100 in A-Pool to be attrited via inspections? YGTBSM!

[HAL Pilot]

All of this...ALL of this would be avoided with a simple daily physical muster. Phone muster causes too much temptation for so many thing like busting liberty limits and getting fat. Idle hands and all, you know. Ounce of prevention anyone?............
Felicity does NOT consist in idleness. Put the pool to work on something the least bit useful. I'm a firm believer in "blooming where planted" but no seed is going to bloom if they are put down on asphalt.

Dear Mrs. usmarinemike,

We regret to inform you that your son was fragged by his own Marines. It seems he liked making things as hard as possible for all Marines instead of just fixing the few broken Marines. His Marines resented that and fixed it in their own fashion.

We at HQ regret this happened as he was obviously senior officer material in that he didn't give a shit about his Marines' QOL. However, we can not help but wonder at the spontaneous celebrations that seem to be erupting within his peer group.

Semper Em up the Ass and be sure to punish all for the crimes of the few.

Sincerely,
Fuck'em til it hurts, it only makes them stronger.
General, USMC

 

[usmarinemike]

Dear Mrs. usmarinemike,

We regret to inform you that your son was fragged by his own Marines. It seems he liked making things as hard as possible for all Marines instead of just fixing the few broken Marines. His Marines resented that and fixed it in there own fashion.

We at HQ regret this happened as he was obviously senior officer material in that he didn't give a shit about his Marines QOL. However, we can not help but wonder at the spontaneous celebrations that seem to be erupting within his peer group.

Semper Em up the Ass and be sure to punish all for the crimes of the few.

Sincerely,
Fuck'em til it hurts, it only makes them stronger.
General, USMC

Absolutely class-less. I'm disappointed that you would react in such a way. As awesome as it sounds to sit on ones ass all day and have ones phone automatically send a text message to your squad leader every day, it doesn't work out in your favor. Morale does not come from tons and tons of time off. It comes from having a good QOL balanced with good training. Too much time off is just as bad for the Marine/Sailor/Officer/Martian/etc. as not enough time off. The pool doesn't need to work their asses off, they just need some actively engaged professional development. Oh, and this benefits everybody, not penalizes them. Sounds like a much better plan than the shit show they're currently performing, no?

Naples is almost 10 hours from Pensacola. They obviously had no intentions of mustering physically. If the pool had a proactive plan to keep their "professionals" professional this would have never happened.

 

[Bevo16]

Morale does not come from tons and tons of time off. It comes from having a good QOL balanced with good training. Too much time off is just as bad for the Marine/Sailor/Officer/Martian/etc. as not enough time off. The pool doesn't need to work their asses off, they just need some actively engaged professional development.

And a daily physical muster qualifies as "actively engaged professional development" for you?

I'll agree that the average ensign needs a little more direction that what they are getting at A-Pool, but lets not pretend that just showing up every day is going to prevent a shit bag from being a shit bag. The idiots who landed their ass in jail were going to fuck up at some point. That's what fuck-ups do.

I wish that someone in the leadership could come up with something more creative that standard Mk1 Mod 0 group pain for all, or PT with the aircrew school to address the issues. And, no, I am not passing blame to the leadership for failing to prevent these idiots from screwing up on liberty. That's always going to happen. I do think that if you look at the size of the pool, the average wait time, and the level of supervision, then you could be asking for trouble.

 

[FLYTPAY]

Too much time off is just as bad for the Marine/Sailor/Officer/Martian/etc. as not enough time off. The pool doesn't need to work their asses off, they just need some actively engaged professional development. Oh, and this benefits everybody, not penalizes them. Sounds like a much better plan than the shit show they're currently performing, no?

Naples is almost 10 hours from Pensacola. They obviously had no intentions of mustering physically. If the pool had a proactive plan to keep their "professionals" professional this would have never happened.

You need to get out of the TED mindset and think like an officer.

 

[Ducky]

Perhaps they should allow the pool students to get second jobs like back in the day. That would take away some idle hands and benefit the economy with the extra cash in their pockets

 

[phrogdriver]

I've seen the good, bad, and ugly during a long stash in the pool some time ago. We did have physical musters through most all of it, but come on, taking 5 minutes to sign a logbook or say,"here," is an job description even a UAW member would envy.

I spent almost an entire summer hanging out at the beach while collecting a paycheck.

Then a new major (name redacted to protect the guilty) checked into MATSG student control, and the pool rarely left on the good side of 1200 again. If there was a single new Lt in a crowd of 75-100, we all heard the same 1.5 hour welcome aboard speech.

We turned portable office cubicle dividers into "scan labs," with posterboard mockups of a T-34 instrument panel with velcro indicators that another SNA could move. We had to read something else on posted on the cubicle wall while one's buddy changed the indicators, snap our heads back and say what he changed.

We had to log at least 1 hr a week doing checklists in the static T-34 cockpit he managed to steal.

He would assigned random objects to each number in sequence from 1 to 20, then call on SNAs to recall them as we sat in a group as a memory drill. "You--what's 2?"

"Light switch! Sir!"

And that's only half the wackiness.

On the bright side, I did have a decent stash job for a little while grading "Warfighting" MCIs. It did actually make me feel slightly productive, yet still not quite a real workday.

 

[Godspeed]

Since all the A-poolers have been quaking in their boots (or dusted off black shoes)... What was the aftermath of the Thursday/Friday inspection? How many pink slips have been handed out? Are your worst fears confirmed? Have their been 100 people kicked out yet?

 

[statesman]

A few pink slips (less than a dozen) for hits on the re-inspect. Supposedly the 6 or so that failed to even appear for the re-inspect will go straight to a board. I dont know if it will happen or not, but thats what we were told.

 

[Godspeed]

A few pink slips (less than a dozen) for hits on the re-inspect. Supposedly the 6 or so that failed to even appear for the re-inspect will go straight to a board. I dont know if it will happen or not, but thats what we were told.

Thanks for the update... I live vicariously through the drama of others here on AW... So keep me posted...

 

[Beans]

Did anyone wear a combo cover to the inspection????

 

[torpedo0126]

While I dont disagree with all of the things being said, im not going to stress about it. They have already put money into us whether through the academy, rotc scholarships, or ocs.

I know someone who went to a board just recently and he said that he was informed that the amount of money invested in you has a huge impact on the outcome of the board. For instance, a 4-year degree from a private institution that the Navy paid for will bear more weight than a 2-yr scholarship to a cheaper public in-state school.

Makes sense, even though it sucks. But again, that is only if you end up going to a board.

 

[KCOTT]

I have always wondered why the Navy and Marines put their guys on active duty the day they commissioned from ROTC. I don't know how the academies do it but the Army and USAF guys at my school were usually did not go on active duty until they reported to their schools, which varied from a few weeks after graduation to a few months since they staggered the report dates for everyone. For example, an Army classmate didn't go on active duty until he reported to supply school in October after we graduated. While it sucked that they were not making O-1 pay to hang around Charleston's beaches, it didn't suck and it seemed to make a lot more sense.

Then again it would take a level of planning and organization that the Navy in general seems to lack.

Honestly, that wouldn't be too bad of an idea. Instead of being overmanned and needlessly cutting people to get numbers down, you can control the entire flow of the pipeline by letting only those in as needed.

 

[insanebikerboy]

you can control the entire flow of the pipeline by letting only those in as needed.

That's the whole point of the selection process.

 

[statesman]

A question that a buddy of mine were discussing the other day is with the current push to draw down O-1 levels Navy wide, are we setting ourselves up for a shortage of 0-3/4s down the line.

Right now we are expecting to have to deal with a 'peace dividend' that results in reduced manning throughout the DoD, but in 8-10 years it is entirely possible that with a new president / new conflict manning requirements could significantly increase. How likely is it that the push to drop 100 SNAs and O-1s from other communities takes this into consideration?

EDIT: This might be more relevant in the Sunk Cost thread, but I'll let a mod decide.

 

[Sky-Pig]

A question that a buddy of mine were discussing the other day is with the current push to draw down O-1 levels Navy wide, are we setting ourselves up for a shortage of 0-3/4s down the line.

Yes...no...maybe. As a founding member of the famed "T-notch" from the early 90's year groups I can tell you that it is too early to tell.

We came into aviation during a time of reduced accession numbers and were told (for a while) that all that we needed to guarantee command was to fog the mirror.

Then 9/11 happened and almost nobody got out...all of a sudden we were facing DH screen boards for all the aviation communities with some really bad percentages (35% for the VFA bubbas, if I remember correctly) being seen.

Fast forward to today and aviation has a serious shortage of O-5s...which just happen to include the T-notch years.

Short answer...no one really knows.