I commissioned in May 08. If I were to make a decision today about renewing my contract, I would probably decline.
First, in-the-way expectations. People will usually meet your expectations, no matter how low you set them -- and the Army has set them very low. The expectations create numerous obstacles. Too many rules will generate a rules-orientation, taking away from goal-orientation. People become more concerned with grammar and formats than assessments and opportunities. And why should anyone among America's elite 1% waste their time worrying about pleasing somebody else's pet peeves when they can take their talent somewhere more appreciative? I for one resent people who have lower expectations of me than I do of myself.
Second, in-the-way requirements. Give or take a few months, there's about a year between deployments. Subtract 2 - 3 for block leave. Another 1-2 for reset from deployment (how much work really gets done?). Another one for JRTC. That leaves about 6-7 months. Now -- throw in Army, division, garrison, and brigade taskings -- such as cleaning up trash or suspending a week of training for suicide awareness. Or (my favorite), sending soldiers for a month-long TDY to copy/paste documents in support of training exercises that provide them with absolutely no value (because they are not training). I don't know about the combat arms, but there are a whole host of strongly suggested additional MI training requirements not met in AIT and OBC that are not only hard to come by (scheduled infrequently or too few slots), but are even more difficult to find a soldier that can be sent to it. I for one do not think that cleaning up trash or copying/pasting documents is more important than ensuring that my soldiers can think critically and operate the systems we will be using downrange. But the Army disagrees with me.
Third, in-the-way people. These people are everywhere and because I'm a junior officer, I can't tell them to get lost without causing some kind of scandal (it's just not worth it). When I'm already on a wasteful TDY tasking, why are contractors further wasting my time by screwing around in my workstation? And if they are there to support me, why can't they answer my questions or provide requested products? And if there are so many contractors, why after a year of preparation are my soldiers the ones completing unsatisfied requirements that were tasked in one of the gazillion powerpoint briefs to the contractors? Why isn't trash clean-up and document copying contracted? I shouldn't pick on contractors because I also wonder why 04s and 05s are grading my grammar instead of measuring the assessment I should otherwise be developing. And I'm further wondering why 12,000+ manhours from my BCT alone are being spent on in-the-way people and their requirements rather than training the soldiers for combat.
Bookmarks