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Opinions wanted

rero360

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Apr 30, 2008
200
4
41
South Pasadena, CA
Afternoon gentlemen, I have been torn on a decision and could use some objective input.

The other day I received an email stating that another unit is potentially deploying to Afghanistan later this year and are looking for senior enlisted personnel in 13F, 11B, 31B, and 68W. I hold the first three MOSs. The email states that interested individuals have to get it signed off by Battalion CO first before volunteering.

My current enlistment ends next August with 13 years of service, maybe I'm just in a funk at the moment but I'm contemplating not re-enlisting. I enjoying serving and doing my job, but I just seem to be burning out on it, perhaps its the direction my unit is going in, I just feel like its disjointed and focusing on the wrong aspects. The senior leaders seem more concerned with having the highest percent of soldiers complete training like sexual harassment (Combat Arms unit), counter-terrorism, accident avoidance and don't ask don't tell then they are with boosting weapon qual scores, improving PT scores, and stuff like just spending time on the range and getting trigger time outside of the 52 rounds for zero and qual.

Perfect example, half of my squad are brand new soldiers and thus don't have gear issued to them yet, so they can't go to the field, we've been doing nothing but field drills for months now and will continue to do so until May with the exception of April. Anyways, I got reprimanded by higher ups for wearing my personally owned Multicam plate carrier because I had given my IBA along with some other extra gear to one of the new soldiers so he could come out to the field and get some training as apposed to sitting around the armory for the weekend staring at the walls with the others. Even after giving the reasoning behind the situation I was told to not do it again. It seems like they care more about appearances than anything else.

I figure if I was to deploy, as either a 13F or 11B, it would allow me to finish my enlistment on a high note, save up a decent chunk of tax free money and then be able to focus completely on my civilian career. Speaking of which, come deployment time, I'll be halfway thru two college certificate programs (machine shop tech and engineering design, and thru a friend I have a pretty much open job offer with an aerospace company. I was planning on sending them my resume and making it official in a month or two, really want to finish out at least the spring semester at school first.

However, any sort of deployment is going to delay my civilian career and education, I mean it took me 7 years to get my last B.A. because of deployments, not that I'm complaining in that regard, I'm just tired of not gaining seniority and advancing in the civilian world and earning a respectable pay check, I'm tired of being below the poverty line and wondering how I'm going to be able to pay for the month's bills.
 
Re: Opinions wanted

Wow Craig, I am not a military guy and cant help you with your advise needed, but I can say thanks for all your efforts and sacrifices and good luck with what ever path you go down.
THANK YOU!
 
Re: Opinions wanted

Thank you for your service to our country! I would try and finish out and get your certification programs and then apply for the civilian jobs. Tax free money is always a good thing!

Any way that your can finish out your 20 with the NG or other options?
 
Re: Opinions wanted

I would never re-enlist, at least not with the current command structure/motives...

On another note: yeah you might save up a little tax free money but what is the split given the same amount of time in the civi-world (I'd bet you'd make more as a civi) and how much is not risking your life worth?
 
Re: Opinions wanted

YOU signed up for it. YOU have to make the decision.

This is NOT DIRECTED AT YOU, but I have no sympathy for those who joined the Guard or whatever and got all pissed off when they were called to active duty.

Don't want to go, no problem, pay back all the money you earned with interest.

Sorry, just one of my buttons . . .
 
Re: Opinions wanted

Perhaps I wasn't quite clear, I am in the guard, have deployed already before, and am contemplating volunteering to go with another unit to Afghanistan. I don't even know if my Battalion Commander will sign off on it and allow me to go, or if the other unit will take me.

This is a completely 100% voluntary choice, I'm merely thinking it over and weighing the pros and cons against focusing on my civilian career and whether or not to reenlist when the time comes up.

thank you guys for the input, please keep it coming, might provide trains of thought and angles that I haven't thought of.
 
Re: Opinions wanted

I completely understand where you're coming from; I'm in a similar dilema myself.

It all comes down to this: are you able to put up with the amount of bullshit that the Army now throws at you? Or, are you tired of it and ready to begin your civilian career?

I mean, when did being a soldier have to do with the number of sexual harassment and CRM clases that you have under your belt? It's all bullshit, brother; all of it.

Be very careful with this decision; if you need money, a deployment will fix that problem (at the expense of your civilian life). It really depends on the type of deployment and the size and type of unit that you would deploy with.

If I were in your shoes I would pick up the deployment, make the extra cash, and then be done with the army upon return home (mainly becasue nothing makes you want to get out of the army faster than coming home from deployment).

Just my 2 cents...
 
Re: Opinions wanted

I would look at all of my options ROTC, OCS, or changing branches I'm with the Air Force and we have a bunch of prior army guys and they seem to enjoy the change but your only 7 years from retirement and the leadership will change it just takes time so can you wait it out.
 
Re: Opinions wanted

The closer you are to an actual combat unit, the less bullshit(CRM, sex harassment, counselings) you will see. That is just my opinion based on what I saw when I was in, and some representatives of the said combat units proved that to me. Actual combat units are too busy for that bullshit, and it was proven to me more than once.

Your asking and expecting way too much from your current command. I had the EXACT same problems when I was in.

Now here is what you could do...

You could get out, and the only thing that would give you a decent job would be your experience as a 31B. You could go back to school, get your credits, and maybe with a good job backing it up, do okay on the outside. Have you check to see if there are ANY jobs that you could walk in the door, the moment you take off your uniform? I thought that way, left the Army with the expectation that I had more than THREE jobs, and two more offers, lined up, only to find out that there was nothing there at all. Everything disappeared on the flight back home. POOF! Surprise!

You could stay in, send your request up to your BC, and have it denied, because he doesn't want to lose any people. Commands are like that still, in the way that they will flat out refuse to have anyone removed from their rosters even for schools, exercises, training,(I had a previous command try to deny myself going to SFAS, and some letters, from some big brass followed telling them "tough shit") I could go on based on what I've seen. If you really did want to go then you would need to take it up higher then you battalion until you found someone who agreed, and I remember hearing a story about a 3 star asking a 1 star why there were not any soldiers in his command that could deploy. I would also say that you should find this leaving unit, and find out exactly what it is that you're job would be. It's easier if it's one, but I think that three jobs would put an unhealthy strain on you, especially overseas.

Hopefully you get what you want, and your decision bears the sweetest fruit for you.

If you need any more advice, send me a PM, and I'll be more than happy to help.
 
Re: Opinions wanted

I want to thank you all for your opinions and thoughts on the matter, it really helped me decide on a game plan.

I have drill this weekend so I'm going to put a feeler out to see if the battalion Commander will even release me and any others for the deployment, but not locking myself into that path.

I also have a friend and a couple co-workers looking over my resume and helping me polish it up before sending it off to my friend in the aerospace company. The one good thing about my current job is that its actually a paid internship, so while my boss likes me and my work, its understood that its a temporary position, but I can pretty much stay as long as the funding (federal grant) is still there.

If I get the job, I'll pass on the deployment and not reenlist next year, unless there is a major shakeup in the unit and priorities are reevaluated. If I don't get hired and I can't get the deployment, I'll stay in school and working at the machine shop I'm in now and continue to look for more permanent work.

While everything is still up in the air, nothing is decided, I still feel better in that I have evaluated my options and prioritized them and have taken the steps to get the ball rolling for an outcome to be decided. Just having a plan makes me feel better about everything.

If I do deploy, I really want to be able to call in a fire mission on some taliban and have them taste some 155 goodness.
grin.gif
 
Re: Opinions wanted

Simply, you need to decide whose interests are primary.

Is it better for you to be deployed or not? Can you hack it? Does the alternative hold reasonable reasurance of being the right choice?

Is it better for your country for you to be deployed or not? Are you really the best individual be holding down that slot in a war zone? Would your absence impose a weakness upon your unit's effectiveness?

These are the questions I'd be asking myself. Meanwhile, I'm grateful for your service.

Nobody can envision a combat zone in advance. It's simply outside the healthy human imagination. Worry serves no valid purpose, and neither does puffery. You need a cool head and a healthy attention span. You need to understand that odds are a factor, but so are training and intelligence. Trust your leaders and keep a good relationship with The Captain.

Greg
 
Re: Opinions wanted

Once again, thank you gents for the opinions. Greg, it wouldn't have been my first rodeo so many of your questions, while fully valid, are not as applicable in this situation as one with a untried individual. You do make excellent points and address things many don't consider.

I had drill this weekend and in talking with the 1SG, he said that no one will have permission from the old man to go on the deployment. Seems the Battalion Commander is still holding onto the chance that we'll deploy as a unit and he doesn't want to lose anyone to another unit. Guess he got his long tab as an enlisted soldier and wants a combat command deployment as an officer to secure his full bird. Can't say I blame him to be honest.

So, finishing touches will be made to the resume and that will be sent off this week and hopefully I'll be able to land that machinist job in aerospace. Although to be honest I wouldn't mind staying at my current job for a few more months to see the completion of the instrument we have been building, http://obs.carnegiescience.edu/Instrumentation the M2FS at the bottom of the page, should be finishing up some of the last of the major parts in the next few days.