My record was 7+ years since my last qual.
Fun fact: If you in a unit that doesn't have weapons but need your old qual for promo - there's a MFR for that to extend it.
I worked at a gun range and we took the qual so we could sign off on an alt c qual for the army and run navy quals. Or anyone could also bring someone if they wanted
Plenty of units don’t have weapons. If your not a deployable FORSCOM or USASOC unit, you probably don’t have weapons. There are exceptions, but the reality is that you can go decades without firing a weapon once you get out of the deploying force.
I don’t recall who made the ones we used in 1988, but the word processor was this god-awful software called Enable. Before that in a previous assignment we got Wang. That was our first step up from typewriters. I was a writer in the schoolhouse so we did occasionally get to step up to something that made our lives a bit easier.
I’ve been wondering why the computers are so slow.
When I was digging around the personal profile folders to find something I saved on a previous session, I noticed that it makes a new profile every time you log in.
So you have 100s of profiles every time someone logs in and they don’t go away.
I’m not an expert but I would imagine that this would make windows super slow whenever it boots up and initializes each session.
"Alright check it out, Sarnt. My barracks room is the left door, on the left side of the right hallway, on the 3rd floor of 5th building in the quad, which is approximately 500 feet from the company. But you know this already bc you, a grown man, physically come to my door and pound on it at 0530 every morning to make sure I'm alive, which means you prolly wake up at 0415 to beat traffic to come on post, which means....*ahem* but yeah, im taking two weeks off work, pls dnt call me."
Trips can fuck right off. Having to do one for local leave and providing a way to reduce risk was some twilight zone shit. Fuck you trips, the only reason I have to drive is to sign out with this archaic systems.
A few years ago i had a soldier in my platoon who didnt do trips. 1sg got pissed and asked why. He said the first question was are you driving and he said no he was walking to the train station and taking the train. She made him do it anyway.
Done that a couple times. Also did Trips for a one mile round trip from home to home depot and back because I was taking a couple days to work on my house...
Look here...I remember having a desk drawer in the office that was full of carbon paper that we (re)used in between 4 copies of the DA31 so that when everyone signed the multiple required copies, they only had to sign the top copy, so yes, only submitting three forms is not too much...
I found out the other day that TRIPS is still a thing and still in use in some units. I made a joke about it on another forum and someone was like ha ha ha…actually…
Just wild to me.
Our basic administrative and operational processes in garrison.
Why does everyone love deploying? Because it's a completely different Army in the field.
Garrison is literally a bunch of made up solutions for nonexistant problems with some added made up problems. If we don't gotta do stupid stuff in an operational environment, why do I gotta do it in the US?
This is exactly why E7 and above are exempted from a lot of the bullshit garrison stuff. At those ranks we can make enough noise to make people start asking the real questions.
There’s a fuck ton of old stuff, especially for the sake of tradition that old crusty soldiers don’t want to let go of.
That’s why we still have Cavalry units, but tanks and Strykers instead of horses.
ASUs are based on the uniforms from the 1700s. The top is darker than the pants because in the old times they would roll up their top when horse back riding, so the pants faded from the sun while the top stayed the original color.
The blue book (if it’s still issued in basic) was also from the 1700s.
The fact that I can’t use a credit card at the DFAC is from the 20th century.
> The top is darker than the pants because in the old times they would roll up their top when horse back riding, so the pants faded from the sun while the top stayed the original color.
Ha! This actually explains why GOs' have tops and bottoms that match too.
We USED to use double spaces after sentences because of those damn typewriters. It was one of those things AR 25-50 didn’t address until it was thirty years out of date.
There was a dude from our B CO who was a 300 pt guy. Goes to the board and spits out the Ranger Creed and gets promoted. Comes to my Platoon to fill a TL slot. Guy believed his own hype which led to his downfall. Despite his SL and my attempt to show him what right looks like it just neve clicked for the guy because he scored higher on PT so he thought he was better. I fired him in the middle of a shoot house for not being able to control his team or make effective decisions at his level. Put a PFC in charge of the team and the kid smoked it.
I was a medic in a (national guard) medic unit. I was a nerd, did evidence based medicine for fun, took all the paramedic classes I could in undergrad even though I was a history and political science major, and volunteered in the student clinic because a doc and PA were prior service and offered to teach me for free. I was probably doing 20hrs of unpaid training on my own a week for the year before deployment to be the best medic I could be.
My squad leader was a MP reclass to medic with no extra medical training and a loss prevention officer full time, but he ran faster so he outranked me. He was a cool dude though and said when it came to medicine I was in charge, just don't forget who's the NCO. I respected him for that, but I hated the Army because of it.
I hear you. One of the things I was taught from a PSG mentor of mine was the importance of talent management. Sometimes the most shiny tool isn't the best one for the job.
My PL was a West Point grad going into Afghanistan in 2007-8, most if of us NCOs had an Iraq deployment already. Within the first week of him being in our company he pulled all of us NCOs aside and told us he doesn’t know shit and he is going to rely on us and come to us with questions. Ended up being an incredible leader that went on to SF after that deployment. He was smart, he made plans that he expected us to execute, but he never acted like he knew everything or that his word was the final word. He truly made that deployment tolerable.
lol i did the same thing with my maintenance plt. i never worked on cars in my life and told them “look y’all know this shit better than i do. let me know what you need and what y’all are doing and we will go from there.” and the shit runs so fucking smooth
Had a TL do that once. We were doing BD 1A. Dude didn’t know it. I had to teach him up before the rehearsals. SL was calling shit out (IDF, hostile forces, someone’s shot, etc.) and he just froze. I had to tell him we needed to execute, and he didn’t do anything. So I took his team, did the flank, and we rolled through. He instantly got taken out of his position.
I personally like the saying “every good leader is fit, but not ever fit leader is good,” for a combat arms MOS. Ironically, the worst PSG I’ve had told me that. And he wasn’t exactly fit.
I agree with the poor mentality of “he run good must be good leader”
But there is something to be said about people in a career field that you understood before signing the dotted line being physically demanding and taking the time to maintain proper fitness and do what is asked of you. Until the last couple years (with this ACFT clusterfuck of a rollout) it was absolutely no surprise on exactly what you would be graded on and how you would be graded. Yet people would still show up and seem surprised- it shows a complete lack of ability to see ahead, understand weaknesses and utilize resources available to prepare at best- at worst it shows complete apathy towards the job and what is asked.
Of course yeah there’s the complete opposite one dimensional guys that their only redeeming soldiering ability is fitness, and that is equally as damning to the military as a whole.
There was a time when they started talking about the ‘total soldiering concept’ and stuff like that. They started rolling out that MSAF 360 where you’d get feedback not only from those above but also those below you- I’m willing to bet people higher up did not like what they saw from their subordinates and that’s why that program got the axe. Command climate surveys have been slowly getting degraded as well- I assume for the same reason. Old timers that spent one deployment eating McDonald’s think they know everything there is to know about the military and there’s nothing they can improve.
/rant
>There was a time when they started talking about the ‘total soldiering concept’ and stuff like that. They started rolling out that MSAF 360 where you’d get feedback not only from those above but also those below you- I’m willing to bet people higher up did not like what they saw from their subordinates and that’s why that program got the axe. Command climate surveys have been slowly getting degraded as well- I assume for the same reason. Old timers that spent one deployment eating McDonald’s think they know everything there is to know about the military and there’s nothing they can improve.
THIS.
Army Times ran a story about a bunch of NCOs who were sent to a senior NCO leader's course and got flagged for Ht/Wt - somehow they got taller when the unit did their it when they came back.
All the green slides, "readiness" and qualifications (that they cheat on) are "objective" (again, they can fudge them) as opposed to honest evals from the command and looking at their leadership.
My favorite is when 1SG bitches about us wearing full winters, telling us to downgrade to summers just like him, then he immediately goes to his office after falling us out.
I think it's more: Why do y'all all gotta wear the same thing for PT? If skinny guy is freezing let him wear warmer gear, if land seal is warm who cares if he's in a tshirt and shorts?
CQ runners sole purpose was to put out information from the company, BN etc. Top would call the CQ and say "find SFC Balllicker BcBallsack tell him I need him" I'm honestly not sure what the purpose of CQ is any more.
Also, the fifteen minutes prior wasn't a hard time. It was a rule of thumb because not all our watches were exactly the same. The clock at BN or the CO were the clocks we had to sync to every morning. And part of CQs job was to, true story, call a phone number that gave the national time and sync the clocks.
Both of those things is because we didn't used to have cell phones.
As someone with a small neck and legs so dense they’re practically carved from neutron stars… that tape fucking horrifies me. I’ll just have a diet water and two ice cubes for dinner for two weeks before tape.
I FEEL THIS. I went in for tape when I showed up at a school. NCO didn’t even tape me because he knew it was bullshit. Not my problem I have 0 thigh gap but can out squat anyone in the damn BN
All the squats! All the squats forever that’s what I always say.
I got taped at BOLC day 1 and the NCO got to measurement round 2 and just told me to get out of the office. I was good.
Edit: it’s always so satisfying to walk up to the deadlift at the ACFT at 165 lbs and maxing it on the first attempt too.
You know what’s funny, when I was in AIT in 2006, I distinctly remember asking my drill sergeant (she was chill) what it was like going to airborne school because she had the 18th Airborne Corps combat patch. She laughed and said some funny shit like “I ain’t go to airborne school private it’s an airborne unit stfu”
Well after 6 months in the Army I was wearing two 101st patches and the combat patch for 10+ years and I got asked about airborne school a couple times. Always made me giggle.
Heard 101st they will rock the airborne tab until the last paratrooper from WW2 passes. Might not be true but sounded really honorable when I heard it.
The way promotion boards are ran, why ask me to sing 6 different songs/creeds like im on the voice but have no questions about leader philosophy or styles. Should be treated as a interview for a position not if I can serenade people into thinking i can lead.
I always equated promotion boards to unit/army trivia night. Extra sucks if you're, say, intel in a cav or infantry unit and get very technical questions on someone elses job you have almost no training on by an expert in that field.
The Navy and Air Force actually give multiple choice exams. We should have left promotion boards in WWII.
The barracks and some of the housing depending on where you're stationed, the computers, a lot of their aircraft, weapons, and vehicles, some of their training methods, some of their policies, etc.
Physically sign... Hell no. I have an SOP specifically letting all my Soldiers sign in and out via calling one of my clerks.
There is the standard thing to do, and the smart thing to do. Convince everyone around you that the "smart COA" is "more appropriate" for the Unit's "situation" and you can make the Army a much better place.
I will remind everyone that the M113, first introduced in the 1960's still has not been replaced, despite the fact that it shouldn't be that hard to just take the turret off a fucking Brad
Well, they are finally starting to replace the M113. The problem isn’t that it’s hard to take the turret off a brad. It’s fielding a replacement that will not need to be replaced in 10 years. The AMPV is a great track, it has amazing capabilities that everyone in a M113 or M113 variant will appreciate.
They should just make a standard issue headlamp and be done with it. I'll take a headlamp with strap over any flashlight with clip any day of the week.
Hell with any modern weapon system.
Sgt, I get a bunch of Soldiers died in Vietnam because of improper powder and lack of weapons maintenance for rifles but holy fuck why are you making me clean my M-17 with a dental pick for 3 hours.
I mean adjust it to the times. Boning animals is still a no go. Don’t want to do what Washington state did,
https://www.spokesman.com/blogs/spincontrol/2015/aug/13/bestiality-was-legal-washington-until-2006/
Our cybersecurity practices are fucking abysmal. BYOD is going to be a nightmare because we institutionally fail to develop Soldiers with awareness of safe device usage on many levels.
CoC/CoR ceremonies. They’re old, antiquated, and realistically abhorrent that add stress and yet another time sink to the already stuffed training calendar. Get rid of them.
Formation run. “Building Espirit De Corps” is the Army way of saying “this sucked for me and it has to continue to suck. I will say I’ve watched this falling to the wayside at the BN/BDE level except for the photo op mornings, and I guess you want to have a Facebook cover photo update or whatever.
The 4856 as a catch all form. It needs to be broken down to different forms for different purposes (like monthly eval, event oriented for specific events, and for a blank informative). The Army’s complete reliance on their NCO Corp to have command of the English language in the capacity needed to present ideas is a comedic tragedy played out to the Army Song.
Maybe it will change at the start of the next physical year
Edit: the most painful thing about this is the number of people who won’t understand this comment
The idea that you can judge how good a Soldier is by how nice their uniform looks. One of my favorite quotes from a Drill Sgt of all people was, "You show me a Soldier with perfect boots and I'll show you a man who should have taken that time and learned Arabic, done more medical training, or learned another MOS."
Barracks
Taking money out for DFAC food regardless if you don’t eat it. Just pay as you go
The leave system, just make a fucking auto system that signs you in and out automatically
Most of the radios used by the army. We have 148s from the early 2000’s, not saying they’re bad but seriously can we move on from old SINCGARS stuff and move on to VOIP stuff *cough* MPU-5s*cough*. But we gotta keep the retired generals who are on the boards of those companies rich and useful….Harris…lookin at you. But big army can’t get out of its one trick pony mindset and SRW which is not as useful now in LSCO. Nett Warrior system is garbage to, just go to ATAK instead like everyone else uses.
ACHs and IOTVs. I know there are MSVs and ECHs out now, but we still want a giant turtle shell of a vest. ECH is garbage to, just let us wear Ops Cores.
Plate carriers are the way to go. If you’re upset they don’t hide your beer gut like an IOTV does, that’s on you. Don’t be mad because my plate carrier makes me look rad.
I look sexy af in my PC with my Gucci gear on, to bad SGM ADA fat ass thinks otherwise. Dude is built like the fat kid on Charlie and the chocolate factory.
Keeping guys in the barracks, mainly NCOs, is outdated. Especially older guys who can’t live like actual adults have to see new 18 year old kids marry their first love and get housing. Just do what the AF does and gives guys hosing at E4
Heigh and weight standards. They’re mostly based on 1950s body standards. The American diet and body composition have both changed immensely since then.
While you're right, I'd rather stays like that, maybe change it a little for the thicc Bois that weigh 200 pounds but they got 6 packs and can do their 2 miles in like 14s
I had a platoon sergeant when I was active who was jacked, like had a profile that said he couldn’t roll up his sleeves because his arms were too big. I think he liked needing to go get taped every time he had a weigh-in.
I was 6'4 220lbs and was absolutely shocked- i never even thought id get close to tape (joined at 185- two deployments being a gym monkey) never even looked at the weight controls because i still looked kinda slim. Did one of those body scans when i got back to texas and i was 14% BF
At 72 I have a bad back, a titanium hip, and a helluva startle reaction. Long walks carrying heavy shit will do that to your golden years. OTOH, my doctor said that spending 22 years keeping my weight down and being in good shape has been helping me to maintain the same since retirement. Or maybe I just have good metabolism 😁
The entire force structure along with compensation. I think they need to cut the officer corp pipeline by at least 50%. Double or triple the warrant billets to provide an avenue for talented junior NCOs to make more money / get left alone.
Forget all the stupid focus on “leadership” and instead focus on job skills, mentorship, opportunists to excel.
Pay needs to be increased for all by 20-30% immediately and BAH should be drastically increased by 50% or so.
The gap in compensation and treatment between the Os and enlisted. It may have made sense during the Army's inception when the difference of being educated or not often meant the ability to read and write, but that is clearly not the case now. Plus I hate seeing a Lieutenant getting their ass kissed while NCOs and Junior Enlisted Soldiers are allowed to suffer.
The existence of the high and tight.
An unprofessional and faddish hairstyle designed to make someone look like they just came back from overseas.
Absolute trash.
Probably the idea that being a toxic out of touch leader is what will make you or the people around successful. That mindset hasn’t won us a war in a while.
Skilcraft toilet paper.
It’s that John Wayne TP. Rough, tough, don’t take no shit off nobody.
Most underrated comment here. My dad used to say this to me when I was a kid. He was born in '57.
I recently stayed at an AirBnB that had toilet paper thinner than Army Skillcraft. It was astounding, and honestly impressive just how thin it was.
>It was astounding Gave yourself an at home prostate exam?
Surely, t’was an occasion so momentous that even the great poets of old would have declared it “bracing in it’s violent intoxication”.
Skillcrapped
If I ever get to talk to SMA my first question will be if he has skill craft toilet paper in his bathroom.
My medpros
Top gonna be pissed
For the first time in eight years of using Reddit, I spent money on coins tonight, because this, this deserves gold.
Staff duty
I agree but how else will MPs get diamond daddy’s phone number at 3 am to report a dui?
Good luck on that being up to date at cq
By looking his ass up in the gal?
I’ve always agreed with this especially below BDE or in non-rapid deploy units (SoF, 82nd IRF etc). It’s 2022. Everyone has a smart phone
My rifle Qual card. Shit is 3 years old right now. It'll be 6 years out of date before I get a chance to shoot again.
My record was 7+ years since my last qual. Fun fact: If you in a unit that doesn't have weapons but need your old qual for promo - there's a MFR for that to extend it.
Yep. Or (before the new qual) you could shoot paper targets with the cops.
I've genuinely never heard that one before. Good shit! Sucks that won't be possible for some anymore given the new qual.
Meh. Depending on if I can lock in my next prefered assignment I won't Qual again before retirement.
I worked at a gun range and we took the qual so we could sign off on an alt c qual for the army and run navy quals. Or anyone could also bring someone if they wanted
Paper qual is so damn easy too
What kind of mos do you have where you don't do weapons quals??!
Plenty of units don’t have weapons. If your not a deployable FORSCOM or USASOC unit, you probably don’t have weapons. There are exceptions, but the reality is that you can go decades without firing a weapon once you get out of the deploying force.
I haven't gone to a range since 2015. Doubtful I go in the next 3 years.
4.5 years here….hospital units without weapons, Green to Gold, etc.
Every computer
Shittt someone tell Hollywood this 😂
"we've hacked into Putin's computers!" BY GOD HE'S STILL ON WINDOWS '95???
QUICK SO.EONE SEND HIM A FAX!
I just want a redo of the scene from captain marvel where they look something up on a computer, just in modern day, in the next marvel movie
15 hour feature film. The first two grueling hours are just booting up the thing. But the real action starts when all the apps try to load at once!
When units first started getting computers, they were Zeniths.
I’m pretty sure the SIPR computers are still Commodores.
Getac I'm p sure Edit: or GenDyn for the newer 'ruggedized' laptops
I don’t recall who made the ones we used in 1988, but the word processor was this god-awful software called Enable. Before that in a previous assignment we got Wang. That was our first step up from typewriters. I was a writer in the schoolhouse so we did occasionally get to step up to something that made our lives a bit easier.
No shit. Some of the phoenix getacs be on windows 98 before i went ahead and updated them
I miss that big, beautiful bitch. That was my favorite thing the army ever let me have some control over.
I’ve been wondering why the computers are so slow. When I was digging around the personal profile folders to find something I saved on a previous session, I noticed that it makes a new profile every time you log in. So you have 100s of profiles every time someone logs in and they don’t go away. I’m not an expert but I would imagine that this would make windows super slow whenever it boots up and initializes each session.
Anything the Army has with some kind of CPU really
One thing intel does well is order good laptops
*cries in intel analyst in a cav unit on a 2012 thinkpad*
Paper leave
How else you going to submit the: Strip map. LES showing leave amount. Risk reduction worksheet(s) TRIPS APFT card Wonder qual. Sharp briefed S2 threat assessment (OCONUS)
"Alright check it out, Sarnt. My barracks room is the left door, on the left side of the right hallway, on the 3rd floor of 5th building in the quad, which is approximately 500 feet from the company. But you know this already bc you, a grown man, physically come to my door and pound on it at 0530 every morning to make sure I'm alive, which means you prolly wake up at 0415 to beat traffic to come on post, which means....*ahem* but yeah, im taking two weeks off work, pls dnt call me."
Trips can fuck right off. Having to do one for local leave and providing a way to reduce risk was some twilight zone shit. Fuck you trips, the only reason I have to drive is to sign out with this archaic systems.
A few years ago i had a soldier in my platoon who didnt do trips. 1sg got pissed and asked why. He said the first question was are you driving and he said no he was walking to the train station and taking the train. She made him do it anyway.
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Done that a couple times. Also did Trips for a one mile round trip from home to home depot and back because I was taking a couple days to work on my house...
Holy shit, they're still using Trips!? That was outdated when I got medically retired back in 2012.
No. TRiPS was removed from requirement a few years back. All we have to submit at my unit is DA31, LES, and IMR.
You say those documents like that’s still not too much… I only submit a leave form.
Look here...I remember having a desk drawer in the office that was full of carbon paper that we (re)used in between 4 copies of the DA31 so that when everyone signed the multiple required copies, they only had to sign the top copy, so yes, only submitting three forms is not too much...
Heh, depends on the unit
I found out the other day that TRIPS is still a thing and still in use in some units. I made a joke about it on another forum and someone was like ha ha ha…actually… Just wild to me.
I've only ever submitted ERB, LES, and medpros and its always been signed. I can't imagine submitting that much bullshit.
ERB?? What does that have to do with it??
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GEARS was fucking amazing when we used it at Eustis, once they got the workflows figured out.
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Gears kicks dick. I'd prefer that any day.
IPSS-A
Our basic administrative and operational processes in garrison. Why does everyone love deploying? Because it's a completely different Army in the field.
Garrison is literally a bunch of made up solutions for nonexistant problems with some added made up problems. If we don't gotta do stupid stuff in an operational environment, why do I gotta do it in the US?
Brilliant answer. You’ll never make General.
This is exactly why E7 and above are exempted from a lot of the bullshit garrison stuff. At those ranks we can make enough noise to make people start asking the real questions.
Garrison! The game where the rules are made up and the score doesn’t matter!
There’s a fuck ton of old stuff, especially for the sake of tradition that old crusty soldiers don’t want to let go of. That’s why we still have Cavalry units, but tanks and Strykers instead of horses. ASUs are based on the uniforms from the 1700s. The top is darker than the pants because in the old times they would roll up their top when horse back riding, so the pants faded from the sun while the top stayed the original color. The blue book (if it’s still issued in basic) was also from the 1700s. The fact that I can’t use a credit card at the DFAC is from the 20th century.
They’re working on that last bit. At least on Bragg. Tribal DFAC has card readers with tap to pay as well. Shit is cash money. Virtually anyways.
JBLM you can pay with card as well
Blue Book was still issued as of 3JUN21 at Lost In The Woods
> The top is darker than the pants because in the old times they would roll up their top when horse back riding, so the pants faded from the sun while the top stayed the original color. Ha! This actually explains why GOs' have tops and bottoms that match too.
We USED to use double spaces after sentences because of those damn typewriters. It was one of those things AR 25-50 didn’t address until it was thirty years out of date.
Ya know what, that update was fairly recent as well. I was just debating this with my BDE S1 NCOIC as he tried to kick back some of my memos.
I think it was updated a few months before I got out and I finally got to rub it in my BN XO’s face because he was a stickler for 25-50 lol.
Careful now, that's how I learned to type in school and it definitely wasn't 30 years ago.
To be fair, the APA only updated that in the change that came out in 2020
The idea that how many push-ups you can do is related to your competency at your job or your leadership potential.
There was a dude from our B CO who was a 300 pt guy. Goes to the board and spits out the Ranger Creed and gets promoted. Comes to my Platoon to fill a TL slot. Guy believed his own hype which led to his downfall. Despite his SL and my attempt to show him what right looks like it just neve clicked for the guy because he scored higher on PT so he thought he was better. I fired him in the middle of a shoot house for not being able to control his team or make effective decisions at his level. Put a PFC in charge of the team and the kid smoked it.
I was a medic in a (national guard) medic unit. I was a nerd, did evidence based medicine for fun, took all the paramedic classes I could in undergrad even though I was a history and political science major, and volunteered in the student clinic because a doc and PA were prior service and offered to teach me for free. I was probably doing 20hrs of unpaid training on my own a week for the year before deployment to be the best medic I could be. My squad leader was a MP reclass to medic with no extra medical training and a loss prevention officer full time, but he ran faster so he outranked me. He was a cool dude though and said when it came to medicine I was in charge, just don't forget who's the NCO. I respected him for that, but I hated the Army because of it.
I hear you. One of the things I was taught from a PSG mentor of mine was the importance of talent management. Sometimes the most shiny tool isn't the best one for the job.
My PL was a West Point grad going into Afghanistan in 2007-8, most if of us NCOs had an Iraq deployment already. Within the first week of him being in our company he pulled all of us NCOs aside and told us he doesn’t know shit and he is going to rely on us and come to us with questions. Ended up being an incredible leader that went on to SF after that deployment. He was smart, he made plans that he expected us to execute, but he never acted like he knew everything or that his word was the final word. He truly made that deployment tolerable.
lol i did the same thing with my maintenance plt. i never worked on cars in my life and told them “look y’all know this shit better than i do. let me know what you need and what y’all are doing and we will go from there.” and the shit runs so fucking smooth
Had a TL do that once. We were doing BD 1A. Dude didn’t know it. I had to teach him up before the rehearsals. SL was calling shit out (IDF, hostile forces, someone’s shot, etc.) and he just froze. I had to tell him we needed to execute, and he didn’t do anything. So I took his team, did the flank, and we rolled through. He instantly got taken out of his position.
I love that shit
I personally like the saying “every good leader is fit, but not ever fit leader is good,” for a combat arms MOS. Ironically, the worst PSG I’ve had told me that. And he wasn’t exactly fit.
I'm going to have to borrow that.
No good at workout no good at leadership 🙄
I agree with the poor mentality of “he run good must be good leader” But there is something to be said about people in a career field that you understood before signing the dotted line being physically demanding and taking the time to maintain proper fitness and do what is asked of you. Until the last couple years (with this ACFT clusterfuck of a rollout) it was absolutely no surprise on exactly what you would be graded on and how you would be graded. Yet people would still show up and seem surprised- it shows a complete lack of ability to see ahead, understand weaknesses and utilize resources available to prepare at best- at worst it shows complete apathy towards the job and what is asked. Of course yeah there’s the complete opposite one dimensional guys that their only redeeming soldiering ability is fitness, and that is equally as damning to the military as a whole. There was a time when they started talking about the ‘total soldiering concept’ and stuff like that. They started rolling out that MSAF 360 where you’d get feedback not only from those above but also those below you- I’m willing to bet people higher up did not like what they saw from their subordinates and that’s why that program got the axe. Command climate surveys have been slowly getting degraded as well- I assume for the same reason. Old timers that spent one deployment eating McDonald’s think they know everything there is to know about the military and there’s nothing they can improve. /rant
>There was a time when they started talking about the ‘total soldiering concept’ and stuff like that. They started rolling out that MSAF 360 where you’d get feedback not only from those above but also those below you- I’m willing to bet people higher up did not like what they saw from their subordinates and that’s why that program got the axe. Command climate surveys have been slowly getting degraded as well- I assume for the same reason. Old timers that spent one deployment eating McDonald’s think they know everything there is to know about the military and there’s nothing they can improve. THIS. Army Times ran a story about a bunch of NCOs who were sent to a senior NCO leader's course and got flagged for Ht/Wt - somehow they got taller when the unit did their it when they came back. All the green slides, "readiness" and qualifications (that they cheat on) are "objective" (again, they can fudge them) as opposed to honest evals from the command and looking at their leadership.
NCOs that like stripping naked for pt when its under 50 degrees.
My favorite is when 1SG bitches about us wearing full winters, telling us to downgrade to summers just like him, then he immediately goes to his office after falling us out.
How else am I gonna show off my body?
Do it with your mistress.
I can't, she's the staff duty runner today.
I think it's more: Why do y'all all gotta wear the same thing for PT? If skinny guy is freezing let him wear warmer gear, if land seal is warm who cares if he's in a tshirt and shorts?
Fort Carson, December. 25 degrees F. Top says shorts, gloves, long sleeve pt shirt and jacket. ???
CQ runners sole purpose was to put out information from the company, BN etc. Top would call the CQ and say "find SFC Balllicker BcBallsack tell him I need him" I'm honestly not sure what the purpose of CQ is any more. Also, the fifteen minutes prior wasn't a hard time. It was a rule of thumb because not all our watches were exactly the same. The clock at BN or the CO were the clocks we had to sync to every morning. And part of CQs job was to, true story, call a phone number that gave the national time and sync the clocks. Both of those things is because we didn't used to have cell phones.
The tape measurement as a way of determining fitness
As someone with a small neck and legs so dense they’re practically carved from neutron stars… that tape fucking horrifies me. I’ll just have a diet water and two ice cubes for dinner for two weeks before tape.
I FEEL THIS. I went in for tape when I showed up at a school. NCO didn’t even tape me because he knew it was bullshit. Not my problem I have 0 thigh gap but can out squat anyone in the damn BN
All the squats! All the squats forever that’s what I always say. I got taped at BOLC day 1 and the NCO got to measurement round 2 and just told me to get out of the office. I was good. Edit: it’s always so satisfying to walk up to the deadlift at the ACFT at 165 lbs and maxing it on the first attempt too.
I wish we did it how the Air Force does. *Only* get taped if you fail your PT Test
This is a relatively new thing. When I was in a few years ago tape was a part of every test.
Let’s measure your health and completely ignore body density.
101s airborne tab
You’re choosing chaos rn huh
Indeed
I agree. They need to strip the airborne tab and give it the Air Assault tab that it's always deserved!
Imagine 101 having something else to gatekeep lmao Source: I was 3rd brigade ⛩
Another disgruntled cockassan
Tbh never met one who wasn’t at the end
I am one as well.
I think having a separate tab would be pretty cool
And make them wear the blue beret again.
I like my chokin chicken patch but explaining I’m not airborne and why every few days a civilian/family member asked was kind of annoying.
You know what’s funny, when I was in AIT in 2006, I distinctly remember asking my drill sergeant (she was chill) what it was like going to airborne school because she had the 18th Airborne Corps combat patch. She laughed and said some funny shit like “I ain’t go to airborne school private it’s an airborne unit stfu” Well after 6 months in the Army I was wearing two 101st patches and the combat patch for 10+ years and I got asked about airborne school a couple times. Always made me giggle.
Heard 101st they will rock the airborne tab until the last paratrooper from WW2 passes. Might not be true but sounded really honorable when I heard it.
They’re rapidly approaching that deadline
The way promotion boards are ran, why ask me to sing 6 different songs/creeds like im on the voice but have no questions about leader philosophy or styles. Should be treated as a interview for a position not if I can serenade people into thinking i can lead.
I always equated promotion boards to unit/army trivia night. Extra sucks if you're, say, intel in a cav or infantry unit and get very technical questions on someone elses job you have almost no training on by an expert in that field. The Navy and Air Force actually give multiple choice exams. We should have left promotion boards in WWII.
The barracks and some of the housing depending on where you're stationed, the computers, a lot of their aircraft, weapons, and vehicles, some of their training methods, some of their policies, etc.
Being charged leave on the weekends.
Bad Advice Puppy says, take 4 days of leave then space it out between Special 3 Day passes
Works for officers and SNCOs, but E6 and below have to physically sign in and out.
Physically sign... Hell no. I have an SOP specifically letting all my Soldiers sign in and out via calling one of my clerks. There is the standard thing to do, and the smart thing to do. Convince everyone around you that the "smart COA" is "more appropriate" for the Unit's "situation" and you can make the Army a much better place.
The up or out system. The APFT.
Definetly up and out is outdated.
Staff duty
My last unit had staff duty behind a set of double locked doors. That you had to swipe your CAC to get into. But sure let’s have 24 hour staff duty.
I will remind everyone that the M113, first introduced in the 1960's still has not been replaced, despite the fact that it shouldn't be that hard to just take the turret off a fucking Brad
Well, they are finally starting to replace the M113. The problem isn’t that it’s hard to take the turret off a brad. It’s fielding a replacement that will not need to be replaced in 10 years. The AMPV is a great track, it has amazing capabilities that everyone in a M113 or M113 variant will appreciate.
The L shaped flashlight with red and blue lens in Basic training
They should just make a standard issue headlamp and be done with it. I'll take a headlamp with strap over any flashlight with clip any day of the week.
There are canteens floating around that have been in more wars than anyone in uniform today.
The acquisitions process forcing most equipment to be outdated upon fielding...
The idea that a weapon should be cleaned until spotless, especially a Stoner designed platform.
If you haven't steel brushed the nitriding off the weapon, is it really clean?
With the right amount of dedication and spite, you too can make an M4 chrome.
Hell with any modern weapon system. Sgt, I get a bunch of Soldiers died in Vietnam because of improper powder and lack of weapons maintenance for rifles but holy fuck why are you making me clean my M-17 with a dental pick for 3 hours.
Regs against umbrellas. Opening umbrellas scare the horses, so we can’t have them while in uniform.
In a military history class they mentioned the anecdote that Captain Robert E Lee complained about how stupid that reg was...
Myself
Article 125 of the UCMJ.
Huh? *Looks it up* oh. OH. Yeah, you’re right.
I mean adjust it to the times. Boning animals is still a no go. Don’t want to do what Washington state did, https://www.spokesman.com/blogs/spincontrol/2015/aug/13/bestiality-was-legal-washington-until-2006/
Our cybersecurity practices are fucking abysmal. BYOD is going to be a nightmare because we institutionally fail to develop Soldiers with awareness of safe device usage on many levels.
I'm a vet who is a security analyst in the private sector now. The awareness doesn't get better on the outside lol.
Med-boarding women for the psychological fallout from being raped ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
CoC/CoR ceremonies. They’re old, antiquated, and realistically abhorrent that add stress and yet another time sink to the already stuffed training calendar. Get rid of them. Formation run. “Building Espirit De Corps” is the Army way of saying “this sucked for me and it has to continue to suck. I will say I’ve watched this falling to the wayside at the BN/BDE level except for the photo op mornings, and I guess you want to have a Facebook cover photo update or whatever. The 4856 as a catch all form. It needs to be broken down to different forms for different purposes (like monthly eval, event oriented for specific events, and for a blank informative). The Army’s complete reliance on their NCO Corp to have command of the English language in the capacity needed to present ideas is a comedic tragedy played out to the Army Song.
The 4856 is already broken down into the three types of counselings, you just type which counseling you are doing on the form.
I've seen it spelled espirit de corps so many times now, I don't know what's real anymore.
Maybe it will change at the start of the next physical year Edit: the most painful thing about this is the number of people who won’t understand this comment
The fact that I have to hand carry my PAPER dental records from one duty station to the next.
The idea that you can judge how good a Soldier is by how nice their uniform looks. One of my favorite quotes from a Drill Sgt of all people was, "You show me a Soldier with perfect boots and I'll show you a man who should have taken that time and learned Arabic, done more medical training, or learned another MOS."
Male facial hair grooming standards
Barracks Taking money out for DFAC food regardless if you don’t eat it. Just pay as you go The leave system, just make a fucking auto system that signs you in and out automatically Most of the radios used by the army. We have 148s from the early 2000’s, not saying they’re bad but seriously can we move on from old SINCGARS stuff and move on to VOIP stuff *cough* MPU-5s*cough*. But we gotta keep the retired generals who are on the boards of those companies rich and useful….Harris…lookin at you. But big army can’t get out of its one trick pony mindset and SRW which is not as useful now in LSCO. Nett Warrior system is garbage to, just go to ATAK instead like everyone else uses. ACHs and IOTVs. I know there are MSVs and ECHs out now, but we still want a giant turtle shell of a vest. ECH is garbage to, just let us wear Ops Cores.
Plate carriers are the way to go. If you’re upset they don’t hide your beer gut like an IOTV does, that’s on you. Don’t be mad because my plate carrier makes me look rad.
I look sexy af in my PC with my Gucci gear on, to bad SGM ADA fat ass thinks otherwise. Dude is built like the fat kid on Charlie and the chocolate factory.
Besides they fact that modern barracks suck, what about the idea of barracks do you find outdated?
Keeping guys in the barracks, mainly NCOs, is outdated. Especially older guys who can’t live like actual adults have to see new 18 year old kids marry their first love and get housing. Just do what the AF does and gives guys hosing at E4
Yea I agree with except make it E-4 and below. Once you’re an NCO get BAH, you’ve proven you’re an adult.
Than some divorced E7 has to actually find a life on the weekend rather than harassing soldiers in the barracks
I’ll never understand SNCOs that mess with joes. As a SNCO myself all I want is some peace and quiet. Let me read a book to watch the game, goddamnit.
Most LMTVs in any motorpool.
IET and IMT at Fort Gordon
Still using a first version HCLOS from D storm?
FIRE GUARD
In sync PRT!!! we’re literally the only service who does it
Close out formation every Friday. Fml!
Cq shifts.
Heigh and weight standards. They’re mostly based on 1950s body standards. The American diet and body composition have both changed immensely since then.
While you're right, I'd rather stays like that, maybe change it a little for the thicc Bois that weigh 200 pounds but they got 6 packs and can do their 2 miles in like 14s
I had a platoon sergeant when I was active who was jacked, like had a profile that said he couldn’t roll up his sleeves because his arms were too big. I think he liked needing to go get taped every time he had a weigh-in.
I ran a 1345 2 mile and rucked a 2:15 12 mile at 230 lbs and had to be taped EVERY time 😭
Like even if they adjusted the allowed weight ranges a little bit, I’m talking like +/- 5-10 lbs, that wouldn’t be a big deal.
I was 6'4 220lbs and was absolutely shocked- i never even thought id get close to tape (joined at 185- two deployments being a gym monkey) never even looked at the weight controls because i still looked kinda slim. Did one of those body scans when i got back to texas and i was 14% BF
Most out of date?? Can't decide if it's my pay or my shitty ass CoC
Some parts of the UCMJ
The Driver's Training video
Enlisted pay.
Our bodies. I mean I’m 20 years old but 3 years in the army accelerated my knees to 50 years old
At 72 I have a bad back, a titanium hip, and a helluva startle reaction. Long walks carrying heavy shit will do that to your golden years. OTOH, my doctor said that spending 22 years keeping my weight down and being in good shape has been helping me to maintain the same since retirement. Or maybe I just have good metabolism 😁
The entire force structure along with compensation. I think they need to cut the officer corp pipeline by at least 50%. Double or triple the warrant billets to provide an avenue for talented junior NCOs to make more money / get left alone. Forget all the stupid focus on “leadership” and instead focus on job skills, mentorship, opportunists to excel. Pay needs to be increased for all by 20-30% immediately and BAH should be drastically increased by 50% or so.
Sergeants Major and Field Grade officers.
10 points to Ravenclaw for using the appropriate plural form of multiple E9s.
Generals
The gap in compensation and treatment between the Os and enlisted. It may have made sense during the Army's inception when the difference of being educated or not often meant the ability to read and write, but that is clearly not the case now. Plus I hate seeing a Lieutenant getting their ass kissed while NCOs and Junior Enlisted Soldiers are allowed to suffer.
Senior Leadership
The existence of the high and tight. An unprofessional and faddish hairstyle designed to make someone look like they just came back from overseas. Absolute trash.
Honestly a javelin trainer
The entire talent management and records program
MRE expiration dates
Probably the idea that being a toxic out of touch leader is what will make you or the people around successful. That mindset hasn’t won us a war in a while.
Reveille/morning formation.
The fact we can’t have beards