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In a few days, my unit (or 25% of my unit) are going to conduct annual training for three weeks. Being in school, obviously this interferes with my education. While I was trying to get out of it, this being my last semester and whatnot, they told me "him going to AT is contingent to being transferred". So I'm wanting opinions on what you think about this situation. I'll elaborate below.
College
Annual Training
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 14
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Duty to the service comes first I got so sick and tired of hearing people vitch and whine when training ad or ng interfered with their school in my opinion I think they should do away with all this college crap until they get out of the service I paid all that money to go bill because we had to and in my 19 yrs I never used it or planned to use it you join the service to serve your country not go to school
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SPC (Join to see)
Remember when we used to aspire to intelligence? We didn't belittle it? It didn't make us feel inferior? Good times. Times gone by I guess. This kind of attitude is exactly what is wrong with the military. Just because you were too unmotivated and lazy to ever pursue college doesn't mean others have any desire to stay so stagnant professionally or intellectually.
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Just ask your college professors to request for the homework to be done after AT. Most will work with the military for schooling. Also, do inform your CoC of your college conflicting prior to AT next time. They might be able to also work things out. Do keep in mind, your unit does need you for training and that is something you shouldn't want to miss out on. It's great you are doing self-development in your studies but your MOS training also only comes so often. Do take in the other posts on this thread too, they have good replies for you too.
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So continuing with this, I'm being transferred in hopes of a promotion, which explains the quote a bit. As far as the 25% bit, obviously that's not exact but I'd argue more than half of the unit isn't going to this training for whatever reason (opted to go to PT camp if they fail HT/WT or APFT, BLC or ALC, college, etc.). And while I know that most people will say something along the lines of "You signed up for it so suck it up", it's kinda unfair that I have to miss and potentially fail classes because of this while in the past we've had soldiers get out of AT or drill because of bodybuilding competitions, housing issues, things like that. At one point one of my SSG was even told not to go to ALC and LIMA 6 because our commander told her that her civilian education was more important. She's now facing demotion because in the eyes of the Army she isn't progressing her career. Talking to soldiers, many of them had to drop out of classes this semester because of this training, and again for me, this is my last semester for my degree.
Also, before anyone says it, I've already mentioned with my leadership about bringing a laptop or my books and they all but said "No". Pretty sure their wording was close to "You won't have any downtime so you won't be able to do any studying". Plus most of my classes are lecture classes and our exams deal more about what we learn in lecture than in books, so even if I do study the books I could still fail the exam. I have contemplated going to IG and/or the Chaplain with this, but with it being so close I don't think they can do anything or if I have a good enough argument for them to work with. Again, the whole "You signed up for it" shtick.
This is why I'm mainly wanting opinions. As a leader, or as a lower enlisted, have you ever had to deal with something like this? And for officers, what do you make of this situation? If need be, I'll elaborate a bit more. Thanks for any response that you give.
Also, before anyone says it, I've already mentioned with my leadership about bringing a laptop or my books and they all but said "No". Pretty sure their wording was close to "You won't have any downtime so you won't be able to do any studying". Plus most of my classes are lecture classes and our exams deal more about what we learn in lecture than in books, so even if I do study the books I could still fail the exam. I have contemplated going to IG and/or the Chaplain with this, but with it being so close I don't think they can do anything or if I have a good enough argument for them to work with. Again, the whole "You signed up for it" shtick.
This is why I'm mainly wanting opinions. As a leader, or as a lower enlisted, have you ever had to deal with something like this? And for officers, what do you make of this situation? If need be, I'll elaborate a bit more. Thanks for any response that you give.
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LTC (Join to see)
It depends on your military career goals vs. education goals. If getting a degree will get you a job and, help you in the long run. I might be best to push to get out AT. If military is your priority might just gut through this issue.
If you chain of command isn't helping you. IG might help you or, not they could side with your command. You need make sure to have the information and documentation of the previous excused absences for AT for other people. You also better make sure it's the same commander and/or 1SG. If it's a new "sheriff in town" those previous excused absences might be a thing of the past.
If you chain of command isn't helping you. IG might help you or, not they could side with your command. You need make sure to have the information and documentation of the previous excused absences for AT for other people. You also better make sure it's the same commander and/or 1SG. If it's a new "sheriff in town" those previous excused absences might be a thing of the past.
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1SG (Join to see)
Generally speaking, RC units endeavor to schedule ATs in the summer months in order to avoid disrupting their college students in the ranks. Things like CTCs don't have flexibility, though. The thing is, once a commander starts letting significant portions of the ranks out of AT, the whole point - collective task training - becomes moot because you don't have enough bubbas to acheive "T" in the tasks. It just ends up being familiarization.
This has been a thing for as long as Soldiers in the RC have gone to college while serving. Most units and Soldiers figure it out. It isn't that hard.
This has been a thing for as long as Soldiers in the RC have gone to college while serving. Most units and Soldiers figure it out. It isn't that hard.
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SGM Mikel Dawson
SGT (Join to see) Would you like some cheese and crackers with your whine? Grow up.
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MAJ Laurie H.
I went to 4 weeks of my CCC while taking grad classes. I spoke with my professors beforehand so they understood why I would be missing class. Since I was in classroom training I was able to do my grad school homework in my free time.
Had I been in a situation where I had to attend AT during my classes I would not have been able to do homework during that time, so one would have had to give. For the most part commands understand college requirements and will provide alternative AT options so long as you can provide a class schedule (we just did these packets this weekend for students who can't attend our AT in 3 months). This situation sounds like a command isn't working with their Soldier to come up with a plan that works for both parties, an unfortunate and hard to navigate situation, but something that should have been dealt with months ago, not a couple days out. Personally I would never hold a Soldier back from a transfer or a promotion because they were unable to attend an AT, but were willing to attend an alternate.
Had I been in a situation where I had to attend AT during my classes I would not have been able to do homework during that time, so one would have had to give. For the most part commands understand college requirements and will provide alternative AT options so long as you can provide a class schedule (we just did these packets this weekend for students who can't attend our AT in 3 months). This situation sounds like a command isn't working with their Soldier to come up with a plan that works for both parties, an unfortunate and hard to navigate situation, but something that should have been dealt with months ago, not a couple days out. Personally I would never hold a Soldier back from a transfer or a promotion because they were unable to attend an AT, but were willing to attend an alternate.
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SGT (Join to see)
It is command that isn't wanting to work with us, and in my defense I did bring it up when it first came out that our AT was happening in March. I didn't get a definite "Yes you're going" until about three weeks ago at drill. Even during January it still wasn't 100% that I was going. Thank you for the input.
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CW3 (Join to see)
And see, this is my problem with the whole situation. The command won't tell you anything until the last minute, so that makes it harder for you to be able to plan. I guess they just want you to sit on your hands and not do anything.....
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