Posted on Apr 7, 2021
SGT Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic
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Little preface: a certain E7 decided to make hundreds of these stickers telling everyone to sticker bomb our MOB site, and now there are mugs being laser engraved with this logo as well as stickers all over an undisclosed location in the desert. My question is how does a meme like this really affect a units ability to stay resilient if our senior leadership is smearing the motto of "this is some red bullshit happening here", referring to how much it sorta sucks here (its not that bad). As a junior nco I dont like seeing this being the motto of our upcoming deployment, to me it shows our senior leadership has given up on caring here and it surely shows seeing peoples attitudes towards the little things we have to do here.
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Responses: 19
SGM Bill Frazer
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If they can't take a joke then the unit is in sad shape.
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CSM Charles Hayden Passed 7/29/2025
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SGT (Join to see) WHAT? An E-7 started that? NFW!
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CSM Walter Phillips
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I would not want to deploy with a unit without dark humor. It keeps you going during the tough times. For those that can’t handle not being woke; Embrace the Suck.
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PO1 Chad Alcock
PO1 Chad Alcock
>1 y
Dark humor is a coping mechanism. I've seen it most in the military, law enforcement, and especially EMS.
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How does this meme affect a units' resiliency going into a deployment?
SSG Laurie Mullen
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Edited >1 y ago
I expect some thing like this from the junior soldiers, but a SFC should have more professionalism. You may not be happy with the way things are in your unit, but you don't degrade it in front of subordinates.
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SSG Paul Headlee
SSG Paul Headlee
>1 y
Absolutely. I get it and I think its funny, but only in a hypothetical way. I wouldn't want my name on that one. Not everyone thinks like me though. Time will tell what the effects will be but I'm leaning toward no harm no foul.
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SSG David Brandgard
SSG David Brandgard
>1 y
Its a guard unit....different standards, different relationships . Not talking shit about the guard, but I saw the difference with my own eyes. It drove me nuts for the approximately four years I was assigned.
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SFC Melvin Brandenburg
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I am a proud Redbull. I deployed twice from Iowa. Our morale was generally pretty good, and I see this for the joke it is. We often use sarcastic and dark humor in the 34th Div. I think it's a way to blow off frustration. I think it's probably going a bit far to sticker bomb the MOB site, but as humor among individuals it's right up our alley.
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SGT Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic
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>1 y
no doubt sarcasm was invented in the midwest and thats what alot of this can be seen as.....if it came from the joes, not our senior leadership who should hold themselves above this sort of stuff because lets face it, it is a bit unprofessional (especially seeing as the stickers are being openly placed everywhere here) to support this stuff. If its one thing the 34th ID is good at its figuring things out on the fly, we proved that with responding to riots and making an NTC rotation happen even with the huge impact Covid had on us, but this is a year long deployment give or take, senior leaders need to foster a better environment for all their soldiers.
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SFC Melvin Brandenburg
SFC Melvin Brandenburg
>1 y
SGT (Join to see) - I mostly agree with you. It is definitely unprofessional for the senior leaders to be doing this kind of stuff, stuff you'd expect a SPC or high speed PFC to do as a way to deal with frustration. I also think I'd have a slightly different attitude and completely agree with you if I were one of the E7s at that MOB site, if I weren't retired. Still, I'd kind of like to get my hands on one of those stickers for my memory trunk as an example of humor gone too far.
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CSM Walter Phillips
CSM Walter Phillips
>1 y
Eed4912
My former unit 2nd SEG 87th DIV, trained up the Red Bull’s from the Minnesota NG at Camp Shelby MS around 2005 before they deployed to Iraq. I remember them as a great bunch of Soldiers with a lot of esprit de corps . Former Senator and Secretary of State John Kerry once said that the only people who join the military are high school dropouts. So this was the Red Bull’s response.
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SSG David Brandgard
SSG David Brandgard
>1 y
CSM Walter Phillips i was in Bosnia in 04 and remember that piece of shit saying "only stupid people end up in iraq"
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Lt Col Charlie Brown
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That E-7 and the Commander need a face-to-face...
and then my suggestion is the unit find a way to adopt it so it becomes something they control and not the idiot who started it.
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SFC Melvin Brandenburg
SFC Melvin Brandenburg
>1 y
I was a Rebulll for many years. I'd kind of like to have one of those stickers. We tend to have a sick sense of humor. This would make a great tattoo.
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SGT Air Defense Radar Repairer
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Defacing government property is a crime I believe.
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SSgt Christophe Murphy
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I don’t think it will effect resiliency but it could impact morale. But it sounds like morale has already taken a hit.

There may be something happening in the upper decks of leadership. Just keep doing what you are doing and ensure your troops don’t add to the shenanigans. Common sense will shine through eventually
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SGT Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic
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>1 y
but if theres any minor inconvenience, and with covid and the current problems our units in MN are dealing with, is going to happen and this is the reaction of the senior leadership, laughing and just saying "this is some red bullshit", how does that effect everyone below them? its a bit of a "fuck this place" mentality right?
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SSgt Christophe Murphy
SSgt Christophe Murphy
>1 y
SGT (Join to see) people are stressed world wide. It’s not just a Minnesota problem.

It’s in poor taste and definitely not becoming of leadership positions but like I said there is probably more to it that you don’t see because your not in that circle.

Keep doing your job, do your best to prevent this from bleeding into your work or that of your troops. You can’t change what they do.
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GySgt Kenneth Pepper
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Way back before you could easily buy stickers on Amazon our section had a stencil with our logo. It was the Jackel Pack, a name given to us because we would attack anyone who dared enter our shop alone. But if one of our own showed weakness, he was doomed. Every piece of equipment we could get to and numerous aircraft had it spray painted on it.
Dang. The good old days. I wish I still had that stencil.
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SSG David Brandgard
SSG David Brandgard
>1 y
I remember back in the good ole days....I was in the 101st at the time and everytime us and the 82d got in the same as, insignia would pop up painted on the wrong equipment! Great times. By the end of my career I was in the 82d and those days had been put to pasture.
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SSG Samuel Kermon
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It's a joke, albeit a poor one. That it was started by a senior NCO is more troublesome.
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