Posted on Sep 20, 2018
Can my command tell me my college school work isn't important?
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So, My command team tells me that if they need me too, I must stay extra long hours to work. But in doing so, My school work is suffering. I know I read somewhere that the army places great emphasis on those in college and that my command is required to give me more than enough time to do the work. Is this true, and if so, where can I find a regulation or SOP for it to give to my command team.
College
Command
Policy
Army Regulations
Operations NCO
Posted 7 y ago
Responses: 62
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It’s based off of mission requirements. Yes college is important, however no command is going to allow you to sit around doing college course if there are due outs. Operations is extremely busy, are you tracking and have turned in all personnel actions? Is anything delinquent? Have you asked for an expected battle rythm checklist that’s expected of you daily? Lastly, depending on the OPTEMPO of your position, some are never in a position to do college during “normal” business hours. I would talk to your retention NCO and see if you can reenlist for college.
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SFC Dennis Aalid
I have been retired for 27 + years, but from 1971-1991 I was able to obtain years of college credit towards a BS Degree on my own time. Keep in mind I was a HR Supervisor with 25-125 soldiers to supervise and care for! Thus I had very little time to do college work. This is how it has been for many, many years, and should always be so. Again, my mission 1st, my soldiers 2d and myself last, ALWAYS!!
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SPC Chris Ison
you guys missed the extra long hours part. That, to me, is "overtime" i.e. staying after 5 in the afternoon, for a day shift. What he, and you, missed is that the Military doesn't have to give you personal time.
Maybe what he should be focusing on is getting his work done sooner, and learnt o manage his time.
Maybe what he should be focusing on is getting his work done sooner, and learnt o manage his time.
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No. Mission first. If your command needs you then that is priority. Of course the Army wants you to succeed in your “personal” civilian education and most commands are good at that. However any command that has an unfulfilled mission requirement will obviously have to adapt to overcome those shortcomings. Sorry
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You are in the reserves, correct? So you work one weekend a month and two weeks in a year? That is the amount of time at your command has you. I'm sure you can work your school work around that.
Or, are you AGR? In which case you're a full-time employee, and work is your primary job. There are no employment agencies in which your job is to go to school
Or, are you AGR? In which case you're a full-time employee, and work is your primary job. There are no employment agencies in which your job is to go to school
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SFC (Join to see)
If you're Title 10 then that's your full time job. You weren't activated in order to go to College. The Army places emphasis on college by paying for TA and linking education to promotion. There is no requirement for them to work around your schedule. You have to work your schedule around your work. Imagine if your unit was activated to deploy and everyone said they couldn't go because they're in school.
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If they can order you to “take a hill” amongst blistering machine gun fire and insurmountable odds, I am betting that they can make you miss some college work. (Talk to many of the Gulf War veterans who were yanked out of their colleges mid semester and sent to the desert!)
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They can order you to work extra hours depending on the job that needs to be done and at their discretion. Unless you are concerned there is some sort of discrimination, your first commitment is to the military.
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SPC (Join to see): College graduation is essential to garnering a good career; but so is the military. Your mission always comes First.
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1. School is your problem- not the service. 2, You did not swear to serve when it was convenient for you. 3. Yes college is important- but it DOES NOT out weigh the unit's mission ever! 4. If you are been allowed to go to school, then I would think the Command would try to come to terms with your education, but I NEVER ever saw anything in writing that said it came 1st.
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Nothing you stated in your post supports your title statement "My command tell me my college school work isn-t important"
Secondly unless you have reenlisted for and education option or some other educational contract allowing civilian school while on duty your command is not obligated to provide you work hours for a personal endeavor. A very admirable personal endeavor and one that may benefit the unit as well as you personally.
Work hours are whatever the unit needs them to be.
When I had a choice between tasking two soldiers, one that going to sit in his room and play Xbox and one who wanted to go sit in a classroom to better himself I absolutely would choose the one playing Xbox. That is one way we support soldiers trying to better themselves through higher education.
What we don’t do is allow a service manager to shirk their duties responsibilities because something they've chosen to do outside of work is interfering.
I can almost guarantee, if you bring forth the attitude presented in this thread to your chain of command you will get zero support.
On the other hand if you go to them and asked their advice of how you can best accomplish both your goals; support your units need and your educational ones they probably will work with you to the best of the units ability.
Secondly unless you have reenlisted for and education option or some other educational contract allowing civilian school while on duty your command is not obligated to provide you work hours for a personal endeavor. A very admirable personal endeavor and one that may benefit the unit as well as you personally.
Work hours are whatever the unit needs them to be.
When I had a choice between tasking two soldiers, one that going to sit in his room and play Xbox and one who wanted to go sit in a classroom to better himself I absolutely would choose the one playing Xbox. That is one way we support soldiers trying to better themselves through higher education.
What we don’t do is allow a service manager to shirk their duties responsibilities because something they've chosen to do outside of work is interfering.
I can almost guarantee, if you bring forth the attitude presented in this thread to your chain of command you will get zero support.
On the other hand if you go to them and asked their advice of how you can best accomplish both your goals; support your units need and your educational ones they probably will work with you to the best of the units ability.
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Oh, FYI: I'd HIGHLY advise if you give anything to ANYONE, it NOT be your command team. We have a chain of command/responsibility for a reason. Don't skip over your SGT.
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Your profile says Reservists? Are you at Drill/AT/ADOS? I'm confused. If you're at Drill or AT: most college instructors will work with you but you have to work with them AHEAD of time, NOT AFTER THE FACT. If you're on ADOS: Surely you would have understood the mission requirement before taking on the ADOS assignment (it is voluntary-most of the time-anyway).
You'll learn as you advance (become an NCO) that time management is a HUGE deal. It's even emphasized in NCOPD schools now BIG TIME. You're gonna learn how to juggle things, all part of life.
But as stated above, MISSION is ALWAYS first.
You'll learn as you advance (become an NCO) that time management is a HUGE deal. It's even emphasized in NCOPD schools now BIG TIME. You're gonna learn how to juggle things, all part of life.
But as stated above, MISSION is ALWAYS first.
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SPC (Join to see)
I'm on ADOS. At first my command was willing, but now for some reason they've changed their tune. Orriginally they were letting me off at 1600 everyday in order to do school work now they are asking for me to stay till like 1900 or even 2100 some nights.
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