Leaders and Soldiers: What are general sources that have been really helpful for you that others don’t seem to utilize or know about?

2021-01-19T03:02:30-05:00

I ask this because I for one think the more sources the better: it’ll be good for me as well as everyone else not familiar with them, BUT also and I’m trying to compile a list of some for others too.

Currently I have a couple to keep in mind that I’ve made good use of:

Fmsweb: find your units MTOE, personnel allocation etc. this is actually really important and something that came up because as an Army we have started getting into a bad habit of calling anyone who counsels a soldier a team leader, when in fact we aren’t supposed to be. Found this out the hard way recently as our S1 came down saying we had to change half our SGTs to reflect gunner instead of team leader on their NCOERs and SRBs. Crazy...anyways though the point is all your MTOE equipment can be found here. Very good stuff to look at if you want to turn old shit in, argue for more personnel, requirements for security clearances etc. I actually referenced this most recently for the request that a soldiers security clearance be revoked because of financial issues he has not been able to fix (even after budgeting classes at ACS and multiple financial advisors) and that he will no longer be MOS qualified.

Army training network: great resource for classes. Has a very good in-depth check list for certification of your soldiers on almost every subject.

Military onesource: of course this is pretty decently known but is very underutilized. Many issues soldiers have can seek this site as a good resource and support.

I’d love to see any others that our leaders old and new can utilize and maybe she’d light on some resources that others don’t know about that will help us all be more effective.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 19 at 2021 8:35 AM

2021-01-19T08:35:19-05:00

For me the biggest resource that I think that is underused, if used at all, is the Central Army Registry.
It's a one stop shop for tasks, publications, and just about anything the Army has. It is great to pulling information about a task when your planning your training. Additionally, I use it for counseling. There is a thing called the Individual Critical skills Task List (ICTL) that outlines the required proficiency for every MOS in the Army by skill level. When ever I counsel any of my Soldiers I print them a copy of their ICTL and inform them that this is what I want them to be familiar with and I will usually tell them to print out the ICTL for their subordinates. This will help build hip pocket training plans and build the individual proficiency required before they can move on to tasks for teams and squads. I recently was talking about this in a class and I don't believe anyone there was familiar with the tool or the ICTL.

https://rdl.train.army.mil/catalog/dashboard

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Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 19 at 2021 8:47 AM

2021-01-19T08:47:13-05:00

S1net on MilSuite, it's not just for S1s. The weekly newsletter email provides updates on every new ALARACT, MILPER message and every new AR, ATP and DA Form update.

DTS, actually has every type of training material from simple trifolds to the complete DTS manual and links to the JTR and DoDFMR. There is no reason to get an auth or voucher returned for corrections 3 times with all that information available from the DTS home page.

AR 623-3, I have seen way too many OERs and NCOERs where it is obvious that the rating chain has not opened this reg and are merely copying other evals written by other rating chains who have also not opened this reg, or even the helpful slides and videos from HRC.

Response by SGT Carl Forsman made Jan 19 at 2021 9:06 AM

2021-01-19T09:06:03-05:00

I would not dig further than military references. I promise all you need is in the library's if you dig. I have experienced NCO and Officers trying to think and gather information from outside the military. One must be careful and soul search if they are ready to have so much information that they have to double check with in their mind before giving a instantaneous command that has not only their men's lives at stake but also their entire career. I know this isn't directly what you are looking for, but it is an issue I have witnessed and I would hate to see someone spoil a career by mixing up the military with "real world" references. Remember, your going to get out of the military one day, and your going to take off that pretty uniform. You sound like a guy who will be reg'd up and this is going to make you a predator in the general work force, and at that time you can take in the mealy mouth civilian shit to tune yourself into dealing with the sheep. Hope this helps you stay on the straight and narrow.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 19 at 2021 12:12 PM

2021-01-19T12:12:30-05:00

I've found JRAT (joint risk assessment tool) to be helpful! Sorry can't get the link on my phone.

Response by CWO3 Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 19 at 2021 12:19 PM

2021-01-19T12:19:03-05:00

MCLLs (Marine Corp Lessons Learned) if it still exists, was widely known about. Mostly used as a format for AARs, but made good resource material. Actual people sharing their successes and shortcomings. Worth scrutiny, to prevent repeating the mistakes.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 19 at 2021 12:21 PM

2021-01-19T12:21:43-05:00

FMSWEB = I use it to research other units I might be interested in transferring to. I also compare the unit's personnel MTOE to their total vacancies to get an idea of how well the unit is manned. Then you can see what their METL is and expectation of deployments/mobilizations. Also, this helps you understand where a specific unit fits in the food chain of higher commands.

MILPER's = When I started looking at daily MILPERs for my CPT board list I also stumbled upon a bunch of other stuff I could utilize. It's the MILPER that announces schools, promotion criteria or special assignments. If you wait for those kinds of notifications to get to your e-mail then you are too late to act.

REGULATIONS = Mentioned above were MILPER's. These always referred to REGULATIONS, which are essentially the final say. If you want someone higher in rank to execute an action it's best to refer to REGULATIONS. It's through regulations I discovered AR350-66 which says Competitive Marksmanship is Training (civilian or military). Ergo, I use them when appropriate for RST's. I had a BA weekend conflict with AT orders. So I effectively lost a MUTA, which I still have the right to earn. So I simply went to a civilian gun match because well, the reg says it is training. My COL even had this vetted by JAG before he approved it. The REG is the REG.

I was very close to actually using a week worth of AT days to shoot a week long gun match being conducted by the Navy. CV19 canceled our AT so we had to come up with alternatives. I had all the approvals, but as expected the Navy canceled the match as well. Anyway, without the regulations I'd have never got that close.

RCMS, CSMM, AVE, MARRS etc... I've since lost this because I don't have ARNET access, and no need really not being in command. AVE was awesome as a vacancy search tool. It was basically a UMR, and listed all the positions of the unit vacant and filled. As well, it gave the NAMES of those who filled the positions. So it was a truncated UMR. Names were important because it told me literally who the person was in the S1 position or the CSM or Commander position. So I could look them up in AKO, and then reach out and contact them about a transfer. MARRS was nice to see your unit's OPTEMPO, and scheduled exercises. When in command I "thought" I knew our AT for the following year, then a few months later I checked again and saw it changed. So I knew something was coming down the pipe before Battalion did.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Jan 19 at 2021 2:57 PM

2021-01-19T14:57:42-05:00

Financing a car through USAA is pretty damn easy. One time a dealership gave me a the terms of a loan and my payments would be like $330 a month. I had a degree in Finance so I told them their numbers were wrong. They told me I did not know jack shit, so I called USAA. There number was like $220 a month and it matched to the penny what my computation was.

Response by SSG Samuel Kermon made Jan 19 at 2021 3:22 PM

2021-01-19T15:22:34-05:00

Apart from official sources how about autobiographies which will help you fain some insights. Read general fiction, like Kipling, to get out of the box ideas. But, and this is only for some, the Holy Bible is full of insights on human behavior. Just my own thoughts

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 28 at 2021 5:12 PM

2021-01-28T17:12:55-05:00

Finding Social media groups dedicated to your career field (Such as the Logistics Officer's Group on Facebook) is a great tool to see what is going on in your job field and to get advice and insights.

Response by SFC Melvin Brandenburg made Feb 18 at 2021 12:08 AM

2021-02-18T00:08:22-05:00

Personally, networking and my first line leader.