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

To interact via this forum with Veterans and Service personnel and read their input

SGT Ben Keen My main reason from day one was to find ways to reach out and help other brothers and sisters who may be hurting.

I know what you are talking about as far as political rants. I think the people writing those posts should write what they think, but read it again after taking a few breaths. Is it worthy? Does it make sense? Do you slam someone just because they have a different view? If we do the famous "Count to ten," procedure I can bet many of the attacks will stop.

Network and camaraderie

I was invited to join by a friend, Thanks Edwin!! Once in I found myself relaxing reading what others where writing. Yes relaxing to know others out here had experiences to share that I too have gone through. That we are not alone to deal with our ghosts of the past. We all here have a bond Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard that is very unique. I have linked up with past Marines and Soldiers that I had been station with, knowing them at the time did not seem like much but really does now. Dealing with civilians causes my blood to boil and when it does I turn and read what you all are saying here and it calms the nerves. Reality is that we do things to accomplish the mission and civilians worry about their bottom line, money, profits and do not care about the human aspect of life. I guess we had to care our backs were against it and relied on others to carry us through the tough times, the mission always got completed no matter what. When I start to read negativity here I just go to thoughts and comments of another comrade. Or respond with kindness ignoring the negativity. I will never classify myself as a civilian, I am better than that, we all are!!!

I love reading the reasons many are here. I'll take my jab at it.
I am here simply to make amends and give back.
I made some very desperate choices during my service and now I am in a position to be available to those who are where I have been. I make no secret about my drug use and I am proud of my recovery. So when I am able to connect with someone, I share what I have until they are able to create their own. It's just my little corner of the world, but I do what I can.
Thank you at RP for the opportunity to give back.

I am here to help anyone who has a question I may be able to answer. I am here for the camaraderie of other military people, working with civilians is not like working with GI's.

I was directed here from another social media site and was curious since I am a vet. And was quite pleased there was a site for SMs, Vets, and Retired career to come together and share 'war' stories, help with issues someone is having, be a source for vets having problems and in general be around folks who have put on the uniform and taken the oath. Had some chuckles, a few 'hmmm, well' moments. I have noticed the rhetoric started to get heavy around election time, but was ok with it. Lately however, it seems rhetoric has turned to triggering events and people are being disrespectful simply for having a different opinion. Yes, debates can get heated and harsh words can get exchanged, but always there should be respect.

I am here to just enjoy military people expressing their opinions and views and to offer help if asked.

I’m here because I am a Military Surviving Spouse of a deceased USAF Vet! He committed Suicide at age 42, within 6 months of retirement!!! We got nothing except a Military Funeral! All doors were closed as I grieved for help! Extramarital
Affairs was the big issue...No one wanted to address this!!! It happens & every one knows it does ! It destroys many marriages...The outcome for many is SUICIDE..for a host of reasons! There was no help in 1998! Our lives just fell apart! I’m here to stand for common -sense issues ! I stand for those forgotten or lost in the system. We are family & these horrible feelings of loneliness, Darkness & no help should never happen again to anyone trying to carry on! Doors should be open for
Help..assistance..grief...investigations...
support to all! Suicide is real... the pain passed is forever life changing...
Respectfully,
SURVIVING SPOUSE OF
USAF DECEASED VET/SUICIDE

I purposely avoid the political click bait. I come here to participate in professional discussions, help where I can, and learn a thing or two from others. Strategy/ Policy discussions can go high and right as they live in the gray area between contemporary mudslinging politics and the strategic involvement of the armed forces at the highest levels.

Policy discussions have completely become unhinged. Anything to do with LBGTQ and any combination of,letters and numbers after it will attract that hardcore "for" and the ardent "against" players. All the usual suspects. I honestly believe RP is not going to solve this because there is no exchange of evidence based views and the conversation devolves down to typed yelling and "Jane you ignorant slut" comebacks. It is divisive and counter productive.

I avoid religious posts as a rule. Many look at their faith as an integral part of serving. I have prayed for God to protect me and mine in combat. I will tell anyone who asks me, if they ask me. But My faith is between me and the God I pray to when I am cold, scared, tired and hungry. I doubt most RP users are unhappy with their current salvation provider and arent in this forum seeking an alternative when they are looking for help on how to do a 4187 to get an early separation for college.

I think that the random "family member" RP members are generally not value added. There are several that are clearly teenagers that treat RP as a vanilla social media outlet and act(-up) accordingly. I either ignore them or bail on the discussion all together. Some of the "family members" have only the loosest and tangential connections to military service. Some come to discussions trying to decipher what is happening with their service member. Many times they are getting filtered and selected information from their SM. That discussion is really between them and their SM. Many times they need to be talking to ACS, Sailor and Family Center, AER, etc. but will blindly follow random stranger advice on a website. We are not even considering the mess we may be making for some poor Company Command team that will ultimately have to fix the real problem, what ever it is.

One of the other things I was hoping to accomplish was to close the perceived gap between junior and senior soldiers. Maybe the Navy and Air Force can limp along with the hard stop between Officers, NCOs, and enlisted. The services that engage in decisive ground combat absolutely can't. We have to be on the same page and understand we are concerned with different parts of that same page depending on our assigned duty responsibilities. To many junior soldiers, the big Army is some random, amorphous cloud that dispenses good and bad fortune capriciously. Most issues are decided in whole or in large part at the Brigade and below. Subordinate commanders have large latitude. Company Command teams have wide latitude to set policy and SOP to enforce good order, discipline, and ensure readiness as they see fit given regulations and their environment. I try and demystify that where I can, but what your chain of command decides, goes. The restriction us Rally Pointers don't have is being nose to nose with that BDE, BN, or CO Command team who,is elbow deep in all the problems without the luxury of looking at that one In isolation.