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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?
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Combat Arms Support
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 148
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Social media and the internet in general allows for a great deal of trolling. As with all things in life, if you don't have a thick skin, you're in the wrong profession. The military exists to fight wars, not dance around play fuck-fuck games in the tulips.
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I was referred to as Spook more than POG. However, I was never insulted by being called a POG. Well, not any more than an infantry person being called a Grunt, I suppose. In my opinion, being called a Grunt is more derogatory because Grunt typically means brutish and stupid. So if POG is Person Other then Grunt, why would I be offended at being called the opposite of brutish and stupid?
Anyway, I think it all has to do with the perceived intent in which one is being called names. It's in the attitude in which the "term of endearment" is used. Just like any other nickname, typically if you don't like it, that's what you will be called.
Anyway, I think it all has to do with the perceived intent in which one is being called names. It's in the attitude in which the "term of endearment" is used. Just like any other nickname, typically if you don't like it, that's what you will be called.
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Person other than Grunt. If soldiers are getting so butt hurt about this saying then why didn't they just join to be a Grunt then, so then they wouldn't be called a (POG). I work with the Infantry and it doesn't bother me at all when they call me POG because both of us know that I walk side by side with them in combat. That we both embrace the same suck. That we all have each other's 6's.
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SGT James Colbert
Not yet, but very very soon.... there is a comment there I would say , but ...however comma
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CPT (Join to see)
SPC Claudia Hawkins That is another topic all together.
Take a look at this. It is more than just having a dick. A know a lot of guys that can't make it.
Take a look at this. It is more than just having a dick. A know a lot of guys that can't make it.
Marine Corps Infantry Officer Course and Female Marines, gauging females in combat roles |...
Through out the military there has been a push for female service members to join their brothers in some of the most challenging assignments in combat units. The Marines are by far the most adamant about proving this. They are steps beyond where the other services are in their own integration of females in combat roles. They are finding the cold hard truth. It really doesn't matter what one thinks is fair, as in requiring females to performing...
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SSG (Join to see)
I fully support women in combat arms as long as they can pass the standards to get there. Day in and day out there are countless male soldiers that are forced to reclassed because they couldn't pass the standards. If a female can pass or surpass the standards then she can be there. But there should be only one standard in my opinion. Not one for males and one for females.
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I myself was a "POG." Being in the Air Wing I was referred to as POG while aboard the USS Boxer by the grunts on board, also was called a POG by grunts while in Iraq. To be honest it didn't bother me in the least because I knew that if there weren't guys like me it would make their jobs WAY more difficult. To be honest, I'm fine with the way infantry members, of any branch really, wanting to differentiate themselves because I have not stood in the line of fire. I have not taken life, or witnessed life taken. To do the job that many of them have to do requires a certain mentality. They have to harden themselves as individuals, so it's natural for them to see guys that are not facing fire on a daily basis as beneath them. In my experience, if you are a "POG" that is professional and you are good at your job then you are a "POG" only by name. You aren't disrespected because the grunts know that if their were no support Marines then their survivability in combat would suffer, and that's what matters most to them. When they really get irritated at "POGs" is when one is disrespectful and or crappy at their job. But I'd say that in any MOS people would be pissed at you if you were those things.
Where I think the major disconnect is between Grunts and POGs is that in the infantry rank structure is far more defined than it is in any type of support unit. For instance in the Air Wing, a PFC isn't going to get his ass chewed by a LCpl. However, in the infantry its common to see a PFC get his ass chewed by a LCpl. That LCpl might be his fire team leader and in combat if he doesn't respect that LCpl or follow his orders lives could be lost. So, I think it is important that when you are a POG and you are dealing with a grunt you keep in mind the rank structure AT ALL RANKS. Grunt Sgts aren't used to grunt Cpls talking to them as if they are peers bc the structure of a combat platoon doesn't allow for that. So when a POG Cpl talks to a grunt Sgt like he would a POG Sgt it pisses the grunt off, and being a POG only adds fuel to that fire.
Support Marines should keep all of that in mind when dealing with grunts. You don't know the horrors they have been through or seen.
With all of that said, by no means should a POG anything take shit from a grunt that is lower in rank. But if you are a Cpl and jump a grunt LCpl.....be prepared for some salty, mean ass Sgt to come find you!!! LOL
Where I think the major disconnect is between Grunts and POGs is that in the infantry rank structure is far more defined than it is in any type of support unit. For instance in the Air Wing, a PFC isn't going to get his ass chewed by a LCpl. However, in the infantry its common to see a PFC get his ass chewed by a LCpl. That LCpl might be his fire team leader and in combat if he doesn't respect that LCpl or follow his orders lives could be lost. So, I think it is important that when you are a POG and you are dealing with a grunt you keep in mind the rank structure AT ALL RANKS. Grunt Sgts aren't used to grunt Cpls talking to them as if they are peers bc the structure of a combat platoon doesn't allow for that. So when a POG Cpl talks to a grunt Sgt like he would a POG Sgt it pisses the grunt off, and being a POG only adds fuel to that fire.
Support Marines should keep all of that in mind when dealing with grunts. You don't know the horrors they have been through or seen.
With all of that said, by no means should a POG anything take shit from a grunt that is lower in rank. But if you are a Cpl and jump a grunt LCpl.....be prepared for some salty, mean ass Sgt to come find you!!! LOL
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POG or not they are still a member of the Army and all MOS is needed to complete the mission. We all had the option to chose our jobs and if someone else calling you a POG really affects you than you have bigger problems.
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MAJ Ronnie Reams
Some active ones tie up at the dock at the end of the main drag in Wilmington and there is a Reserve Boat Company in NE NC.
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SSG (Join to see)
Small Craft includes engineer bridging units and the Corps of Engineers which has service boats of all kinds
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MAJ Ronnie Reams
Remember the Navy does not have a lot of boats. Probably more subs than anything else, but some tug boats. yard craft, landing craft, whatever left of the brown water Navy, etc Navy big into ships!
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As a 42A I've been called all sort of terms such as POG or Chairborne Ranger, but at the end I just took it with a grain of salt because it's all jokes. Also as a 42 I usually have the last laugh when it comes to their paperwork, but other than that I think it's just good ole brotherly love.
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SSG (Join to see)
They call you a POG until you have to fix their pay; fix their promotion packets; etc.
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Really?!
You are in the service, where you face certain death. Your feelings should be the last worry on your mind. Stop being so soft.
You are in the service, where you face certain death. Your feelings should be the last worry on your mind. Stop being so soft.
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SFC (Join to see)
Let's try and take calling "legs" away from airborne qualified personnel and see how far that goes.
I have a permanent profile as a result of a surgery. End result of that, I cannot be a Drill Sergeant, Airborne/Air Assault, or Warrant Officer to name a few. There are a lot of "special" things you can be, but if you just cannot, accept it. Don't turn the service into a watered down version of what it used to be to spare you from a little playful jesting.
I have a permanent profile as a result of a surgery. End result of that, I cannot be a Drill Sergeant, Airborne/Air Assault, or Warrant Officer to name a few. There are a lot of "special" things you can be, but if you just cannot, accept it. Don't turn the service into a watered down version of what it used to be to spare you from a little playful jesting.
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1LT William Clardy
From a paternal perspective, telling your daughter that she needs a N.A.P. could cause you to suffer from self-inflicted paternal apoplexy....
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As a POG, I have no real issue with being called a POG. I know what I am. I didn't enlist to be Infantry and I don't pretend that that's what I am, or that I do anything remotely similar. I wear the same uniform and qualify on a rifle that fires the same caliber of ammunition. Thats where the similarities stop. I have a problem with the idiot 11Bs, usually junior Enlisted that make it their goal to discount anything said by a POG, usually with something along the lines of "You aren't man enough to be Infantry, your opinion or thoughts don't count." Of course it's never put quite like that. Its usually thrown in with name calling and the like. I also don't like that Infantry tend to think of EVERYONE as their support. Support MOSs are things like Admin, commo, cooks, transport and other MOSs like that. Artillery, Armor, Air Defense and what not aren't support in the way they usually mean it. Hell, when I was on Guam an Infantry unit pulled security for us. I'd definitely say, THEY were the support in that situation, not the other way around. Anyways, I've gotten off subject...
TL:DR If you're a POG, you're a POG. Don't get your feelings hurt. It's what you are.
TL:DR If you're a POG, you're a POG. Don't get your feelings hurt. It's what you are.
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