This applies no matter what you do. I spent 20 active and no matter what the assignment you see crappy soldiers just getting by. Avoid them if they're your equals, motivate them if you're the boss. Hang with those who want to be there and volunteer for the tough jobs. But frankly, your attendance record is going to keep you in trouble no matter how valid you think your reasons are.HollywoodBQ said:
Step 1 - Paragraphs - You'd be amazed what improving your written communication will do for your career.
Step 2 - Transfer to a Combat Arms MOS - immediately.
Step 3 - Be All You Can Be!At any job there will always be a few people who are there just to collect a check. And there will always be the clock watchers and folks who are more preoccupied with the fringe benefits than they are with doing the job.
- Even if you're in a crappy unit, there's no way that 100% of the soldiers / NCOs / Officers are crappy. Find the 10% who are squared away, or used to be squared away (like the former 18 Series guy who is in the Guard now because he got a DWI on Active Duty) and learn everything you can learn from them.
- La Guarda Nacional will offer you training but just like personal fitness for example, if you really want to become good at it, you're going to have to take the lead. My Unit needed me to pass the PT Test with the minimum score, my career needed me to pass with a higher score.
- Sometimes you can learn a lot by learning what NOT to do. Take good notes and figure out how things could be done better.
- Make suggestions to your chain of command, a lot of times you can make things happen by taking that load off your CoC's plate. With the right attitude and a little social coercion, I'll bet you can even get that grumpy old NCO with his AFG/Iraq combat patch on the right shoulder to help you improve the unit by tapping what they know or at the bare minimum, you can learn from them.
(Example - when I got outsourced from the Walt Disney Company, you'd be amazed at how many people were more concerned about losing their Silver Pass to Disneyland than they were about the fact that they were losing their job)
In the Guard, it's easy to not do your job because everybody has their regular lives that they're taking a break from to participate in this unit every 28 days. And a lot of guys drive long distances to drill so people are already tired or burned out when they arrive for drill. But, a lot of guys still manage to get "up" for spending a day and a half doing their job before it's time to clean up and go home.
With the right leadership and attitude, it is possible to turn around a crappy unit. Hopefully your leadership will get struck by a bolt of lightning and start doing their jobs. Maybe your enthusiasm for wanting to do your job and learn from your NCOs and Officers will help inspire them.
Good Luck!
A bit of a disclaimer. I was Air Force active 11 years and reserve for a few more. And its been a while, so if I am way off on my acronyms please forgive me.TexMex12 said:
..... and have been threatened on three different occasions and was SA on this deployment.
paragraphs!TexMex12 said:
Did anyone else absolutely hate their experience in the military? I joined the guard after graduating college, but enlisted instead of commissioned.(first mistake) I chose the wrong MOS(2nd mistake) and was set up with a crappy home unit who took away my bonus and SLRP during 2021 due to missing a couple of drill weekends due to personal illness, as well as family funerals. Now deployed(3rd mistake) and have been threatened on three different occasions and was SA on this deployment. I know this sounds woe is me, and if so, then so be it, but I honestly haven't gained anything from my almost 5 years in, except depression, anger and anxiety. There seems to be no common courtesy or decency among the soldiers nowadays. Asking someone to turn down their music or put in headphones when in a room with 50 other people is somehow seen as wrong. The worst soldiers don't get disciplined for skipping out on work or for disrespecting leaders. People are able to do and say basically anything without fear of being punished. I'm doing bullcrap just to look busy when there is nothing to do, so my days are longer than they need to be. Am I crazy for wanting to get out of this sh*tty work environment, when I have an awesome civilian job with great benefits and great coworkers? I honestly don't feel proud to have served, and feel like I've wasted so much of my life for nothing.