If there was one thing you could fix in the Army what would it be?

That's a very interesting response. I have always found that the best leaders are the ones that the Soldiers respect, because if they don't respect you they wont go the extra mile to make sure they, the unit and you are successful.

This is something I’ve been saying for awhile. Respect is different than being a soft and cuddly leader. You can be stern and “hardcore” yet still be a leader who listens to his soldiers, doesn’t constantly degrade them, and shows respect. A leader who shows respect, will get respect back from his soldiers. I’ve had a couple platoon sergeants that I respected a lot, and though I admit that I enjoyed my sham shield for a bit, once I had leaders I felt actually gave a damn about me, I found myself wanting to actually work for them. I would go the extra mile like you said to make sure things were done right because I wanted to make sure they looked good to their leadership as well. In a respectful chain, you all have each others back.

As has been pointed out on numerous occasions, stress cards are an urban legend. Though I think you may be trolling anyway.

Just once would I like to the mythical stress card. Don't get me wrong, basic has wussified 10 fold since the early 90s.

Because they are calculating BMI with little more than a fucking measuring tape. That is the single most inaccurate and outright LAZIEST ways to determine BMI. You can get a faster and more accurate reading with a handheld fat loss monitor (Omron HBF306C) for $40 at Walmart and the results are displayed in under a minute.

I lifted weights my whole time in the Army. I maxed PU'S, SU's and my two mile run. I am 5'11" and weighed 195. I had a 33" waist and my 1st Sgt gave me grief every single day for almost a year.

SPC Erik Thompson That's bullshit. Any 1SG who has a soldier in your position should make you an example to the company of what to work towards.
The BMI is the biggest POS in fitness/health.
I'm 44. 5'8 and 185. Not as fit as I used to be but definitely not obese as the BMI says I am.

CPL Cord Nipper My first day in the company he said to me, "Your kinda big aren't you?" I merely referred him to my last PT test that I scored 300 on. He didn't care. Told me he didn't want "body builders" in his company.

Funny thing is, exactly what you described sounds soft. Everyone will always say in the end they had it worse.

I've been out over 20 years.
Yesterday I was putting on a pair of BDU pants to work in my yard.
I thought about how many hours I spent shining boots and ironing uniforms and the attention to detail it instilled.
Made me wonder what troops today do to fill the time.

I suppose you could wear your medals and such on your cammies for parades and such like some foreign armies, but I think most would agree there is some use and merit to at least a service uniform like Marine Greens for when cammies are just not appropriate. BTW, the current Marine forest greens are directly descended from our WW1 uniform with the standing collar turned down into lapels, replace the EGAs and adding the existing khaki shirt and tie. So one could say that the Corps complies with your suggestion. SGT Phil Smith

I appreciate the candid response, and I believe that you are right it is getting better but it will take time with everything. One bit of info for you is that there is currently a system in place for the unit on the distant end to view prospective candidates for a job, but it is only currently done for Joint Assignments at the MAJs level and above. I believe it could be easily implemented at a much lower level.

SGT Phil Smith or at least bring back the old Spec system.

Think of it through the lens of "process". In the Army, the process owns you- you have to execute the process even if it's terrible and wastes lots of time and doesn't bring the results you could get doing it differently. In great civilian companies, the process doesn't own the employees- they own the process. In the Army, people are so focused on process that they stop looking at outcomes- they only look to make sure they are doing the process right. That is a hallmark of an organization that has big problems.

Here is an interesting piece on this: https://www.recode.net/2017/4/12/15274220/jeff-bezos-amazon-shareholders-letter-day-2-disagree-and-commit

Sir, I disagree with your sentiment. While I agree the Army wastes a ton of time, I disagree about the process.
You do not have to execute the process if there is a better way. That being said if the Commander says do it this way after you provide your reasoning why something should be done a different way, well then you do it the Commander's way. However if there is a better way, and/or a "Lessons learned" showing why a particular way is not good, you have the responsibility to bring that to the Commander's attention. If you fail to provide the Commander with all possible options and your reasoning, you have just failed your leadership.
The problem in the Army right now is we have to many junior leaders who don't have the balls to stand up to leadership whit bad ideas. We as leaders have to show our leaders all the better options and explain why there way might be a bad idea and present them with a better way and the reasons. But at the end of the day it is still the Commander's call. Don't get stuck on the process though, think outside of the box. You can still own the process. In other words for my fellow Grunts, if the process is the hole and the way of conducting the job is the peg; take the round peg, shave it down until it fits in the square hole if that is a better option than the broken and slow round peg in round hole.

The whole point of Commander's Intent and clearly defined end-state is so that the "process" becomes immaterial and flexibility is allowed. As long as the end-state is exactly as desired and the Commander's intent is met any route that gets you there, as long as it's moral, ethical, and legal, is acceptable

Fire trump. For not taking care of vets. Tiger woods is in bangkok on holiday. Drug addict

They began rolling it out a few years ago. I was stationed at Ft. Bliss, and let me tell ya, when they introduced it, you weren't going to find anyone within combat arms doing it except for those who were broken (what does that tall ya about the "intensity" of PRT?).

SGT (Join to see) It's funny that you say that about being saluted. When I joined the Guard people who didn't know me would call me sir even if I was in PT's. I do think it has something to do with how Marines walk. Tall, upright, and with just a little bit of scorn on their face. Plus, I keep my hair cut closer to the Marines regulations than the Army's. The Army's is a tad lax in my opinion.

When I enlisted, the standard was PT is for PT. If you recognize a leader, render the proper greeting. If we are wearing rank and name tapes while conducting PT, PT wouldn't get done.

We conduct physical training to ensure Soldiers are fit and ready for combat. We cannot do that effectively with the need to stop and render the greeting of the day and a salute a very few minutes.

Years ago while in the National Guard while attending PLDC we had a soldier struck by a car. I am a paramedic/ firefighter. I started rendering first aid. Soldier had an obvious femur fracture. I fell into civilian mode and started directing treatment. Some guy shows up also in PT uniform and asks " what the hell is going on? ". My response is " Who the F$_k are you? ". If he had a bird on his PT I am pretty sure I would have thrown a " Sir " in there somewhere.

CW4 (Join to see) - I disagree. When we go to the field the focus is on training also. Same as on the rifle range. Same as in the gas chamber. The focus is always on training. In the field we have a no salute policy. There's no reason why we can't have that during PT as well.