Time to change or stay the same

2015-04-22T18:01:51-04:00

Alright RP this subject is touchy but it's something to debate every opinion is welcome just nothing against others.
Change in the military is slow yet higher wants to keep on I have been in almost five years working on getting my stripes and see this more and more from the background my last unit light infantry I learned a lot saw a lot. So change new equipment weapons gear everything why dis we keep spending more and more I know for one my old unit had quite a bit of equipment so old that the parts we needed to attempt to make it work aren't even made anymore yet we are MTOWED the stuff but can't use it or repair it and the work has been taken from matience such as my old NCO a 25U told me we have the tools to fix radio ports that go bad but we have to send it to c&e we aren't allowed to do it anymore only the civilians can now. My question let's change some of that crap put the work back in the soldiers hands. I took pride in my knowledge of my equipment and the ability to use and improve with what I had and improvise when I needed to get the mission completed why is itit take change so long and why would we pay for equipment that's not fully working or tested when we could use simpler systems that work better. Or why is it that I see so much it's broke but it works right well keep using it when it is unusable then we will fix or replace it. I have personal experience hearing those words and having to deal with it what do you all think instead of cutting troops why don't we curtail the spending on worthless new equipment for a bit new uniforms every 5 years why do we need that honestly I like multicam it works better than acu but seriously new pt uniform the other one worked and the new one wasn't tested to extreme colds like for instance fort drum New York which gets below freezing during winter even the old pt uniform sucked but it kept you warm some I've heard from my old platoon the new ones aren't worth anything in snow like they get up there so ideas anyone how could we make changed thoughout all the services without cutting troops or just changes you'd like to see or would have liked to while you were in for the veterans

Response by SSG John Erny made Apr 22 at 2015 6:11 PM

2015-04-22T18:11:12-04:00

Wow, that is a tough one, but the military has gone to out sourcing a lot of the work they need done. What used to be done by DOD civilians is now contracted out to the private sector. This came about when the Clinton administration gutted the military. For example the Army was cut from 18 Divisions to 9, with that they lost a lot of capabilities. The Army also has to farm out a lot of the support tasks to the guards and reserve. In the 80's there were something like 300 MOS's now it is about half that.

Response by SPC Angel Guma made Apr 22 at 2015 6:23 PM

2015-04-22T18:23:12-04:00

You speak the truth. I wish I had grains of wisdom for you. I don't. I've fought that same battle, and so have countless others on here. In fact, thats why I think RP took off the way it did, because this is the sort of forum where people with ideas can connect.

Unfortunately for me, I find out more than the more 'obvious' change- the more likely the leaders in the group are infested with status quo or actively don't want change. You have to be careful with statements like this. I've found way too often, until its too late, that where change is the most obvious, the most likely you are under toxic leadership and you need to be careful. And its not just the military like this. Think about it for yourself. How many times have you seen obvious 'changes' that need to happen, only to find out that those changes were being actively stymied?

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 22 at 2015 6:33 PM

2015-04-22T18:33:09-04:00

C&e shops are staffed with civilian employees? Sounds like you got a cushy job. I've been in 10 years asca 25u and havent seen a significant difference in the level of shop one needs to be in to repair a piece of equipment. Mtoe changes take years. The fact that contracts supplying parts have been droppedmeans little for it

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 22 at 2015 7:58 PM

2015-04-22T19:58:51-04:00

I agree that one of the first places we should be looking is at our contractors. At my new post, I have yet to run into a green-suiter turning a wrench at the motor pool. Not only are they costing more, but they bring a whole new level of bureaucracy and insanity to the table. Reducing dependence on civilians would be the first thing I would do to work on the Army.

Concurrently, we need to repair the tatters of our once great NCO corp. Like the injured spines of many of our warriors, the backbone of the Army has been twisted, beaten and needs some help. For too long, we had a culture of "get the job done" and not "standards", because when you're shooting Mr. J. H. Taliban, you're a bit more worried about getting home than some standard. The problem begins when this mentality begins to permeate non-combat missions. And it did. This has gone on for well over a decade now, and many NCOs were raised in the Army with this "get it done" mindset.

Too many NCOs don't understand (or care) about the right way to do things. Too many NCOs only care about advancing their careers, not about their Soldiers.So few of us actually look at the NCO creed and think "I'm going to live that. Every word. Every day." That needs to stop.

There's a lot more that we can do, but I think I'll stop there for now and leave you with a final note: punctuation. We can use punctuation to improve the Army.