# I Made It! (TSgt Select)



## Griffworks (Jun 24, 2002)

Woo Hoo! 

Got a call from the squadron commander a short time ago. She was congratulating me on my promotion to Technical Sergeant (E-6)! My line number is relatively low, but far enough down the line that I'll likely not sew it on 'til November/December timeframe. Still, more money for me! :wave: 

I really didn't think I had made it, either. I had ZERO CONFIDENCE when I stepped out of that testing room back in March, as we'd been on some funky shift schedules, bouncing me around between Days, Swings & Mids for about two months. In fact, the previous week I'd been on Mids and the testing starts at 0730. I was tellin' folks that asked if I had tested yet that I'd indeed taken my Staff (Sergeant) Verification Test to confirm I'd be a Staff for another year.  

Anyhow, wanted to share my good news! It means more pay, more responsibility and a higher housing allowance - we can now afford to buy a house! Now I just gotta get my butt and head separated and get under 14 minutes on my run and all will be good in my life.


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## El Gato (Jul 15, 2000)

Hey, congratulations Griff! If I make it to Wonderfest next year remind me to buy you a beer!

José


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## Thom S. (Sep 28, 2004)

Same here, Jeff! Remind you to buy me a beer!


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

That's great news,Griff! Moving up.


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## Carson Dyle (May 7, 2003)

Congrats, Jeff. :thumbsup: 

Next year at Wonderfest, the drinks are on me.


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## Dave Hussey (Nov 20, 1998)

Awesome!!

A house? Wow that means ya got room for all of us to crash when we're in town.........  Just kidding!

But my treat for fish and chips if ya ever get back this way!

Huzz :thumbsup:


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## Steven Coffey (Jan 5, 2005)

Congratulations !And thank you for your service to our country ! How many years you been in ? My brother is a Chief Petty officer in the Navy ,I think his rank is E7 he is a Corpsman .He is coming up on his 20 year mark and retirement .


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## veedubb67 (Jul 11, 2003)

Good on 'ya Griff. I retired as a MSgt 3 years ago and I applaud your dedication to your country. Good luck on the house. We didn't buy our first until I was a TSgt, so I know what you're going through. Again, Congrats!

Rob


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## Chuck_P.R. (Jun 8, 2003)

Congrats, Griff!

Just keep your head down, Jeff! 
Officers make bigger targets!


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## dan1701d (Jun 9, 2004)

Woot, Congrats Jeff, way to go.


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## Just Plain Al (Sep 7, 1999)

Congrats Jeff, from Sergeant First Class/E-7 ( U.S. Army ) retired Al.


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## Babaganoosh (Dec 16, 2004)

Does this mean we have to salute you and call you sir?


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## RogueJ (Oct 29, 2000)

Congrates Griff,
I took the Test just before I separated from the Air Force. Didn't prep for it since I was getting out. That was in 81, I'm sure testing methods have changed since then. Anyway enjoy the promotion and as already stated next Wonderfest if I spot your nametag...you got yet another beer coming.

Rogue


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## zysurge (Sep 6, 2002)

Congrats Jeff! I'll buy you a round (or two) next year at WF.

Eric


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## capt Locknar (Dec 29, 2002)

Congrats. I know what you mean about the run, I always had trouble with that one myself. And the Army has a 2 mile run, doesn't the air force do a 1.5 mile run?


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## Griffworks (Jun 24, 2002)

Thanks, everybody! I appreciate it! 




capt Locknar said:


> Congrats. I know what you mean about the run, I always had trouble with that one myself. And the Army has a 2 mile run, doesn't the air force do a 1.5 mile run?


Yes, a 1.5 mile run and we just went back to that last year after going with a bike test for somethin glike 8 years. I've never been a runner and used to have problems when I first joined up - and was much thinner & younger. I'm improving my time every week, so hope to blow it out by the end of next month. It's my last major personal hurdle, tho would still like to drop another 15 or 20 pounds.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

SA-LUTE!!!!

I can do 1.5 miles in about, oh, 30 minutes.


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## Steven Coffey (Jan 5, 2005)

I could do it close to an hour, 2 bad knees !


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

Congrats, Griff! I've heard it's tough to make advancement in the USAF. I've heard some folks retire as E5s. (The navy's a lot easier to make rate due to the high turnover.)


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## Trekmanscott (Oct 4, 2002)

Hey Jeff,
Really great to hear. Congratulations.

Scott


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## Griffworks (Jun 24, 2002)

Thanks again, everybody! 


John P said:


> I can do 1.5 miles in about, oh, 30 minutes.


What's sad is that a few months ago I was only making the run in about 21 minutes....  I've sucked for quite some time at this running thing. I'm getting better, tho. Long distance running just ain't my bag, bay-bee. 



PerfesserCoffee said:


> Congrats, Griff! I've heard it's tough to make advancement in the USAF. I've heard some folks retire as E5s. (The navy's a lot easier to make rate due to the high turnover.)


Oh, yeah. It's not as easy as it can be in a lot of other services. A couple years ago here in the USAF, they were practically handing out E-5 Stripes. The promotion rate was roughly 66% for two years in a row and was above 50% for the year proceeding and the year after, as well. Of course, that had to be a couple years _after_ I made Staff....


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## BATBOB (Jul 14, 2003)

How did I miss this one?

Congrats Griff and Goodluck.

Just got my resin Mark II. She sure is NICE!!!!


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## Four Mad Men (Jan 26, 2004)

Hey Griff. Congratulations man! Just think, one more and you'll be management. Way to go and thank you for your service.

-- NCOs... Where the work gets done.


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## Griffworks (Jun 24, 2002)

BATBOB said:


> How did I miss this one?
> 
> Congrats Griff and Goodluck.
> 
> Just got my resin Mark II. She sure is NICE!!!!


Thanks! Which of the Mk II kits is that? The 1/48 or the 1/72? I had to go w/the 1/72 due to shelf space limitations. That, and like The Scale of the Gawds (1/2500 for those of you who are heathens  ), you can put multples on the same shelf space where you could only put one in a large scale. 




Four Mad Men said:


> Hey Griff. Congratulations man! Just think, one more and you'll be management. Way to go and thank you for your service.


:sigh: Yeah, I'll then be The Man....  


> -- NCOs... Where the work gets done.


Amen! :thumbsup:


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## F91 (Mar 3, 2002)

Jeff, Way cool! Next year at WF, I'll buy you a beer and you can buy me a house!


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## bccanfield (Nov 17, 2002)

Congrats


Some of the best times I had as a Squadron Commander was touring the unit, passing out stripes on the morning the list came out.

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/_/viewer.aspx?path=f/f0/&name=USAirF.insignia.e6.afmil.png


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

And to think, if I'd stayed in, I would've retired a month ago.

However, considering that I volunteered for Panama out of sheer boredom (I had my bags packed and the cheerful "you might not make it back" talk from the squadron section commander when they decided at the last minute that they didn't need an admin troop on the deployment after all; this was fairly shortly before the mission to oust Noriega), I think I was steadily becoming a menace to myself and others, and it was probably for the best that I got out while I still remembered what civilian life was like.


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## capt Locknar (Dec 29, 2002)

If I had stained in, 7 more years till retirement from this date. Sometimes I miss it but sometimes I really don't miss it. I was Army, The politics and power trips got to be more than I could handle. To many people treating you like a child. I guess military service is for some but not for all.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

I've always taken exception to the concept that military service "makes a man out of you." What it does is make you into an overage adolescent who's trained to kill.

Combat probably does a great job of instilling a major dose of maturity, but military service by itself just prolongs that period where someone in authority tells you what to wear, where to live, what to eat, what to do, and to mind your manners, all which are enforced by federal law. This is especially true in the Air Force, where in most cases, the mission is accomplished by others and your job is to sit back in some sort of support role.

In any case, congrats on making Tech, Griff. I know it ain't exactly easy, even when the Air Force is feeling generous.


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

^^By the point you reach Griff's level, you're the one telling the others what to do--at least on the job.


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## BATBOB (Jul 14, 2003)

Griff,

I got the 1/48.

My review and pics are over at Scalehobby.

http://forums.scalehobby.com/viewthread.php?tid=4257&page=1#pid37891


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Captain April said:


> I've always taken exception to the concept that military service "makes a man out of you." What it does is make you into an overage adolescent who's trained to kill.
> 
> Combat probably does a great job of instilling a major dose of maturity, but military service by itself just prolongs that period where someone in authority tells you what to wear, where to live, what to eat, what to do, and to mind your manners, all which are enforced by federal law. This is especially true in the Air Force, where in most cases, the mission is accomplished by others and your job is to sit back in some sort of support role.
> 
> In any case, congrats on making Tech, Griff. I know it ain't exactly easy, even when the Air Force is feeling generous.


 Well, it SOUNDS like you're speaking from experience, rather than some leftist righteousness, but still, a bit of a left-handed congratulations. :freak:


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## Four Mad Men (Jan 26, 2004)

Captain April said:


> the mission is accomplished by others...





Captain April said:


> ...your job is to sit back in some sort of support role.


Blood... boiling.

Must... not... kill...

The mission is accomplished because everyone does their part. Do you have any idea of the number of maintenance hours it takes to generate a single flight hour? And that says nothing for the number of non-maintenance support hours. So congratulations, again, to Griff. And April, I'm glad it's him in there and not you.


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## F91 (Mar 3, 2002)

I'm a (insert leftie insult here) and I think it's great that Griff is moving up in the Military. Griff's a great guy and deserves all the success he can get.



John P said:


> Well, it SOUNDS like you're speaking from experience, rather than some leftist righteousness, but still, a bit of a left-handed congratulations. :freak:


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

Captain April said:


> I've always taken exception to the concept that military service "makes a man out of you." What it does is make you into an overage adolescent who's trained to kill.


Sorry, but as a veteran Navy Diver that sounds like so much pseudo-intellectual pop-psychology tree-hugging posturing. And it's also inaccurate. About 95% aren't "trained to kill". They are trained to cook, trained to play musical instruments, trained to write checks, trained to repair stuff, etc, etc.



Captain April said:


> Combat probably does a great job of instilling a major dose of maturity, but military service by itself just prolongs that period where someone in authority tells you what to wear, where to live, what to eat, what to do, and to mind your manners, all which are enforced by federal law. .


Yeah, because in the corporate and/or business world, you can wear anything you like, eat anything you want, live where, and act however you want.

When I graduated from jump school, I'll never forget my two older cousins told me with all seriousness at my party that they couldn't understand how I could be in the military, wear a uniform, and deal with all the rules and government bull$hit. Instead, they informed me, I should come work with them, and my uncles _at the Post Office!!!!!!!_

Also, I've been in combat several times and my wife says I'm incredibly immature. Ofthen



Captain April said:


> This is especially true in the Air Force, where in most cases, the mission is accomplished by others and your job is to sit back in some sort of support role..


So don't agree, everybody's job is important. And the great people in the service are the guys & gals that excell in the less glamourous jobs. You can be the greatest pilot in the world, but if your plane doesn't work right, you can't communicate with anyone, or you can't find your target, you ain't much good.



Captain April said:


> In any case, congrats on making Tech, Griff. I know it ain't exactly easy, even when the Air Force is feeling generous.


Ditto, and congrats, Griff!


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## The-Nightsky (May 10, 2005)

If you havent done it dont knock it.I Did panama! Night jump into the prison yard! I did Desert storm! we fought the Republican Guard on hiway one.I was 82nd Airborne! ALL AMERICAN ! HOOAH!I wasnt infantry I was an M.P. but we fought like infantry.I have a combat patch that I am very proud of.Imho military service is a rite.maintenance,support,combat arms...it takes everyone to make it work.Griff.....good job man!!! keep it up and go far!!


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

PerfesserCoffee said:


> ^^By the point you reach Griff's level, you're the one telling the others what to do--at least on the job.


If you're lucky, that fifth stripe means the person has been around long enough to know what's actually going on and operates accordingly.

If you're not, you get a supervisor like I got once who got promoted to Tech waaaaaaaaaaaay too early and didn't know squat. One thing worse than incompetence is incompetence with authority.


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## Trek Ace (Jul 8, 2001)

Congratulations, TS Griffin!


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## Tholian (Oct 3, 2004)

Sorry Griff, didn't see this thread until now. BUt Congratulations. I am glad the ones who deserve it, get it!


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

PhilipMarlowe said:


> Sorry, but as a veteran Navy Diver that sounds like so much pseudo-intellectual pop-psychology tree-hugging posturing. And it's also inaccurate. About 95% aren't "trained to kill". They are trained to cook, trained to play musical instruments, trained to write checks, trained to repair stuff, etc, etc.


Now, _your_ job, I would've killed to do. One of my big regrets is that I never followed up with the SCUBA classes I had in college and got certified.

However, when stuck in a virtual dead-end like Administration, you not only lose a certain enthusiasm for military life, you also have time to ponder just what that type of life actually does to a person (like volunteering for duty in a potential war zone *out of sheer boredom!*). That is, when you're not carrying out the whims of a junior officer who's only there for resume enhancement (probably another inducement to volunteer for hazardous duty).

As for the "trained to kill" bit, hey, even in the Air Force's excuse for basic training (which I understand has become an even bigger joke than when I went through it), you get a day learning the in's and out's of the M-16.



> Yeah, because in the corporate and/or business world, you can wear anything you like, eat anything you want, live where, and act however you want.


Who said anything about corporate? That'd be worse than the Air Force. :drunk: 



> When I graduated from jump school, I'll never forget my two older cousins told me with all seriousness at my party that they couldn't understand how I could be in the military, wear a uniform, and deal with all the rules and government bull$hit. Instead, they informed me, I should come work with them, and my uncles _at the Post Office!!!!!!!_


Yeah, _that'd_ be a step up. I trust you told them what they could do with themseves. BTW, the first year and a half, I worked with the base interoffice mail, so as far as the post office goes, been there, done that, not all that impressed.



> Also, I've been in combat several times and my wife says I'm incredibly immature. Ofthen


Didn't I have a "maybe" in my statement?



> So don't agree, everybody's job is important. And the great people in the service are the guys & gals that excell in the less glamourous jobs. You can be the greatest pilot in the world, but if your plane doesn't work right, you can't communicate with anyone, or you can't find your target, you ain't much good.


Admin, however, can generally be done with a team of trained chimpanzees, especially when saddled with junior officers who only joined for the college benefits and you can be certain that the second real hostilities broke out, they'd be the first ones at the personnel office filing to resign their commissions. Yes, I'm still bitter over having to rework a perfectly fine recall sheet for no other reason than a certain captain (O-3) wanted it to look "balanced", regardless of just how much it screwed up the actual recall process. This same captain also decided one day to rearrange the large heavy pictures hanging around the terminal, and had me and another airman do it. We destroyed three of them in the process (big panes of glass don't like being moved, and like to take out their frustrations on the poor pictures underneath) before it finally dawned on him that this wasn't such a bright idea (I don't recall if I managed to resist the urge to spout off an "I told you so"). How much actual work do you figure _didn't_ get done during the hours we spent attempting to move those pictures, followed by us cleaning up the broken glass? It was days like that when I wondered if I should've joined the Marines.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

Four Mad Men said:


> Blood... boiling.
> 
> Must... not... kill...
> 
> The mission is accomplished because everyone does their part. Do you have any idea of the number of maintenance hours it takes to generate a single flight hour? And that says nothing for the number of non-maintenance support hours. So congratulations, again, to Griff. And April, I'm glad it's him in there and not you.


I'm assuming you were in a maintenance squadron. I had a lot of friends in maintenance squadrons.

You would qualify as part of the "others" that I mentioned. The ones doing actual work and contributing to the overall mission, as opposed to those making up busywork to justify their presence (see my earlier note about a certain captain and his whims which had absolutely nothing to do with the operation of the air terminal).


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

Incidentally, not long after 9/11, I did try to re-up. The Air Force won't take anyone back at this time, while the other branches would provided I got back within the weight limits and could complete my twenty years before I turned 60. The time is drawing near, but if I can manage to lose the 20-30 pounds within the next three years, I just might give it another shot.


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## Griffworks (Jun 24, 2002)

Alright, folks. Let's keep this all in perspective, please. I wasn't trying to make a point beyond "I did it". 


Captain April, 

You've got a seriously jaded view of the military and that's too bad. I'm sorry your past supervisor was such a jerk. I'll admit to being a bit burned out on some aspects of military life, but have learned to just deal with it where I can't make any sort of changes. The main thing that I think has burned me out is dealing with multiple deployments - several back-to-back - while some few others manage to weasle their way out by finding loopholes in the regulations to use to their advantage. Kinda gets you down. 

Every job in the military is important. For instance, just because I'm in a support role as a supply troop doesn't mean I don't have a mission. My mission is to get those parts to the maintainers so they can do their mission, which is to make the airplanes fly so that the Ops guys can do their mission, fly to Point A to drop off cargo/troops and get back home safe & sound. As others have pointed out, it's a team effort and everyone involved is important to some degree or another - from the cooks in the dining hall who feed the dorm dwellers, to the Security Forces folks guarding our flightlines, to the POL troops delivering fuel and liquid oxygen for the aircraft, to the "pencile pushers" in the orderly rooms who take care of the personal records and other jobs.

Also, very few people I know of actually "sit back" - and that includes upper management. Most of our senior NCO's and officers take care of their part of the mission, which is generally making sure those of us under their command have the training and materials to do their job. The best of the officers and senior NCO's don't sit back and let everyone else do all the work, instead often doing whatever they can physically do to help get the airplanes up and flying, such as driving forklifts, pushing AGE out of the way or driving maintainers to lunch. I've worked with a number of officers & senior NCO's who've done all that, and more. 

The reason that military life is so regimented isn't just 'cause Uncle Sugar wants to tell you how to live, what to wear and all that. It's because if you're going to do a job where others lives depend on you, you need to have some discipline in your life. There have to be standards set to maintain that discipline.

I'll wager that the vast majority of folks I work with are pretty well disciplined in both work and personal lives - and received that discipline from their military trianing. Uncle Sugar doesn't tell me how to live my life every second of every hour of every day. He's only set the standard that I need to uphold - and that ain't a bad thing when you think about how most folks live life by not taking care of themselves, their family, their houses, etc... I'd wager that only 1 out of every 50 folks in my squadron actually need someone to continue to tell them what to do every day, 'cause the rest of us already know and do. We're Professional Soldiers (well, Airmen) and that's how we think. To make out that the rules and regulations are a bad thing makes no sense to me, given the possible alternatives to an undisciplined military. You have only to look to the past actions of some countries where thuggery was the standard in military life to see how true that is. And to insinuate that we're a bunch of robots who can only function when told what to do is insulting. 

Anyhow, it sounds like military life wasn't for you, dude. That's kewel. Not everyone is up to the challenge of taking care of the mission. It just doesn't work for everyone and I'd like to say thanks for time that you put in. And thanks for the congrat's, even tho it does indeed come across as a left-handed compliment. I earned my stripes after E-4, dude. NOTHING has been given to me since that time.


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## Griffworks (Jun 24, 2002)

Captain April said:


> *>SNIPPAGE!<*
> As for the "trained to kill" bit, hey, even in the Air Force's excuse for basic training (which I understand has become an even bigger joke than when I went through it), you get a day learning the in's and out's of the M-16.


Actually, ya gotta keep up with current events, dude. USAF Basic Training still isn't as intensive as Army or Marine basic and likely never will be. However, part of that training now includes a week in the field, living in tents, eating MRE's, running all kinds of warefare scenarios that we're likely to run in to while deployed and doing all kinds of obstacle courses under field conditions. It's not anywhere near a joke compared to what it has been in the past.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

That's the difference between a peacetime military and a wartime one. No time for crap.

I'd be willing to bet that most of the officers I knew, and those like them, were long gone before the shooting started. In that respect, I think I would have a much better time in the service now as opposed to back then. A sense of actual purpose can do wonders for one's perspective. Like I said, I did try to reenlist. So what if my uniforms don't fit anymore?


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

Griffworks said:


> Actually, ya gotta keep up with current events, dude. USAF Basic Training still isn't as intensive as Army or Marine basic and likely never will be. However, part of that training now includes a week in the field, living in tents, eating MRE's, running all kinds of warefare scenarios that we're likely to run in to while deployed and doing all kinds of obstacle courses under field conditions. It's not anywhere near a joke compared to what it has been in the past.


Another case of actual warfare doing wonders for cutting the crap out of the mix. The last I'd heard, when a TI started getting into an airman's face, he could just whip out some card and say, "You're stressing me" and make it all go away, which suddenly made me feel like some grizzled old Vietnam vet wondering if the hippies had finally taken over.

As it was, we got a day or two with the M-16 (modified to fire .22LR, thus, in the words I heard years later from an SP, reducing that fine weapon to a BB gun; I finally managed to get into a proper training course shortly before I was discharged, so at least I know what it's like to fire an M-16 with the right ammo), and were served MRE's during the break. We might've seen pictures of tents in a slide show at some point, but other than the "confidence course" at the end, that was about it as far as field training went.


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

Hey, don't sell admin short. Best advice I got from my Dad (who was career Army) was the first people you make friends with at a new command are the guy who cuts your check and the guy in charge of your food. Since I was a corpsman I had "the guy who takes care of you when your hurt or sick" covered.

Small world note and example. When I checked into the dive school command I made friends with the PN3 who handled checking me in. He always made sure my pay was squared away and helped me get the orders I wanted at graduation since he knew all the detailers. I talked him into taking the PT screening test, and long story short we ended up stationed together in a dive locker a few years later, where he was probably the most beloved and definately the most a$$kissed diver there, since he took care of filling our incomphrehensable per diem claims<shudder> after TAD trips. (Or "science-fiction writing" as he called it)

Oddly, he had many of the same gripes, almost word for word, you had with your superiors. I always thought admin _might_ be a good gig, at most commands you work in air conditioning & they usually had the best looking gals since they had first pick on new arrivals!


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

Admin is a frustrating position, to say the least. It's a nifty way to get a front row seat to the action without actually being in the line of fire yourself; at least that's how it seems going in. If you get a supervisor who knows his stuff, it can be great and you can have a lot of fun on Uncle Sam's tab, but those kinds of supervisors are (or at least _were_) hard to come by (wanna give the current troops the benefit of the doubt).

More often than not, I think, Admin is where they tend to stick officers who aren't much good at anything else, but aren't grossly incompetent enough to get rid of. These also tend to be junior officers (O-1 to O-3) who not only have no marketable skills, they have the authority to back up their stupidity (yes, I'm venting again). You're more likely to find this situation in offices that are _solely_ devoted to administation (base personnel, f'r instance), as opposed to the front office of, say, a supply or a maintenance squadron, where there's still a clear connection to the mission at hand. A typical base could probably lose half the personnel in their main office and it probably wouldn't make a lick of difference. It might actually improve things a bit.

As for those cute girls? Fergit it, they always hook up with some guy in another unit before you even manage to learn their names. Besides, fraternization charges can be a bitch.


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## Griffworks (Jun 24, 2002)

Captain April said:


> Another case of actual warfare doing wonders for cutting the crap out of the mix. The last I'd heard, when a TI started getting into an airman's face, he could just whip out some card and say, "You're stressing me" and make it all go away, which suddenly made me feel like some grizzled old Vietnam vet wondering if the hippies had finally taken over.


That's all heresay and never happened. Prolly the biggest Urban Legend in the US Military that I've ever heard, too. That rumor somehow got started in the mid-90's and I still hear it from some folks. Strangely enough, tho, when I talk to some of our brand-spankin' new troops they look at me as if I'm crazy (not far from the truth). 




> As it was, we got a day or two with the M-16 (modified to fire .22LR, thus, in the words I heard years later from an SP, reducing that fine weapon to a BB gun; I finally managed to get into a proper training course shortly before I was discharged, so at least I know what it's like to fire an M-16 with the right ammo), and were served MRE's during the break.


Yeppers, same when I came thru. We had to give up our candy from the MRE pack, tho. I've fired plenty of 5.56mm ammo thru M-16's, as well as some of that old .226 caliber stuff - training rounds. There wasn't much of a difference to me, firing-wise (and I grew up shooting all kinds of firearms), tho I know the .226 rounds weren't armor piercing. They'd still kill a person who wasn't wearing a helmet or flak-vest, tho. They've now got us firing a new training round that's a slightly lighter grain then a standard FMJ 5.56mm round and has a ceramic tip that'll shatter on impact instead of ricochet. 


> We might've seen pictures of tents in a slide show at some point, but other than the "confidence course" at the end, that was about it as far as field training went.


Same here. In fact, my first deployment was to a place in Saudi Arabia where we were living in trailers, instead of tents. Thankfully, tho, they've changed that to where the recruits have a good idea of what they might be getting in to once they deploy. They can't all be Trailer Park Heaven or the local equivalent of the Sheraton.


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