Posted on Apr 25, 2017
What process is stupidly complicated or slow because of "that's the way it's always been done" syndrome?
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I saw this post on reddit and I know there are a ton of military traditions and leaders that suffer from this syndrome. What situations have you found yourself in based off of the "that's the way it's always been done" mentality?
Tradition
Humor
Leadership
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 23
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while a Bde S-2 NCO found a better way to do the terrain overlays of the maps - instead of black marker cross-hatch that makes it difficult to read the terrain - use different colored highlighters that you can see the terrain thru the color, every body responded with "THAT'S AWESOME, but we can't do it"
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Just about 3/4 of all things occurring in Korea fall under this category. When I got there, there were essentially two types of people: those who are short and preparing to leave or those who planted roots in Korea and plan to stay forever.
The result is a lot of crap that is hard to unravel. I did a lot of work as a PLT SGT over there to bring back professional soldiering and training, gained the respect of my Korean employees as well as my troops, and then PCS'd back to the states. I found that my replacement went back to the complacent methods and it transformed back to an undisciplined, embarrassment of a platoon.
The result is a lot of crap that is hard to unravel. I did a lot of work as a PLT SGT over there to bring back professional soldiering and training, gained the respect of my Korean employees as well as my troops, and then PCS'd back to the states. I found that my replacement went back to the complacent methods and it transformed back to an undisciplined, embarrassment of a platoon.
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SGT Charles Napierala
It's a shame that the Army hasn't been able to transform South Korean duty stations to regular PCS status rather than a year-long PCS.
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Lt Col Jim Coe
I worked joint and combined exercises with USFK and CFC. One of the most complex things was bilingual briefings. It took a lot of extra time to do the briefings in two languages. It also greatly limited the flexibility of the briefers. Last-minute changes were almost impossible due to the need to alter both briefings. I understand the need for the bilingual briefings. Wish there was a better way.
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CW5 (Join to see)
Lt Col Jim Coe - Sir, one of my Majors was explaining this to me yesterday over lunch. I never realized that during my time there. You prepare a brief in powerpoint well ahead of time and have to use the notes section so someone can translate it.
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For the life of me I could never understand why we were only required to perform annual requirements in the Air Force. You go a whole year before you have to run another 1.5 miles and do a few push ups and sit ups. Oh, I think we were sitting on a stationary bike when I retired. Yet, no one could figure out why we had people having heart attacks and strokes every year trying to get ready for their annual. If that is not the dumbest thing goin on in all branches of the military, I don't know what could possibly be dumber.
Please someone tell me they are doing something to get Air Force people off their asses.
Please someone tell me they are doing something to get Air Force people off their asses.
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Well we did not always do it but I can't stand SPR. Why do we allow a "Doc" to justify if our Soldiers are deployable or not? As a leader you should be able to make the call on if your Soldier is deployable. This has caused Soldiers to be able to skip on deployments.
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SGT Charles Napierala
I'm pretty sure this is to have an educated and credentialed individual make a decision on whether or not a deployment would be potentially harmful or further degrade the health of a person rather than a leader that stigmatizes profiles and sick call visits and just doesn't believe that a soldier can be messed up or not be able to deploy because that leader, in particular, would opt in a deployment if they were injured anyways. Not all leaders are bad about this, but I've only ever met two leaders throughout my entire career that wouldn't bash on soldiers for going to get the appropriate medical care that they needed.
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If someone of higher rank than you does it wrong, then you are kinda screwed doing it that way. I was one of those who bucked the system all the time. I did it tactfully most of the time. Not using that sort of approach can bring you all kinds of heat you don't need.
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MSG (Join to see)
SGT William Howell - I have no problem with AAR's, I just have issues on how they are conducted within the Army. Always long and drawn out. Repeat question after repeat question. Repeat statement after repeat statement. If they are kept to what they were intended for, they would not have to drag out for 2 hours or longer.
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SGT Charles Napierala
AARs are a requirement, but I think you may mean the process of AARs, three sustains and three improvements? Feedback can be implemented in a different way, for sure.
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Lt Col Jim Coe
With over 15 years in the joint exercise business, I say one problem with AARs is follow-up. The lessons learned usually aren't. As an exercise planner I set out to test the proposed solutions to lessons in subsequent exercises. Sometimes we could use the exact same event as the previous exercise and still get the undesirable results. Many factors caused this, but the biggest was just not paying attention to details and quality control at the right times.
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How about making changing how your rebuttal of any non-judicial punishment below Article 15 is sent to the commander who gave you the punishment. What commander would look at your rebuttal and think “wow after reading this. I now know I am wrong and I should take away the write up?”
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Medboard. It was decided I am unfit for service due to LODs that go back 10 years. My ETS was november 2018. I got the certified letter declaring me unfit in july of 2018.that tells me they knew exactly what my medical condition is. The same as it has been the past 6 years since returning from Afg. Now 2 extensions later , still waiting for release. Medboards need some change. 2 years to decide what gas already been decided
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