The Military Thread

[mussa]

Related since we are fighting these guys. Surprised he wasn't beheaded. I'm guessing these are pretty low line guys. Not nearly as hardcore as others. Good watch

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/talibanlines/

[mussa]

really good pics of recent actions in afghan

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2010/02/23/troops-storm-marjah-afghanistan/

[mussa]

I had been checking out this website for awhile because there are some amazing pics as well. Tons of photos you just have to spend sometime here.

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/

[shorebird]

Get this, just got off the phone with my son from Japan. He says he's a little home sick. Says the Navy is almost like high school except the penalties for screwing up are a lot more severe. He says a girl he knows was 5 min. late getting back from leave and now can't leave the base for the rest of the time she's in Japan. Keep in mind he hasn't been deployed yet. I told him that if they weren't so strict more people would be screwing up, and when he goes out on deployment he'll be working at his regular job and have more responsiblity and be a lot busier. I think that will help. Also, he just finished up with fiber optics school. No one is learning stuff like that in high school!!

[Sgt PSN]

He says a girl he knows was 5 min. late getting back from leave and now can't leave the base for the rest of the time she's in Japan.

i can all but guarantee that she is not restricted to base just for showing up 5min late.  that may have been the straw that broke the camel's back, but i'm fairly certain that in order for it to get to that point, she's had multiple counselings for other infractions (probably for being late). 

in the military, the offense you get charged and punished for is often times the least severe infraction you've committed.  i deal with it all the time, especially with my younger marines because despite the training and everything they received at boot camp and in their job schools, they're still a bunch of 18-21 year old dumbasses.  they do stupid shtein, i correct them and do an informal counseling (which means it doesn't go on their service record).  but when i get a kid that i find myself repeatedly counseling, then it eventually escalates to the point where i have to write him/her up and put them on restriction because they couldn't pull their heads out of their asses from the previous incidents. 

the military really isn't as tough and as strict as people think....or as it was in the stories your grandparents tell you.  there's an escalation of punishment that you have to give people, so long as it's a minor infraction (ie: showing up late).  if it's something major like stealing, dui or something like that, then you're going straight to non-judicial punishment or court martial. 

for me, the first time it happens i chew your ass for about 20 minutes and give you some shtein detail for the rest of the day.  2nd time, informal counseling where i draft up a letter detailing your offense and then provide a means for you to fix it.  in the case of someone who keeps showing up late to work, i will make you show up to work 15 minutes earlier than everyone else.  if you still can't get there on time, then another 15 minutes.  i'll also usually make them do something stupid too like write a 15,000 word essay on the importance of punctuality.....but i'll wait until the end of the day on friday to tell them and have them turn it in to me first thing monday morning.  i also tell them that words like "i" "and" "but" and "the" don't count.   

and if that doesn't work and the idiot still shows up late again, then i'll write him up and have him reduced a rank, lose some pay and get restricted to the barracks for 45 days where he has to stay in uniform all day/night (except for sleep) and every 2 hours has to go to the marine on duty and sign in from 6am until 10pm 7 days a week. 

i try not to write people up very often.  in fact, i just wrote a marine up last week and it's the first one i've done in over a year.  normally, i just keep the marine on my shtein list and work the living hell out of him until he gets his shtein together. 

[shorebird]

Thats something else, I mean, how farging hard is it to be on time? I know that there can be times were certain unforeseen circumstances can make you late no matter what. The job I have now, my boss is a fanatic about it. I leave a half hour early just in case something happens. I seems to me that people who are late a lot of the time aren't very good workers and don't take what they are doing very serious. When I got out of high school, I worked for my father, and being on time meant you were on the job with tools out, nail apron on and working at 6am. You didn't just arrive at 6, you were working at six. Same thing with lunch and quitting time. I guess it was driven home to me at a young age.

[Sgt PSN]

yeah, that's pretty much how i operate, how i was taught as a kid and reinforced in the marines.  we have an "unwritten" rule that says you're supposed to be at your appointed place of duty 15 minutes before you're actually supposed to be there.  for me, a normal workday starts at 730.  i leave my uniform at work so i show up at 715.  gives me enough time to change into my uniform, start a pot of coffee and set my plan for the day. 

and in today's society, where everyone has a freaking cell phone, there's absolutely no excuse not to call if you know you're going to be late.  shtein happens.  people oversleep.  there's an accident and you're stuck in traffic.  flat tire.  severe case of mud butt.  walked out of the house and locked your keys inside.  any number of things can happen to cause you to be late.  i don't have a problem with that.  just pick up your phone and make a farging phone call.  it's ok every once in a while, but if you're constantly late and have some crazy ass story every time, then you've got a problem. 

hell, i remember when i was stationed near seattle (i was only 21 at the time) i had a marine who worked for me who was late almost every day......and he lived on base.  the final straw was when he showed up to work almost an hour late and said that when he walked out of his house to go to his car, there was a mountain lion that chased him up a tree and he had to sit there and wait it out.  i actually had to leave the room for about 10 minutes before i could deal with him with a straight face. 

[General_Failure]

They don't cover mountain lions in basic training?

[Sgt PSN]

oh no, they cover it.  they tell us not to run up a farging tree because they're such excellent climbers.  that's like jumping in the ocean to try and get away from a shark. 

[General_Failure]

What about land sharks?

[hbionic]

Land sharks are extinct dummy. 

[shorebird]

Why no one invades Switzerland.

http://www.youtube.com/v/0ufkwTM82e4

The key to freedom is having the ability to be able to defend yourself. The tools for that are guns.

[Diomedes]

Yeah, yeah, we can all appreciate some gun porn. 

But dude, the mountains help.  And the fact that pretty much the whole world has decided the Swiss can have it doesn't hurt.

[Drunkmasterflex]

Thats something else, I mean, how farging hard is it to be on time? I know that there can be times were certain unforeseen circumstances can make you late no matter what. The job I have now, my boss is a fanatic about it. I leave a half hour early just in case something happens. I seems to me that people who are late a lot of the time aren't very good workers and don't take what they are doing very serious. When I got out of high school, I worked for my father, and being on time meant you were on the job with tools out, nail apron on and working at 6am. You didn't just arrive at 6, you were working at six. Same thing with lunch and quitting time. I guess it was driven home to me at a young age.

In the military I understand the reason for this because things change so much.  I always hated it as far as a job goes though.  It is the biggest crock of shtein I have ever heard you are not being paid to be there early, in the military you are your salary and that is what is expected.

I don't think you should show up right on time you should be there slightly early.  I just heard guys say exactly what you did there a lot while working in the trades and found it complete bs.  They aren't paying you to be there at 545, they are paying you to be there at 600.

[shorebird]

Yes, they are paying you to be there working at six, not pulling up, getting out of the truck and getting ready to work at six. If anyone can be at work 5 minutes early and be working at starting time, more power to them. I don't like rushing around in the morning.