As the military changes, rapidly as of late, would you say that it is better, worse, or the same as it was when you served?

SGT Joseph Gunderson — Mon, 04 Sep 2017 11:50:02 -0400

Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 4 at 2017 11:54 AM

SCPO Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 04 Sep 2017 11:54:14 -0400

Abso-tively, posi-lutely worse!!!

Response by CPT(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 4 at 2017 4:03 PM

CPT(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 04 Sep 2017 16:03:03 -0400

I will say that President Trump and Secretary Mattis have made a difference for the better.

Response by SGT Jim Arnold made Sep 4 at 2017 6:13 PM

SGT Jim Arnold — Mon, 04 Sep 2017 18:13:09 -0400

being that my military career ended 23 years ago and from the rumors I've heard since. Sounds nothing like what I left behind. Some of what I seen are good while other things of what I've heard are down right appalling. Rode colored memories?? maybe but, then again my whole time was during peace time with small conflicts in between

Response by CW2 Ernest Krutzsch made Sep 4 at 2017 7:38 PM

CW2 Ernest Krutzsch — Mon, 04 Sep 2017 19:38:17 -0400

It's always worse and your era was the best, generation after generation

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 4 at 2017 8:18 PM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 04 Sep 2017 20:18:06 -0400

I'm not going to lie. When I got out in '03 and came back in '08, I was taken aback by the quality/intelligence/maturity levels (or lack thereof ) of the Soldiers.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 4 at 2017 9:27 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 04 Sep 2017 21:27:00 -0400

Asking this from the outside looking in seems incredibly flawed.

How can you -possibly- know what the service is like if you're not living it? We ask this of the "I almost joined, but..." crowd, but for some reason, Vets seem to think they're immune. Was at a Recruiting event today, and got to listen to all kinds of Vets tell kids wildly, ridiculously inaccurate information- that was no doubt true back in their day, but has long since changed.

All you can know from the outside is rumors, internet posts, and stories...which we all know tend to paint the worst possible picture, because that's what's interesting- just like the news only reporting crime and horror. Comparing the rose tinted lenses of "back in my day"...just doesn't seem like a good idea, unless you actually started wearing a uniform again after a break in service.

Response by SGT Christopher Hayden made Sep 5 at 2017 3:29 AM

SGT Christopher Hayden — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 03:29:35 -0400

Worse: The social experiments happening while we've been fighting non-stop battles in two different countries for nearing 2 decades now. Way too much time has been spent on making people "feel good" than winning wars.

Response by Cpl Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 5 at 2017 1:46 PM

Cpl Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 13:46:10 -0400

The Answer to this is always it was better when I served. No matter what generation is serving the previous will always think they were better. So I will respond it was better when I served.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 5 at 2017 4:21 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 16:21:18 -0400

Not only have we as leaders lost the ability to creatively (and in a way that will not potentially ruin a good soldiers career) redirect a soldiers behavior, but we are inundated with non-training tasks that are mandatory. (It is sad but I have to say this before I explain further, non of these things are not important to a certain degree.) We are forced ourselves to spend hours online doing accident avoidance, anti-terrorism and hordes of other classes every year. We are forced to spend hours and hours of our days in SHARP training or Resiliency training. We are forced to spend more and more time on training that is not military training, it has gotten to the point that it seems more like a life skills career instead of a military career. I remember a time when my entire day was spent training or preparing to train in my primary job, now if i get 50% of my time spent that way I feel I have accomplish something. the other half is spent checking some box some special interest group thinks I need to have checked. Dec, 2017 I retire (20) and I have not been more thrilled. It used to be I was excited now I am dreading, it saddens me.

Response by SSG Will Phillips made Sep 5 at 2017 4:40 PM

SSG Will Phillips — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 16:40:05 -0400

In my humble opinion, the military is positively no place to conduct social experiments what so ever. The purpose of the military is to protect our country, our constitution and our way of life. Regardless of your patriotism, no one has a right to serve if serving means the institutional standards have to be changed or lowered to meet your special needs.
Under special circumstances, yes the military is best suited for humanitarian efforts due to the skill sets needed to move large amounts of supplies and equipment very quickly and efficiently. That is secondary to the primary mission which is to defend our nation and citizens. The US military, all branches mind you should be made up of the warrior class of ur population.

Response by PO3 Gilbert Flores made Sep 5 at 2017 5:37 PM

PO3 Gilbert Flores — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 17:37:21 -0400

I felt things were great when I served late 80's-early 90's. I know my Navy changed quite a bit since my father served in WWII, it was also different from just the 5 years prior to my enlistment where they were still sporting beards! Now women are serving onboard battleships with men and I have no problem with that, the uniform changes have left my head spinning as things were much simpler back then. Change is inevitable and the older we get the more we'll resist it I guess. Todays sailors are doing fine (except maybe the recent collisions of late). I honestly can't say if it's better or worse except maybe that with all the new technology(smart phones), keeping in touch and being able to FaceTime etc. make separation from friends and loved ones a little less isolating. Oh, and while you're at it, GET OFF MY LAWN YA DAMN HIPPIES AND GET A HAIRCUT!!!

Response by SGT Aaron Atwood made Sep 5 at 2017 7:40 PM

SGT Aaron Atwood — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 19:40:38 -0400

Different as opposed to better vs worse. I haven't been to any station more than once, and my first enlistment was spent as a single Marine in the barracks. Homosexuals are present, but I never took notice because I never had to, and they keep things professional at work as I would expect them to. There's a lot more training, required especially, so now there aren't many options for those who are ****-hot among our peers if they wish to go to some sort of PME to become even more ****-hot. My biggest concern is that the ones who led the charge into Iraq and Afghanistan, and occupied it afterward, are almost completely out of the military by this point. We don't have their direct experience to reference to when we go to war somewhere else.

As a Sergeant with my third unit and senior (by time in service) to many of my peers I find that it's best to keep an open mind and be ready to keep on learning and adapting for the better.

Response by Cpl Justin Goolsby made Sep 5 at 2017 10:06 PM

Cpl Justin Goolsby — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 22:06:47 -0400

Worse... I've only been out 2 years, but I can see a dramatic decrease in the quality of the Marines that I had when I was an NCO and the Marines that I've worked with since I got out.

For instance, I've had a Junior Marine tell their NCO that they're exempt from Field Day cleanup because they felt uncomfortable having people inspect their room.

I've watched shitbird Junior Marines get a chewing out and instead of taking it, they go straight up to the CO and SgtMaj's office and complain their feelings are hurt.

I'm watching good quality NCOs getting processed out to satisfy the complaints of Junior Marines who can't handle the most basic aspects of their MOS.

It's like a child who realizes he has the upper hand threatening to call Child Protective Services and claim their parent is abusive. How does an NCO be an NCO when he can't discipline his own Marines...

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 5 at 2017 11:14 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 23:14:19 -0400

Looking at everyones responses, i can see most peoples issues with todays military is with discipline. Everyone is blaming young soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen for not having discipline and yet the very people complaining about it are NCOs who do nothing about it. And i think the reason for that is that when NCOs do discipline their soldiers/ect. that their COC doesnt back them up. You have the senior NCOs/Officers who allow this stuff to happen because when soldiers skip the COC to complain about it, those senior NCOs and Officers allow them to. They pander to the whim of the soldier because they are too scared of someone higher coming down on them. In essence what im saying is we as NCOs just need to work together and back eachother up. The main thing i see with the military right now is NCOs and Officers not working together and backing eachother up.

Response by CSM Darieus ZaGara made Sep 8 at 2017 3:08 PM

CSM Darieus ZaGara — Fri, 08 Sep 2017 15:08:00 -0400

The military is a reflection of our society in that the members will always adjust to the current environment. The answer in lies with, is the United States well protected, the answer is yes!!!

Response by Sgt Dale Briggs made Feb 22 at 2020 6:10 PM

Sgt Dale Briggs — Sat, 22 Feb 2020 18:10:18 -0500

A liberal snowflake world where anybody and everybody is offended by everything. Some aren’t suitable for service, they should be sent home in boot. There’s no room for trying to change the decorum and structure of the military, it exists for a reason, and on a mountain in Afghanistan isn’t the place to find out guys can’t hack it.

Response by SCPO William Akin made Feb 26 at 2020 2:36 PM

SCPO William Akin — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 14:36:24 -0500

I won't say better or worse one way or the other (cause I'm soooo politically correct)...
I will however say we had zero -00- problems with pregnancies affecting the Watch, Quarter, and Station Bill aboard any ship that I recall..
Just my 2 cents/scents worth ;-)