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Failure
Failure
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 10
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MAJ (Join to see)
Interesting article. I tend to agree that there are too many generals in the Army, I also think there are too many Sergeants Majors. Seems that every division level and above element needs a SGM or two in each G/J-section and of course every general needs a senior enlisted leader. I work in a division headquarters and there are like 20+ SGMs running around, it's ridiculous.
I have been in the Army for almost 30 years and about every 10 years the Army goes through a major shift/change. It usually has to do with money and war. It takes the Army all of those 10 years to unscrew itself from the change before it starts acting right. My opinion is that we are in that first year and have nine more to go before the ship rights itself.
I have seen it three times, I won't be around to see this one.
Interesting article. I tend to agree that there are too many generals in the Army, I also think there are too many Sergeants Majors. Seems that every division level and above element needs a SGM or two in each G/J-section and of course every general needs a senior enlisted leader. I work in a division headquarters and there are like 20+ SGMs running around, it's ridiculous.
I have been in the Army for almost 30 years and about every 10 years the Army goes through a major shift/change. It usually has to do with money and war. It takes the Army all of those 10 years to unscrew itself from the change before it starts acting right. My opinion is that we are in that first year and have nine more to go before the ship rights itself.
I have seen it three times, I won't be around to see this one.
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This line tells me everything that I need to know about the article: "In March 2014, when 80,000 Russian armored combat forces were poised to invade Ukraine, the U.S. Army was incapable of deploying an effective combat maneuver force to Europe or anywhere else."
We weren't "incapable" of deploying an effective combat maneuver force. We decided not to.
End of.
We weren't "incapable" of deploying an effective combat maneuver force. We decided not to.
End of.
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MAJ (Join to see) - Sir, I think the biggest issue facing the Army doesn't begin at the flagpole, but with the uniforms.
What do I mean by this? Contractors. GS. Outsourcing. This does ultimately lead back to GOs, because many of these contracts are awarded to former GOs or some nepotistic relationship to a friend. I served in a Medical Support Unit, so our METL was more specific to the Periodic Health Assessment (PHAs). What do we do for our PHAs? Contract to LHI. The effect on this is twofold. First, my Soldiers do not feel prepared when we are mobilized to perform Soldier Readiness Processing (SRP) missions because many of my enlisted are NOT medical on the civilian side. How's a hairdresser going to maintain her skills as a medic?? Second, the Army fails to capitalize on paying itself.
How about sick call? My providers aren't allowed to do their own sick call. Don't feel well? Go to the ER. Yes....the ER. At $1500 apiece, someone has been sent because they had an upper respiratory infection and felt that they could not complete the APFT. Instead, it could have been a stethoscope, an SF600, and a $20 prescription for antibiotics. Why not let the medics do their own preliminary sick call, then from there determine the need to seek further care.
Why are we contracting medical and mechanical assets outside of the military, paying benefits and STEEP salaries when you can't work them overtime like you can a Soldier. When it came time to sequestration, they sent our contractors home....some places created a contract to replace the contractors that they sent home. What kind of logic is this??
Bring business back in house, because even if you save money on benefits, placing someone on orders with the knowledge that you can work them beyond 40 hours without paying extra at a pricy cost to take care of the Soldiers ultimately wins.
v/r,
CPT Butler
What do I mean by this? Contractors. GS. Outsourcing. This does ultimately lead back to GOs, because many of these contracts are awarded to former GOs or some nepotistic relationship to a friend. I served in a Medical Support Unit, so our METL was more specific to the Periodic Health Assessment (PHAs). What do we do for our PHAs? Contract to LHI. The effect on this is twofold. First, my Soldiers do not feel prepared when we are mobilized to perform Soldier Readiness Processing (SRP) missions because many of my enlisted are NOT medical on the civilian side. How's a hairdresser going to maintain her skills as a medic?? Second, the Army fails to capitalize on paying itself.
How about sick call? My providers aren't allowed to do their own sick call. Don't feel well? Go to the ER. Yes....the ER. At $1500 apiece, someone has been sent because they had an upper respiratory infection and felt that they could not complete the APFT. Instead, it could have been a stethoscope, an SF600, and a $20 prescription for antibiotics. Why not let the medics do their own preliminary sick call, then from there determine the need to seek further care.
Why are we contracting medical and mechanical assets outside of the military, paying benefits and STEEP salaries when you can't work them overtime like you can a Soldier. When it came time to sequestration, they sent our contractors home....some places created a contract to replace the contractors that they sent home. What kind of logic is this??
Bring business back in house, because even if you save money on benefits, placing someone on orders with the knowledge that you can work them beyond 40 hours without paying extra at a pricy cost to take care of the Soldiers ultimately wins.
v/r,
CPT Butler
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CPT (Join to see)
GySgt Austin Belanger
I never said that you were the enemy, nor that you didn't work hard. However, the contractors/GS that we have were only able to work the 40 hours, but our Soldiers were able to work longer hours without financial changes. Our contractors are authorized overtime, but the overtime is expensive (additionally, I do know of contractors -and GS- that have abused the system to get paid extra for not doing extra work per say. No, that's not everyone....but I've seen it.)
If there are NEEDs for augmented personnel via contract, that's one thing. However, I cannot find one reason why our medics are not allowed to do sick call, PHAs, and other medical duties vs. having to send our stuff "out of house" to Logistics Health, or even worse the EMERGENCY ROOM for stupid stuff.
I am not looking for a scapegoat, and am not trying to demean your service/contributions. However, it makes more sense to "pay yourself" than to have contracts for EVERYTHING. If there is a need that would warrant a supplemental contract (I can only speak for Army medicine in our own neck of the woods) then that's fine, but if it can be kept in house then that is cheaper. ESPECIALLY regarding the medical side of the house. Utilization of community medical assets at the expense of our medics training serves no purpose.
Please understand that I have no direct objections to the people that I worked with, simply that when making cutbacks, let's look at where the expenditures are rather than cutting slots. You and I both know that a GO isn't going to cut his own slot.....and I don't think cutting out the experienced people in uniform is a great idea either.
I would rather get rid of the reciprocity that comes with the bureaucracy before we start cutting jobs.
v/r,
CPT Butler
I never said that you were the enemy, nor that you didn't work hard. However, the contractors/GS that we have were only able to work the 40 hours, but our Soldiers were able to work longer hours without financial changes. Our contractors are authorized overtime, but the overtime is expensive (additionally, I do know of contractors -and GS- that have abused the system to get paid extra for not doing extra work per say. No, that's not everyone....but I've seen it.)
If there are NEEDs for augmented personnel via contract, that's one thing. However, I cannot find one reason why our medics are not allowed to do sick call, PHAs, and other medical duties vs. having to send our stuff "out of house" to Logistics Health, or even worse the EMERGENCY ROOM for stupid stuff.
I am not looking for a scapegoat, and am not trying to demean your service/contributions. However, it makes more sense to "pay yourself" than to have contracts for EVERYTHING. If there is a need that would warrant a supplemental contract (I can only speak for Army medicine in our own neck of the woods) then that's fine, but if it can be kept in house then that is cheaper. ESPECIALLY regarding the medical side of the house. Utilization of community medical assets at the expense of our medics training serves no purpose.
Please understand that I have no direct objections to the people that I worked with, simply that when making cutbacks, let's look at where the expenditures are rather than cutting slots. You and I both know that a GO isn't going to cut his own slot.....and I don't think cutting out the experienced people in uniform is a great idea either.
I would rather get rid of the reciprocity that comes with the bureaucracy before we start cutting jobs.
v/r,
CPT Butler
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MAJ (Join to see)
I recently had a disagreement with LHI over their business practices. During my VA evaluation, I was disturbed when I discovered the non-bias third party LHI physician that reviewed my X-Rays was discovered to be duel employed in both LHI and VA. Why not just have VA do the entire screening. I was told they needed an external opinion. LHI hummm...
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CPT (Join to see)
MAJ (Join to see) - I am wondering if we are contracting to LHI for PHAs, why we have medical support units instead of incorporating them into USAH (Backfills) or other units. It frustrates me to no end to see the Army send these people to BCT and AIT, and when they come back....after 12 months they are unable to start IVs or administer SQ shots because they aren't allowed to do that at their unit. Then we are paying LHI to enter this stuff.
The ONLY benefit I can see is that there is no way that a unit can "protect it's own".....but that is a command problem, not something that should be avoided by pulling the power away from the units. I don't want my medics getting cross leveled to go overseas and a Soldier dies because the medics weren't confident enough in their skills.
v/r,
CPT Butler
The ONLY benefit I can see is that there is no way that a unit can "protect it's own".....but that is a command problem, not something that should be avoided by pulling the power away from the units. I don't want my medics getting cross leveled to go overseas and a Soldier dies because the medics weren't confident enough in their skills.
v/r,
CPT Butler
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MAJ (Join to see)
It is counter intuitive and I was adding the added irony of a VA doctor not doing her job for VA so she can get doubled paid by LHI to do the same.
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