Is the Army and it's orders, MOS assignments, leadership requirements and all other things Army really hard to understand and figure out ?

SSgt David Tedrow — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 11:37:55 -0500

I ask this question coming from the Marine Corps. It seems the Answers section is 75% or more from Army asking questions that always seemed easy in the Marine Corps concerning orders, schools and boards. If it is this hard to understand maybe some changes need to be made.

Response by LTC John Shaw made Feb 9 at 2016 11:41 AM

LTC John Shaw — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 11:41:11 -0500

The Army has ten times more people and they don't want to make it too easy.

Response by LTC Paul Labrador made Feb 9 at 2016 11:46 AM

LTC Paul Labrador — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 11:46:47 -0500

The issue isn't whether it's easy to understand (because it IS easy and straightforward for the most part). It's whether or not the process was ever explained in the first place.

But as LTC Shaw stated, the Army is much bigger than the Corps is, and much more diverse. That alone lends to a level of complexity that the Corps doesn't have to deal with.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 9 at 2016 11:50 AM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 11:50:41 -0500

I would say that as a whole, no it is not hard. But there are constant changes when it comes to promotions and to some regulations. If the leaders are not properly pushing down new information and updates then the soldiers will not know. So it is not so much that we need a change but more so that leaders need to ensure that every soldier is made aware of any and all changes that occur within the ARMY and that goes for every branch of the military.

Response by SGT Ben Keen made Feb 9 at 2016 11:59 AM

SGT Ben Keen — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 11:59:16 -0500

I think LTC Paul Labrador hit it right on the head. The process of things is not that hard to understand but the lack of understanding makes it difficult. I would agree too that the Army in general has been going through a lot of changes the past 5 - 10 years. We are the largest branch so when changes go out, they do not always reach the line in a timely manner. I think it is also a good thing to see a lot of the questions we are seeing here on RallyPoint. We speak of this lack of understanding and lack of speed, yet through RallyPoint and the awesome collective experience of all the members regardless of branch, we are working towards ensuring the future leaders will be able to gain a faster understanding of the changes and be able to put them into practice faster.

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Feb 9 at 2016 12:04 PM

Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 12:04:49 -0500

I "think" it's a product of Quantity, since the Army as a whole is just larger. Combine that with components (Active, Reserve, and Guard). Our (Marines) systems are "simple" in comparison to everyone else's. We just have less to deal with. Not as many people. Not as many locations. Not as many Fields/MOS. We were so streamlined it was almost comical. Comparing us to any other any of the other Services just gets wonky.

Response by MSG Brad Sand made Feb 9 at 2016 12:50 PM

MSG Brad Sand — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 12:50:14 -0500

No, it is not that hard to figure out. Now getting it to work, is a different question.

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Feb 9 at 2016 3:42 PM

SFC Michael Hasbun — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 15:42:10 -0500

If people read the regulations/publications? No.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 9 at 2016 6:37 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 18:37:27 -0500

I dont fully agree that the issue is about the Army being larger than the Marines, I would only agree if there was no leadership chain. I am a dual vet Marine and now Army, and the Marines in my opinion just do a better job at teaching and getting the word out than the Army has. It starts with all my shoe laces being left over right.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 9 at 2016 7:47 PM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 19:47:12 -0500

In my opinion, it's not that hard to figure it out. That's not to say that there isn't a lot of grey area and that may be where some of the questions are coming from. There are also a ton of MILPER messages and ALARACTs that Soldiers never see.

However, some of the questions on here seem to stem from people either being too lazy to look it up themselves or someone never teaching them how to research it. I mean, questions like "If someone fails an APFT should they be flagged?" should be easily researched as it's black and white in the regulation.

I think Soldiers should be taught to research some of the questions they ask early on. Generally, if you teach them how to research and where to look it will result in a better leader.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 9 at 2016 7:58 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 19:58:33 -0500

I try to explain it as: if you combined the people, missions, and MOS's and unit structures of the Marines, Navy, and Air Force, you would get something that resembles the Army. The part of the Army that most resembles the Marines is our BCT's, which are pretty straightforward. But, we also have the medical command, Aviation, Schools, Communication ranging from radios to satellite to Space Command, several Special Operations units with a broad array of missions, boats, divers, contracting agents, prime power production, Air Defense, etc. There has to be a uniform set of guidance for all these different units.
As for the questions, a lot of them come from Reserve Component which has significantly different operating rules from the Active Component.

Response by Capt Mark Strobl made Feb 10 at 2016 1:27 AM

Capt Mark Strobl — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 01:27:28 -0500

SSgt David Tedrow - I'd have to say that this is simply reflective of the composition of RP's members --mostly Army. I'd bet there are proportionately as many Marines asking career-related questions.

Response by SPC Christopher Morehouse made Feb 10 at 2016 3:24 PM

SPC Christopher Morehouse — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 15:24:33 -0500

It's the Army. If it aight broke, fix it till it is.