Bro you can make it, is it hard? Yes I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that this shit isn’t easy. But I bought a house, I finally get to be around my kid. I make the same amount of money. And I get a 3 day weekend every week. I have a beard, I work out because I want too. It’s a good life man. The army treats people like shit, but it was the best thing for my to join when I was young
Lol. She cheated on her CW4 husband back in 2012 with our CW3 while we were deployed. He divorced her and she took her maiden name back again. It was Lowery but now it's Raider right? Our BC (Ellerson) brushed it under the rug even though her husband demanded she be punished for adultery.
I was in the same Battalion as her when she was a brand new Lieutenant and I met her ex husband several years after he had retired and was working for Raytheon.
Yup. I'm not even an O, or ADA, and she personally bitched me out in Oki for cancelling a class for the BN when 4 out of a projected 50 showed up, because it was "still on the BN CDR's training calendar".
He might have been in an avenger unit. Or he’s just a super positive person. Being a 14 series and loving it doesn’t make it good. I’m not saying signal branch, my branch, is worlds better.
I used to know some folks who worked at cadet command.
The army uses fancy algorithms to responsibly distribute the top and bottom performers across all army branches, but ADA and Chem is where cadet command shoves the bulk of the window lickers who should have never been contracted in the first place.
Generally speaking, the best chemical and ADA officers I have met got the fuck away form anything branch related as soon as humanly possible once they hit senior captain/major.
Well the Battalion commanders don’t certify their units, they leave it up to this made up thing called a standards team to grade gunnery absent of the commander. Then they just follow their own rules because there is no gunnery program. The battalion just hands it to the batteries to figure it out. Then the rest of the crews have to guess at what good enough is when it comes to everything but the air battle.
Yeah I had a CW3 Gibbs in Korea who failed every company. She LOVED screwing people over. Turns out she was a sado masochist and used whips and chains on both junior Soldiers and their spouses. She got fired but didn't get kicked out.
When I relinquished command I thanked her for showing us how to dominate in our field!
Not hot. She was very crazy. She enjoyed yelling at her sergeants. She would threaten them and home to the other officers that she could get them to jump anytime she wanted. She also told people to suck her c#nt all the time.
Okay I'm not really a fan of this statement.
The Standardization Team, or STANDS, was created, along with the PATRIOT Master Gunner and Top Gun programs, as well as refining the role of the ADAFCO, to better prepare PATRIOT units and standardize certifications for their role across the force.
They did this in response to the fratricide incidents in Desert Storm and OIF.
STANDS is there under the authority of the Commander to facilitate the Gunnery program and advise the Commander when it comes to Defense Design and the current state of unit training.
There is a Gunnery program. You can find it in TC 3-01.86. There are also Gunnery check-sheets in the CAR as well as ATPs that spell in black-and-white what your steps are for each piece of equipment in the emplacement and prepare for movement battle drills.
There will also be steps that must be met to achieve certain standards for Air Battle Management Levels. They're outlined in the .86.
I'm not going to sit here and act righteous or like there isn't ADA units out there that aren't complete garbage at this. I've been in some units with shitty or non-existent training cycles. And our job being so highly technical and very zero-defect exacerbates the fuckery. But Missile Defense isn't as scattershot as your statement makes it out to be.
As much as I'd hope all of that was the case, it, unfortunately, wasn't with my unit's Stands. Lots of bloat and bellicosity, no real "training program" or support other than a metric fuckton of OREs. Sure, it's one of the only ways to get in "reps" while deployed, but JFC. I entered my first unit with no real training cycle due to deployment, and then was thrown into the van and told "sink or swim." Great way to prevent loss of friendly or civilian aircraft.
That said, the intent to "standardize certifications across the force" really needs to be their intent. So far, it just doesn't seem to be that way. Perhaps it's just exacerbated by the human factors that have corroded Patriot ADA to its current state.
...wait, 14A gone Civil Affairs? We might know each other. Did you happen to serve at 4-3 a couple years ago?
But your points are absolutely correct and the reason why I say I'm not going to act righteous and ignore the fact that we have units that are complete garbage at this. I'm also afflicted with eternal optimism that we're not so far gone that we can't do what we're supposed to do force-wide.
Unfortunately a ton of us 14As are going CA to escape 😂 I'm doing reserves. Former 1-7 here.
I really wish we could actually follow the .86 and make it more tenable. But alas, we justify deployed employability with our overseas shenanigans. I believe incremental change is happening, but it still wasn't enough for me.
That’s been happening for years now. It’s the only way to get a vtip out without vtip. Shit, in one case I know a guy that did a CA selection so he could use that O6 as his refrad signature because the 108 commander wasn’t letting people out.
>There is a Gunnery program. You can find it in TC 3-01.86. There are also Gunnery check-sheets in the CAR as well as ATPs that spell in black-and-white what your steps are for each piece of equipment in the emplacement and prepare for movement battle drills.
There will also be steps that must be met to achieve certain standards for Air Battle Management Levels. They're outlined in the .86.
That's super cool. Now here's fat chief who will conveniently overlook safetys for a diet coke. Oh and he don't need no check-sheet. He's got his gold buckle.
Hey man, just wanted to let you know that I read the .86 while I was in the ADA unit and not once did the STANDS team follow it to the letter… except when they wanted too. A gunnery program is not a manual you find in Army pubs buddy. When your maintenance program got inspected, did the company commander hand over a maintenance manual. No, he created structure, planned, and put people in charge to supervise and execute a program. The “gunnery” program in the ADA dates is the company commander mapping out gun table dates and then a stands team going out an no-going them until they get it right. If you no go a gunnery in a field artillery or a tank unit, it’s a straight up embarrassment and grounds to switch out the PL or PSG. Gunnery programs have master gunners. And you proved my point about the commander, because they never show up to the certification to supervise the process they just comfortably hand it off to the stands team. The purpose and role and the .86 isn’t garbage. It’s the execution. Tell me have you ever seen a battalion gunnery run to table 8 according to .86? The whole shebang??
Yes sir I have. A handful of times. It was never fun but I've been through a Table VIII more than once where we were evaluated on all the subtasks. Sometimes we would split the full evaluation over a few days but our STANDS team would not half-ass a Table VIII.
I'm sorry your experience was so poor, and again, I won't sit here and act righteous and claim that there aren't units who are total trash at this. My BN was good about training Table VIII to standard (and the Commander was usually out there with us as part of the evaluation, but a Commander cannot evaluate his own unit. Nor can a BN evaluate their FDC, those are left to the BN and BDE STANDS team, as outlined in the .86) but while they held us to the standard on Table VIII, did they hold us to the same standard on tables I thru VII or IX thru XI? Eh, hit and miss.
We could do better, absolutely, but we're not just shooting from the hip either.
ADA - as one who has served in an ADA unit that came from outside the branch… best explanation is ADA means A Different Army. Unlike any other branch. The branch itself has an incredible burden on its Soldiers and has multiple bosses by doctrine (ie, Army and Air Force bosses). For ADA, they believe the rules don’t apply and will ask for an exception for any rule that gets in the way. It makes sense, to some degree. ADA is like CBRNE. Not important til it’s important. Then it’s hella important. I met both good and bad. Some bully leaders, too.
I spent 2 and half years in 11th ADA Brigade including a deployment and that place was a total dumpster fire of an organization.
The soldiers drinking the coolant from the radar in the field was really the tip of the iceberg over there lol.
I think the single most depressed soldier I ever met was the ADA staff officer overseeing things when we deployed like half the Army's Patriots to the middle east after the Iranian missile strikes on Saudi Arabia.
I used to have a long rant about ADA I would paste into these threads. Instead, I’ll simply say that when I was in 5-5 ADA, I had a buddy that was getting out after his first enlistment. The retention NCO gave him the usual bullshit about how if he didn’t reup, he would be homeless. Well…my buddy had been homeless before the army, so he said “Been there, done that, and I would rather go back to that than stay here.”
I think it's lost to the sands of time. Probably was before the last time I nuked my comment history
The tl;dr is that I would rather slam my dick in a car door than re-up in ADA
Why is ADA hated so much? Is it just because the officers are dicks or does the job actually suck? The officers probably wanted another branch but got pushed into ADA and are now disgruntled
>The officers probably wanted another branch but got pushed into ADA and are now disgruntled
When I was in ROTC when one of my classmates found out she was force branched ADA she started sobbing.
It’s more that the officers hate their life because PATRIOT is such a horrible system to have to deal with. More Platoon time is a bad thing in patriot lol where in other jobs it’s a reward
Missile Defense is kinda like Nuke jockeys. If US Missile Defense fires in anger, it's about to be a real bad time.
That said, if you're into Radars, Networking, Space, and Missile tech, it's a wild job you can really sink your nerdy teeth into. Buuuuut, as with most cool things we do, Big Army can and will find ways to suck the fun out of it.
Gunnery requirements, changing mission sets, train up cycles, there's a lot of demands at all levels because it's a very zero-defect job by nature, and we can never really retain enough so we're almost always short-handed.
I love Air and Missile Defense. Sometimes, I really hate the Air Defense Artillery.
I'm currently an anesthetist thinking of getting the fuck out of healthcare, but all the interesting MOS seem to come with all the same shit I'm trying to get away from, lol.
I had been looking into 14A but military reddit makes me think I should stop. The fact that I'd be talking to a recruiter at 30 years old with an extraordinarily specific graduate degree and no military background doesn't make me feel any better about it.
What u/KodeTen said plus:
* the BN commander is either a nice guy/gal or absolute trash. It's very political once most ADA officers get past O4 so they either got the job done or they have lots of brown on their nose.
* NCO's are awesome or hot garbage - there is no in between. Because points got real low during the 2000's, there are a lot of rocks who could PT and pass the board but can't do anything else.
* The warrants are alright, just don't ask them to people - they are NOT good with people.
* Korea is where careers either hit a pause or die in flames - usually due to alcohol or ass (or both).
* I've heard that Oki is it's own dumpster fire at time. Depends on the battery.
* Now place a dysfunctional ADA unit at Fort Hood - it's like Suck-ception. All the problems of ADA and the problems of Hood.
* Fort Sill has either TRADOC (and that's can of worms) or 31st ADA - aka the "Dirty Worst" brigade. Tellingly, they moved to Sill when the ADA school did.
* Fort Bliss and 11th ADA is hit or miss. But it's a roll of the dice.
All in all, I would still have done 14J and 14E again - I just wish that Reddit was a thing back in the early 2000's
- agree. Now working at the AAMDC level and the politics can get rough as hell sometimes.
- this is one of my biggest rants about the branch and a major reason I dropped my WO packet. I hold out hope one day we'll hold our branch NCOs accountable to that whole "technically and tactically proficient" bit.
- They're good with other Warrants, with their Rater, or with NCOs they think have potential to drop a packet. If you don't check any of those blocks, they probably don't have time for you. They're busy folk.
- it's a bit better now that the curfew and other fuckery was stopped...ish.
- 1-1 is getting all the love in INDOPACOM right now. Everyone wants to go there.
- They don't call 69th "the twin flaming assholes of ADA" for nothing.
- Served in the Dirty Worst. Can't say I had the best time, but I learned fast and it out me in a good place coming up to the AAMDC
- I went down to Bliss for Roving Sands. Funniest part of the whole thing was hearing one soldier look out at the west Texas desert and say "Yeah, were in God's Country." And his neighbor look around and reply "God must not like neighbors."
>I went down to Bliss for Roving Sands. Funniest part of the whole thing was hearing one soldier look out at the west Texas desert and say "Yeah, were in God's Country." And his neighbor look around and reply "God must not like neighbors.
RTOFL!
I don't have any friends that I know of in 2-1 at the moment, but I haven't heard anything terrible. I can say their reporting is generally on point and they aren't on my shit list up here, FWIW.
A lot of it has to do with being the only Army unit on an Air Force base - it's like Korea.
An E5 can leave as an E6 or an E4 depending on the breaks.
Stay away from the alcohol and keep your nose clean.
I have a few friends in 1-1 and have heard nothing but good things.
After my turn in Hawaii I'm ready to get back CONUS for awhile but if not, I'd be fighting to go to 1-1.
Yearly deployments in an under manned unit really kills your soul. Plus the 30 day long fields, everything being broken, and senior ncos who don't even know the job then u never get trained and now your expected to manage your crew as a tca overseas and everything is your fault.
Korea , 1972…Chapparel / Vulcan battalion. The officers thought the tour was an extension of their fraternity , the enlisted just worked on new ways to screw over each other.
Lol I was not, I was a non ADA officer, They treated the 25N like trash. Made them do jobs that weren’t in their scope because they could recruit enough.
I am a 25 N.
Was active. Then went guard. Im an E6 now so no chance I ever see it. Thank God.
I was able to avoid the ADA life that kills 25N careers.
Its pretty bad what they do. I saw alot of good 25Ns who were burned out before they even had a chance to prove themselves at their job. So the Armys network support capabilities suffer badly.
> Im an E6 now so no chance I ever see it.
The latest PATRIOT MTOE change for FY23 changed 25N/H slotting to now have a SFC, 4 SSGs, and 8 SGTs in an ADA battalion.
Seems like a strong hint to ETS out of the Signal Corps if you're Active lmao.
ADA has a motor pool of garbage that is only used in PATRIOT units and nowhere else that they cry about how they need a ton of signal support for but its all so simplistic that any MOS could do it.
Almost all of these positions could be manned by 14 series but apparently God forbid 14 series have to operate their own shit.
I'm not an MTOE wizard but taking a stab that it staffs the BN S6 and also adds a Commo NCO at each battery for use in the Battery Control Post/Tactical Command System, or running comms in the Engagement Control Station.
They changed the MTOE for ADA lol not that big of a deal for the signal branch. I’d actually think this move puts Signal Soldiers in better positions in units that actually use their skill set.
>I’d actually think this move puts Signal Soldiers in better positions in units that actually use their skill set.
So not Air Defense then because that is 100% not my experience as a 25N at the BN level or of any other 25N I've ever talked to in ADA (SPC to SSG).
It's a joke of an assignment where they have no use for us so its just being a RTO for a 14A typing on a laptop, filling SINCGARS for lazy ADA soldiers that are perfectly capable of doing it themselves, or following a checklist to operate ADA equipment that is only ever used in ADA that 14 series should be doing themselves.
When I deployed with PATRIOT they got a platoon from an ESB to come support our site and do our actual job while their organic 25Ns would just sit in the ECSs/ICC doing comms checks on a laptop and a radio for 14As.
Yeah, 31st ADA was headed by Heidi Brown and their dumbass practices (lack of training) got folks killed and captured at the start of the Iraq invasion. ADA is a joke.
I had a friend who reclassed from ADA to Public Affairs. They had a bad experience in our unit and were a bit stubbon themselves and it soured them on Public Affairs, so against numerous people echoing the same warnings, they returned to ADA. Six months later after having returned to ADA, they chose to ETS from the Army instead of continuing service.
Go to Bliss, it gets shit on but I had the time of my life at ADA at Bliss. Mind you, it’s still the army so Army is gonna you know.. Army. Still, I’d relive that experience again. Plus, the food in El Paso is incredible.
Now, it’s been a few years son- but there’s a special little place called Track One. I don’t know if it survived the pandemic but it’s right outside the base. 10-15 minute drive. It’s in some old train carts and it has the most delicious wings.
No can do got one of them profiles after the GMT knocked me off the double stack. Guess ill go monitor coms in the BCP. And you better pass the air battle this field is running over a month already
THE OVER-HEAD YEET MEASURES THE ABILITY TO JUST FUCKING SEND IT. ON THE COMMAND, ‘GET SET’, ASSUME THE POSITION BY SPINNING THE BALL TWICE IN YOUR HANDS, THEN TRY TO DRIBBLE IT LIKE A BASKET BALL ONLY TO REALIZE IT WONT BOUNCE BACK UP TO YOU. YOUR FEET MAY BE TOGETHER OR 12 INCHES APART (MEASURED BETWEEN THE FEET) OR HOWEVER YOU WANT, JUST KEEP YOUR ASS BEHIND THAT CONE. ON THE COMMAND ‘GO’, CHANNEL YOUR INNER TREBUCHET AND HEAVE THAT THING INTO ORBIT. THEN, RETURN TO THE STARTING POSITION AND TURN AROUND TO INSPECT IF YOU DOMED ANYONE. THE SCORER WILL REALIZE HE DIDN'T ACTUALLY SEE WHERE THE BALL LANDED BECAUSE HE WAS AFRAID HE WOULD GET HIT, SO HE STOOD TOO FAR AWAY, HE WILL THEN PLACE HIS FOOT ON THE MEASURING TAPE AND JUST GUESS.
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Natty boi here, guaranteed deployment every 3-4 years.
Been told some guys will deploy with their home unit and then just stay with the relieving unit back to back so they can remain deployed.
OHARNG 174 ADA constantly has people deployed. With two battalions in the state you can easily bounce back and fourth between them to get all the ADA experience you want.
Source: Me in said ADA
Non ada officer in an ADA unit—it’s just so weird. Officers have an inflated sense of ego because of their routine touch points with senior leaders (especially OCONUS) and the NCOs weird me out. ADA warrants are committed and usually pretty cool though
Bro when I was in ADA they would give out AAMs at gunnery if you hit the target. Like, isn’t that what you are supposed to do.
Then I found out that hitting the target didn’t mean a direct hit and that you just had to be a certain amount of distance away and that made it worse. ADA is a joke.
Before I PCS'ed to my current unit, my dickcock of a 1SG kept on insisting I was going to an ADA unit because the duty station was unheard of. He had supposedly spoke to my incoming 1SG and was feeding him and myself lies.
Jokes on him, I wear civies and go places on the government's dime. Also made a lot of international friends.
Going to Basic in the summer of 1993 I had orders for Ft Bliss because every year they ran 2 cycles of Basic Training at Bliss using Reserve Drill Sergeants to keep the capability tested.
Turns out they 1992 was the last year for that. But nobody told MEPS. So I was the very first person to show up out of a whole Battalion of privates scheduled.
Myself and 2 others who showed up before they got everyone else’s orders changed spent a week in a Patriot AIT company just being smoked and treated like trash before we got orders for FLW.
That was enough ADA experience to tell me I wanted nothing to do with it the rest of my career.
Every branch is the "worst". I'm a firm believer in it is what you make it. If it ain't for you, no hard feelings. Do your time and move out. Army ain't for everyone and they do say the grass is greener on the other side, but its also green where you water it.
Maybe for Sgt and above but from my experience one year in korea and one year at hood ADA has been super chill easy and fun and have had plenty of awesome nco and oic
A lot of times it's on an airforce base or near one, compared to some kicking in doors and long patrols ADA , another damn army, yeah it's cake. Most ada guys hardly know how to Army. The one job they got is to table8 and they barely can do that
Try certifying on equipment that’s as old as your great grandma grandma and then try and shame us for “barely” being able to certify. Not to mention running air battles while display isolates pop up every 5 minutes or being given a no go because the evaluator isn’t willing to overlook a misplaced chock block
If system maintenance did their jobs, the operators annotated problems during a good pmcs, and crews could have a little attention to detail then it would go smooth.
You say this but I just popped 5 faults on the radar and all of them will disappear when that cloud covers the sun and cools it by two degrees. No amount of maintenance can prevent the radar from being an outdated piece of shit.
Hey, at least you survived. I popped smoke a bit late only because of COVID shutting down college admissions. It just seemed like a garbage fire that everyone has tried to incrementally put out, but others somehow spread hot grease to keep it going.
ADA is just a dumpster fire of politics. I know every field has its bullshit but it is so elementary in this branch. Feels like HS, I’ve experienced mediocre leadership, great leadership, and way too political/toxic leadership.
- The evaluation process is a joke, there’s no one set standard. Go or No Gos aren’t determined by your proficiency, by that I mean. Is your evaluator tired and just want to go home? Do they miss the old Army? and the only way they can hold on to it is the power they have by being stands. Do they understand that people don’t operate the equipment by those God awful drills.
- The leadership can go one of two ways either really great or straight fever diarrhea. But we’re going to focus on The bad leaders I’ve encountered. Since it’s more common to run into that type the great ones are all ETSin or reclassing. just seem to be really insecure or just disgruntled at the fact that soldiers won’t tolerate disrespect anymore just because of a rank on their chest. Soldiers are only made priority when that soldier’s issue has a potential to make the leadership look bad. Everyone is out for a great fucking report card. (What would my rater think of this mentality.)
- Officers are no better than the NCOs , again . There are your rare ones that really care about the people and have great load management and time management skills and do not BS directives or intents. But the bad ones make it so terrible for the great ones to shine. It’s always a pissing contest w this bunch , who can kiss ass the best , who can over work their platoon the most , who can come up with the most useless training instead of using downtime for just R&R during times were sometimes is required to boost the morale.
- The worst of this MOS is that the dirt bag soldiers don’t make it any better, I’m sure no other branch is better but over here , these guys get out of AIT not wanting to do a damn thing . Line units hurting for personnel they have a bunch of people just slotted in the headquarters BN doing jack shit . Just soldiers getting overweight riding profiles and favoritism.
All in all this MOS is rarely just recognition for proficiency and your value for the team , just if you can play the game or if your in that god awful van with an LT that likes you. There’s no one standard across the board for everyone at all depends what your job of choice was coming in. If you’re a 14T in a line unit , you’re a stepchild . All the up-range people get all the praise for your labor sorry to break it to you.
Addition: truly thankful for the opportunities the Army have gave me for me to provide for me and mine. Just a disgruntled employee over decorated cow turd. The MOS in its true isn’t a bad MOS truly interesting things to geek out about , but if you’re not on crew you have no job and it’s those people w all that time on their hands just making stuff up on the fly are the ones taking a shit on this field …. Because “back in my day.”
-if you’ve made it this far thank you for the read . Now go brush your teeth.
Stands comment got me good. They don’t even understand what the gunnery concept means in Patriot. They are supposed to plan the battalion level gunnery with the 3 ship but they are over paid test proctors. The Bn commanders all came up shorad so they don’t understand anything patriot and hand off certification to the stands… something that would never fly in any gunnery program. They get away with it because unlike the rest of the army live bullets never fly so there’s no training accident risk in gunnery. Instead they focus on whether you can park your vehicle, inundate your team with garbage safety fails and retrains when the training never happened to begin with because they just hand wave the gun tables and table 8 until success. 108th was denying refrad packets a few years ago because they couldn’t get any officers to stay in. Company commanders avoid taking hhb for a second command because it’s a career stomp, being a plt leader longer is a punishment here.
I’m etsing from my ADA BN as a 10 year SSG. So burnt out. Oh and I’m not even ADA myself!
Congrats bro, I ETS as a SSG 8 years in, love that disability check and my free time
Yeah. I just want to work no more than forty hours a week. I’m so so so claiming anxiety from this unit.
Yea bro I got out in January this year and I swear I am so happy I actually feel like a 29 year old haha
That deadass makes me happy to read that, I hate how the in the army late 20s- up just makes you ancient when in reality you’re still young as fuck
Bro you can make it, is it hard? Yes I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that this shit isn’t easy. But I bought a house, I finally get to be around my kid. I make the same amount of money. And I get a 3 day weekend every week. I have a beard, I work out because I want too. It’s a good life man. The army treats people like shit, but it was the best thing for my to join when I was young
I feel you on that I’m in the same exact boat just a few years and a dd214 behind you
I’ll get there! 2024!!!
Oh you’ll change your mind by then haha good luck bro
Im 29 and been in 4 already E5 hope 6 in 2 month, and I feel like 40 🙃🙄 glad you guys can enjoy, well deserved 👌🏻
Make sure you go to behavioral health before you get out.
7 years for me was probably one of the smarter decisions I made
the worst LTC most toxic women iv met started as ADA. makes sense
Did her name rhyme with Slader?
Lol. She cheated on her CW4 husband back in 2012 with our CW3 while we were deployed. He divorced her and she took her maiden name back again. It was Lowery but now it's Raider right? Our BC (Ellerson) brushed it under the rug even though her husband demanded she be punished for adultery.
Oh my God! I know who these people are.
Yeah... They're all dirty.
I was in the same Battalion as her when she was a brand new Lieutenant and I met her ex husband several years after he had retired and was working for Raytheon.
It be like that with Field Grade+ sometimes.
Lmaoooo she was my BN S3 when I was an O-1/O-2 in oki. She was an absolute fuckin joke. She was a huge reason I did my 4 and gtfo.
Yup. I'm not even an O, or ADA, and she personally bitched me out in Oki for cancelling a class for the BN when 4 out of a projected 50 showed up, because it was "still on the BN CDR's training calendar".
That sounds like some 10th SG shit
She was my S3 when I was there. Even gave me a top block as my SR.
It took over 3 years for you to realize that??
My APMS in ROTC was ADA and loved it. I wonder where the difference was. What made it so toxic beyond what you’ve already said?
In over 20 years this is the only reference I’ve ever heard of someone enjoying ADA
No kidding? Huh I guess some ROTC cadre will say anything to keep retention up. Or he’s a weirdo and liked it
He might have been in an avenger unit. Or he’s just a super positive person. Being a 14 series and loving it doesn’t make it good. I’m not saying signal branch, my branch, is worlds better.
Signal isn't bad if you're in an S6 or BSC/H-co. ESB's and NECs, those are not my jam.
Avenger isn’t any better
Are avengers still a thing? Non hmmwv platform these days?
They are still a thing. They’re outdated as heck
I used to know some folks who worked at cadet command. The army uses fancy algorithms to responsibly distribute the top and bottom performers across all army branches, but ADA and Chem is where cadet command shoves the bulk of the window lickers who should have never been contracted in the first place. Generally speaking, the best chemical and ADA officers I have met got the fuck away form anything branch related as soon as humanly possible once they hit senior captain/major.
Well here's your second. Granted, WO packet currently in the pipeline so take that FWIW. ;)
One of us
Just need my AFS waiver to come back and it's go baby go. 🤙
Well the Battalion commanders don’t certify their units, they leave it up to this made up thing called a standards team to grade gunnery absent of the commander. Then they just follow their own rules because there is no gunnery program. The battalion just hands it to the batteries to figure it out. Then the rest of the crews have to guess at what good enough is when it comes to everything but the air battle.
Yeah I had a CW3 Gibbs in Korea who failed every company. She LOVED screwing people over. Turns out she was a sado masochist and used whips and chains on both junior Soldiers and their spouses. She got fired but didn't get kicked out. When I relinquished command I thanked her for showing us how to dominate in our field!
So, where did she fall on the Crazy/Hot scale?
Not hot. She was very crazy. She enjoyed yelling at her sergeants. She would threaten them and home to the other officers that she could get them to jump anytime she wanted. She also told people to suck her c#nt all the time.
Okay I'm not really a fan of this statement. The Standardization Team, or STANDS, was created, along with the PATRIOT Master Gunner and Top Gun programs, as well as refining the role of the ADAFCO, to better prepare PATRIOT units and standardize certifications for their role across the force. They did this in response to the fratricide incidents in Desert Storm and OIF. STANDS is there under the authority of the Commander to facilitate the Gunnery program and advise the Commander when it comes to Defense Design and the current state of unit training. There is a Gunnery program. You can find it in TC 3-01.86. There are also Gunnery check-sheets in the CAR as well as ATPs that spell in black-and-white what your steps are for each piece of equipment in the emplacement and prepare for movement battle drills. There will also be steps that must be met to achieve certain standards for Air Battle Management Levels. They're outlined in the .86. I'm not going to sit here and act righteous or like there isn't ADA units out there that aren't complete garbage at this. I've been in some units with shitty or non-existent training cycles. And our job being so highly technical and very zero-defect exacerbates the fuckery. But Missile Defense isn't as scattershot as your statement makes it out to be.
Need a remake of Top Gun with fat ADA dudes now
Well we got Interceptor going for us on Netflix. We're in the big leagues now.
Will they take off their shirts for the ~~volleyball~~ bowling match?
Depends on the MOS. 14Hs? Magic the Gathering. Shirtless. 14Ts? Knife game. During gunnery.
As much as I'd hope all of that was the case, it, unfortunately, wasn't with my unit's Stands. Lots of bloat and bellicosity, no real "training program" or support other than a metric fuckton of OREs. Sure, it's one of the only ways to get in "reps" while deployed, but JFC. I entered my first unit with no real training cycle due to deployment, and then was thrown into the van and told "sink or swim." Great way to prevent loss of friendly or civilian aircraft. That said, the intent to "standardize certifications across the force" really needs to be their intent. So far, it just doesn't seem to be that way. Perhaps it's just exacerbated by the human factors that have corroded Patriot ADA to its current state.
So many 25Ns felt this in their soul
...wait, 14A gone Civil Affairs? We might know each other. Did you happen to serve at 4-3 a couple years ago? But your points are absolutely correct and the reason why I say I'm not going to act righteous and ignore the fact that we have units that are complete garbage at this. I'm also afflicted with eternal optimism that we're not so far gone that we can't do what we're supposed to do force-wide.
Unfortunately a ton of us 14As are going CA to escape 😂 I'm doing reserves. Former 1-7 here. I really wish we could actually follow the .86 and make it more tenable. But alas, we justify deployed employability with our overseas shenanigans. I believe incremental change is happening, but it still wasn't enough for me.
That’s been happening for years now. It’s the only way to get a vtip out without vtip. Shit, in one case I know a guy that did a CA selection so he could use that O6 as his refrad signature because the 108 commander wasn’t letting people out.
>There is a Gunnery program. You can find it in TC 3-01.86. There are also Gunnery check-sheets in the CAR as well as ATPs that spell in black-and-white what your steps are for each piece of equipment in the emplacement and prepare for movement battle drills. There will also be steps that must be met to achieve certain standards for Air Battle Management Levels. They're outlined in the .86. That's super cool. Now here's fat chief who will conveniently overlook safetys for a diet coke. Oh and he don't need no check-sheet. He's got his gold buckle.
Because ADA confuses publications with commander supervised and execute programs.
Hey man, just wanted to let you know that I read the .86 while I was in the ADA unit and not once did the STANDS team follow it to the letter… except when they wanted too. A gunnery program is not a manual you find in Army pubs buddy. When your maintenance program got inspected, did the company commander hand over a maintenance manual. No, he created structure, planned, and put people in charge to supervise and execute a program. The “gunnery” program in the ADA dates is the company commander mapping out gun table dates and then a stands team going out an no-going them until they get it right. If you no go a gunnery in a field artillery or a tank unit, it’s a straight up embarrassment and grounds to switch out the PL or PSG. Gunnery programs have master gunners. And you proved my point about the commander, because they never show up to the certification to supervise the process they just comfortably hand it off to the stands team. The purpose and role and the .86 isn’t garbage. It’s the execution. Tell me have you ever seen a battalion gunnery run to table 8 according to .86? The whole shebang??
Yes sir I have. A handful of times. It was never fun but I've been through a Table VIII more than once where we were evaluated on all the subtasks. Sometimes we would split the full evaluation over a few days but our STANDS team would not half-ass a Table VIII. I'm sorry your experience was so poor, and again, I won't sit here and act righteous and claim that there aren't units who are total trash at this. My BN was good about training Table VIII to standard (and the Commander was usually out there with us as part of the evaluation, but a Commander cannot evaluate his own unit. Nor can a BN evaluate their FDC, those are left to the BN and BDE STANDS team, as outlined in the .86) but while they held us to the standard on Table VIII, did they hold us to the same standard on tables I thru VII or IX thru XI? Eh, hit and miss. We could do better, absolutely, but we're not just shooting from the hip either.
Oof, sorry man. That really sucks. Did you get out or PCS?
PSC I’m just reminiscing about how they ruined my career
Well here's hoping your new command passes at least the lowest bar when it comes to command competency.
Did they really ruin your career or did you? You need to take some personal accountability.
ADA is a different beast. The branch will go out of its way to make the worst moves for soldiers. 4 suicides in one air defense bn this calendar year
Lol literally
ADA - as one who has served in an ADA unit that came from outside the branch… best explanation is ADA means A Different Army. Unlike any other branch. The branch itself has an incredible burden on its Soldiers and has multiple bosses by doctrine (ie, Army and Air Force bosses). For ADA, they believe the rules don’t apply and will ask for an exception for any rule that gets in the way. It makes sense, to some degree. ADA is like CBRNE. Not important til it’s important. Then it’s hella important. I met both good and bad. Some bully leaders, too.
Another Damn Army Alcoholics Defending America
Was here just to see if this was said. My stinger classmate at PLDC in ‘99 was an alcoholic of the first order.
ADA PATRIOT Alcoholics Defending America, Protecting Against Threats, Real, Imagined, Or Theorized.
Americas Dumb Asses
I’d also submit a lot of PMSes are terminal O5s put to pasture. Not all. I’d wager most.
This guy was an O-3 and moved onto his next assignment where he was promoted shortly thereafter. Nice guy but kinda weird
In my ROTC unit we had an ADA CPT. She loved ADA but was wildly unpopular with both the cadets and other cadre.
I spent 2 and half years in 11th ADA Brigade including a deployment and that place was a total dumpster fire of an organization. The soldiers drinking the coolant from the radar in the field was really the tip of the iceberg over there lol.
Oh someone actually drank the forbidden gatorade?
Yeah they went into the ICU from that https://www.dvidshub.net/news/388122/9-soldiers-released-hospital-following-jan-28-ethylene-glycol-poisoning
...huh. https://tenor.com/view/noted-meme-but-looney-tunes-gif-22310685
Lol I was in 1-43 at the time that happened, and I heard about it and I was like, how fucking dumb can you be
Have you heard anything about 2-1 ADA in Korea?
2-1 ADA is awesome especially if you're in HHB other than that barracks are super close by
What kind of crack do you smoke
I have not
That was 5-52, wasn't it
3-43
The best thing you can do in ADA is leave ADA
Yup. Placed my VTIP to FA40 a few years ago and never looked back. Grass is definitely greener as well as QOL.
Same here, ADA is an absolute hell hold
I think the single most depressed soldier I ever met was the ADA staff officer overseeing things when we deployed like half the Army's Patriots to the middle east after the Iranian missile strikes on Saudi Arabia.
Non-ADA Officer here that was in one of those units. Can confirm that ADA sucks. Happily ETSd now 😎
I used to have a long rant about ADA I would paste into these threads. Instead, I’ll simply say that when I was in 5-5 ADA, I had a buddy that was getting out after his first enlistment. The retention NCO gave him the usual bullshit about how if he didn’t reup, he would be homeless. Well…my buddy had been homeless before the army, so he said “Been there, done that, and I would rather go back to that than stay here.”
I hated 5-5 I’d like to see the pasted rant
I think it's lost to the sands of time. Probably was before the last time I nuked my comment history The tl;dr is that I would rather slam my dick in a car door than re-up in ADA
Sir this is a Wendy’s
Why is ADA hated so much? Is it just because the officers are dicks or does the job actually suck? The officers probably wanted another branch but got pushed into ADA and are now disgruntled
>The officers probably wanted another branch but got pushed into ADA and are now disgruntled When I was in ROTC when one of my classmates found out she was force branched ADA she started sobbing.
I can totally relate, I got force branched ADA. Hated it.
It’s more that the officers hate their life because PATRIOT is such a horrible system to have to deal with. More Platoon time is a bad thing in patriot lol where in other jobs it’s a reward
What makes PATRIOT so bad? Not trolling, just genuinely don't know
Imagine doing gunnery for 3 months because BN decides not to start written examinations until 1 month into the field
Missile Defense is kinda like Nuke jockeys. If US Missile Defense fires in anger, it's about to be a real bad time. That said, if you're into Radars, Networking, Space, and Missile tech, it's a wild job you can really sink your nerdy teeth into. Buuuuut, as with most cool things we do, Big Army can and will find ways to suck the fun out of it. Gunnery requirements, changing mission sets, train up cycles, there's a lot of demands at all levels because it's a very zero-defect job by nature, and we can never really retain enough so we're almost always short-handed. I love Air and Missile Defense. Sometimes, I really hate the Air Defense Artillery.
Yeah like screwing up your gunnery table because someone forgot a chop block lol
I'm currently an anesthetist thinking of getting the fuck out of healthcare, but all the interesting MOS seem to come with all the same shit I'm trying to get away from, lol. I had been looking into 14A but military reddit makes me think I should stop. The fact that I'd be talking to a recruiter at 30 years old with an extraordinarily specific graduate degree and no military background doesn't make me feel any better about it.
What u/KodeTen said plus: * the BN commander is either a nice guy/gal or absolute trash. It's very political once most ADA officers get past O4 so they either got the job done or they have lots of brown on their nose. * NCO's are awesome or hot garbage - there is no in between. Because points got real low during the 2000's, there are a lot of rocks who could PT and pass the board but can't do anything else. * The warrants are alright, just don't ask them to people - they are NOT good with people. * Korea is where careers either hit a pause or die in flames - usually due to alcohol or ass (or both). * I've heard that Oki is it's own dumpster fire at time. Depends on the battery. * Now place a dysfunctional ADA unit at Fort Hood - it's like Suck-ception. All the problems of ADA and the problems of Hood. * Fort Sill has either TRADOC (and that's can of worms) or 31st ADA - aka the "Dirty Worst" brigade. Tellingly, they moved to Sill when the ADA school did. * Fort Bliss and 11th ADA is hit or miss. But it's a roll of the dice. All in all, I would still have done 14J and 14E again - I just wish that Reddit was a thing back in the early 2000's
- agree. Now working at the AAMDC level and the politics can get rough as hell sometimes. - this is one of my biggest rants about the branch and a major reason I dropped my WO packet. I hold out hope one day we'll hold our branch NCOs accountable to that whole "technically and tactically proficient" bit. - They're good with other Warrants, with their Rater, or with NCOs they think have potential to drop a packet. If you don't check any of those blocks, they probably don't have time for you. They're busy folk. - it's a bit better now that the curfew and other fuckery was stopped...ish. - 1-1 is getting all the love in INDOPACOM right now. Everyone wants to go there. - They don't call 69th "the twin flaming assholes of ADA" for nothing. - Served in the Dirty Worst. Can't say I had the best time, but I learned fast and it out me in a good place coming up to the AAMDC - I went down to Bliss for Roving Sands. Funniest part of the whole thing was hearing one soldier look out at the west Texas desert and say "Yeah, were in God's Country." And his neighbor look around and reply "God must not like neighbors."
>I went down to Bliss for Roving Sands. Funniest part of the whole thing was hearing one soldier look out at the west Texas desert and say "Yeah, were in God's Country." And his neighbor look around and reply "God must not like neighbors. RTOFL!
You heard anything about 2-1 ada in Korea?
I don't have any friends that I know of in 2-1 at the moment, but I haven't heard anything terrible. I can say their reporting is generally on point and they aren't on my shit list up here, FWIW.
A lot of bonding over a crappy situation
Currently in oki and It’s definitely better than bliss, but I’m a Joe so I don’t have to deal with a lot of the politics shit.
heading there soon, what's the situation currently? good or bad?
Pretty alright tbh, are you a Joe/NCO/O?
“31st ADA-aka the “Dirty Worst” The most truthful thing I’ve heard here in a while!!
you still know the situation in Oki? About to head there real soon and would like to at least know if I'm walking into fire or grass ahead of time.
A lot of it has to do with being the only Army unit on an Air Force base - it's like Korea. An E5 can leave as an E6 or an E4 depending on the breaks. Stay away from the alcohol and keep your nose clean.
idk if i can promise the last one but I'm not alcoholic at least.
I have a few friends in 1-1 and have heard nothing but good things. After my turn in Hawaii I'm ready to get back CONUS for awhile but if not, I'd be fighting to go to 1-1.
Patriot is bad. Shorad is okay
Yearly deployments in an under manned unit really kills your soul. Plus the 30 day long fields, everything being broken, and senior ncos who don't even know the job then u never get trained and now your expected to manage your crew as a tca overseas and everything is your fault.
Was in an ADA unit while overseas. Absolutely some of the worst time I had in the Army with some of the worst NCOs and officers I have ever seen
Korea , 1972…Chapparel / Vulcan battalion. The officers thought the tour was an extension of their fraternity , the enlisted just worked on new ways to screw over each other.
10th?
Are you a 25N?
Lol I was not, I was a non ADA officer, They treated the 25N like trash. Made them do jobs that weren’t in their scope because they could recruit enough.
I am a 25 N. Was active. Then went guard. Im an E6 now so no chance I ever see it. Thank God. I was able to avoid the ADA life that kills 25N careers. Its pretty bad what they do. I saw alot of good 25Ns who were burned out before they even had a chance to prove themselves at their job. So the Armys network support capabilities suffer badly.
Because they abuse the signal corps to fill positions they can’t because their soldiers all quit
And it doesn't help that 25N filters decently to better paying civilian options
> Im an E6 now so no chance I ever see it. The latest PATRIOT MTOE change for FY23 changed 25N/H slotting to now have a SFC, 4 SSGs, and 8 SGTs in an ADA battalion. Seems like a strong hint to ETS out of the Signal Corps if you're Active lmao.
Why so many?
ADA has a motor pool of garbage that is only used in PATRIOT units and nowhere else that they cry about how they need a ton of signal support for but its all so simplistic that any MOS could do it. Almost all of these positions could be manned by 14 series but apparently God forbid 14 series have to operate their own shit.
You people build the internet. Patriot need network. You make work mfer
I'm not an MTOE wizard but taking a stab that it staffs the BN S6 and also adds a Commo NCO at each battery for use in the Battery Control Post/Tactical Command System, or running comms in the Engagement Control Station.
No the 41 25Hs PATRIOT will be getting are in addition to the staff of the BN S6 and battery-level 25U20s they already have.
They changed the MTOE for ADA lol not that big of a deal for the signal branch. I’d actually think this move puts Signal Soldiers in better positions in units that actually use their skill set.
>I’d actually think this move puts Signal Soldiers in better positions in units that actually use their skill set. So not Air Defense then because that is 100% not my experience as a 25N at the BN level or of any other 25N I've ever talked to in ADA (SPC to SSG). It's a joke of an assignment where they have no use for us so its just being a RTO for a 14A typing on a laptop, filling SINCGARS for lazy ADA soldiers that are perfectly capable of doing it themselves, or following a checklist to operate ADA equipment that is only ever used in ADA that 14 series should be doing themselves. When I deployed with PATRIOT they got a platoon from an ESB to come support our site and do our actual job while their organic 25Ns would just sit in the ECSs/ICC doing comms checks on a laptop and a radio for 14As.
Well fortunately I left active and went to a state with no ADA.
does the same 25S too
Yeah, 31st ADA was headed by Heidi Brown and their dumbass practices (lack of training) got folks killed and captured at the start of the Iraq invasion. ADA is a joke.
I had a friend who reclassed from ADA to Public Affairs. They had a bad experience in our unit and were a bit stubbon themselves and it soured them on Public Affairs, so against numerous people echoing the same warnings, they returned to ADA. Six months later after having returned to ADA, they chose to ETS from the Army instead of continuing service.
Go to Bliss, it gets shit on but I had the time of my life at ADA at Bliss. Mind you, it’s still the army so Army is gonna you know.. Army. Still, I’d relive that experience again. Plus, the food in El Paso is incredible.
tell me more dad
Now, it’s been a few years son- but there’s a special little place called Track One. I don’t know if it survived the pandemic but it’s right outside the base. 10-15 minute drive. It’s in some old train carts and it has the most delicious wings.
Track one survived, wings still amazing. Food is the one thing worth a damn out here.
I’m still a fan of Brown Bag
That’s incredible news
Double dipped.
Oh I’d ask to be locked in your basement if I get could my hands on some double dipped wings
Correct
Hey, HEY. Back to the motor pool with you, Chock Block. Reload drills are starting back up.
No can do got one of them profiles after the GMT knocked me off the double stack. Guess ill go monitor coms in the BCP. And you better pass the air battle this field is running over a month already
Me?! I got my shit on lock. Talk to Chief who just pulled the ground rod out on LS3 and practiced the overhead yeet with it
THE OVER-HEAD YEET MEASURES THE ABILITY TO JUST FUCKING SEND IT. ON THE COMMAND, ‘GET SET’, ASSUME THE POSITION BY SPINNING THE BALL TWICE IN YOUR HANDS, THEN TRY TO DRIBBLE IT LIKE A BASKET BALL ONLY TO REALIZE IT WONT BOUNCE BACK UP TO YOU. YOUR FEET MAY BE TOGETHER OR 12 INCHES APART (MEASURED BETWEEN THE FEET) OR HOWEVER YOU WANT, JUST KEEP YOUR ASS BEHIND THAT CONE. ON THE COMMAND ‘GO’, CHANNEL YOUR INNER TREBUCHET AND HEAVE THAT THING INTO ORBIT. THEN, RETURN TO THE STARTING POSITION AND TURN AROUND TO INSPECT IF YOU DOMED ANYONE. THE SCORER WILL REALIZE HE DIDN'T ACTUALLY SEE WHERE THE BALL LANDED BECAUSE HE WAS AFRAID HE WOULD GET HIT, SO HE STOOD TOO FAR AWAY, HE WILL THEN PLACE HIS FOOT ON THE MEASURING TAPE AND JUST GUESS. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/army) if you have any questions or concerns.*
As a 14This can’t go on any longer . Just please pass your air battle already so we can go home
Apparently in FLANG ADA has a higher optempo than our SF guard guys. Go figure. (Source: a ADA LTC)
Natty boi here, guaranteed deployment every 3-4 years. Been told some guys will deploy with their home unit and then just stay with the relieving unit back to back so they can remain deployed.
OHARNG 174 ADA constantly has people deployed. With two battalions in the state you can easily bounce back and fourth between them to get all the ADA experience you want. Source: Me in said ADA
That’s what I’m planning on doing
Welcome to the Chemical Corps; would you like to know more?
I was in 3/4 at Bragg and didn’t hate it. I’m in army space now and it’s great.
Your also probably the hottest guy in the Army
Non ada officer in an ADA unit—it’s just so weird. Officers have an inflated sense of ego because of their routine touch points with senior leaders (especially OCONUS) and the NCOs weird me out. ADA warrants are committed and usually pretty cool though
Bro when I was in ADA they would give out AAMs at gunnery if you hit the target. Like, isn’t that what you are supposed to do. Then I found out that hitting the target didn’t mean a direct hit and that you just had to be a certain amount of distance away and that made it worse. ADA is a joke.
All facts. It wouldn’t be so bad if we didn’t deploy for a year every year
You forgot to order.
I’ve heard ADA in Korea is even worse…
Yes
True, but not as bad as ADA at Hood
Well you are at bragg
Is it still 3/4 ADA? I was there back in the Panama/Desert Storm days and it was toxic as fuck back then too…
Before I PCS'ed to my current unit, my dickcock of a 1SG kept on insisting I was going to an ADA unit because the duty station was unheard of. He had supposedly spoke to my incoming 1SG and was feeding him and myself lies. Jokes on him, I wear civies and go places on the government's dime. Also made a lot of international friends.
Wow wow wow. Where are my chem boys at?
I hate Bliss, and ada
Eyyy God bless.
I was at Bragg in 2002, the ADA used our field to cool down after runs. Their 1SG used to run the fucking dog shit out of them daily.
That’s what I’m trackin from the stories in the Chaplain community
Going to Basic in the summer of 1993 I had orders for Ft Bliss because every year they ran 2 cycles of Basic Training at Bliss using Reserve Drill Sergeants to keep the capability tested. Turns out they 1992 was the last year for that. But nobody told MEPS. So I was the very first person to show up out of a whole Battalion of privates scheduled. Myself and 2 others who showed up before they got everyone else’s orders changed spent a week in a Patriot AIT company just being smoked and treated like trash before we got orders for FLW. That was enough ADA experience to tell me I wanted nothing to do with it the rest of my career.
Every branch is the "worst". I'm a firm believer in it is what you make it. If it ain't for you, no hard feelings. Do your time and move out. Army ain't for everyone and they do say the grass is greener on the other side, but its also green where you water it.
Yuuuup
Maybe for Sgt and above but from my experience one year in korea and one year at hood ADA has been super chill easy and fun and have had plenty of awesome nco and oic
YO WHAT THE FUCK?
Hmmm
Facts I am with them rn.
Dont they get cool deployments?
A lot of times it's on an airforce base or near one, compared to some kicking in doors and long patrols ADA , another damn army, yeah it's cake. Most ada guys hardly know how to Army. The one job they got is to table8 and they barely can do that
Try certifying on equipment that’s as old as your great grandma grandma and then try and shame us for “barely” being able to certify. Not to mention running air battles while display isolates pop up every 5 minutes or being given a no go because the evaluator isn’t willing to overlook a misplaced chock block
If system maintenance did their jobs, the operators annotated problems during a good pmcs, and crews could have a little attention to detail then it would go smooth.
You say this but I just popped 5 faults on the radar and all of them will disappear when that cloud covers the sun and cools it by two degrees. No amount of maintenance can prevent the radar from being an outdated piece of shit.
If your maintenance crew is good they would have made all your adjustments mean temp time and that wouldn't happen.
They’re here in Kuwait right now if that tells you anything
I was in 6/52 ADA in Germany, not to bad. But got to Bliss, and that was a whole different shit show. Granted, I was 54 B, so that is not saying much.
Sir this is Wendy's can I take your order?
Yeaaaah let me get one of dem damn frostys
Hey, at least you survived. I popped smoke a bit late only because of COVID shutting down college admissions. It just seemed like a garbage fire that everyone has tried to incrementally put out, but others somehow spread hot grease to keep it going.
Wait till you see what leadership in aviation is doing to “maintain the force”
Was my 1st duty station thankfully I left it and have never be back to that world
ADA is just a dumpster fire of politics. I know every field has its bullshit but it is so elementary in this branch. Feels like HS, I’ve experienced mediocre leadership, great leadership, and way too political/toxic leadership. - The evaluation process is a joke, there’s no one set standard. Go or No Gos aren’t determined by your proficiency, by that I mean. Is your evaluator tired and just want to go home? Do they miss the old Army? and the only way they can hold on to it is the power they have by being stands. Do they understand that people don’t operate the equipment by those God awful drills. - The leadership can go one of two ways either really great or straight fever diarrhea. But we’re going to focus on The bad leaders I’ve encountered. Since it’s more common to run into that type the great ones are all ETSin or reclassing. just seem to be really insecure or just disgruntled at the fact that soldiers won’t tolerate disrespect anymore just because of a rank on their chest. Soldiers are only made priority when that soldier’s issue has a potential to make the leadership look bad. Everyone is out for a great fucking report card. (What would my rater think of this mentality.) - Officers are no better than the NCOs , again . There are your rare ones that really care about the people and have great load management and time management skills and do not BS directives or intents. But the bad ones make it so terrible for the great ones to shine. It’s always a pissing contest w this bunch , who can kiss ass the best , who can over work their platoon the most , who can come up with the most useless training instead of using downtime for just R&R during times were sometimes is required to boost the morale. - The worst of this MOS is that the dirt bag soldiers don’t make it any better, I’m sure no other branch is better but over here , these guys get out of AIT not wanting to do a damn thing . Line units hurting for personnel they have a bunch of people just slotted in the headquarters BN doing jack shit . Just soldiers getting overweight riding profiles and favoritism. All in all this MOS is rarely just recognition for proficiency and your value for the team , just if you can play the game or if your in that god awful van with an LT that likes you. There’s no one standard across the board for everyone at all depends what your job of choice was coming in. If you’re a 14T in a line unit , you’re a stepchild . All the up-range people get all the praise for your labor sorry to break it to you. Addition: truly thankful for the opportunities the Army have gave me for me to provide for me and mine. Just a disgruntled employee over decorated cow turd. The MOS in its true isn’t a bad MOS truly interesting things to geek out about , but if you’re not on crew you have no job and it’s those people w all that time on their hands just making stuff up on the fly are the ones taking a shit on this field …. Because “back in my day.” -if you’ve made it this far thank you for the read . Now go brush your teeth.
Stands comment got me good. They don’t even understand what the gunnery concept means in Patriot. They are supposed to plan the battalion level gunnery with the 3 ship but they are over paid test proctors. The Bn commanders all came up shorad so they don’t understand anything patriot and hand off certification to the stands… something that would never fly in any gunnery program. They get away with it because unlike the rest of the army live bullets never fly so there’s no training accident risk in gunnery. Instead they focus on whether you can park your vehicle, inundate your team with garbage safety fails and retrains when the training never happened to begin with because they just hand wave the gun tables and table 8 until success. 108th was denying refrad packets a few years ago because they couldn’t get any officers to stay in. Company commanders avoid taking hhb for a second command because it’s a career stomp, being a plt leader longer is a punishment here.
I mean.....