• I’m just curious if there are any current or former members of the military in here.

    I’ll start

    US Army 2001-present

    Started as a joe and made it to the nco ranks.

    Went Green to Gold and obtained my commission and am currently a Field Artillery officer in the rank of Captain.

    Served in multiple duty stations to include, Ft. Sill, Ft. Riley, Korea, and Southwest Asia. Currently an Assistant Professor of Military Science within an ROTC unit in Oklahoma.

    Multiple tours in Iraq.


  • Good thread idea.  I know there are at least a few military people on the A&A discussion board, though they don’t include me.  I’m a civilian, so I can’t list any military service history, but over the years I’ve had the pleasure of presenting some historical papers and lectures to a few military/civilian blended audiences: one at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, one to the Naval Officers Association of Canada at the Canadian Forces Fleet School in Quebec, one to the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust at the Canadian Forces Base in Halifax, and one to a joint session of the Annnual Museums Studies Course of the Organization of Military Museums of Canada and of the Annual Army Museum System Training Course of the U.S. Army Center of Military History.  Naval history’s my main line of interest, which accounts for the preponderence of naval audiences in my list.

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    I too am a civilan, but with a hand full of Canadian Military SAR and first aid courses under my belt, and enough rifle experience to hit a dime at 500 yds with iron sights!.

    (OK that last bit is exaggeration - but I hold my own behind the barrel. My rounds fired count is probably higher than my post count here! Cop family!)

    That said - i am also a political veteran. One who recieved a personal thank you from the USMC! For doing them a favour no less!

    Long story short, a Korean/Vietnam vet living on our side of the border passed…  A full honors funeral was arranged on the long weekend.  On Thursday I saw an email that the damn border agency wouldn’t let armed american troops across the border!!!  A few emails and scrambling phone calls, and it luckily turned out that a long forgotten form actually existed for that kind of thing, and I was able to get it to the gun toting Yankees in time so they could honor their fallen!

    That is the extent of my military achievements however… Lol

  • '17 '16

    F trp. 2/2 ACR 11D10 June 71-June 74


  • @General:

    F trp. 2/2 ACR 11D10 June 71-June 74

    11D? Have never heard of that. Perhaps cav scout? (Which is now called 19D) I’m assuming Germany?

    Spent a lot of time with 3rd ACR on my first tour, lots of firepower…just not a lot of troops. Got my gold spurs from them as well.


  • @rjpeters70:

    Civilian here DoD’er here, working in the NCR.

    I’m surprised based off your response to my A and A as a training tool thread. You seemed to have a lot of opinions about what a LT through COL should know or should be doing by rank…I figured those opinions were based on experience.

  • '17 '16

    Yes,armored reconnaissance specialist was my MOS. Bamberg,Germany.    Scouts out.


  • @General:

    Yes,armored reconnaissance specialist was my MOS. Bamberg,Germany.� � �Scouts out.

    Good to go, I bet it made for some interesting experiences!


  • @General:

    Yes,armored reconnaissance specialist was my MOS. Bamberg,Germany.     Scouts out.

    Did you like the German Food?


  • @rjpeters70:

    My work is in the Policy and education side of the house.  So, yes, I do spend a lot of time on what an 05 should know versus an 06 versus an SES versus a 02.

    So what do you think an “O-1” should know? (I find it strange you call it by pay grade, it’s just something we don’t do in the service) and what specifically do you do in DoD? I don’t know of anyone who has such a range of responsibilities when it comes to the military education system, any level of the military education system would seem to be a full time job let alone 3 or 4 echelons of education. You must be a very bright and important person to wear so many hats.


  • US Navy 1997 to Present. Currently in Yokosuka, Japan. Been stationed in Orlando, CT, Italy, King’s Bay Georgia, Bangor Wa., and Hawaii.  Full time Navy whore.


  • @rjpeters70:

    @Redleg13A:

    @rjpeters70:

    My work is in the Policy and education side of the house. � So, yes, I do spend a lot of time on what an 05 should know versus an 06 versus an SES versus a 02.

    So what do you think an “O-1” should know? (I find it strange you call it by pay grade, it’s just something we don’t do in the service) and what specifically do you do in DoD? I don’t know of anyone who has such a range of responsibilities when it comes to the military education system, any level of the military education system would seem to be a full time job let alone 3 or 4 echelons of education. You must be a very bright and important person to wear so many hats.

    I know for military guys, getting called by your paygrade is odd.  It is something civilians (and even military officers) do in the Joint world, when you interact regularly with different ranking officers from different Services and civilians from various CSAs, JS, and OSD.  We do the same thing with civilians who we don’t know, because it’s the easiest, quickest way to identify who counterparts are.

    I’ll give you an example:  In the Joint, NCR world, unless you’re part of a military organization, you’ll pretty much call everybody by their first name, or in conversations.  “Do you know Tom Walker?”  “No, who’s he?”  “Oh, he’s an 05 in A5XS, working global strike issues.  Works for Gus Bailey, in Jay Belcher’s shop.”  “Oh, ok.  Gus and Jay are good people.”  Gus in this situation could be a senior GS-15, while Jay is the USAF two-star on Air Staff.  It’s a good way for civilian and military folks to figure out who’s who on what pecking order in an environment where not everyone wears rank on their clothes, and 32 year olds regularly outrank Lieutenant Colonels (this can, as you can imagine, cause some friction at times).

    As for what I do:  Like I said, I’m a civilian in the NCR, who regularly does Policy support to the two and three star level, with a heavy focus on education through the J/PME in one of the J/PME focal points, as established in a CJCSI.  So, while yes, you “don’t know of anyone who has such a range of responsibilities when it comes to the military education system,” I’d just say 1) I never claimed to know everything of what every pay grade show know, but I do understand broadly what they’re supposed to be doing and learning at various points in their career, and 2) I’m not surprised you don’t know.  You’re a Captain in the Army.  That’s wonderful.  God bless, and thank you for your continued service to our country.  I say that with all sincerity.  But at the risk of sounding condescending, an 03 is pretty low on the totem pole and you, by definition, are supposed to think about the tactical.  There are lots of places in the J/PME system (my office is one of many) where people get paid to map out what specific kinds and levels of knowledge various officers and civilian counterparts should focus and develop course modules that support those efforts.

    That said, I focus far more on the Policy side of the house than on the education.  I only get out to the classrooms (at the War College level) a couple time a semester.

    You’re right, in the big picture I am pretty low on the totem pole. And you’re also right about sounding condescending. It is as if you’re pinching my cheek with praise while trying to subdue me so the “grown ups can talk.” But us “low totem pole” officers and NCOs are the ones that produce our officer corps. An “O-5” and especially an “O-8/9” is simply out of date and out of touch to what is pertinent today. I’m not surprised you can’t think of ways that these skills transfer because you’ve no idea what it is we do on the ground.

    You claimed to be versed in what basically every officer pay grade should know. Then you ambiguously stated you worked in the policy/education side of the house without further elaboration. How did you think that was going to be interpreted. Or was I supposed to read between the lines and suddenly be afraid because you rub shoulders with generals and I’m just a lowly captain who needs to know his place.

    Something to consider. I think if anyone would be able to make a judgement call about what’s going to useful to brand new LTs it would be the senior LTs and CPTs that have been on the line their entire lives IN COMBAT. Guys like me, especially with my time as an NCO, know what works. Generals wouldn’t even know how to turn on a BFT or fill a radio with encryption. So while you guys are are running simulations in your think tank, we are doing our 5s and 25s, executing missions, and putting the muzzles of our weapons in the enemies faces and blowing their heads off. We’ve been doing it for tour after tour for over a decade.

    I’d say you stick to your policy and simulations.

    I’ll stick to the training of these officers and the actual prosecution of the combat.

    And if it sounds like I’m pissed off or offended, it’s because I am. You’ve never served in the military let alone combat. Lambs leading lions as far as I’m concerned.


  • That’s precisely the point I was trying to make. I don’t expect GOs to know the day to day stuff. I don’t expect you to know to my curriculum. I don’t have a problem with that. What I have a problem with is when GOs or GSs try to put their names on things at my level just because they want to make sure everyone knows their stick measures longest. You may not be aware of it, but guys like me have to deal with the shotgun blast knee jerk reactions of guys who have never been in the game or have been out of the game for a long time constantly. That’s when it becomes a problem. We are entirely too contractor heavy and we are paying for it through the nose.

    @rjpeters70:

    A and A is at best a game of grand strategy.  It has zero operational or tactical utility.  Hence, I’m not sure why you’d use it for ROTC guys, who will be doing tactical stuff for well over the first decade of their career.  They won’t even start to think about operational stuff until they are 05s at the earliest.

    Most of the games/exercises I run are at the strategy to grand strategy level.  I am going to an operational to strategy level game in Newport in a couple months.  We’ll have Blue, Green, Red, Orange, Yellow, and White (control) cells all playing in separate rooms over five days.  About a hundred of us.  Kind of excited, as the most complex game I’ve played is a forty person, three cell game over three days.

    But for ROTC?  A and A is borderline useless as a training tool.  Fun?  Yes.  Educational?  No.

    You just flat out say it is useless. Show me where you say it can be proven wrong?

    What you also need to understand is that I can’t demand participation in that curriculum. So it has to be on my own, and the cadets own time. Therefore, they have to give a Friday night of theirs just to get a chance at learning concepts ahead of what they would otherwise. That means I have to make it worth it for them, an 18 or 19 year old college kid, to be willing to choose going to this instruction as opposed to the litany of other things that is pulling these kids in multiple directions on a Friday night.

    Battalion level is likely the very limit of where an officer may see the day to day operations going on in an AO. Most of their picture is going to be filled through story boards and power points while the rest of their time is going to be filled attending various meetings. If they’re lucky they’ll leave the wire once a week. That doesn’t mean they’re out of touch, it’s just different and I would prefer it that way so they stay out of my way. Maybe, and I mean maybe a BC just coming off the line might have had a company command at the very beginning of GWOT. Most did their deployments up to that point working as a brigade or division staffer. Seen plenty of BCs and higher playing PL down range when a SIGACT happens though. On the other hand had plenty just shut their mouths and let us do our jobs so they can do theirs. I never said 3 years time in the suck equated to knowing all. But it does amount to quite a bit more than most. Especially the tours I pulled and where I pulled them. I know precisely the duties and responsibilities of all those pay grades you mentioned which means if I can make the curriculum pertinent to the cadets in the tactical sense, you know, because it’s all I’ve ever done and it’s likely the most up to date first hand experience available….Then maybe you should just take my word for it. I don’t need some civilian to point that out to me, especially one who honestly didn’t know that there were principals of combat that were pertinent from the team to the army level.

    @rjpeters70:

    “There are fundamental concepts that work from the squad all the way up to the Army level that can be displayed through this game.”  Which ones?  Honest question.  I’m just not sure what concepts could be learned from A and A that can be transferred to the platoon/company level.

    You admittedly can’t make that leap, which is a red flag to me that you’re out of your depth when it comes to the actual application of the tactical level both doctrinally and in practice. Then insist I’m the asshole because I don’t know my place when all I’m trying to say is that I know I can make it work and I am making it work. The examples I’m using are simply to show your level of experience is not applicable to what I’m doing. Mine is.

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    Gentlemen Please.

    Don’t make a Canadian Construction Manager solve your American dispute!!  ;)

    I like and repsect you both, as you each bring considerable talents and information to the table.  Let’s leave it at that, or I’ll get this thread on lockdown!

    Any more veterans who would like to post?


  • …the thread is about Veterans.  While I appreciate some of my civilian colleagues, they are not, nor shall be considered veterans.  While I have never had the luxury of face to face combat with guns (hoo-yah Navy…where’s my liberty port!!!..Boo…A/C units are down again, it’s hot!  :cry:), this thread is about those who served in the military (correct me if I’m wrong).  Everyone has a role in the aspects of the military (from the E-2 cook to the E9 salty Master Chief, to the dumbass O2 leading his squad when we all know it’s the E6 and ups carrying the load, to the Admirals and Generals playing bureacracy to the civilian contractors doing work on our gear or providing intel.  So let the Vets speak up…if the civilian union scum want a thread…MAKE ONE!  :lol:


  • @Mallery29:

    …the thread is about Veterans.  While I appreciate some of my civilian colleagues, they are not, nor shall be considered veterans.  While I have never had the luxury of face to face combat with guns (hoo-yah Navy…where’s my liberty port!!!..Boo…A/C units are down again, it’s hot!  :cry:), this thread is about those who served in the military (correct me if I’m wrong).  Everyone has a role in the aspects of the military (from the E-2 cook to the E9 salty Master Chief, to the dumbass O2 leading his squad when we all know it’s the E6 and ups carrying the load, to the Admirals and Generals playing bureacracy to the civilian contractors doing work on our gear or providing intel.  So let the Vets speak up…if the civilian union scum want a thread…MAKE ONE!  :lol:

    Thank you.

    You’re the smart one here. This is one time where I will not say “beat Navy” but instead say amen. Simple question that I’ve been dying to ask an anchor clankor…what’s the deal with the blue cammie’s?


  • It was a sad attempt to replace the working uniform…the problem is that they are expensive as hell and don’t clean well…give me the coveralls (poopy suit) any day…it’s how I get work done…plus these things are pain in the arse to wear in warm weather climates like Hawaii or Japan in Summer.


  • @Mallery29:

    It was a sad attempt to replace the working uniform…the problem is that they are expensive as hell and don’t clean well…give me the coveralls (poopy suit) any day…it’s how I get work done…plus these things are pain in the arse to wear in warm weather climates like Hawaii or Japan in Summer.

    LOL, I just wondered if that was the writing on the wall by the Dep of the Navy saying, “if you go overboard, we really don’t want to find you!”

    No worries, the ACU’s that the Army has been wearing for quite a few years are about the most easily ripped (especially in the crotch region) and about the most non camouflaged uniforms one could ask for. At least your uniform blends into the environment you most often work in…ours doesn’t blend into anything…save for a certain type of forest green couch.

    Of course, after a few weeks in the field or in theater, we start to blend into wherever we’re at due to filth as opposed to any real attempt at being camo’d up.

  • '17 '16

    Now that the dust appears to have settled I will slip in to respond. Food?: I was already familiar with German cuisine as I came from a family with a German heritage. (4th generation). Usually just had a hamburger and fries. Experiences? It was the experience of a lifetime to have been a member of the 2nd cavalry charged with the mission of patrolling and guarding a section of the free world. On a side note last time I knew anything after basic training we all were now soldiers America’s fighting man. It doesn’t matter what other functions you perform you are still a soldier. And another side note civilians lose wars not the American military.


  • @General:

    And another side note civilians lose wars not the American military.

    Agreed, terrible policy has been the bane of the US fighting man for over half a century. (or longer even)

    We give the people all the battle wins, and spineless leadership and ineptitude takes those victories and squanders them.

    From one trooper to another “Brave Rifles!” and thank you for your service!

Suggested Topics

Axis & Allies Boardgaming Custom Painted Miniatures

43

Online

17.0k

Users

39.3k

Topics

1.7m

Posts