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SSG Paladin's Totally Off the Books Military Thread

Two days left until the Army's SFC list is published. I've now reached the point of clicking on stuff I know is just going to rickroll me.

Oddly enough, I turned down a chance to find out early. A friend of mine is the USAICOE CSM's aid, so he's already seen the list. I asked him not to tell me if I made it.

Upside: I'm on nights, so I'll only really be competing with Germany to get and access the list when it does publish.
 
Paladin said:
Two days left until the Army's SFC list is published. I've now reached the point of clicking on stuff I know is just going to rickroll me.

Oddly enough, I turned down a chance to find out early. A friend of mine is the USAICOE CSM's aid, so he's already seen the list. I asked him not to tell me if I made it.

Upside: I'm on nights, so I'll only really be competing with Germany to get and access the list when it does publish.
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Good luck! When you make it, will you have to give up your Ebola monkeys?
 
DufferToo said:
Good luck! When you make it, will you have to give up your Ebola monkeys?
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Nope, actually this is a SFC billet, so I'm working above my paygrade (like nearly every AIT Platoon Sergeant in the Army). But since the soldier to Platoon Sergeant ratio is generally about 75 to 1, this is a great proving ground for making Master/First Sergeant in a few years.
 
My battalion informed me this afternoon I was not selected for promotion. Oh well. Better luck next year.
 
Paladin said:
My battalion informed me this afternoon I was not selected for promotion. Oh well. Better luck next year.
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That sucks buddy. Keep your head up.


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Paladin said:
My battalion informed me this afternoon I was not selected for promotion. Oh well. Better luck next year.
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Sh!t. Sorry to hear that. Any way that you can receive a critique on your packet?

If you didn't do so, I would recommend having both your PAC NCOIC and BN CSM review your packet before you submit it next year. The most common issue I saw when reviewing my troop's packets was the DA photo and the awards didn't match or were listed/displayed in the wrong order.
 
DufferToo said:
Sh!t. Sorry to hear that. Any way that you can receive a critique on your packet?

If you didn't do so, I would recommend having both your PAC NCOIC and BN CSM review your packet before you submit it next year. The most common issue I saw when reviewing my troop's packets was the DA photo and the awards didn't match or were listed/displayed in the wrong order.
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I haven't seen the critique memo yet. I know my photo was good. My problem right now is a lack of college and broadening assignment. Need to finish my bachelor's, but just haven't found the time. At least my current position will help fix an overall lack of unit leadership time.

I'm bummed, but I know there are holes in my resume overall right now. Working to get them patched this year.
 
Paladin said:
I haven't seen the critique memo yet. I know my photo was good. My problem right now is a lack of college and broadening assignment. Need to finish my bachelor's, but just haven't found the time. At least my current position will help fix an overall lack of unit leadership time.

I'm bummed, but I know there are holes in my resume overall right now. Working to get them patched this year.
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As far as your bachelor's does your Post Learning Center offer distance learning? Unless you're planning on becoming a "maverick" I don't think anyone cares where the BA/BS comes from.
 
DufferToo said:
As far as your bachelor's does your Post Learning Center offer distance learning? Unless you're planning on becoming a "maverick" I don't think anyone cares where the BA/BS comes from.
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Yeah, I'm doing online learning, but my biggest problem is that my Bachelor's program isn't in a field that allows me to take advantage of the credits I've accumulated through MOS credentialing. So I'm farther away from my degree than my total credit hours would indicate.
 
Hey Paladin, have you attended ANCOC yet? If not then that could be what got you bumped. The old policy was that you had to attend the required Leadership Courses within 6 months after your promotion (PLDC/WLC for E5, BNCOC for E6 and ANCOC for E7). That policy has just changed and requires soldiers to attend and graduate from those courses before they can be considered for promotion. This change has just occurred in the past month or so.
 
AG47 said:
Hey Paladin, have you attended ANCOC yet? If not then that could be what got you bumped. The old policy was that you had to attend the required Leadership Courses within 6 months after your promotion (PLDC/WLC for E5, BNCOC for E6 and ANCOC for E7). That policy has just changed and requires soldiers to attend and graduate from those courses before they can be considered for promotion. This change has just occurred in the past month or so.
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These days, you won't get a school date for SLC (ANCOC) until you get a sequence number.
 
Paladin said:
These days, you won't get a school date for SLC (ANCOC) until you get a sequence number.
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I hate how they keep changing the course names. I was lucky enough to knock out PLDC and BNCOC Common Core in one combined school then finish the MOS portion with my MOS training.
 
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A sad day for the Fort Hood community, as Elizabeth Laird, aka The Hug Lady, passed away at 83. She endured a long battle with cancer.

http://www.kcentv.com/story/30827961/elizabeth-laird-the-hug-lady-passes-away

I never did deploy out of Fort Hood, but I do remember well the folks at Bangor, Maine, who welcomed home flights going to nearly everywhere else in the United States from deployment. Folks like Ms. Laird are a rare and extraordinary breed.
 
Navy in da house :D

l-406.jpg
 
OK, so I do try to use this thread for things that I think are interesting, military related, and something that most anyone military or civilian can get involved in or care about. I don't often tell people what to do with their money. That being said, this post is probably more for people who are interested in donating money to veteran/military centered foundations, charities, non-profits, and other causes...simply put, Wounded Warrior Project has been a snake in the grass for years. A trickle of their money actually makes it to helping soldiers and their families. While that trickle is still a fair amount of money, as befits one of the top 40 charities in the nation, it's simply not a lot, and much of their money goes towards lining the pockets of the organizations senior executives. Recently they've taken to suing two former employees, which to me is the last straw.

https://military.id.me/community-news/wounded-warrior-project-sues-two-disabled-vets/

I'm not going to say where to send your money. If you're donating to help veterans, soldiers, and the families, awesome. Not everyone joins the military on the best financial footing, not everyone stays on the best footing while they're in, and many people, including guys with combat time, find themselves out of the military before they have their feet properly under them. If you find some extra cash to help those sorts of people out, awesome. That being said, I personally recommend the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which sends the children of fallen and wounded members of the Special Operations community to college. Charity Navigator gives them an AMAZING score. Fisher House is another that is well-regarded, has been around for years, and helps the families of wounded military by providing a place to live while their soldier is hospitalized.

There are lots of charities out there that are doing good work and take pains to minimize their overhead. Sadly, Wounded Warrior Project isn't one of them.
 
Paladin said:
OK, so I do try to use this thread for things that I think are interesting, military related, and something that most anyone military or civilian can get involved in or care about. I don't often tell people what to do with their money. That being said, this post is probably more for people who are interested in donating money to veteran/military centered foundations, charities, non-profits, and other causes...simply put, Wounded Warrior Project has been a snake in the grass for years. A trickle of their money actually makes it to helping soldiers and their families. While that trickle is still a fair amount of money, as befits one of the top 40 charities in the nation, it's simply not a lot, and much of their money goes towards lining the pockets of the organizations senior executives. Recently they've taken to suing two former employees, which to me is the last straw.

https://military.id.me/community-news/wounded-warrior-project-sues-two-disabled-vets/

I'm not going to say where to send your money. If you're donating to help veterans, soldiers, and the families, awesome. Not everyone joins the military on the best financial footing, not everyone stays on the best footing while they're in, and many people, including guys with combat time, find themselves out of the military before they have their feet properly under them. If you find some extra cash to help those sorts of people out, awesome. That being said, I personally recommend the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which sends the children of fallen and wounded members of the Special Operations community to college. Charity Navigator gives them an AMAZING score. Fisher House is another that is well-regarded, has been around for years, and helps the families of wounded military by providing a place to live while their soldier is hospitalized.

There are lots of charities out there that are doing good work and take pains to minimize their overhead. Sadly, Wounded Warrior Project isn't one of them.
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I've been donating to Special Operations Warrior Foundation for several years, it's a great organization. A .mil forum that I'm a "guest" on has members on the Foundation's board.
 
WWP has had a couple issues come to light recently and the one about where money goes has been around for a bit. I have stopped any support to them for close to a year. Warrior Wellness Solutions is a great group to support
 
I've been named my Battalion's Platoon Sergeant of the Quarter courtesy of a board this morning. My reward is to attend another board later this quarter. But at least that one will have some ruck marching and obstacle course running and shooting, so it's not all bad. Word on the strasse is the winner of that one pulls down some decent swag, so I can't really complain.
 
Semer Fi brothers.
 
I was in the Air Force from 86 to 91. Did a tour during the first desert storm. My unit of A10,s was responsible for rescuing some pinned down army guys. We were real proud of that. I loved it when I was in,made me grow up real quick

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Thx for and to anyone who has donated to my wounded brethren it lets us vets know people care about our well being

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marcv68 said:
I was in the Air Force from 86 to 91. Did a tour during the first desert storm. My unit of A10,s was responsible for rescuing some pinned down army guys. We were real proud of that. I loved it when I was in,made me grow up real quick
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I was a loader, armament, were you out of England? Or....?
I was at Bitburg on F15s and then Luke during all that stuff.
 
I was out of RAF Bentwaters comin at em from the north

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