Quote Originally Posted by RTK View Post
I've seen guys who are career SGS jockeys, guys who have spent 6 months in a platoon and distinguished themselves so poorly that they spent the rest of their LT years on Division staffs, only to come out of it on the other end with a Meritorious Service medal. It kills me.

I get asked by a lot of new 2LTs how they can pursue their Master's degrees while they are platoon leaders. They seem more than a little put off when I tell them that they simply can't and be a good platoon leader at the same time.

I've seen more backstabbing PLs in the last 2 years than I did in the previous 5 years all together. I'm not sure why. I've never seen so many junior officers try to climb over eachother to get to the front, and spitefully so, than I have recently. I'm told by those who are older that the reason is "generational." There seems to be an epitome of the "me" culture. As a microcosm of society, I guess that might be expected.

Finally, I've seen some piss poor platoon leaders. I've seen some fantastic ones as well. But, like all things, you tend to remember the bad sometimes more than the good.
Grim indeed. I guess I haven't seen <much> of that in the Marine Corps. Maybe I'm just biased, though.

I've seen some malingering Lts, who faigned injury to be rear party OIC while the unit deployed to IZ. But that was a single case.

I haven't seen many problems with the Masters Degrees, either. I think most wait til they get to their 'B-billet' (non-FMF tour) to do that.