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I find this to be humorous and also a legitimate issue. Recently I was at large training compound with multiple units there, basically a "mock up" of a FOB. So while in the latrine some soldiers, that must have been in one of the support units there were talking. They were complaining about the soldiers from the infantry unit calling them "POGs." And without missing a beat someone yells from a stall in the same building "Shut up POG." I couldn't help but to laugh.
I usually don't care what you do in the Army as long as you are doing your job and are maintaining your professionalism. These units that we were running into were far below the expectations of maintaining professionislism. There were so many uniform violations our CSM had to wear blinders where ever he walked so he could make it there without correcting every soldier on the way. If he did he would never make where ever he was going. I was just wearing ACUs. It was a bit chilly but I saw a soldier with the ECWCS gen III level 7 jacket, aka the marshmallow jacket. With some sort of toboggan cap that was not anything to do with the army. There was no uniformity and it seemed like no one in their unit cared.
I am not calling anyone a POG in this post. I have our support personnel in our unit that we view as peers. They were harder than anyone in that other unit. They act like soldiers just like we do.
What is your take on this? Do you think they are asking for it by they way they are? Should anyone be called a POG? Should they be expected to maintain the same standard as everyone else in the Army? And what is their CSM doing when this is happening?
I usually don't care what you do in the Army as long as you are doing your job and are maintaining your professionalism. These units that we were running into were far below the expectations of maintaining professionislism. There were so many uniform violations our CSM had to wear blinders where ever he walked so he could make it there without correcting every soldier on the way. If he did he would never make where ever he was going. I was just wearing ACUs. It was a bit chilly but I saw a soldier with the ECWCS gen III level 7 jacket, aka the marshmallow jacket. With some sort of toboggan cap that was not anything to do with the army. There was no uniformity and it seemed like no one in their unit cared.
I am not calling anyone a POG in this post. I have our support personnel in our unit that we view as peers. They were harder than anyone in that other unit. They act like soldiers just like we do.
What is your take on this? Do you think they are asking for it by they way they are? Should anyone be called a POG? Should they be expected to maintain the same standard as everyone else in the Army? And what is their CSM doing when this is happening?
Posted in these groups: 
Combat Arms
Support
Combat Arms Support
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 149
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I was on both sides of the fence. I have nothing but love for the infantry (especially when I was infantry...lol), but one thing that is for sure is that the infantry is only a part of the whole. Grunt over POG, airborne over leg, Apache over Kiowa, the list is endless. One team, one fight. An orchestra played without any one instrument will not sound the same. If you have to take pride in yourself at the expense of tearing others down which value does that fall under? The longer you stay in and the more exposure you have to the "big picture", the less willing they are to throw any derogatory term around. You don't train for a prize fight and decide which of your senses you don't need as you enter the ring.
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SPC Donald Moore
MSG David Johnson , I think that since it is a made up word, the difference in spelling from pog to poge is just a matter of choice. Before this article, I don't recall ever seeing the word written. I did hear it used, for example, "you are such a pog that you couldn't land-nav out of the exchange." Or, "I am going over to the exchange to get some pogie bait." The spellings are all mixed up because it is a verbal usage slang term.
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MSG David Johnson
The word Pouge, or Poge, or however you want to spell it came to my knowledge in just about every book I have read about Viet Nam.
I'm sure it was used before the war in Viet Nam but this is where I have seen it the most.
I'm sure it was used before the war in Viet Nam but this is where I have seen it the most.
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Even grunts argue over who is less of a POG: a rifleman driving the truck? The gunner? The dismounts?
We can all agree someone is more POG than us. If we run out of specialties we can always bash the other services. If we run out of services we can bash the civilians.
Let the grunts revel in their misery. They need it.
We can all agree someone is more POG than us. If we run out of specialties we can always bash the other services. If we run out of services we can bash the civilians.
Let the grunts revel in their misery. They need it.
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Sgt (Join to see)
Yes I am, if you are going to be in a warrior culture and you get super depressed for getting called a word, then maybe this was not the best choice for you. Everyone hoots and hollers when watching Full Metal Jacket, and says how "thats how we are a breed of our own." Now fast forward to being called a "POG" or "Boot" and sitting in the corner being all upset. Last time i checked, ISIS and other terrorist where not nice about wording but no one gets upset. So lets stop making big issues over such childish things, we have bigger issues on our hands then some set of words.
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SGM (Join to see)
It's possible that the worst of all is to have been a grunt for 15 years, and gotten so old that they retired me to a desk. I'm not a POG or Fobbit at heart, but that's what they made me into.
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I would have laughed as well if I heard "shut up POG" after hearing someone bitch about being called that. I think a good dose of the rivalry is a good thing. When we were given shit by the combat arms, we dished it right back. We told them that we would use small words and nothing over two syllables. Teach your Soldiers to be proud of the job that they joined up for. Teach them that when they get shit to give it right back. Teach them we are all a small cog in the big military machine and to be proud of that.
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1SG (Join to see)
As a former infantry and now maintenance POG, I completely agree. Looking back it seems I would call them POG's mostly out of jealousy for the material things the support units got.. IE hot chow, barracks, trucked in and out of the field... But I wouldn't have changed places with them for anything. The camaraderie was worth every minute of the "suck" and separating ourselves from them whether by calling them POG's or anything else only brought us closer together. Trust me, if you weren't sleeping in the field under a poncho in 50 degree weather with us.. you and everyone else was a POG..haha
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SSG (Join to see)
I've served in two branches. Love the rivalry, hell, I even make fun of myself at times. If you can't laugh at the bad, you'll never see the good.
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SSG (Join to see)
its just a big fun game we all have. I have nothing for respect for all the gun bunnies, and FO's and my 68W but there still POG's. While deployed they dont get it but when we return and they always have to get "certified" coinsidently when we are doing a 25 miler we just laugh and call them POG's and CM. good times we all need it, if we were never competitive than noone would want to better than the man next to them. At the end of the day and a good fight we high five them all and go back to talking shit.
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