Why is the Army Losing it's Best Soldiers?

 
Just read a great article in The Washington Post about how the army is losing it's best leaders. Here is the original article "How To Lose Great Leaders? Ask The Army" The article is about young officers and why a lot of them quit after their first tour of duty, but a lot of it applies to the regular soldier as well. A quote from this article that really grabbed my attention was "The Army has bled talent for decades, a consequence of a deeply dysfunctional organization that poorly matches jobs with talent and doesn’t trust its officers to make choices about their own careers". This is true even down to the enlisted soldiers as well. I joined as an enlisted PFC with over 13 years of civilian I.T. experience. In addition to civilian work experience, I had traditional schooling and held several industry certifications. My MOS (Military Occupational Specialty...i.e. your job) was a 25B, an Information Technology Specialist. I graduated AIT at the top of my class...the distinguished honor graduate. How often did I actually do I.T. work during my entire career in the army? The answer was only a week, while I was off on an FTX (Field Training Exercise). The rest of the time I did menial tasks such as serving coffee and cleaning.

The problem wasn't just mine, it seemed everyone I spoke to hardly ever seemed to do the job they signed up for. This matches another quote from the article "High quit rates are just a symptom of the deeper problem that too many military members are mis-matched with their jobs". Soldiers are only volunteers the day they sign up, after that everyone is "voluntold" what they will do and where they will be. Soldiers are just a bunch of numbers, and a certain number of soldiers are just put in to fill each gap. Another longer quote from the article goes on to explain this process "The mantra from the central planners in the bowels of the Pentagon has always been that the “needs of the military come first.” That’s dumb. Smart organizations in the private sector have learned that putting employees’ needs first—ahead of corporate ones—only seems unproductive to short-term thinkers. Just look at the way Silicon Valley companies pamper their talent because of how it helps to maximize the bottom line. Compulsion just won’t work in today’s labor market"

I left after my first enlistment and I'm back to a normal job where my I.T. talents are used on a daily basis. I come to work, I do the job I was hired for...every day! It seems like a no brainer.  There is no way I would recommend anyone to join today's military if they are joining for a particular job. The article finishes up with a great recommendation "It will require the Pentagon to establish a job board which allows qualified officers and enlistees the freedom to apply for any open position. And it will mean instituting substantive evaluations that recognize merit more than seniority". Will something like this every happen? I really doubt it, the big army machine is stuck in it's ways and is extremely slow to change. Check out the original article and see what you think.

My Kiddos & Zeitgeist

I just watched a documentary called called Zeitgeist (see the image and the link above). I've come to question a lot of things in the past decade or so. Things that I used to believe just because it was handed down to me by parents, by adults, by teachers, by our government…these are all now questioned. I watch the news knowing that it's slanted in one direction or another for various agendas. Do I wear a tin hat and think everyone's out to get me…no. I just wanted to bring to light this documentary because it blew my mind! Living outside what I call "The American Bubble" has given me quite a bit of insight into how America is viewed by the rest of the world, which has continued to open my mind.

The documentary is divided into three parts, religion, 9/11, and the Federal Reserve. I was glued to it for the entire film…well except for the introduction, which was quite long. I have to admit I fast forwarded through the 5 minutes of this introduction until the documentary actually started. Ironically it was my kids who brought the documentary to my attention. I guess they watched it with one of their friends and it kind of opened their minds as well. Their grandmother (their mother's mom) called me worried that the kiddos hated America and she didn't know what to do about it. I told her I'd check out the movie and have a talk with them. It took me a while, but on this Columbus Day holiday where I have the day off and have been lounging around the house…I decided to watch the film. I can see why they question everything about their whole outlook on life in America and our politicians.

I then spoke with my kiddos. I let them know there is nothing wrong with questioning things. There is nothing wrong in doing research. I let them know that America is indeed corrupt at all levels to some degree, but so are all the other countries…some more than others. America is controlled by big money, and greed drives almost everything. I also let them know that our standard of living is very good and they are lucky to have been born here. We are a lot better off than many other countries. For now they need to keep questioning and learning…this means yes, they have to keep going to public school!

I look forward to seeing how they grow up and the adults they turn into.

Wrong Side of Heaven

Ever since basic training when my battle buddy nicknamed "PFC Metal" introduced me to a band called "Five Finger Death Punch", I've had a great respect for this band. They are good, hard, & aggressive...something that I've been missing. I heard they were big supporters of the military, and I first saw this in their music video for the remake of "Bad Company". This video shows a lot of footage from their time in Iraq to visit and play for the troops.

Their latest video (shown below) is called "Wrong Side of Heaven" (off the album "The Wrong Side of Heaven & The Righteous Side of Hell, Vol 1") and continues to show their support for our troops. The video is about homeless veterans suffering from PTSD, TBI and depression after serving in the military...and not receiving the help they need. It sends a powerful message. Take a look...

SkillPorts After the Army

 
For any of you that have read any of my "life in the army" journals, you've read on multiple occasions about me doing SkillPorts. These are basically online classes that have an extremely wide variety of subjects to choose from. While in the army, a soldier can work on SkillPorts and as each class is finished, promotion points will be earned and automatically added to the soldier's ERB. This is a great way to learn something new or brush up on a subject.

I personally used it quite a bit both while in the army and now that I'm out of the army to earn CEUs (Continuing Education Units) for my CompTIA certifications (A+, Network+, & Security+). These certifications require a number of CEUs each year in order to keep your certifications active. SkillPorts are a great way to get your requirements done, the service offers quite a bit of technical classes you can do at your own pace.

If you plan on using SkillPorts after you get out of the army, be sure to forward your AKO email to your personal email. Your AKO email is the only address SkillPorts will send your completion certificate to. You'll need this certificate to upload and verify your CEU training to CompTIA's website.

Here are instructions on how to forward your AKO email:

1. Go to www.us.army.mil
2. If  you get any Security Alert screens, respond with Ok or Yes
3. Select Sign In from Army Portal Screen
4. Enter AKO username and password
5. Under My Services click My Account
6. Under Email Information select option to Forward Email
7. Enter your Forwarding Address and Verify Address (ex.  username@gmail.com)
8. Click submit
9. Exit AKO
10. Test forwarding by sending e-mail from a non-AKO account to your AKO account

Here is the link to the army's Skillport website
Here is the link to the army's AKO website
Here is the link to CompTIAs website
Finally here is information on CompTIA's CEU program

Rolling up the Sleeves

My first duty assignment was at a joint base in Korea. While there I learned many things about the army I volunteered for. The first was that common sense doesn't matter in the army. There were many instances, but I'm just going to talk about the army uniform and some of the stupid rules that go along with it. I just read an article from a local television station about soldiers and their "right to bare arms"...meaning the right to roll up their sleeves on hot summer days. During my time in the Korean summer I saw all the other U.S. branches (Navy, Air Force, & Marines) all with their sleeves rolled up. On top of that all the ROK (Republic of Korea) soldiers all had their sleeves rolled up as well. I just shook my head as I had to walk around with my sleeves all the way down.

Another stupid requirement was the rule against carrying an umbrella. One image I'll never forget was during monsoon season in Korea. I saw a navy sailor and an army soldier walking down the street in very heavy rain. The navy sailor was walking along with his black umbrella keeping dry and chatting with the army soldier who was walking along getting totally soaked. I was told we don't need umbrellas because we are issued rain gear. Rain gear is not as practical as an umbrella while just working on base doing an office job, but I figured I would put my gear on while making the walk to work in the rain. I was stopped by an NCO and told to take off my hood...we're not authorized to use the hood here. Just plain stupid! Why have a hood on issued gear if we can't use it...especially while walking alone and not in a formation of any kind.

Here is the link to the story I just read that brought this whole issue up.

Effects of the Drawdown Will Be Felt Soon

I've been hearing rumors and reading stories for quite some time now about the draw-down of our military now that we are ending our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. There are a lot of people complaining for various reasons, but it's something that has to be done. Our country already spends a crap ton more than any other country on our military war machine. While I was in the army the effects of the draw-down were starting to be felt. I was stationed in Germany and the post I was at, was in the process of shutting down. Rules and regulations that were not really enforced in the past started to get attention in order to start moving people out of the army. Overweight...can't pass your PT test...you'll get processed out. I saw this happen with a few people while in Germany. This particular standard should have been enforced the entire time, but because of necessity it wasn't.

Now we are seeing more rules and regulations not allowing promotions or new recruits depending on the tattoos one bears. This has really pissed of quite a few people I know simply because tattoos and the military seem to go hand in hand. The latest news article I read talks about an entire helicopter squadron that is going to be inactivated at our local army base of JBLM (Joint Base Lewis McChord).

The Kiowa helicopter squadron is set to be inactivated. This consists of 400 soldiers that will no longer be at JBLM. While not a huge loss for the base and the community, it's probably just the start. You can check out the original article I read here.

OutServe-SLDN Re-brands its Mission Statement and Officially Creates "Members"

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Change is inevitable, and in order to stay current, stay relevant and continue to be tuned in to our members, we too must change. In a series of strategic meetings over the past six months, the OutServe-Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) Board of Directors has taken a serious look at our organization. We are excited to announce that OutServe-SLDN has a new mission statement that completely changes our focus, while remaining true to the people we serve. We are excited to share it with you:

OutServe-SLDN represents the U.S. LGBT military community worldwide. Our mission is to: educate the community, provide legal services, advocate for authentic transgender service, provide developmental opportunities, support members and local chapters, communicate effectively, and work towards equality for all.

We have fundamentally changed our organization to be more member-focused while still being faithful to the promises we have made in the past. You can see our complete new organization posted here. This will be evolving as we fine-tune our organization.

By forming committees, each with its own strategic initiatives, our future becomes more connected to each of you. The updates and future plans in each of our new committees are described below.

Education

• Develop training materials for the DoD and DHS to provide to commanders, chapels and equal opportunity offices, just to name a few

• Develop partnerships to teach the entire community about transgenderism and how it affects military service.

• Support pride events worldwide so OutServe-SLDN can pass along information to the greater community  

Advocacy & Legal Services

• Starting in February, we hired the New Orleans law firm, Delaney and Robb, to take on the legal services portion of what we provide. Since then, they have processed 109 clients on a variety on LGBT military issues. Read more about how we gave a marine his dying wish here.

• Developing partnerships to determine a path to authentic transgender service and work to achieve that.  

Professional Development

• Mentor our members to better themselves

• We are in the final stages of determining the location for our annual leadership conference. Be on the lookout for more information soon.  

Chapter and Member Services

• The OutServe-SLDN Board of Directors voted to amend the bylaws to allow members to join the organization. A member is simply defined as someone who supports our cause.

• Just last month the OutServe-SLDN Board of Directors voted to hire Your Membership, a back-end software company. We will be completely redoing our website and for the first time will allow you to join as an official member. There will be ways to connect with other members along with finding online resources and more at our completely redesigned website! We hope to launch this new website by 1 August 2014.  

Public Affairs

• Communicating effectively is key to any organization and we are committed to doing just that. We want to give our members beneficial and timely information. 

How can you help?

Volunteer your time. Right now we have no paid staff and the all-volunteer board of directors, military advisory council and chapter leaders are doing all of the work. If there is an area that interests you, contact the committee chair and get involved! To inquire how you can help please contact us by clicking here.

Become a member. Once we roll out our new membership campaign, become a member. Anyone is welcome and it is FREE! Look for updates on this in the coming months!

Donate to our cause. This can be through optional membership dues, a one time gift or a recurring donation. Please click here if you wish to donate. What does your donation go towards you ask?
Fund our team of lawyers at Delaney and Robb that provide key legal services.
Fund Pride for our local chapters so that we can march in the parades and have booths to pass out information, meet people, answer questions and engage our local communities. Our goal is to be able to fund pride at ten key locations this year. Some of these pride events cost upwards of $1,500 to march in the parade and to have a booth. Banners cost about $85 a piece. As you can see, having a presence at pride is not cheap.
Fund education and training modules to better prepare our military and government to successfully handle LGBT-specific questions and incidents.

Hire a full time staff that can be dedicated to preforming OutServe-SLDN’s missions

This is an exciting time for OutServe-SLDN and we hope you will be as much a part of our future as you have been our past.

Never Giving Up,

John and Jeff

OutServe-SLDN co-chairmen of the board

Afterschool health program, thanks for the great page!

(I was sent the following email and did indeed include the link on my website. I'm always down with helping out kids and promoting health and fitness ~ Brandon)

I found your web page (http://www.mcguires5.com/miscellaneous-links) while searching online for information on health and fitness... there's some great stuff on there; thank you for your information!

I work with a group of students at an afterschool program, and we've recently been focusing on different health topics (some of them don't come from strong family households) so they've learned quite a lot about nutritious foods and taking care of their health. Now that it's getting warmer out we've been focusing more on fitness and they love it!

One of the kids (Andrew) found a great set of calculators that would fit in well with your information: "Fitness, Nutrition, and Lifestyle Calculators for Positive Mental Health" - http://www.morningsiderecovery.com/educational-resources/fitness-nutrition-and-lifestyle-calculators-for-positive-mental-health/

Would you mind including it on your website for me? I'd like to show my student his hard work is helping, and I think others would benefit from the information as well! Let me know if you get the chance to update, and thanks again for the helpful page!

Have a great day,

~Debbie

OutServe-SLDN & AMPA Joint Press Release Regarding Amicus Brief filed with U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals

WASHINGTON, DC – OutServe-Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) and the American Military Partner Association (AMPA) today jointly filed a friend of the court brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in the case of Bostic v. Schaefer, decided by a federal district court in Virginia, arguing that the uneven patchwork of states providing marriage equality harms military families, undermines national security, complicates the payment of earned veterans benefits, and harms veterans. The brief, on which the law firm Chadbourne & Parke serves as counsel, urges the Court to end the discrimination caused by the lack of marriage equality by recognizing a constitutional right for people of the same gender to marry on the same terms as opposite-gender couples.

“Our gay and lesbian service members put their lives on the line for every state in our union, and it’s shameful that they and their families are treated as second-class by some of the governments of those states,” said Stephen Peters, president of AMPA. “Our military families deserve better than to have to worry about where in America they will be stationed, and our veterans certainly deserve access to the benefits they earned serving our nation, no matter what state they live in.”

"Our families are no different from any other families in the Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs and they deserve to be treated the same,” said Jeffrey Mueller, Co-Chairman of the OutServe-SLDN board. “The extra burden of marriage inequality is affecting military readiness and ultimately affects our national defense. Moving with the military is hard enough, but the added stress of moving to a state that will not recognize your marriage affects their ability to do their job and just is not right. All military families should be treated the same no matter where they serve our great country."

The brief asserts that: "While the strain of frequent moves impacts the recruitment and retention of opposite-sex married couples in the military, that impact is more profound on same-sex married couples in the military. No legally married couple would look fondly upon a move from a state where the couples' marriage is recognized to a state where their marriage is annulled for state-law purposes.... (T)he lack of uniform marriage recognition laws from state to state for same-sex married couples poses a threat to veterans and their families.... Title 38, which confers veterans' benefits, is inartfully drafted and Veterans Affairs ("VA") is struggling to make sense of it. Consequently, veterans' benefits have not yet been forthcoming to all married gay and lesbian service members.... The lack of marriage recognition is a strain on these military families, and an unnecessary distraction for service members who all too often find themselves in harm's way while trying to protect this country. Ending this discrimination by requiring states to recognize the right of same-sex couples to marry would protect these families, and best serve the needs of the modern military."

This is the second amici brief filed jointly by OutServe-SLDN and AMPA this year. As these cases reach the appellate stage, we anticipate filing similar briefs in each of the courts of appeal.

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ABOUT OUTSERVE-SLDN: OutServe-SLDN is the heir to the legacy of providing legal services to service members and veterans since 1993. From representing over 12,000 service members during the era of DADT, leading the fight to repeal DADT, through winning the federal lawsuit, McLaughlin v. Hagel, that provided benefits to same sex partners of military members, OutServe-SLDN has been on the frontlines for over 20 years. For more information, visit www.outserve-sldn.org.

ABOUT THE AMERICAN MILITARY PARTNER ASSOCIATION: The American Military Partner Association (AMPA), a non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)3 organization, is the nation’s premier resource and support network for LGBT military spouses and their families. Founded and led by same-gender military partners in 2009 as the Campaign for Military Partners, AMPA is committed to education, advocacy, and support for our “modern military families.” For more information, visit www.militarypartners.org.

New Army Tattoo Policy

The new army tattoo policy has been spreading around like wildfire! It's been pissing off pretty much everyone I know. I can see limiting certain tattoos especially ones on the neck, face and other places where they may show while in uniform. Tattoos and military service have a long history though, and this new rule really puts some limits on some very qualified soldiers that were looking to make the army a career. A friend of mine that worked with me in ComSec while in Germany had the following to say...

"Fuck me! I mean, if ever I got so blatantly screwed by the military this one definitely takes the cake. So I had this plan to work on a warrant officer packet when I got back. However, since I have tattoos in a "sleeve" I can no longer request for a commission, be it OCS or WOCS. I didn't realize that my ink could be so detrimental to how I fucking lead Soldiers, much less do my fucking job. The Army makes all these strides to try and keep itself relevant to society, but then shoots itself in the foot by trying to promote this "professional soldier" ideology"

I have to agree with him completely. He's a great soldier, I have nothing but good things to say about him, his work ethic, and his professionalism.

On another sad note...there are a lot of guys who have memorialized friends and fellow soldiers that they have lost by getting tattoos in their honor. Depending on where the tattoo is located in the wrong place, they may have their future options in the army limited.

• For those of you who don't know here are some of the rules:
• Forbid tattoos on the head, face, neck, hands, fingers and wrists.
• Allow no more than four hand-size tattoos below the elbow and knee.
• Prohibit sleeve tattoos that cover a person’s entire arm.
• Ban sexist, racist, indecent or extremist tattoos.
• Bar enlisted soldiers from requesting commissions as officers if they have tattoos that violate the new policies.
• Require commanders to document any tattoos that violate the new rules among current soldiers.
• Order commanders to check their soldiers for new tattoos every year

You can read more info about this from the News Tribune...the local newspaper of Tacoma near Ft. Lewis.

Lack of Marriage Recognition Harms Military Families and Undermines National Security

WASHINGTON, DC – The OutServe-Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (OutServe-SLDN) and the American Military Partner Association (AMPA) today jointly filed a friend of the court brief [Amicus Brief] with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in the cases of Kitchen v. Herbert, decided by a federal district court in Utah, and Bishop v. Smith, decided by a federal district court in Oklahoma, arguing that the uneven patchwork of states providing marriage equality harms military families, undermines national security, complicates the payment of earned veterans benefits, and harms veterans. The brief, on which the law firm Chadbourne & Parke serves as counsel, urges the Court to end the discrimination caused by the lack of marriage equality by recognizing a constitutional right for people of the same sex to marry on the same terms as opposite-sex couples.

“Our gay and lesbian service members put their lives on the line for every state in our union, and it is shameful that they and their families are treated as second-class by many of those states,” said Stephen Peters, president of AMPA. “Our military families deserve better than to have to worry about where in America they will be stationed because of the impact of marriage inequality, and our veterans certainly deserve access to the benefits and support they earned serving our nation, no matter what state they live in.”

"Our families are no different than any other families in the Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs and they deserve to be treated the same,” said Jeffrey Mueller, Co-Chairman of the Board for OutServe-SLDN. “The extra burden of marriage inequality is affecting military readiness and ultimately affects our national defense. Moving with the military is hard enough, but the added stress of moving to a state that will not recognize your marriage impacts their ability to do their job and just isn't right. All military families should be treated the same no matter where they serve our great country."

The brief asserts that: “The lack of marriage recognition is a strain on these military families, and an unnecessary distraction for service members who all too often find themselves in harm's way while trying to protect this country. Ending this discrimination by requiring states to recognize the right of same-sex couples to marry would protect these families, and best serve the needs of the modern military.”

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ABOUT OUTSERVE-SERVICEMEMBERS LEGAL DEFENSE NETWORK: Since 1993, OutServe-SLDN has been the heir to the legacy of providing legal services to service members and veterans. From representing over 12,000 service members during the era of DADT, leading the fight to repeal DADT, being integral in the Windsor suit to overturn DOMA, through winning the federal lawsuit, McLaughlin v. Hagel that provided benefits to same sex partners of military members, OutServe-SLDN has been on the frontlines for over 20 years. Today, OutServe-SLDN has over 75,000 followers worldwide and over 6,900 active members serving and leading more than 80 chapters around the globe. OS-SLDN provides free and direct legal assistance to service members and veterans affected by the repealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law and the prior regulatory ban on open service, as well as those currently serving who may experience harassment or discrimination. For more information, visit www.outserve-sldn.org.

ABOUT THE AMERICAN MILITARY PARTNER ASSOCIATION: The American Military Partner Association (AMPA), a non-partisan and non-profit 501(c)3 organization, is the nation’s premier resource and support network for LGBT military spouses and their families. Founded and led by same-gender military partners in 2009 as the Campaign for Military Partners, AMPA is committed to education, advocacy, and support for our “modern military families.” For more information, visit www.militarypartners.org