Posted on May 5, 2016
What are your thoughts about civilians (such as family) members on RP?
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I read the original response to this question two years ago, and almost unanimously service members and vets were against the idea, and yet it persisted. Now that it has been about two years, and the number of non military people on here has drastically increased, what are the thoughts of service members and veterans?
Personally I would still rather they were not here.
Personally I would still rather they were not here.
RallyPoint
RallyPoint
Civilians
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 12
Great questions. The short answer is about six months ago we debated opening up RallyPoint to everyone. We decided to try it with the understanding that if civilians began to overrun the network and detract from it as a Military site, we would close it down. That did not happen and the civilians have been a small minority of contributors and positive additions to the community. As SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" said, we have much stricter requirements and standards for Civilian accounts as well.
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There are civilian recruiters on this site and that helps our members. There are also civilian supporters, and we can appreciate their support. We also have potential recruits, and if we can answer questions and support them, we are doing what RallyPoint should be doing: supporting past, present and future members of the military family.
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I remain opposed. While there are many military family members who might be very nice people and who might like to be on the site, I like RP as military only because we share the oath of service, we have a common bond...and when the rhetoric gets hot or the arguments move toward unprofessional, we can return to the common bond and be brothers again.
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Tyra Lynne Wahl
I think it is disingenuous to assume that spouses (specifically) on RallyPoint who identify themselves as such have not actually served themselves just because we choose not to denote ourselves on RP as veterans .... Personally, my time as a military spouse trumps my time in the Army tenfold+ (2 years active duty vs. 21.5 years as an active duty spouse).
With only a 2 year peacetime enlistment I hardly view myself as "operational", so I have come to identify with my time as a A/D spouse more because that experience was so much longer and diverse. However, that doesn't undo or minimize the fact that I too made it through basic and MOS school. It just means that I have a longer and broader perspective as a military spouse than I ever did as an active duty service member. So I can speak to that experience more cogently than I can being active duty.
But I will say this, my time in the Army, albeit short, still made me a much better active duty spouse because I understood the demands and that is something that has never been lost on my husband.
With only a 2 year peacetime enlistment I hardly view myself as "operational", so I have come to identify with my time as a A/D spouse more because that experience was so much longer and diverse. However, that doesn't undo or minimize the fact that I too made it through basic and MOS school. It just means that I have a longer and broader perspective as a military spouse than I ever did as an active duty service member. So I can speak to that experience more cogently than I can being active duty.
But I will say this, my time in the Army, albeit short, still made me a much better active duty spouse because I understood the demands and that is something that has never been lost on my husband.
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I don't have a problem with civilians, recruiters, supporters, dependents, govt, or potential enlistee's joining. Nothing wrong with an exchange of ideas or opinions. Might learn something on the way or change some preconceived notions.
If they start trolling i have no doubt our esteemed Admin's will squash that quickly.
If they start trolling i have no doubt our esteemed Admin's will squash that quickly.
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SGT Chris Birkinbine
I agree you can learn something from all types of people. My argument is that I already have several mechanisms to interact with them, without adding them to what was originally advertised as a military only service.
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Military setting? Really? This is a PUBLIC forum with a military focus. There are controls in place to remove offending members, military and civilian alike and they have been used well. I see no need to bar non military members. Most of them are supporters; those who are just lurking, or want to come and do stupid shit are quickly flamed and removed by the admin.
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SGT Chris Birkinbine
RP was originally advertised as a 100% Military only social media and networking site. SM and Vets helping SM and Vets.Forgive the edited version of this image, that was not done by me, but just to show you one of the earlier images RP used to serve my point. I would probably be less likely to join RP today knowing that its just military themed and not military only. But that is just my feelings, the purpose of the thread was to see the general consensus of the community because I was curious now that they have been around a few years.
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1SG (Join to see)
You raise an excellent point. Maybe the tag line needs to say military focused network instead
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Capt Tom Brown
1SG (Join to see) - Good point. If the site is branded as military-only, it should be that way or the tag line changed.
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I am not comfortable with civilians in a military setting. On FB it becomes a major problem when civs want to insert themselves into our conversations. I am happy with us, military and veterans in this group.
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MSG (Join to see)
Concur. There are few things more aggravating to me than my friends and family who never served yet feel the need to chime in with "what I would do is ...". My usual response is "I guess we'll never know what you would have done having never joined."
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Civilians are a value added asset to the military community. Remember that you were once a civilian and will be one again if you live enough.
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SGT Chris Birkinbine
I feel as though I may need to clarify some things here. My stance is not in anyway to be taken as disrespectful towards civilians. I just maintain that this is not what this community was started as. Civilians have numerous interactions and outreaches, places to interact with Veterans and Service members. It was nice having a place that was only service members and veterans. Where I did not have to worry about a military dependent weighing in on a military matter, etc.
Also I think there is a pretty obvious separation on these forums between Service Members, Veterans, and Civilians, the latter being someone who has never served in the military. As such, I may currently be a Veteran, and could someday be a Service Member again, but I will never be a Civilian again if using that as our definition.
Thank you for your comment.
Also I think there is a pretty obvious separation on these forums between Service Members, Veterans, and Civilians, the latter being someone who has never served in the military. As such, I may currently be a Veteran, and could someday be a Service Member again, but I will never be a Civilian again if using that as our definition.
Thank you for your comment.
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SFC Randy Purham
SGT Chris Birkinbine, thank you for your clarification. RP has always had a civilian component to it, but it was more on the job/career side of the house. The civilians - I have not seen any - that weigh in on subjects, may have some insight or different perspective on the issue. Even as a veteran status, you are or will be moreso with civilians than military folks.
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SGT Chris Birkinbine
Hmm, Sorry I did not add that as an option on the poll, I guess I didn't think that would be a stance of veterans/SMs Honestly dependents are my biggest problem.
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The military and veteran communities are not cloistered. Family members are an integral part of military and to separate them takes something away from the whole. I have no issues with them as a group. They bring a different perspective to the table and the community here has the opportunity to break some stereotypes that civilians have of us.
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I personally know that the inclusion of everyone affected by military life can only be a good thing. I appreciate the point of view and have had civilians in my personal life reaching out be the reason their loved on is on this side of the dirt. Many times the spouse or kids can ask questions that a service member is afraid to.
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