An Open Letter to the RallyPoint Community - Why are you here?

Why am I here? ...I am a recently Retired Army Major (2015) that had a career that spanned over 31 yrs....I would hope that my shared experiences would be of some value to other Service men and women that are here...I guess its the leader in me that wants to share with others...Teach-Coach-Mentor and Lead by example...If I can help or lead someone to a solution to a problem that I may have had some experience with...thats a very good thing...Good Mentors are hard to find even with all the tools we have, and briefings we have had that say it is an essential part of the Leader-Subordinate and Peer to Peer relationship. I enjoy spending time here, more than any other social network.

I have always had a policy of staying away from political and religious topics especially in a public forum for the very reason it can come to personal verbal attacks and possibly worse...In nearly all environments I have worked in (except exclusively military environments)...any discussion that results in elevated, loud, profane dialogue, that may or can escalate to physical blows...by regulation or Code of Conduct the discussion must end some punitive action may take place.

I have seen plenty of politically or religiously charged posts...I basically ignore them and move on. Some people are very outward with their political view points...I caution everyone that once your post is put out on the internet, it is there forever...You may say something out of anger for example and now everyone knows it...Friends, Family, Colleagues...future employers?...Be careful what you post...

Keep this in mind..."I swear or affirm to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic"

I am here because I still love the Army and proud to have called the military my career. Occasionally, someone asks a question that I have a great deal of experience in. I try to assist and share that knowledge, just has I would have when I was wearing the hard stripes. I am just as guilty for jumping into the "political" topics, usually out of curiosity, but sometimes can't resist throwing in my two cents even though it may go against the majority of the posters. In which case I am then a troll, leftie, progressive, liberal, or whatever. Even though I don't consider myself any of those. I just call it like I see it, and some of the BS that gets posted here is just so over the top that I can't help but to call it BS. But yes, RP has turned into a Right Wing platform for political commentary and I am losing interest in it. Sadly, I think we are losing a good portion of our currently serving members and new members who get the impression that this not much more than a political chat room for the old timers.

I have successfully worked in manufacturing, distribution, medical and now sales in addition to my military service. Of them all, I consider my time as a Marine to be the most important and satisfying period of my life. A small portion of my service was enlisted, then I had the opportunity to earn a commission. We used to talk about the 10%; those few people that were misplaced in the service. I'm sure that they still exist today. The key indicator when you referred to the 10% was that 90% of those you worked with, both enlisted and officers were there to do their duty to the best of their ability. Like any profession, there were rules that were sometimes hard to explain, much less understand, but you lived with them and generally had the opportunity to accomplish more, gain more responsibility sooner, and recognize what you were doing had meaning. Despite the rules and regulations, the fact is that military service is working with people. There were still WWII and Korean veterans on active duty when I started and some of my best and valuable learning experience was conversing with those older servicemen and my contemporaries, discussing the best way to get the most out of yourself and the people you served with. Soon you learned that value and contribution to the mission has little to do with pay grade or specialty. Each individual makes a contribution toward accomplishing the mission, and it is a leader's responsibility to create an atmosphere where every member of the unit, or, using a trivialized term, team can excel. When everyone from the newest E-1 to General Officers understands their responsibility, understands that the NCOs, SNCOs and Officers are the people who are there to allow their people the freedom to perform without interference from outsiders and with the best equipment and direction available, you have an organization that will not fail.
While the equipment, regulations and specifics have changed tremendously, the path to success depends on being exposed to the widest variety of techniques possible and applying that technique to the task at hand. Above all, RP should be a venue for sharing ideas on how to be successful, in the military or civilian areas. I offer what I can so that those who read my words will file my advice in the back of their head in case they are faced with a situation where how it was done, or the attitude held in the past might direct them toward a modern path to success.
Yes, there is always that 10% who choose a different path or motivation than most, but the 90% are worth putting up with the others.

I am here because all of you have had similar experiences in your branch of the military as I have, whether it was at basic training or on a deployment. l originally got on here to find a few guys I went through basic training but they either don't exist anymore or aren't on this site. I like to hear your stories, your opinions, have frank discussions. I am guilty of some of those maybe mean spirited exchanges when I felt it was necessary and I apologize if I hurt anyone on here or made others uncomfortable. Maybe its my age that makes me cranky I don't know. But policy and politics are woven inextricably through all of us in the military affecting the budgets we had to work with to orders for deployment to countries you had never heard of for reasons no one in Washington felt you needed to know. So we can't get away from politics. We do need to be vigilant and make sure some of the misguided decision making mistakes our previous politicians made don't happen again. You are all my brothers and sisters on here and I wouldn't intentionally do anything to hurt you but I do have my opinions and they are a result of my upbringing, my life experiences and its who I am.

I came upon RP by chance. Didn't RP existed. I joined to connect with other Veterans and those still serving. Most of my life (39 years, 11 months, and 22 days) is Military. Its what I did. Its what I do. Its what I love. When the Marines Corps Reserve did away with all the MABS (Marine Air Base Squadrons) as an E-8 There was no billets open. Fortunately I was able to join 202nd RED HORSE Squadron (Florida Air National Guard). So that is why am I here. I have connected with a lot of wonderful, inspiring, positive individuals that post topics to keep the brain active. Thanks RP.

I have previously answered this question or one very similar, but this one is after the election and my opinion is still the EXACT same. I do not waste my time looking at the slanderous banter of the folks and look only to assist others in solving problems or answering questions, sometimes I get mildly entertained by some of the ignorance and/or issues that folks bring up and the most important, I grow learning about the other services/branches and rank structure.

As a 30 year Army guy/dude/Soldier/NCO/Warrant Officer, I am still ignorant to the other services at times with identifying their rank, understanding the "why" of some of the things they do different from us in the Army. Frankly we are ALL supposed to be in the same team and work for the same goal, preserve our Nation and the freedoms we are allowed from it by protecting it as a TEAM.

I like the team and wish the negative attacking stuff could and would just stop, treat others as you wish to be treated is still a pretty simple rule, regardless if in person, cyber or context, and from the request, it looks like a lot of people wish to be treated pretty badly. Not this guy!

Thank you so much for this post. I came here hoping to connect with fellow Veterans and share experiences, both military and civilian. FB got so hateful with political posts I began to just ignore all the political junk and post and read animal and human interest type stories. Lately here on RP I have begun to see more political posts with attached animosity. Also on a military oriented site I have seen some very disrespectful comments regarding our President. To me this is unacceptable. Disagree as you will with policy but name calling and innuendos do not contribute positively to any discussion. Just my two cents.

I came to RP to reconnect to my military past and to see if the gripe sheet has changed at all in the last 20 years. I enjoy the stories of the past and present soldiers, airmen, and sailors.
If I want political rants I'll go online to a media website.

I retired from the Navy in 1986. I live in a community that has almost no military presence. I joined RP to get a view into what's happening in the trenches and to compare my life in the military with life in the 21st Century military.

One of the big differences is politics and flaming. We had a huge generational divide and race relations problems that sometimes broke out into physical confrontations but we didn't talk politics all the time and we didn't have social media where we could say outrageous things anonymously.

I'm used to seeing that kind of thing on Facebook. I have joined Facebook groups of fellow veterans, seen them turn into crazy talk, and then left them. I'm pretty much the same with RP. If it turns into a site full of name-calling and insult, I'll just move on.

As far as why I'm here, it would be to connect, reconnect, and continue to be surrounded by the awesome community of brothers and sisters in arms past present and future! This connection goes beyond this moment but touches back to the ones who fought to allow us to live in this country. As the preamble explains "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.