Mustang posted:

Of my year group in my BN I am the one guy that's for sure going to the career course, the rest of them are either getting out or heavily leaning towards getting out.

Mustang posted:

God drat Yakima Training Center

Mustang posted:

I'm starting to realize why everyone in the Army has a drinking problem

Mustang posted:

Good thing we're scheduled with more YTC rotations in a year than most LT's get in 3 years I guess......

I honestly often feel like I have no idea what the gently caress I'm doing when we're in garrison because I've spent so little time actually doing garrison stuff.

My cohort of PL's already have more field time with our PLTs than any of the "senior" LT's ever did with theirs.

Mustang posted:

Definitely see how my BDE has the lowest officer retention rate in the Army

Mustang posted:

Even though there's a lot of stupid poo poo I have to deal with from higher, I really lucked out having great company level leadership, really good NCOs in my Platoon and my soldiers never do anything dumb over the weekend while my sister Platoon has near constant soldier troubles.

It sucks im losing my PSG and I'd be pretty butt hurt if I also lost one of my squad leaders.

Mustang posted:

I've got less than a year to my ETS date, I'd still have like 2 or 3 years left if I was ROTC or a west pointer

Mustang posted:

2nd BDE, today's a great day for most of a BDE to go to Yakima

Mustang posted:

Seems like 19As and 19Ds are the most numerous of GIPs Army posters.



And god drat am I loving sick of being in Yakima

Mustang posted:

So this is the first time I've heard the term used, but apparently my BDE is a "fenced" unit now. The gently caress?

Mustang posted:

You had an appointment during PT hours!?!? What a poo poo bag....

I've been lucky with all my immediate superiors but they haven't been able to insulate us from the absurd amount of poo poo that comes down on us from higher. 14 hour days are pretty normal right now...

My new PSG turned out to be really good too

Mustang posted:

Not only are we probably working through the weekend, we're working through what happens to be a 4 day for every other unit on post

Mustang posted:

gently caress I can't wait to get out. I don't know how anyone can do this stupid poo poo for 20 years. My life has pretty much been the Army for all of 2017 so far.

Can't keep up with a gym routine because I'm often at work super late, and because I'm at work late I often don't make dinner myself and eat fast food on post. I mean I guess I could still do those things afterward but I like to get at least a little bit of sleep.

Whenever I hear some colonel, general or csm talking about taking care of the troops I just think they're completely full of poo poo

Mustang posted:

They'll be like "hey get all this poo poo done now and you'll get a couple weeks of down time afterward" only they end up dumping some more bullshit on you to do instead. Just endlessly chasing the downtime carrot and never catching it

Mustang posted:

It's pretty weird how offended higher ups in the Army can be that I'm 30 years old with no wife and kids, that I'm somehow failing at life for actually enjoying myself on my weekends

Mustang posted:

Just nearly made it 12 months with no phone calls in the middle of the night....

Mustang posted:

Thanks Army for loving me out of Christmas block leave after my friends made arrangements to come out here because we have red cycle tasks for the second Christmas in a row

Mustang posted:

Now that I've had a day to stew on it, I'm loving livid. The odds of getting my buddies to all take vacation at the same time and come out here are pretty loving low, but I finally managed it for this Christmas. They could have hosed me out of literally any other block leave period and I would be a little butt hurt but I'd get over it.

I know I bitch a lot in this thread but I don't bitch at all around anyone I work with or for. Pretty much all my venting goes into this thread.

I work hard, long hours and get a lot of poo poo done and just say "roger, I'll figure it out" when given more and more poo poo to do. I never miss work or leave early because of family bullshit like the married guys do. I've never asked for a 4 day pass while everyone else is working.

It's 7 loving days this year I thought were protected because it falls on block leave but instead the Army is just like "Great job Mustang, thanks for the hard work, have this giant steaming turd!"

Sure I get comped block leave at a "date to be determined" but who loving cares? Block leave when all my friends and family are back at work? I'm single so it's not like I have dependents I can drag around.

Mustang posted:

Basically everyone else gets block leave except the people on specific red cycle taskings because we’re on red cycle for the second Christmas in a row.

The BDE is also on pacific reaction force duty or whatever so 96 hour recall for guys on block leave.

Looking at next years calendar I don’t know when they would give it to us, there’s tons of poo poo going on.

I’ve also noticed that West Pointers, being the most common type of officer in my unit, are the least likely to be hosed over.

Mustang posted:

My commander is the one that put me on this task as the required officer.

I have no motivation to do anything more than the bare minimum anymore. Pretty much the only week I was looking forward to this year.

I’m probably going to be a moody rear end in a top hat at work for the next few months

Mustang posted:

I’m so close to dumping my poo poo detail onto a 2LT...

Feel kind of like a dick but he’s fresh from BOLC and I’ve spent most of this year away from home

Mustang posted:

I️ want to make CPT but at the same time I️ want to get out as soon as possible, which would be next summer. Around the same time as my CPT board.

Constantly rotating in and out of the field and working late in garrison means you can’t have a life outside the Army.

Things probably aren’t going to work out with the current girl I’m dating because I’m either working or gone too much.

I️ don’t know how the gently caress people put up with this poo poo for 20+ years.

Mustang posted:

It’s irritating how the Army feels entitled to be all up in everyone’s personal lives. Like why the gently caress am I even remotely involved in one of my soldiers divorces? Both the soldier and spouse are giant loving idiots that got married way too young and I honestly just don’t give a poo poo.

The worst thing to find out is that one of your soldiers is getting married because it almost always ends up becoming a problem I have to deal with later on down the line.

It’s even worse when they start having kids while also buying brand new f-150s and you have to be all up in your soldiers finances because the Army is dumb is as all hell.

You can’t fix stupid and there’s a lot of stupid in the Army.

Mustang posted:

So for whatever loving reason officer moves have been "frozen". Not even sure what could prompt that kind of decision but whatever. I'm now a good year senior than all but one of the other PLs.

It's just in time for me to be tasked to go be an OC for our sister BDE for a few weeks next year. A couple weeks after that we go to Yakima for 3 weeks to a month. Then I'll likely be an NTC OC augmentee the month after that.

5 major field problems, and two OC rotations as a PL. I will have spent more time away than at home by whenever the gently caress I'm done here.

I had started dating again since I thought things were going to slow down but now it looks like I'm going to spend most of the first third of next year out of town.

And on that note, really hot girl that's my age but has a 9 year old son she has joint custody with. See where things go? Never dated a mom before.

Viva Miriya posted:

Mustang when do you ETS?

Mustang posted:

June 2018, waiting to get back from block leave and see how hosed I am with taskings, ie are they sending me to Ft. Hunter Liggett to be an OC for a month, are they sending me to Yakima for another month, and are they sending me back to NTC to be an OC for a month.

Mustang posted:

Jesus Christ, I might become the S4.

gently caress.

Mustang posted:

some dumb about a fire extinguisher dated July 8th 2018

its curtains for Kevin posted:

Bliss.

Mustang posted:

Man, the Army is loving lame as hell

Mustang posted:

Nothing outside the norm, it's just after over a year of a deluge of bullshit coming down on us all the time I was finally like "so, what's our focus and how should we prioritize all this poo poo???" and the answer was "Everything. It's all the #1 priority."

It's stupid of me to even remotely assume that lifers may not view service in the Army as literally a LIFE LONG commitment.

I literally heard it directly out of the BDE commander and CSMs mouth when he visited us once that the bullshit would die down and we would get a break after NTC. What a loving dumbass I was, a loving idiot, to think that that would be even remotely true.

Mustang posted:

Red Cycle was supposed to end at the end of block leave, so like Jan 3rd. Now it's pushed out to like loving April at a minimum.

Mustang posted:

Both me and my PSG will be gone for a month so the squad leaders are going to have to deal with it.

gently caress, I think almost my entire platoon lives paycheck to paycheck, even most of the SSGs.

Mustang posted:

“Hey dude, I know you’re leaving for a month but we need you to help pitch this LPD late in the afternoon of the day before you leave, thanks!”

Taking care of soldiers, hooah!

Mustang posted:

So as an OC I’m surrounded by a bunch of people that aren’t in my unit and I was talking to a JPMRC captain about getting out and it was literally a conversation where all he did is offer up standard Army excuses on why working for the Army sucks and that things aren’t all that great outside because the Army pays us officers a lot of money, our health care, sense of purpose and comraderie, etc etc.

Why do lifers get so defensive when somebody wants to get out? Why do they care and even want to talk somebody out of it in the first place?

Dude is a west pointer too so he’s spent his whole adult life suckling on the Army teat so I don’t know why he’s trying to tell a guy that joined the Army at 27 what it’s like as a civilian.

Mustang posted:

Mustang posted:

Well they already made the bitter, apathetic LT a staff primary and voluntold to go to the officer of the quarter board so I’m sure if they can send me to this parade they will

Mustang posted:

I'd rather become a quietly productive stoner that's in great shape and has an awesome social life rather than an alcoholic mess but the Army only allows me to do one of these things.

I wouldn't say I'm an alcoholic mess but there has definitely been too many nights after work where I was like "today loving sucked, I'm gonna have a few beers". Never enough to get drunk but definitely enough to get tipsy and dehydrated and feel like poo poo in the morning.

A bunch of us officers were talked to by our senior leadership about how something like half the BN doesn't trust their leadership during the last command climate survey and our roles in that metric. I wanted to be like "sir, probably half the officers here feel the same way as the dudes in that survey".

It's not even that the people are in charge are horrible people. But they are terrible to work for, they're like slave masters that don't realize it. Basically its "You will work until the work is done. Everything is a priority, we will not fail on anything."

Somehow they don't realize why all these LT's and junior CPTs see that the grass is greener on the other side. Which isn't very far when we live in the Seattle metro area and everyone has friends now out of the Army working in the area.

Mustang posted:

I can’t tell the difference anymore, every day it’s the same poo poo, getting pulled in every direction by multiple people all harassing you about how whatever it is they need is super important and needs to get done NOW

Mustang posted:

The frustrating part is that there is usually either no rip or a very short one so there’s virtually no continuity so you’re always reinventing the wheel.

Or is the poo poo that’s inspected every year is only a concern prior to the inspection and then forgotten about or the person that made the fancy inspection passing continuity binder takes it with them when they PCS.

Mustang posted:

Command climate even worse than I thought.

Officers trying to get out are basically prevented as much as possible from transitioning out of the Army.

When job opportunities open up in other units you’re denied because “you’re just trying to leave the unit”

Mustang posted:

After the things I learned today this is seriously the most defeated I have ever felt in my life. If I tell them I want out they will make my life living hell and if I stay in to outlast the change of command that's another year of 13+ hour work days, and the next group might be even worse.

I'm going on 4 years in, I shouldn't feel burned out.

I don't know how the gently caress I'm going to get through this year, it's turning out to be even longer hours than the last year.

Mustang posted:

I was kidding, I refuse to date or sleep with any women even remotely associated with the military.

So in other news, I just found out from the recent command climate survey that my BN has the worst morale in the Army, breaking the streak held by another BN.

Mustang posted:

It was from outside the unit that I heard we were the worst, but I knew it was bad and when higher told us about it they kind of insinuated that we (junior officers and NCOs) were part of the blame.

I pretty much now think field grades are the worst group of people in the Army, but mostly because they have the biggest direct impact on day to day life for me and right now it’s not a very good one.

Mustang posted:

They preach mission command and decentralized leadership but in practice they micro manage every we do. I definitely have absolutely nothing to do with making people work late, or changing things at the last minute or holding out as long as possible on making major decisions.

Mustang posted:

I'm just exhausted from living at work for the last year, wondering what tasks the end of the day briefing my superiors go to will think up for me to do. Occasionally offering push back on some of this bullshit and constantly being told "no, do it anyway." Not trusting anyone that outranks me with any of the concerns or personal problems I might be having because despite the words that come out of their mouths about "taking care of soldiers" it's pretty obvious none of them give a single gently caress.

I've been looking back on the past year of busting my rear end and wearing myself out for my unit and wondering what the gently caress I did it for. A pat on the back for a good job done? The only thing I've gotten from the past year that means anything to me is the respect of my soldiers and NCOs, who are also the only people in my unit that I trust.

I've definitely developed a drinking problem which I am not at all willing to discuss with anyone that outranks me. I'm also reasonably certain I'm an insomniac now and have a hard time falling asleep at night.

Transitioning to staff has just made me realize that everything is worse than I ever thought it was and that nothing is going to get better and that the delusional LTC I work for is never going to change and that nothing he says about "taking care of soldiers" means poo poo.

Mustang posted:

CGSC must have a class on inconvenient meetings because field grades seem to love adding more and more to the schedule. They especially seem to love end of the day on Fridays. Why? Because other meetings take up all the other time blocks during the week.

And who's fault is it for low morale and officer retention? Obviously ours, not the guys in charge.

Mustang posted:

Push back goes nowhere, they just make us do it anyway because they outrank us and that's that.

For some reason they don't understand that the rest of us don't love the Army and aren't completely okay with the Army being our entire life like they are.

I pretty much just don't trust anyone MAJ and above anymore.

My BDE is bleeding CPTs and LTs left and right. My BN has half as many LTs as we did when I first showed up.

Mustang posted:

Our HHC commander when I first got to my unit had all sorts of required bullshit to go on leave, SERE 100, AT lvl 1, ISOPREP, and some other certs. Worked out to something like 18 additional things on top of the DA 31 and TRIPS.

Somehow his cover sheet made it to the other companies and then they all started doing it too.

Mustang posted:

Why do LTCs have such a huge boner for LPDs? Between weekly 2 hour long LPDs, multiple BN level and BDE meetings I barely get any time to do actual work.

The meetings are at least sometimes productive, the LPDs are almost universally a waste of time. Especially since a lot of them are on mission command which is great but the Army doesn't practice mission command, the Army micromanages. Thanks for preaching to us about subordinate leader empowerment and other nonsense while micromanaging virtually everything everyone the unit does you loving hypocrites.

Their answer to too many meetings and not enough time to work is "just work later if you have to".

Such inspiring leadership.

Mustang posted:

About to head to the 10th meeting that requires me this week. I'm thankful that one that had majors as attendees they threw a poo poo fit about it and it's no longer a meeting because it was pointless.

But it's irritating that when us lowly LTs and CPTs bitch about having to go to meetings we have to just suck it up and go. There's only 2 a week that directly involves me and relevant to my job. A third I don't have a role in but it's useful information for me. All the others do nothing but waste my time. They're almost all at least an hour and a half.

I hope at higher echelons that majors and LTCs are just as miserable from having COLs and generals wasting their time with an abundance of meetings.

Mustang posted:

Today we had a meeting about having too many meetings.

Result? No change.

Mustang posted:

Giving LTCs and COLs 2 years of command time was an awful idea

Mustang posted:

I just checked my email and pretty much every inch of white space on my calendar this week has been filled up with either a battle rhythm meeting or planning conference.

For most of these training events my part is pretty easy. Class I and III. Call me if you have any questions.

But no I have to go to these things because what if the other staff sections have questions?

I'm in the same loving building, Jesus Christ.

I have way more important poo poo I can be spending my time on, if I had any time that is.

Mustang posted:

Some days leave me wondering who the gently caress I pissed off enough to be made the S4

this week is going to be painful

Mustang posted:

All of my primary staff peers are post CCC Captains and it irritates me that their slides are stuff like "here's the pace plan" or "generic Soviet enemy" and going home early while I'm figuring out the logistics of moving and sustaining a BNs personnel and equipment.

it's just me and my NCOIC, I don't have an entire section to work on stuff

Mustang posted:

Its depressing realizing that I still have another year left of being an S4

mlmp08 posted:

Your ADSO's not over?

Mustang posted:

It's over but I want to get CPT first.

I'm about to go on leave and spend some time looking into going to grad school programs. I'm going to try to do the corporate fellowship program and if I cant find a decent paying job then I'll use my GI Bill.

So I guess it's less than a year left factoring in 3 months for the corporate fellowship.

Being an S4 is the most soul crushing job I've ever had. I've got a demanding XO and all of my subordinates have issues that get in the way of their work at least once a week.

Vahakyla posted:

Imagine the central box for the building's firealarm. It's sunday, on a four day weekend. Fire inspectors will arrive on tuesday to fix it. What's wrong with it, you ask? Oh, nothing much, except every five or so minutes it will start beeping a fault, and if the alarm is not acknowledged with a button press within 30 seconds, it trips a building wide fire alarm. Easy task for the private tasked to sit next to it in a chair in 24h shifts, getting up at random intervals ranging from 2 to 7 minutes, to press a button accompanied with BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.

This scene is surreal, and I love it.

Vahakyla posted:

Imagine the central box for the building's firealarm. It's sunday, on a four day weekend. Fire inspectors will arrive on tuesday to fix it. What's wrong with it, you ask? Oh, nothing much, except every five or so minutes it will start beeping a fault, and if the alarm is not acknowledged with a button press within 30 seconds, it trips a building wide fire alarm. Easy task for the private tasked to sit next to it in a chair in 24h shifts, getting up at random intervals ranging from 2 to 7 minutes, to press a button accompanied with BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.

This scene is surreal, and I love it.

Vahakyla posted:

Imagine the central box for the building's firealarm. It's sunday, on a four day weekend. Fire inspectors will arrive on tuesday to fix it. What's wrong with it, you ask? Oh, nothing much, except every five or so minutes it will start beeping a fault, and if the alarm is not acknowledged with a button press within 30 seconds, it trips a building wide fire alarm. Easy task for the private tasked to sit next to it in a chair in 24h shifts, getting up at random intervals ranging from 2 to 7 minutes, to press a button accompanied with BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.

This scene is surreal, and I love it.

Viva Miriya posted:

ok thanks for reading the saga of Mustang. I think we're caught up by now.

A Bad Poster posted:

I'm so glad I'm out. Gonna go up to my buddy's cabin this weekend and forget about anything to do with the army.

its curtains for Kevin posted:

Is this Vahakyla's slow descent into Army.txt as well

mods changed my name posted:

The entry level separation guy who is going to rotc leads the charge of the mustang skewering 🤔🤔

mods changed my name posted:

The entry level separation guy who is going to rotc leads the charge of the mustang skewering 🤔🤔

UP THE BUM NO BABY posted:

mods changed my name posted:

How so?

Mustang posted:

I️ don’t know how the gently caress people put up with this poo poo for 20+ years.

mods changed my name posted:

Ebb, humble suggestion, merge all the active duty threads and/or create a no career shaming rule because this "wait for one or two guys to post then dog pile them relentlessly" poo poo is tiresome, needlessly hostile and the dudes that are still in should be able to discuss poo poo without constant torment. That was the whole point of gip in the first place. Idk I'm just kinda high take it or leave it, nice meltdown

mods changed my name posted:

Ebb, humble suggestion, merge all the active duty threads and/or create a no career shaming rule because this "wait for one or two guys to post then dog pile them relentlessly" poo poo is tiresome, needlessly hostile and the dudes that are still in should be able to discuss poo poo without constant torment. That was the whole point of gip in the first place. Idk I'm just kinda high take it or leave it, nice meltdown