fucked? Go see the Doc. Yeah they might throw some vitamin M at you and tell you to walk it off, but you'll get seen and hopefully fixed up.
I felt bad for the HR lady who kind of had to explain how Health Insurance worked, because while I didn't join right after High School, I didn't really have a job that had insurance (of if it did, I didn't give shits because I was single and under 25).
I still have to go see the VA for the med record review/disability thingie.
Ha, I definitely did not gain muscle weight in the past 3 weeks, I've barely done any lifting and have just done some swimming outside of our garbage PRT workouts. The 1 lb was probably half poop and half fat. That sounds really gross.
In other news, my knee is actually hurting again after yesterday's running. This means I'll be going back to the doctor soon, as the exercise and stretching rehab is obviously not fixing it. Really don't want a permanent profile, but I'd rather that than run on it until I'm crippled forever.
I bought a GameBoy Micro and Metroid Prime Fusion on Amazon a few weeks ago and if finally arrived (Amazon won't ship electronics to APOs anymore?).
I have a feeling I should have ordered a few more games as I'm halfway through - and thank God for it as it has definitely helped some wee hours pass by. Weeeelp. Time to start collecting GameBoy Advance games.
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This is a really good idea.
Seriously, before I got out EPRs were due to the squadron CC 2 months before report close date. Flight leadership wanted them about a month before that. Providing your supervisor a consistent "this is what I'm doing" will help you both out, because at the end you'll have forgotten all the small little shit that could make a decent bullet, and he/she gets more time to write if that is a concern for them.
It's the same.
Your deployed supervisor should be writing an LOE for you. You should also capture a proportional amount of bullets on your OPR (so if you're only hitting 1 month of your reporting period in your OPR, probably only 1 bullet).
It's really the best situation, because you can use whatever awesome bullets you've got (or will get) on your deployment on your current OR next OPR, depending on you situation and where you want them.
I'll see my way out sirs.
:P
Don't worry, there will be more deployments. They'll just be to another continent.
Oh I agree. I just say that knowing both the turnover rate of individuals who have just entered the army, and the current push to get people out. For a lot of them, I think this will be a one and done deployment.
Unless Ukraine speeds up. Or North Korea. Or Africa. Or really anywhere.
Yeah, you never want to look at today's particular geopolitical climate when trying to forecast potential deployments.
This is coming from a guy who joined the Guard in August of 2001 coming off active duty, figuring that at worst I might have to do a six-month stretch in Bosnia or Kuwait or something. And that even that wasn't likely.
HA HA
Eh, some of it you can see coming. I was actually contemplating going military after during college as I was a shiftless layabout with good grades and a family history of military. Bush gets elected and it's "LOLNOPE". Not to make a political statement or anything, but regardless of sept. 11, you knew that guy was going to put troops somewhere.
Current climate? Depends on the next president, honestly, as I don't think Putin is crazy enough to push any further (he's just pushing to cement Crimea I think). Africa we don't touch these days, and no one wants to go there. North Korea? That will be over in 2 weeks, as it will require tacit approval from China.
I mean sure, Bush might have put troops somewhere at some point, but 9/11 definitely cranked things up significantly.
There's actually a lot of US involvement in Africa. Check out the "Africa" tab on CNN, or allafrica.com. Lot of Chinese there, too.
Oh, I know there's involvement, but nothing that would get us embroiled in a real land action besides if something happened to South Africa. Or they discovered lots of oil.
Upon your arrival at your reserve unit, you speak with your Supply NCO and they'll go over it with you. You should also speak to your next in chain of command person about getting your initial TA-50. If you're extremely lucky, you might get a pair of pants, some pt gear and socks.
If your luck is like everyone else's then expect to get socks, PT shorts, and a camelback.
Also, if you're not a SGT already, fox points are in the gutter right now, I think it's like 15 or something. If you're alive and have time in grade, you can get promoted!
PS4:MrZoompants
How long does a non-command officer assignment last? I haven't gotten a solid answer if I'll be at Hanscom for 2 or 3 years. I ask because my girlfriend is going to grad school outside of DC. I figure if the stars align I can end up at an assignment around DC. There are a few in contracting that are off-base too, such as in an office area (weird assignments on the sheet which just had addresses, and didn't say *blank* base).
It'll be interesting. My first assignment will be dealing with the expensive side of contracting. Big contracts and the like. After this assignment I understand I'll be sent somewhere where I'll manage stuff like "Who takes out the trash on base? Who dispenses food in the DFAC?"
I hear the job market for people exiting from this career field is good. Hope the bubble doesn't burst for another four years!
It's a weird base. Definitely not like any other. I've been told that's both a good and bad thing as a young CGO, but it really doesn't matter.
Your assignment is probably more like 3-4 years. There's a lot of engineers and program managers that stay for at least 4. Plenty of time to get a Masters in residence.
And if you get one of the off-base assignments, I hate you with the blazing fury of a thousand suns. The location is awesome, and I hate you.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
If you are down by DC and not with the girlfriend, you should hit me up and I'll buy you a beer.
The reserves can't do anything with me till I ETS from active duty, so it will be after. I'm not a SGT yet, hence why I am ETS'ing, RCP is a bitch. The slot I am going into is an E5 slot and I have more than enough time in grade for E5 (October will be 6 years). Not sure if they will even send me to AIT, wouldn't mind going mind you, but I hear some units do their training in house, so to speak. That could be good in the sense that I would not be in a class of 50+ soldiers, but could be bad if the person teaching me just doesn't give a damn.
You may not go to the actual active duty AIT, I believe the Guard and Reserve share the same reserve MOSQ courses. These are generally shorter, may be taught by civilians, and portions may be online but they are still theoretically properly accredited and evaluated training programs.
For instance, my school for 31U was six weeks, broken into two three week phases (could be done back to back), and taught by civilians at a small reserve training center (with barracks, dining facility, etc).
And yeah, your supply sergeant should do the paperwork to DX any uniforms you need. Reserves don't get clothing allowance, so at least on the enlisted side everything is provided. It can take a little time, depending on unit. My unit keeps a pretty decent stock of ACUs on hand, so we can usually get a guy at least one or two new uniforms that fit.
TA-50 is another story. Expect to beg, borrow, and steal for a while to meet training needs, right up until you are slates to go to a school of some kind (MOSQ, NCOES), at which point all of it will magically show up. Mainly because your supply sergeant doesn't want your CO and 1SG elbow deep in his ass, and that's what happens if you make the unit look bad showing up at school without your shit.
Typical Air Force culture. They don't train, they stratify. "Why can't you already _________" "Why can't you automatically know _________"
If any NCOs call our guys out for an ethics violation would I be better off saying, "Its mine, but they didn't have permission to use my homework assignment to cheat off of" and put the guy whose printing me under the bus? I'd say the ladder of course in a closed doors type of thing, but I seriously am pretty pissed about it. My class already had one ethics violation, I don't mean to put myself in the crosshairs of a second one.
Oh yeah. In other news, the Post Commander of Fort Lewis was here at Benning earlier this week and gave us a rundown of what's going on there. He hinted that the unit I'm going to, the 2-2, is sending two brigades on that Pacific Rim style mission where they'll be on boats for a few months and will then train peeps from Indonesia, The Philippines, and Japan in counter-insurgency stuff.
Also did the whole, "YOU NEED TO GO TO RAAAAAAAAAAAANGER SCHOOL IF YOU WANNA BE A GOOD OFFICER" spiel. I'm sick of that speech already.
Edit:After the fact story time doesnt help anyone. It might not matter how they got your thing, and even if you didnt help them outright, the hammer can still come down on you. Dont givethem the chance to bring you down.
i.e. trust but verify. Seriously. That's my entire job.
I have a 12 people on my team and my success comes down to whether or not every single one did their job correctly. Since I'm the project lead, that responsibility comes down to me. I can't possibly do the work of 12 people by myself or micromanage them to death, but dammit sometimes I need to check 50% of one, 25% of another, and 5% of the rest. Yeah that means I do 225% the work of one job but that's what it takes.
If I wasn't a level five Powerpoint Ranger or an freakin Excel Wizard then I'd be in the office for 16 hours a day.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
Plus you're assuming your story after the fact will even be believed. How, precisely, do you prove the work was originally yours anyway?
Had an issue with somebody in college turning in his partner's lab report as his own. We were encouraged to collaborate, and students would routinely shoot each other copies of reports to compare/contrast. This guy took his partner's, changed all the formatting, and tried to pass it off as his own. Of course, with all the time he spent changing fonts and making other slight cosmetic changes to try and avoid detection...he forgot to change the fucking name on the paper. So it was pretty obvious what happened. But if he were slightly less stupid? How much effort was the instructor interested in putting into getting to the bottom of that mystery, as to who copied who?
EDIT: This may or may not apply in your situation, just saying that in general it's a concern. Better to avoid the violation to begin with, rather than hope only the guilty parties are taken down.
At the CoC, 1SG looks at another night shift SGT..."SGT, why are you here, you're on night shift"
Fucking hell, man.
PS4:MrZoompants
When I was in Kuwait someone found my Squad Leader's Sig handgun and custom 11" AR15 upper receiver in one of his boxes. The PSG (who had quite some time in and was frocked 1SG months later) had to turn him in and was in tears afterward. That might make the PSG sound soft, but my Squad Leader was demonstratively one of the most tactically competent people in my battalion and had a bronze star (with a V device) and several legitimate confirmed kills from when Mosul and Talafar went to shit early in OIF. Even though we all wanted him in our platoon in Iraq, it was the right thing to do.
Stuff like that is never easy unless someone does something so colossally stupid that all your sympathy evaporates. Fucking joes.
That is unless they make a new word document and just copy/paste your entire paper. You can also digitally sign and make your papers final drafts. That way when you send it to your buddy to print that is all he can do.
Also, a couple of the CPTs from my S shop are co's over at 2-2 now. I might be able to get you there contact info if you want to get a heads up on that brigade.
I'm now at 16th CAB (combat aviation brigade) holy crap this is not the Army lol. I thought the NATO unit I was at in the Netherlands was bad. Today my 1SG rode up to the 0630 formation on his bike from his office across the street. PTs all a mess, then proceeded to send some texts standing in front of us all. Then turned and saluted with his phone in his hand still.
Lol wtf did I get myself into!
― John Quincy Adams
Oh that's glorious. Almost as good as that time I saluted a Captain with a cig in my hand.
In my defense we were in a temp smoke area, without our covers on.
She still wanted a salute, and I was too flustered to notice I still had the smokey treat in my saluting hand.
I immediately started talking trash to their entire group. I used the phrase "punk bitches" at least once, not sure what else I said, still kinda drunk. They ignored me and kept moving toward the check point. Sadly, when I asked the soldiers I was with if they wanted me to keep up the shit talking, they said no.
What the fuck. Grow the fuck up, you're nominally adults now, people. God damn.
PS4:MrZoompants
I have to keep reminding myself this is a good thing.
The medical professionals in the family were quite impressed.
(I was just happy my nose was objectively not deviated.)
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
I felt bad for the HR lady who kind of had to explain how Health Insurance worked, because while I didn't join right after High School, I didn't really have a job that had insurance (of if it did, I didn't give shits because I was single and under 25).
I still have to go see the VA for the med record review/disability thingie.
Which, after all the calculations, means I have 2% less body fat than I did then, even though I weigh more! This makes complete sense!
PS4:MrZoompants
Strictly speaking it's entirely reasonable to gain more weight while having less body fat if there's a change in muscle to fat.
Not so much the inch in height which is a more concerning measurement.
In other news, my knee is actually hurting again after yesterday's running. This means I'll be going back to the doctor soon, as the exercise and stretching rehab is obviously not fixing it. Really don't want a permanent profile, but I'd rather that than run on it until I'm crippled forever.
PS4:MrZoompants
I have a feeling I should have ordered a few more games as I'm halfway through - and thank God for it as it has definitely helped some wee hours pass by. Weeeelp. Time to start collecting GameBoy Advance games.