SFC John Skaarup

Army | Armor Crew Member

Dates of Service: Jan 1986 - Jan 2006

RETIRED

58% Complete

4 Endorsements

3 Contacts

Influence Score: 5,424
9,346 out of 869,433 Veterans

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Recent Activity -

Military Experiences

Jul 2002 - Jan 2006

S3 Plans NCOIC

3rd BN, 395th Armored BN, 75th ID (AC/RC) | Fort Cavazos

Back to Ft Hood (have I said this before?) This time to an AC/RC unit. The "Easy-Peasy job". When the orders came in, I was told how lucky I was. "You really only work only 2-3 days a week". "No PT". "Set your own schedule". However, we're talking Skaarup luck. On arriving, my CSM didn't send me to a line company to be an Observer/Controller - nope. I became the S3 NCIOC. Remember "easy?" For OIF, we mobilized just about every NG and AR unit in the Central US. For those who understand Operations Shops, we never had more than 4 people, including S3 actual. Most of the time, we were a crew of 2. This was the busiest I ever was. FINALLY hit E-7 when the selection rates were still in the single digits - and went to IASO school. Little did I know...

Jul 1999 - Jul 2002

Tank Platoon Sergeant

C Troop, 1-4 CAV, 4th IBCT, 1st ID | Schweinfurt, Germany

1999-2002: America suffered through 9/11 and came to the realization that the world wasn't a 'safe place' anymore and finally learned what most of the Desert Storm vets knew all too well - it isn't. Returned to my beloved Bavaria, Germany and finally took over my tank platoon (though never got 'promotional credit' for it since my 30 months leading a platoon was an E-6, not as an E-7 [eyeroll]). These were my favorite 3 years under the command of the brilliant (at the time LTC) H.R. McMaster. "Quarterhorse" was arguably the best Battalion-level unit in the Army.

Aug 1995 - Jul 1999

Tank Commander

B Troop, 1-10 CAV, 2nd IBCT, 4th ID | Fort Cavazos

The brutal truth was the Army of the 1990's sucked for promotions. The Graham-Rudman-Hollins act affected everything; PCS's, materials, MWR funds, schools, and promotions. Maxing correspondence courses, the E-6 promotion board, PT tests, and others didn't really matter when the points never dropped below 999. After 5-1/2 years as an E-5, I was one of the few who finally made the cut to E-6. The Army went from ~780,000 active Soldiers in the late 80s to ~495,000 by the mid‑90s. That’s a 35% reduction in force. Promotion rates fell accordingly. NCOES bottlenecks got worse. Those of us who stayed were survivors.

Jul 1994 - Aug 1995

Tank Commander

B Troop, 2-1 Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Armored Division | Fort Cavazos

Back to Ft Hood after a brief stop at Knox for the Army's Tank Commanders Course. Got to wear the glorious 2AD patch on my chest for 11 months and confuse everyone on post by stating I was with the First Cavalry REGIMENT, not DIVISION :-)

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