Say Cadet

[Robert A Whit]

Say Cadet

Should you study the pay scale of officers, and choose to spend time as an officer, I think it safe to say you do not want to be an officer where you are treated poorly by more senior officers.

Since officers command enlisted men, they won't want some jerk who is not up to speed on command and what happens in real full time units, to be bullied around by some new officer thinking he scores points by dumping on the lower enlisted men.

I had a job in the Army were I interfaced with many officers. I saw real good officers and I saw a couple that were terrible in my opinion.

Officers new to my unit at times stopped by to chat with me and asked my advice for their new job. The units are working for some Sgt. A Platoon of men can have 30 EM under the officer and the senior Sgt. A smart officer decides to go to the top Sgt and get his advice. Were I in again, I would find out what officers served as EM for some period of time and ask them too.It is not weakness to seek good counsel.

In the Army, the Officers able to pass out shit details will pick on the lowest ranking officer. That can last for maybe 18 months then the new officer gets his first promotion. I think that a good 2nd Lt only has to be a 2nd for about 18 months then he is promoted to 1st Lt. At that rank,normally the lower Lt gets his share of shit details. A shit detail may be in charge of guard duty. Could be over the mess hall. Can be duty on the weapons range.
I served with officers up to the rank of Col. I found that at that rank, generally the man was very confident and was not interested in playing officer becvause he was a seasoned officer.
In Germany, i farted around with some 2nd lt by not saluting him. He was very unhappy. He asked me why I did not salute him.

I told him when he became a captain I would salute him.

I worked for the unit commander, a Captain and we were tight knit. I told him what happened and he laughed. He was a very good officer.

I do not recommend not saluting. I just was fooling around. And he could not punish me and I was confident the Captain was not going to punish me. He depended on me that much.

Were I an officer, I certainly would not pull that stunt.

[cadet]

Say Cadet

Should you study the pay scale of officers, and choose to spend time as an officer, I think it safe to say you do not want to be an officer where you are treated poorly by more senior officers.

Since officers command enlisted men, they won't want some jerk who is not up to speed on command and what happens in real full time units, to be bullied around by some new officer thinking he scores points by dumping on the lower enlisted men.

I had a job in the Army were I interfaced with many officers. I saw real good officers and I saw a couple that were terrible in my opinion.

Officers new to my unit at times stopped by to chat with me and asked my advice for their new job. The units are working for some Sgt. A Platoon of men can have 30 EM under the officer and the senior Sgt. A smart officer decides to go to the top Sgt and get his advice. Were I in again, I would find out what officers served as EM for some period of time and ask them too.It is not weakness to seek good counsel.

In the Army, the Officers able to pass out shit details will pick on the lowest ranking officer. That can last for maybe 18 months then the new officer gets his first promotion. I think that a good 2nd Lt only has to be a 2nd for about 18 months then he is promoted to 1st Lt. At that rank,normally the lower Lt gets his share of shit details. A shit detail may be in charge of guard duty. Could be over the mess hall. Can be duty on the weapons range.
I served with officers up to the rank of Col. I found that at that rank, generally the man was very confident and was not interested in playing officer becvause he was a seasoned officer.
In Germany, i farted around with some 2nd lt by not saluting him. He was very unhappy. He asked me why I did not salute him.

I told him when he became a captain I would salute him.

I worked for the unit commander, a Captain and we were tight knit. I told him what happened and he laughed. He was a very good officer.

I do not recommend not saluting. I just was fooling around. And he could not punish me and I was confident the Captain was not going to punish me. He depended on me that much.

Were I an officer, I certainly would not pull that stunt.

When I was in high school I was one of three seniors. The younger kids loved me, and knew I had high morals. I was very easy going, unless it came to my sister or someone harming another wrestler/getting into drama/picking on. They liked me, and listened. I joked, but would kick their ass if they thought about being an ass.
That was when I decided I liked the power. Mwahahahahaha.... It was fun gaining their respect, and having a good base of kids who listened to my advice.

So I decided that I must be a good leader (was kind of a quite kid before then), so I took it into my head to go for the ROTC program. I joke with the younger kids, and when we march I screw with them. But I do know when i need them to "Lock on." So yes they'll say "Yes ma'am" to me with a shit eating grin, but they always listen to my suggestions. At the beginning I told them I would give them respect, and in return I expected some in return.
I believe there's a happy medium between being strict, and too joking.
I've heard waaay to many stories about leaders being complete assholes, or taking full advantage of their position. That's why I wanted to go in and see if I can be a better leader then some. Even though I know that butter bars are not respected at all. I enjoy having that challenge of gaining respect.

And of course, if this doesn't work, I'm starting up my little engineering firm. And I'll still attempt to be a good leader.

[gabosaurus]

Robert, why do you hate our troops? You must be a closet liberal. :eek:

[Robert A Whit]

When I was in high school I was one of three seniors. The younger kids loved me, and knew I had high morals. I was very easy going, unless it came to my sister or someone harming another wrestler/getting into drama/picking on. They liked me, and listened. I joked, but would kick their ass if they thought about being an ass.
That was when I decided I liked the power. Mwahahahahaha.... It was fun gaining their respect, and having a good base of kids who listened to my advice.

So I decided that I must be a good leader (was kind of a quite kid before then), so I took it into my head to go for the ROTC program. I joke with the younger kids, and when we march I screw with them. But I do know when i need them to "Lock on." So yes they'll say "Yes ma'am" to me with a shit eating grin, but they always listen to my suggestions. At the beginning I told them I would give them respect, and in return I expected some in return.
I believe there's a happy medium between being strict, and too joking.
I've heard waaay to many stories about leaders being complete assholes, or taking full advantage of their position. That's why I wanted to go in and see if I can be a better leader then some. Even though I know that butter bars are not respected at all. I enjoy having that challenge of gaining respect.

And of course, if this doesn't work, I'm starting up my little engineering firm. And I'll still attempt to be a good leader.

I will tell you, you will continue doing an awesome job.

One quick story by me.

The company XO came from a Great Lakes mid west state. The Captain had served as an EM in Korea and at that time, held the same Job I was doing for him. But his XO was a SNOB. I heard he came from a lot of money. What he drove on the Base in Germany sure looked like he had plento of money.

He was an utter ass.

I did not liike the man. The entire unit did not like him. I actuallly had talks with Officers who hated him. I can't think of any friends he had who were officers. None of the EM wanted a thing to do with this guy. To this day,. I remember his full name.

Anyway, when the Company commander went on trips, such as a vacation, somebody had to prepare the orders to put the XO in command. I had that job. No sooner would the CO take off and this XO was calling in men, even the old timers, and laying out punishment on them. It disgusted me to learn some guy, say a Sgt 1st Class, had been 10 minutes late back to the post. And this XO treated him like a criminal. I knew justice was not done. I prepared all of his orders to ruin some guy, and put them in my filing cabinet as if they did not exist. When a guy really deserved being messed over, I always let those pass on and take full effect. I kept this a secret from the First Sgt. When the CO got back from a trip, I took my file to him to see what he would do.

First time, I was a bit worried. He had to change the orders and of course his XO might find out.

But the XO was really dumb. He had a degree but it did not seem to help him at all.

As I said, officers in the headquarters often plotted against this XO and at times tried to make me part of the plot. The XO would get assignments from the Col and I was asked to be the one to show him his orders. I did my best to not laugh. The officers handing me the XO orders laughed a lot. We were out on a war game one time and this XO managed to lose the company. The Col in charge of the BN had search parties looking for the unit. I saw the COL chew out him and was really chewing. We had a Major that did not like him and when he came to the Majors office, the Major looked up and pointed at the office door, in essense rebuffing him and wanting him to leave. This XO would go, but sir ... I have to talk to you. He stared at the XO and showed him out of the office. Refusing to even speak to him.

That is one awful leader. I have to say this, he was by far the worst I ever saw. I have nothing but kind words for the other officers except the airfield commander mentioned below.

I worked later for another Captain at the airfield and this guy drank like a fish and did his best to not lead and or make decisions. It drove me nuts and the officer pilots. Nobody cared for him.

But he usally apparently was too boozed up to notice what was going on around him.

This guy was close to retirement and was not being promoted. He was scared.