CockZombie said:
I know. I worked as a DA Civ as the State of NM's army/reserve/ng Family readiness group leader for years.
Yeah, I was more addressing the stupid, out-dated quote. I don't know how statements like that persist in an Army that has grown so much in the past 10 years but my experience has been that the Army has its fair share of old-timers who "remember when" and aren't so happy about the changes. It's unfortunate that some of them are still in the service and can't seem to understand having disciplinary action leveled against for making sexist or racist statements. The best part is that, a lot of the time, their 25-30 year old platoon SGTs and their 28 or 29 year old company commander are the ones responsible for issuing the articles.
Right on for being an FRG leader You're probably one of the best qualified people on this board to speak to the impact that military service has on the men and women who serve.
Greybeard said:
US Army Family Values: "If the Army meant for you to have a wife, it would have issued you one."
I suspect the other services are on a par with that.
While this old antage is true, the military (the airforce most notably) has grown leaps and bounds to try and do all they can for the families, with new programs and family leadership training, not to meantion the MWR programs on base that provide childcare on some weekends so that mothers can have adult time.
The Army has adopted similar programs. Each unit has a Family Readiness Group and each Service Member who has a child/ren must turn in a Family Care Plan to their company. The Readiness Group extends its services to Soldiers and family members and the Family Care Plan is a very comprehensive checklist of the who, what, when, wheres of your children; not only in the case of deployment but even in regards to every day childcare. Like you mentioned, MWR also has several programs for parents. The "US Army Value" quoted above is a relic of a different Army-- the same Army that had no prevention of sexual harrasment training (POSH), no Alcohol and Drug Prevention Training (ADAPT), and where random drug testing was a joke. When I first entered the service (2001) I was in language training with a few Majors. They were shocked at the ways in which trainees (a huge chunk of the people in the language school) were managed. They each recalled rampant drug-use and drug sales that had occured in the barracks during their time in training (AIT). They also told us stories of when they first entered "The Real Army" when commanders would address an entire battalion during a command info briefing and complain about women; calling them "useless dripping holes". To say that the Army has come a long way from the "If the Army meant for you to have a wife, it would have issued you one," mentality would be a huge understatement.
So, our military was awakened to the fact that our troops are real Human Beings, not just cogs in the machine. That's good.
Now, if only the politicians who put our troops in harm's way would realize that.
NOTE: I mustered out of active duty more than 35 years ago, so I freely confess that my perspective is seriously dated.
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yeahrightjosue
Boston, MA
February 2007
MAY 30, 2007 08:37 AM
TheFox said:
It's a shame soldiers can't go on strike, mutiny, and fly themselves back home. It would be awesome, though.
I'll clarify that for you.
It's a shame USA Soldiers can't go on strike, mutiny, and fly themselves home.
I'm deployed right now and I got to work with Swedish Soldiers.
What I found out?
Swedish Officers are Active Duty Army, so they are like USA soldiers.
But, every enlisted soldier in the Swedish Military is actually a contracter.
So they have to be treated nice, because they volunteer to go to Kosovo or Afganistan, and they can go home whenever they want without punishment.
The_Melon_Helmet
Oakton, VA
June 2006
MAY 29, 2007 04:23 PM