This is more of a first world problems type thing but it really pissed me off this week. Every JO in my squadron gets an EOT award when they PCS. 90% of the time it's a NAM (navy achievement medal). I was told to write my own award and submit it to my department head. While none of the other six JO's that are rotating with me had to do this, that isn't what pissed me off. Although annoying to have to write my own award I did it and I did a serious job of it. What pissed me off is my boss shot it back and told me to make it better.
It was all done via email so his reply was worse than useless. I have written at least 30 NAMs in the last 3 years for things ranging from end of cruise, EOT, and search and rescue success. I know how to write a NAM. So the email make it better is not only not helpful but doubly annoying because my own damn award got kicked back. I wanted to delete everything and just put the mandatory navy preamble a huge space. "Limp moose is great" Huge space The required last sentence.
Most of my bosses at this command were awesome some just don't have very good communication skills. Also writing your own award makes actually getting the award pretty meaning less. Hooray a new thing I have to buy at the uniform store. I am awesome. Bleh
Ah, good times. What's fun is when it comes time for "mission awards" and the yeomen decide to just take one and copy-pasta it for everyone. What makes it even better is when they mess up the copy-pasta and the citation ends up making no sense whatsoever. "Longest submarine in 30 years..." lol
jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
edited July 2012
So, for those in the know:
My entire unit was forced to go to a prayer breakfast this morning. No alternative, no "who wants to go", it was mandatory and, being atheistic myself, I really did not appreciate it. I later found it was because there weren't many people going, so they shoved us all in there to fill out the attendance. (In a bit of humor, the breakfast was Chik Fil-A)
I don't have much time left but this is something I'm seeing more and more these days. Next week (which I'll miss, due to surgery) there is a mandatory chapel attendance at 1500 during working hours. In September, we're going to be required to go to another prayer breakfast.
There are quite a few atheistic/other religion soldiers in the unit who are about to go to EO en masse. I'm thinking of joining them. I expect this to cause a shitstorm but it's getting ridiculous.
My entire unit was forced to go to a prayer breakfast this morning. No alternative, no "who wants to go", it was mandatory and, being atheistic myself, I really did not appreciate it. I later found it was because there weren't many people going, so they shoved us all in there to fill out the attendance. (In a bit of humor, the breakfast was Chik Fil-A)
I don't have much time left but this is something I'm seeing more and more these days. Next week (which I'll miss, due to surgery) there is a mandatory chapel attendance at 1500 during working hours. In September, we're going to be required to go to another prayer breakfast.
There are quite a few atheistic/other religion soldiers in the unit who are about to go to EO en masse. I'm thinking of joining them. I expect this to cause a shitstorm but it's getting ridiculous.
It's happened before; you won't be the first to do this. What surprises me is that this sort of thing still happens.
Safety in numbers. The fallout isn't your problem. All you can do is tell them and let the rest sort itself out.
My entire unit was forced to go to a prayer breakfast this morning. No alternative, no "who wants to go", it was mandatory and, being atheistic myself, I really did not appreciate it. I later found it was because there weren't many people going, so they shoved us all in there to fill out the attendance. (In a bit of humor, the breakfast was Chik Fil-A)
I don't have much time left but this is something I'm seeing more and more these days. Next week (which I'll miss, due to surgery) there is a mandatory chapel attendance at 1500 during working hours. In September, we're going to be required to go to another prayer breakfast.
There are quite a few atheistic/other religion soldiers in the unit who are about to go to EO en masse. I'm thinking of joining them. I expect this to cause a shitstorm but it's getting ridiculous.
Seriously, this is IG complaint material. You can submit them anonymously if you want. You need to take this kind of thing outside of normal channels.
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spookymuffin( ° ʖ ° )Puyallup WA Registered Userregular
100% agreed. That definitely isn't cool at all.
PSN: MegaSpooky // 3DS: 3797-6276-7138 Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
Take that to IG immediately and file an EO complaint at the same time. You are a) being discriminated against for your religious (or lack thereof) beliefs and b) being forced to attend a non-compulsory event. That's a serious issue and needs to be stopped through both channels.
I am disgusted with commanders who pull that crap. If you don't have enough people attending your prayer breakfasts then guess what you don't need to be wasting money on until there is enough support for one again?
Also, I am less than a month away from graduating the Combined Logistics Captain's Career Course at Fort Lee. Then I just need to get through SPO Phase II and I will be on my way to Kentucky/Tennessee and the 101st. I am getting sick of the schoolhouse and my fellow Captains.
I'd actually advise against making an EO complaint in this case, as I'm sure your EO rep knows what's going on and it'll make it that much easier for them to single you out when word gets back to your unit that someone filed a complaint with IG.
Going through the proper channels is usually a smart move, but in my experience units fucking hate whistleblowers.
Edit: Not to discourage you from reporting this though, as you should feel obligated to notify IG, especially if you're in any sort leadership position.
Man, you'd be surprised what the EO rep doesn't know. What level of command did this originate at? Brigade? Battalion? Company? Cause there's a good chance that unless it was the Brigade CDR making this happen, the Brigade EO rep doesn't have a damn clue about it. Any level below that, it's just someone with an additional duty who probably doesn't take their job seriously enough and just does the quarterly briefings to check the block. Finding a "believer" who's passionate about ensuring an actual HEALTHY environment? Hard to do.
Yes, filing the EO complaint may get you singled out. At which point you then file another IG complaint for them failing to adhere to EO regulations that prohibit punishing someone for filing an EO complaint. An en masse complaint filing through both channels will yield results and show solidarity.
Couple things: depending on what level this is occurring at, going to the EO may backfire simply because the EO rep works for the command. Additionally, atheists are one of the most discriminated against and mistrusted groups in the US, and that goes double in the military. People very high up have said with straight faces that athiests aren't entitled to the same protection as any other minority group. Going to the IG takes things outside the chain of command, which in this case is probably the only way you will get results.
Also, consider tipping off the ACLU or press on this, if you can do it without putting yourself in the spotlight.
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jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
Couple things: depending on what level this is occurring at, going to the EO may backfire simply because the EO rep works for the command. Additionally, atheists are one of the most discriminated against and mistrusted groups in the US, and that goes double in the military. People very high up have said with straight faces that athiests aren't entitled to the same protection as any other minority group. Going to the IG takes things outside the chain of command, which in this case is probably the only way you will get results.
Also, consider tipping off the ACLU or press on this, if you can do it without putting yourself in the spotlight.
Another soldier made this complaint public and the basic result was "YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO LISTEN."
He then said "Why isn't there a mandatory Muslim prayer breakfast?" which immediately caused a shitstorm about Army values.
He then walked off to the IG office, directly. I wasn't around (I was manning the cotton candy station since this was a mandatory fun org day thing), but if I was I would have gone with him. I feel bad I wasn't there to back the dude up, but at the same time if shit goes down I'll stick my neck out. I don't care, I'm thoroughly broken, can't go to the field, and on the way out.
Another soldier made this complaint public and the basic result was "YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO LISTEN."
If this was their reply then they know the order was bullshit and they'd be hemmed up for giving that order, and this is what probably makes me the angriest. They know they're wrong and yet they still do it.
Go to the IG whenever you can. Alert the EO, but go to the IG. Mention it was forced mandatory religious prayer/observance and that your religious beliefs were ignored. Mention that it won't be the first occurrence, as they will be doing it again. Mention that it wasn't just you whom this affected but others as well and so they should expect to hear from other people. If the IG won't hear you, go higher up, going as high as it takes.
As fucked up as it is, they're completely right: you don't have to follow that order. Granted it's a surefire way to get yourself singled out.
By "you didn't have to listen" I don't think they were saying that Soldiers didn't have to listen to the order, but to the prayers. Which is bullshit. Having to be there is being forced to participate, even if all you do is sit there with a blank look on your face and hum to yourself.
Being given a proper choice is "if you want to pray, you can go over there. Everyone else, feel free to hang out by the trucks". You want to force everyone to have breakfast together? Hey, that's totally cool. Mandatory fun time, got it. Then you allow anyone who doesn't want to pray to be excused and go back to the barracks.
If I ever find myself in a unit that tries to do this, I'll be the officer vouching for every one of those Soldiers.
Hey guys! I'm considering joining the Navy and I've got some questions:
1. How well are women treated in the Navy? I've heard some things about a documentary coming out where it states that 1 in 3 women are raped or sexually assaulted in the military. The stat kind of has me wigged out a bit.
2. I looked at the pay chart and I'm not sure if I get paid 1891 twice a month or once a month.
3. I'm interested in going the CT route. I'm curious to know how much math is involved with the CTN job. Right now I have my eyes set on CTR, and CTI. Outside of those, it's MC, YN and IS.
4. Exercise - I'm trying to exercise more, but do you guys have any tips or such?
I'm sure I'll have more questions, but I figured I'd drop these here while I have the chance.
1. How well are women treated in the Navy? I've heard some things about a documentary coming out where it states that 1 in 3 women are raped or sexually assaulted in the military. The stat kind of has me wigged out a bit.
No... What? No. Although, I have heard variations of this and no one has ever been able to present a credible source. It's false.
2. I looked at the pay chart and I'm not sure if I get paid 1891 twice a month or once a month.
I'm not sure where you're getting "1891" from. You get three main things: Basic pay, Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH), and Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS).
The first is found on the US military pay chart which lists your basic pay per month before tax. You need to know three things: your pay grade (rank), your #years of service, and the current year. This is taxable.
Your BAH is found from this calculator and listed per month. You need to know your rank, the zip code of the base/port you are stationed, whether or not you have dependents, and the current year. This pay is NOT taxable.
Your BAS is a lot like BAH, except it depends on two things: if you're officer or enlisted, and the current year. This year, officers get $239.96 a month and enlisted get $348.44 a month. I guess enlisted eat more? I dunno. This pay is NOT taxable.
Then there are a bunch of other things you can get like combat pay, but those are the big three that pretty much everyone gets.
3. I'm interested in going the CT route. I'm curious to know how much math is involved with the CTN job. Right now I have my eyes set on CTR, and CTI. Outside of those, it's MC, YN and IS.
Uhh... LINE? (Someone help me out with the Navy acronyms.)
2. I looked at the pay chart and I'm not sure if I get paid 1891 twice a month or once a month.
I'm not sure where you're getting "1891" from. You get three main things: Basic pay, Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH), and Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS).
The first is found on the US military pay chart which lists your basic pay per month before tax. You need to know three things: your pay grade (rank), your #years of service, and the current year. This is taxable.
Your BAH is found from this calculator and listed per month. You need to know your rank, the zip code of the base/port you are stationed, whether or not you have dependents, and the current year. This pay is NOT taxable.
Your BAS is a lot like BAH, except it depends on two things: if you're officer or enlisted, and the current year. This year, officers get $239.96 a month and enlisted get $348.44 a month. I guess enlisted eat more? I dunno. This pay is NOT taxable.
Then there are a bunch of other things you can get like combat pay, but those are the big three that pretty much everyone gets.
Oh, I grabbed some number off of the chart and used it as an example. But I guess I mean if the number presented on the chart is 1891 is that what you get on the 1st and the 15th or do you get half of that on the first and then the other half on the 15th.
2. I looked at the pay chart and I'm not sure if I get paid 1891 twice a month or once a month.
I'm not sure where you're getting "1891" from. You get three main things: Basic pay, Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH), and Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS).
The first is found on the US military pay chart which lists your basic pay per month before tax. You need to know three things: your pay grade (rank), your #years of service, and the current year. This is taxable.
Your BAH is found from this calculator and listed per month. You need to know your rank, the zip code of the base/port you are stationed, whether or not you have dependents, and the current year. This pay is NOT taxable.
Your BAS is a lot like BAH, except it depends on two things: if you're officer or enlisted, and the current year. This year, officers get $239.96 a month and enlisted get $348.44 a month. I guess enlisted eat more? I dunno. This pay is NOT taxable.
Then there are a bunch of other things you can get like combat pay, but those are the big three that pretty much everyone gets.
Oh, I grabbed some number off of the chart and used it as an example. But I guess I mean if the number presented on the chart is 1891 is that what you get on the 1st and the 15th or do you get half of that on the first and then the other half on the 15th.
Yeah, it's all per month. You can get paid twice per month (so half of that number) or once per month, your choice. However, my BAH is something huge so my actual pay is way more than the number on that chart per month.
Can you live off base as an E3 (which is what I'd be going in as)?
I don't know about the Navy, but in the Army not a chance in hell unless you're married. I'm willing to bet the Navy is going to be very similar, that you will live in government provided housing in the barracks (or whatever the Navy term is) for the foreseeable future until you become an NCO or get a spouse.
2. I looked at the pay chart and I'm not sure if I get paid 1891 twice a month or once a month.
I'm not sure where you're getting "1891" from. You get three main things: Basic pay, Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH), and Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS).
The first is found on the US military pay chart which lists your basic pay per month before tax. You need to know three things: your pay grade (rank), your #years of service, and the current year. This is taxable.
Your BAH is found from this calculator and listed per month. You need to know your rank, the zip code of the base/port you are stationed, whether or not you have dependents, and the current year. This pay is NOT taxable.
Your BAS is a lot like BAH, except it depends on two things: if you're officer or enlisted, and the current year. This year, officers get $239.96 a month and enlisted get $348.44 a month. I guess enlisted eat more? I dunno. This pay is NOT taxable.
Then there are a bunch of other things you can get like combat pay, but those are the big three that pretty much everyone gets.
Oh, I grabbed some number off of the chart and used it as an example. But I guess I mean if the number presented on the chart is 1891 is that what you get on the 1st and the 15th or do you get half of that on the first and then the other half on the 15th.
Yeah, it's all per month. You can get paid twice per month (so half of that number) or once per month, your choice. However, my BAH is something huge so my actual pay is way more than the number on that chart per month.
My buddy who has a head start in Active Duty just told me you do not get get your first paycheck until a month has passed, and recommended saving up $1500 as a new butter bars. His apartment in Biloxi waived the rent for the first month to accommodate him, so I'm going to give them a buzz some time.
Exercise - I'm trying to exercise more, but do you guys have any tips or such?
I was Army not Navy but I expect this is true across the board. Run...run some more...keep running. Again...Army not Navy...but, ideally, you want to be able to run 4 miles in 32 minutes without much trouble. Easy enough that you can call cadence at that speed at full volume.
Exercise - I'm trying to exercise more, but do you guys have any tips or such?
I was Army not Navy but I expect this is true across the board. Run...run some more...keep running. Again...Army not Navy...but, ideally, you want to be able to run 4 miles in 32 minutes without much trouble. Easy enough that you can call cadence at that speed at full volume.
Hmm, is it safe to run everyday? I read somewhere that if I'm using a treadmill, I should do it on a incline but I think that might be slowing me down? How big of an incline should I set it at?
I think my weakness right now is push-ups, so any tips there? I don't know if the Navy/military in general has specifications, which is why I'm asking here and not in the fitness thread. Sit-ups I can do 35 in 2 minutes and I know I can get better at that.
Exercise - I'm trying to exercise more, but do you guys have any tips or such?
I was Army not Navy but I expect this is true across the board. Run...run some more...keep running. Again...Army not Navy...but, ideally, you want to be able to run 4 miles in 32 minutes without much trouble. Easy enough that you can call cadence at that speed at full volume.
Hmm, is it safe to run everyday? I read somewhere that if I'm using a treadmill, I should do it on a incline but I think that might be slowing me down? How big of an incline should I set it at?
I think my weakness right now is push-ups, so any tips there? I don't know if the Navy/military in general has specifications, which is why I'm asking here and not in the fitness thread. Sit-ups I can do 35 in 2 minutes and I know I can get better at that.
I think that's up to date. I don't know anything about CT training, honestly. We may or may not have had some spooks ride us on deployment, but if they did their specialty may or may not have been linguistics.
I'm a submarine guy so I don't have much experience working with women, only on shore duty where everyone is much more relaxed. Here women are treated as "one of the guys." Single E3 will live in the barracks/on the ship so you will not receive BAH. You will get BAS, but your meal plan at the galley will be deducted. While underway you will not receive BAS. While attached to a seagoing command you will get Sea Pay, and your Sea Pay counter will increment. As I recall CT can be a rate where you don't really go to sea, if you're trying to avoid that (though why go Navy?).
Oh God we might FINALLY be rid of this asshole who tried to flee on active duty orders (NOT active duty mind you, he was a reservist like me) to fucking Canada with an un-registered handgun and the only reason he got caught was the dipshit said "Yes" when the border patrol asked if he had any weapons. The best part is when he learned he might be facing up to 30 years in prison he's now trying to act "crazy" by sleeping all day and doing other shit I'm not going to say here because it's disgusting. He was deemed unfit for trial and is being moved to a nuthouse off base and if he thinks that will be easier than the brig he's going to be in for a rude awakening. But we've had to help feed and escort him for the past 4 months now so we're about ready to throw him out ourselves.
And don't try to ask why he fled because fuck if we know how his brain works. How he got through BMT and Tech school I'll never figure out.
@Mim, @Quid can answer a good amount of questions on the CTI field when he gets back. I only have basics and what it was like on my end when he went through it. I can say you should be prepared for a crap ton of work and stress.
@Mim, @Quid can answer a good amount of questions on the CTI field when he gets back. I only have basics and what it was like on my end when he went through it. I can say you should be prepared for a crap ton of work and stress.
I actually got out of basic a while back and am currently training to be a CTI so I can answer a few questions regarding bootcamp and the schooling involved. radroadkill is correct regarding the level of work and stress. A typical day can start with hygiening and cleaning your room after waking up at 0500. Muster with your division at 0700 (0645 if you want to be on time to being early, start this habit now.) Then class from 0700-1600(1500 after the first two months) then expect pt at about 1630-1730, chow sometime after that, say till 1800. You now have four hours left till taps if you want a decent night's sleep. Expect ~2hrs of homework and even more time studying. You will learn that studying is absolutely essential.
Everyone here is incredibly smart, and has some form of nerdy hobbies. My former roommate DMs for a group (more often than he should, he needs to study more), we regularly watch AGOT in the lounge, Farscape, MLP:FIM, etc. All of us breezed through highschool/college (if applicable) without any problems. DLI -will- screw you hard if you lack the discipline and work ethic necessary to study. For languages like Korean, Mandarin, and Arabic expect to learn the whole alphabet within a few days and to start full immersion speaking within a couple weeks. The pace is intense and the classes here have insanely high dropout rates.
This all sounds terrible, I know, but don't let this discourage you. You are given some of the best teaching staff and colleagues in the world (some will be subpar. You'll just have to deal.) They rotate class teachers every 50 minutes with a 10 minute break so it goes by quickly most days. After graduating from DLI you will get FLPP, foreign language proficiency pay, and if you satisfy the meager requirements irt gen. ed. courses you will be ganted an AA in your language by Congress - a pretty big deal in my opinion as this is the only degree granted by the US Congress. You're also being payed to learn a language for 6-18 months in beautiful/foggy Monterey.
Don't expect to get your language of choice though. You might want languages a, b, or c and be given the choice of language d, e, or f right before someone else comes who wants language d, e, or f but only gets a, b, or c. You'll be assigned the language based on the needs of the Navy and you may be granted some slight leeway in choosing a language from the whole pool of available languages among your shipmates in boot if you have a really high DLAB score or college experience.
As for bootcamp, just do what they test for. Run, push-ups, sit-ups. It won't hurt, but honestly don't stress over it. You will get pushed through the final PFA if your RDC has to carry you on his back. Still, familiarize yourself with the enlisted and officer COC and the Chain of Command in bootcamp if possible. Doing that will help ease some of the pain in the first couple weeks at RTC. Also, don't get scared out of the military in the first few weeks. My RDC even admitted to us at the end that he'd grab a recruit who'd failed the piss test and ask them to play along with him and pretend to physically throw him out of the compartment. They'll scream at you and demean you in every way possible but they only do that to weed out some of the people who aren't committed to joining the Navy.
Any more questions or shit message me, I may or may not respond. I need to do homework, study, pt, sleep etc and this is a throwaway account which I may forget about. Just made it in case the boogy man doing my security paperwork decides that possibly scaring away future sailors from CTI is bad joo-joo.
EDIT: One more thing. You know the typical college mantra of social life, sleep, good grades - choose two. For DLI it's choose one and if your choice is good grades it's still not a sure thing.
It's also a lot of upkeep after graduating. Every year you retest on the DLPT to make sure you're still proficient in the language. They do provide language classes a couple times a year but the work doesn't stop.
It's a challenge and it burns a lot of people out; a good amount of people never passed out of the class he was in and a lot that did manage to are looking to get out or switch rates. That's not to say you shouldn't go for it- it's just knowing that you should take how much work and time and stress you think you'll have and then triple that in your mind and that seems to be what everyone goes through. And it's stressful on everyone around you!
And it does go off needs of the Navy and your scores but I think (from what I've gathered) there's still really only 2-3 languages that almost always have slots open and that are in demand at almost any point.
Cool, thanks you guys! I am mostly looking at CTR as my first choice and CTI as my second. I was told you don't get to pick between them until boot camp and even the it's not in your hands? Is that true?
Exercise - I'm trying to exercise more, but do you guys have any tips or such?
I was Army not Navy but I expect this is true across the board. Run...run some more...keep running. Again...Army not Navy...but, ideally, you want to be able to run 4 miles in 32 minutes without much trouble. Easy enough that you can call cadence at that speed at full volume.
Hmm, is it safe to run everyday? I read somewhere that if I'm using a treadmill, I should do it on a incline but I think that might be slowing me down? How big of an incline should I set it at?
I think my weakness right now is push-ups, so any tips there? I don't know if the Navy/military in general has specifications, which is why I'm asking here and not in the fitness thread. Sit-ups I can do 35 in 2 minutes and I know I can get better at that.
Running 5 days a week should be fine. Run at least 30 min and by the time you hit boot you'll handle the running with ease. If you want to improve your pushups, do some weightlifting. Specifically bench press, dumbbell or bar. Also, when you get up in the morning, immediately do as many pushups as you can.
Cool, thanks you guys! I am mostly looking at CTR as my first choice and CTI as my second. I was told you don't get to pick between them until boot camp and even the it's not in your hands? Is that true?
While I wasn't in the navy I did go through the same school that CTR's do. The school house is joint service, both instructors and students. The course is farily long, 4 or 5 months if I remember correctly. It's not math heavy, but it is very technical. It covers a wide range of subjects too. Most of the students in my class did pretty well up until we hit radiowave propagation where a lot of people struggled. We also rotated days and nights. So half the schoolhouse went from like 08-1500 and the other half went from 1600 - 0000, something along those lines. When i enlisted i wasn't assigned my specific MOS until I spoke with the screener at recruit training. All I knew was that I was getting one of three CT equivelent MOS, none of them being CTI because screw the DLAB.
edit: This was 6 or 7 years ago, so the course will have changed some.
Unless things have changed dramatically in the past year or so you should be given a choice of rates by your classifier depending on your line scores (your line scores, fyi, are part of the ASVAB. They're formed by compiling the scores of the tests in the asvab relevant to the rate being tested for.), your DLAB, and any physical qualifications. When you finish all of your processing at meps you should be told what your options are and then you'll sign there. You'll only not know your rate going into bootcamp if you go undes. seaman or airman. Don't go undes. unless the idea of chipping paint until you get a rate appeals to you.
Unless things have changed dramatically in the past year or so you should be given a choice of rates by your classifier depending on your line scores (your line scores, fyi, are part of the ASVAB. They're formed by compiling the scores of the tests in the asvab relevant to the rate being tested for.), your DLAB, and any physical qualifications. When you finish all of your processing at meps you should be told what your options are and then you'll sign there. You'll only not know your rate going into bootcamp if you go undes. seaman or airman. Don't go undes. unless the idea of chipping paint until you get a rate appeals to you.
Granted this is a different branch, but for the sigint mos fields we enlisted under a block, where we were guaranteed one of three, but the actual assignment was done by a screener at recruit training. So you didn't know your actual MOS until about a month into boot.
Oh God we might FINALLY be rid of this asshole who tried to flee on active duty orders (NOT active duty mind you, he was a reservist like me) to fucking Canada with an un-registered handgun and the only reason he got caught was the dipshit said "Yes" when the border patrol asked if he had any weapons. The best part is when he learned he might be facing up to 30 years in prison he's now trying to act "crazy" by sleeping all day and doing other shit I'm not going to say here because it's disgusting. He was deemed unfit for trial and is being moved to a nuthouse off base and if he thinks that will be easier than the brig he's going to be in for a rude awakening. But we've had to help feed and escort him for the past 4 months now so we're about ready to throw him out ourselves.
And don't try to ask why he fled because fuck if we know how his brain works. How he got through BMT and Tech school I'll never figure out.
We had this guy in basic/AIT who ended up in our unit, who to this day I'm simultaneously pissed at and in awe of. He comes in and he's fine. 100%. Then he starts riding this invisible motorcycle. And he does it everywhere. We go out and get drunk, and this kid holds his hands out on invisible handlebars, rides it and then parks it and turns it off. Then he comes out, gets on it and starts it up and does the same thing home. He does it all over base, does it between classes and everything. He didn't do this until after he joined and after all kinds of doctors see him he gets a medical discharge and gets disability. There's this whole ceremony where everyone is there, and he gets called up to get a certificate and blah blah and thanks for his time. He rides his bike up there, the CO gives him the certificate and then the kid just walks off. The CO asks him if he's leaving his bike there. The kid just says he doesn't need it anymore.
I didn't even know what the fuck and avitar was until about 5 minutes ago.
We had this guy in basic/AIT who ended up in our unit, who to this day I'm simultaneously pissed at and in awe of. He comes in and he's fine. 100%. Then he starts riding this invisible motorcycle. And he does it everywhere. We go out and get drunk, and this kid holds his hands out on invisible handlebars, rides it and then parks it and turns it off. Then he comes out, gets on it and starts it up and does the same thing home. He does it all over base, does it between classes and everything. He didn't do this until after he joined and after all kinds of doctors see him he gets a medical discharge and gets disability. There's this whole ceremony where everyone is there, and he gets called up to get a certificate and blah blah and thanks for his time. He rides his bike up there, the CO gives him the certificate and then the kid just walks off. The CO asks him if he's leaving his bike there. The kid just says he doesn't need it anymore.
That is absolutely brilliant. I'm pissed he got a free ride, but for the effort he put into the con I'd almost say he earned it. "If you ain't cheating you ain't trying" and all that. I'd much rather have Soldiers be trying to get out through silly shit like that than actively trying to stay in while getting drunk, getting in fights, doing drugs, and all the other crap that makes a leader's life miserable by extension. Give me the silly guy any day.
Cool, thanks you guys! I am mostly looking at CTR as my first choice and CTI as my second. I was told you don't get to pick between them until boot camp and even the it's not in your hands? Is that true?
It shouldn't be. They're two completely different rates. Also I'm back to regular internet access so if you have anymore CTI or even CTR questions let me know. I'm always happy to talk about what I can.
Edit: Well, not COMPLETELY different. There's some overlap but it's generally a CTI getting cross trained in to doing CTR work, not the other way around.
Cool, thanks you guys! I am mostly looking at CTR as my first choice and CTI as my second. I was told you don't get to pick between them until boot camp and even the it's not in your hands? Is that true?
It shouldn't be. They're two completely different rates. Also I'm back to regular internet access so if you have anymore CTI or even CTR questions let me know. I'm always happy to talk about what I can.
Edit: Well, not COMPLETELY different. There's some overlap but it's generally a CTI getting cross trained in to doing CTR work, not the other way around.
Oh, so you can pick CTR before taking off for boot? Cause someone said you pick CT and then rank what you want out of the rate that fall under CT and then list your top three and they pick for you.
Also, did you do anything to prepare for boot camp? How hard is CTR school? I've heard how hard CTI/CTN is, but if you know anything about CTR, that'd be lovely.
I think my final question is about the barracks. How bad are they? I think that will motivate me the most to get to whatever pay grade I need to get to to be able to live on my own. I haven't shared a room since I was 13, and being 24 and having roomies in one space would probably be bit weird to adjust to. Does each room get a bathroom of their very own? Are the beds just cots? Is there a place to lock your stuff up?
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Ah, good times. What's fun is when it comes time for "mission awards" and the yeomen decide to just take one and copy-pasta it for everyone. What makes it even better is when they mess up the copy-pasta and the citation ends up making no sense whatsoever. "Longest submarine in 30 years..." lol
As an aside to any navy folks, yay for yardbirds.
My entire unit was forced to go to a prayer breakfast this morning. No alternative, no "who wants to go", it was mandatory and, being atheistic myself, I really did not appreciate it. I later found it was because there weren't many people going, so they shoved us all in there to fill out the attendance. (In a bit of humor, the breakfast was Chik Fil-A)
I don't have much time left but this is something I'm seeing more and more these days. Next week (which I'll miss, due to surgery) there is a mandatory chapel attendance at 1500 during working hours. In September, we're going to be required to go to another prayer breakfast.
There are quite a few atheistic/other religion soldiers in the unit who are about to go to EO en masse. I'm thinking of joining them. I expect this to cause a shitstorm but it's getting ridiculous.
It's happened before; you won't be the first to do this. What surprises me is that this sort of thing still happens.
Safety in numbers. The fallout isn't your problem. All you can do is tell them and let the rest sort itself out.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
Seriously, this is IG complaint material. You can submit them anonymously if you want. You need to take this kind of thing outside of normal channels.
Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
I am disgusted with commanders who pull that crap. If you don't have enough people attending your prayer breakfasts then guess what you don't need to be wasting money on until there is enough support for one again?
Also, I am less than a month away from graduating the Combined Logistics Captain's Career Course at Fort Lee. Then I just need to get through SPO Phase II and I will be on my way to Kentucky/Tennessee and the 101st. I am getting sick of the schoolhouse and my fellow Captains.
Going through the proper channels is usually a smart move, but in my experience units fucking hate whistleblowers.
Edit: Not to discourage you from reporting this though, as you should feel obligated to notify IG, especially if you're in any sort leadership position.
Yes, filing the EO complaint may get you singled out. At which point you then file another IG complaint for them failing to adhere to EO regulations that prohibit punishing someone for filing an EO complaint. An en masse complaint filing through both channels will yield results and show solidarity.
Also, consider tipping off the ACLU or press on this, if you can do it without putting yourself in the spotlight.
Another soldier made this complaint public and the basic result was "YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO LISTEN."
He then said "Why isn't there a mandatory Muslim prayer breakfast?" which immediately caused a shitstorm about Army values.
He then walked off to the IG office, directly. I wasn't around (I was manning the cotton candy station since this was a mandatory fun org day thing), but if I was I would have gone with him. I feel bad I wasn't there to back the dude up, but at the same time if shit goes down I'll stick my neck out. I don't care, I'm thoroughly broken, can't go to the field, and on the way out.
If this was their reply then they know the order was bullshit and they'd be hemmed up for giving that order, and this is what probably makes me the angriest. They know they're wrong and yet they still do it.
Go to the IG whenever you can. Alert the EO, but go to the IG. Mention it was forced mandatory religious prayer/observance and that your religious beliefs were ignored. Mention that it won't be the first occurrence, as they will be doing it again. Mention that it wasn't just you whom this affected but others as well and so they should expect to hear from other people. If the IG won't hear you, go higher up, going as high as it takes.
By "you didn't have to listen" I don't think they were saying that Soldiers didn't have to listen to the order, but to the prayers. Which is bullshit. Having to be there is being forced to participate, even if all you do is sit there with a blank look on your face and hum to yourself.
Being given a proper choice is "if you want to pray, you can go over there. Everyone else, feel free to hang out by the trucks". You want to force everyone to have breakfast together? Hey, that's totally cool. Mandatory fun time, got it. Then you allow anyone who doesn't want to pray to be excused and go back to the barracks.
If I ever find myself in a unit that tries to do this, I'll be the officer vouching for every one of those Soldiers.
1. How well are women treated in the Navy? I've heard some things about a documentary coming out where it states that 1 in 3 women are raped or sexually assaulted in the military. The stat kind of has me wigged out a bit.
2. I looked at the pay chart and I'm not sure if I get paid 1891 twice a month or once a month.
3. I'm interested in going the CT route. I'm curious to know how much math is involved with the CTN job. Right now I have my eyes set on CTR, and CTI. Outside of those, it's MC, YN and IS.
4. Exercise - I'm trying to exercise more, but do you guys have any tips or such?
I'm sure I'll have more questions, but I figured I'd drop these here while I have the chance.
No... What? No. Although, I have heard variations of this and no one has ever been able to present a credible source. It's false.
I'm not sure where you're getting "1891" from. You get three main things: Basic pay, Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH), and Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS).
The first is found on the US military pay chart which lists your basic pay per month before tax. You need to know three things: your pay grade (rank), your #years of service, and the current year. This is taxable.
Your BAH is found from this calculator and listed per month. You need to know your rank, the zip code of the base/port you are stationed, whether or not you have dependents, and the current year. This pay is NOT taxable.
Your BAS is a lot like BAH, except it depends on two things: if you're officer or enlisted, and the current year. This year, officers get $239.96 a month and enlisted get $348.44 a month. I guess enlisted eat more? I dunno. This pay is NOT taxable.
Then there are a bunch of other things you can get like combat pay, but those are the big three that pretty much everyone gets.
Uhh... LINE? (Someone help me out with the Navy acronyms.)
There's a lot of threads on exercise here.
No problem.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
Oh, I grabbed some number off of the chart and used it as an example. But I guess I mean if the number presented on the chart is 1891 is that what you get on the 1st and the 15th or do you get half of that on the first and then the other half on the 15th.
Yeah, it's all per month. You can get paid twice per month (so half of that number) or once per month, your choice. However, my BAH is something huge so my actual pay is way more than the number on that chart per month.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
I don't know about the Navy, but in the Army not a chance in hell unless you're married. I'm willing to bet the Navy is going to be very similar, that you will live in government provided housing in the barracks (or whatever the Navy term is) for the foreseeable future until you become an NCO or get a spouse.
My buddy who has a head start in Active Duty just told me you do not get get your first paycheck until a month has passed, and recommended saving up $1500 as a new butter bars. His apartment in Biloxi waived the rent for the first month to accommodate him, so I'm going to give them a buzz some time.
59 days till active duty....
I was Army not Navy but I expect this is true across the board. Run...run some more...keep running. Again...Army not Navy...but, ideally, you want to be able to run 4 miles in 32 minutes without much trouble. Easy enough that you can call cadence at that speed at full volume.
Hmm, is it safe to run everyday? I read somewhere that if I'm using a treadmill, I should do it on a incline but I think that might be slowing me down? How big of an incline should I set it at?
I think my weakness right now is push-ups, so any tips there? I don't know if the Navy/military in general has specifications, which is why I'm asking here and not in the fitness thread. Sit-ups I can do 35 in 2 minutes and I know I can get better at that.
http://www.navy-prt.com/femalestandard/femalestandard.html
I think that's up to date. I don't know anything about CT training, honestly. We may or may not have had some spooks ride us on deployment, but if they did their specialty may or may not have been linguistics.
I'm a submarine guy so I don't have much experience working with women, only on shore duty where everyone is much more relaxed. Here women are treated as "one of the guys." Single E3 will live in the barracks/on the ship so you will not receive BAH. You will get BAS, but your meal plan at the galley will be deducted. While underway you will not receive BAS. While attached to a seagoing command you will get Sea Pay, and your Sea Pay counter will increment. As I recall CT can be a rate where you don't really go to sea, if you're trying to avoid that (though why go Navy?).
And don't try to ask why he fled because fuck if we know how his brain works. How he got through BMT and Tech school I'll never figure out.
I actually got out of basic a while back and am currently training to be a CTI so I can answer a few questions regarding bootcamp and the schooling involved. radroadkill is correct regarding the level of work and stress. A typical day can start with hygiening and cleaning your room after waking up at 0500. Muster with your division at 0700 (0645 if you want to be on time to being early, start this habit now.) Then class from 0700-1600(1500 after the first two months) then expect pt at about 1630-1730, chow sometime after that, say till 1800. You now have four hours left till taps if you want a decent night's sleep. Expect ~2hrs of homework and even more time studying. You will learn that studying is absolutely essential.
Everyone here is incredibly smart, and has some form of nerdy hobbies. My former roommate DMs for a group (more often than he should, he needs to study more), we regularly watch AGOT in the lounge, Farscape, MLP:FIM, etc. All of us breezed through highschool/college (if applicable) without any problems. DLI -will- screw you hard if you lack the discipline and work ethic necessary to study. For languages like Korean, Mandarin, and Arabic expect to learn the whole alphabet within a few days and to start full immersion speaking within a couple weeks. The pace is intense and the classes here have insanely high dropout rates.
This all sounds terrible, I know, but don't let this discourage you. You are given some of the best teaching staff and colleagues in the world (some will be subpar. You'll just have to deal.) They rotate class teachers every 50 minutes with a 10 minute break so it goes by quickly most days. After graduating from DLI you will get FLPP, foreign language proficiency pay, and if you satisfy the meager requirements irt gen. ed. courses you will be ganted an AA in your language by Congress - a pretty big deal in my opinion as this is the only degree granted by the US Congress. You're also being payed to learn a language for 6-18 months in beautiful/foggy Monterey.
Don't expect to get your language of choice though. You might want languages a, b, or c and be given the choice of language d, e, or f right before someone else comes who wants language d, e, or f but only gets a, b, or c. You'll be assigned the language based on the needs of the Navy and you may be granted some slight leeway in choosing a language from the whole pool of available languages among your shipmates in boot if you have a really high DLAB score or college experience.
As for bootcamp, just do what they test for. Run, push-ups, sit-ups. It won't hurt, but honestly don't stress over it. You will get pushed through the final PFA if your RDC has to carry you on his back. Still, familiarize yourself with the enlisted and officer COC and the Chain of Command in bootcamp if possible. Doing that will help ease some of the pain in the first couple weeks at RTC. Also, don't get scared out of the military in the first few weeks. My RDC even admitted to us at the end that he'd grab a recruit who'd failed the piss test and ask them to play along with him and pretend to physically throw him out of the compartment. They'll scream at you and demean you in every way possible but they only do that to weed out some of the people who aren't committed to joining the Navy.
Any more questions or shit message me, I may or may not respond. I need to do homework, study, pt, sleep etc and this is a throwaway account which I may forget about. Just made it in case the boogy man doing my security paperwork decides that possibly scaring away future sailors from CTI is bad joo-joo.
EDIT: One more thing. You know the typical college mantra of social life, sleep, good grades - choose two. For DLI it's choose one and if your choice is good grades it's still not a sure thing.
It's a challenge and it burns a lot of people out; a good amount of people never passed out of the class he was in and a lot that did manage to are looking to get out or switch rates. That's not to say you shouldn't go for it- it's just knowing that you should take how much work and time and stress you think you'll have and then triple that in your mind and that seems to be what everyone goes through. And it's stressful on everyone around you!
And it does go off needs of the Navy and your scores but I think (from what I've gathered) there's still really only 2-3 languages that almost always have slots open and that are in demand at almost any point.
Running 5 days a week should be fine. Run at least 30 min and by the time you hit boot you'll handle the running with ease. If you want to improve your pushups, do some weightlifting. Specifically bench press, dumbbell or bar. Also, when you get up in the morning, immediately do as many pushups as you can.
edit: This was 6 or 7 years ago, so the course will have changed some.
Please pass on my congratulations and the following words of wisdom: "Shut up, butters, and listen to your NCO."
We had this guy in basic/AIT who ended up in our unit, who to this day I'm simultaneously pissed at and in awe of. He comes in and he's fine. 100%. Then he starts riding this invisible motorcycle. And he does it everywhere. We go out and get drunk, and this kid holds his hands out on invisible handlebars, rides it and then parks it and turns it off. Then he comes out, gets on it and starts it up and does the same thing home. He does it all over base, does it between classes and everything. He didn't do this until after he joined and after all kinds of doctors see him he gets a medical discharge and gets disability. There's this whole ceremony where everyone is there, and he gets called up to get a certificate and blah blah and thanks for his time. He rides his bike up there, the CO gives him the certificate and then the kid just walks off. The CO asks him if he's leaving his bike there. The kid just says he doesn't need it anymore.
That is absolutely brilliant. I'm pissed he got a free ride, but for the effort he put into the con I'd almost say he earned it. "If you ain't cheating you ain't trying" and all that. I'd much rather have Soldiers be trying to get out through silly shit like that than actively trying to stay in while getting drunk, getting in fights, doing drugs, and all the other crap that makes a leader's life miserable by extension. Give me the silly guy any day.
It shouldn't be. They're two completely different rates. Also I'm back to regular internet access so if you have anymore CTI or even CTR questions let me know. I'm always happy to talk about what I can.
Edit: Well, not COMPLETELY different. There's some overlap but it's generally a CTI getting cross trained in to doing CTR work, not the other way around.
@Quid
Oh, so you can pick CTR before taking off for boot? Cause someone said you pick CT and then rank what you want out of the rate that fall under CT and then list your top three and they pick for you.
Also, did you do anything to prepare for boot camp? How hard is CTR school? I've heard how hard CTI/CTN is, but if you know anything about CTR, that'd be lovely.
I think my final question is about the barracks. How bad are they? I think that will motivate me the most to get to whatever pay grade I need to get to to be able to live on my own. I haven't shared a room since I was 13, and being 24 and having roomies in one space would probably be bit weird to adjust to. Does each room get a bathroom of their very own? Are the beds just cots? Is there a place to lock your stuff up?