This morning's A-pool idiocy...PT Policy and O vs PO open debate

[KCOTT]

Hmmm. Me thinks making a thread on the internet is not really going to make a difference. Maybe you should address the entire group tomorrow at PT? Not that they'd probably listen anyway.

Unfortunately I was at NOMI so I wasn't there for this spectacle, but from talking to other a-poolers, they wouldn't say it was a harsh "berating" as this thread makes it seem. In fact, they didn't seem too shocked about what happened because the mouthy Ensigns were saying everything that everybody was thinking. It's just some of us have the presence of mind to keep it to ourselves because it's not like a-pool is very demanding, with or without PT.

Point here is that we're in a group of 414 (when I checked in) conflicting egos and personalities who all make the same amount of money and want their opinions heard. In such a large group, there are those who are going to take it to the extreme, it doesn't mean that we're all jacked up officers because of the opinions of a select few, just in the same way we're not all PT incompetent just because a few tubbies failed their PRT for API.

The PT is garbage by the way. I remember one of the exercises being ten forward arm circles and another being only FIVE 8-count body builders. PT here is a joke. I PT outstanding and feel like this is a waste of time but continue with it because it's not like I have anything more important to do. So I can see the reason for resentment.

It seems like we're missing the point of PT. It's supposed to help us stay in shape and do well on the PRT, not to be some collection of hoorah-loving Ensigns in crisp formation and as a PT demonstration team to aircrew.

 

[PropAddict]

Maybe you should address the entire group tomorrow at PT?

If A-pool is anything like it was way back in '07, I'm betting STUCON is already all over this and there will be an LT (or higher) there to rain down some pain tomorrow.

Suck it up.

PT is good for you.

 

[Bevo16]

The PT is garbage by the way. I remember one of the exercises being ten forward arm circles and another being only FIVE 8-count body builders. PT here is a joke. I PT outstanding and feel like this is a waste of time but continue with it because it's not like I have anything more important to do. So I can see the reason for resentment.

It seems like we're missing the point of PT. It's supposed to help us stay in shape and do well on the PRT, not to be some collection of hoorah-loving Ensigns in crisp formation and as a PT demonstration team to aircrew.

Sounds like you have the main problem identified. How about a solution?

With 414 bodies in front of you waiting to class up, you have time to do something about it. Come up with an alternate training plan and present it to the staff. ID some other leaders there who can help you put it together and implement it.

or....You can just bide your time until you class-up and leave the problem behind.

Option #2 pretty much eliminates the right to complain.

 

[squorch2]

Senior A-Pool people - you should be taking care of this (and I'm sure you're already talking about it). No need for theatrics or yelling, just a firm reminder of professionalism. Because that's what this all boils down to.

Professionalism.

 

[armada1651]

The PT is garbage by the way. I remember one of the exercises being ten forward arm circles and another being only FIVE 8-count body builders. PT here is a joke.

Not yesterday, it wasn't. Yesterday was a pretty decent workout, for most of us anyway.

On what happened this morning...yeah, definitely embarrassing. There were a LOT of people out of line, both Os and E, in my opinion. AM2 basically came in, prefaced with "With all due respect" and proceeded to be anything but respectful. When called out appropriately, he responded with something along the lines of, "That's why I said, 'With all due respect.'" A lot of people started to laugh at that and he stormed out spewing profanities.

Now, it's clear to just about everyone that there are a lot of people in A-pool who need some serious attitude recalibrations. But while this petty officer does have "positional authority" over us, I'm pretty sure it is categorically improper for a petty officer to storm into a group of officers (regardless of how junior or how out of line they are) and say, "With all due respect, go fuck yourselves." Were those his EXACT words? No, but not too far off, really.

 

[Random Task]

AM2 basically came in, prefaced with "With all due respect" and proceeded to be anything but respectful.

Sounds like he's seen Talladega Nights

 

[scoolbubba]

I don't understand why the A Pool studs are PT-ing with the Aircrew guys. It sounds like something had to give somewhere along the line, and I'm not surprised something like this happened.

Why can't A Pool lead its own PT, broken down into ability groups? There's plenty of room for peer leadership there; hell, you can even make work out of this so people have to plan, deconflict, and set and achieve measurable goals...which might even keep some A Poolers out of trouble and give them something to do.


And for those of you decrying my generations decline, "with all due respect," take a hike. There were douchebags when you were a kid. You probably even commissioned and went through flight school with some of them, maybe they even made it to earn their warfare quals alongside you. Beatniks, Hippies, Stoners, Cokeheads....there have been douches since the beginning of time. Calling my generation, a group of kids who volunteered to serve when we are already in a war on two fronts, a generation that took a nosedive off a cliff is pretty offensive.

And can a mod throw me a set of wings over here? K thanks.

 

[C420sailor]

Why can't A Pool lead its own PT, broken down into ability groups?

That question was asked this morning. The answer was that we need "staff" to supervise the groups, and there aren't enough people to do so.

 

[Col Angus]

Disrespect, un-officer like qualitities, etc etc. Is the trend of being a D-bag officer a new one or one that's been around for a while? I've noticed a decay in the overall quality of new JO's, even in the short time I've been in the Navy, but it's military wide it seems.

You're disrespecting the very group of officers to which you belong by patronizing them with comments like that. Seriously, who are you? You're a flight student in advanced. I suggest you get back in your lane. Wait until you've done something before you say shit like that. I haven't done a whole lot either, but I think the group of junior officers I work with are the finest human beings on this planet. Your comments are very insulting.

The commissioning sources need a serious overhaul. They've been softened up so badly over the years, for various political reasons, that the officers they're producing are pretty pathetic. PT, respect, tradition, nothing is what it was of the older days and the products of these sources is suffering. I'm talking across the board, from academies to ROTC units. Does anyone else feel like there's a correlation to the decline of the comm sources and the shitty JO's we see in the fleet today?

Wow. Where did you come from? Or were you just born the saltiest Ensign the fleet has never seen? Did God splice together DNA from Chesty Puller and Bull Halsey to create you, a perfect Ensign in every sense, capable of passing judgment on junior officers from all services? Your arrogance is unparalleled.

 

[squorch2]

That question was asked this morning. The answer was that we need "staff" to supervise the groups, and there aren't enough people to do so.

What?

 

[scoolbubba]

That question was asked this morning. The answer was that we need "staff" to supervise the groups, and there aren't enough people to do so.

I would consider that to be a bunch of horseshit. If mids in ROTC can be responsible for 30 people to PT together and no one get lost or hurt from negligence, a bunch of commissioned Officers can definitely do it.

 

[trackgain]

What's interesting is that I was a prior Aircrewman (went through in 1992) and after getting my commission, went through the flight program in Pesacola (in 2000). A lot changed, but the PT program that I went through in Aircrew school was not too different from the PT I went through in ground school. If you have a hard time now PTing, then you need to start conditioning yourself.

And, being in the "Pool" is one of the easiest, laxed times you will have. Sounds like some of your fellow officers are looking at making it a pain for you all.

 

[ImfromJersey]

I just don't get it. Yes, I realize that not every ensign in A-Pool is a bag of ass, but there are certainly way more than there should be. Who do these kids think they are? They're commissioned officers and they're acting like some asshole high school jock who thinks his/her shit doesn't stink. Yes, maybe there are some gripes about A-Pool, but to snap off on some PO2 like an arrogant prick, not letting him finish his sentences? Was the kid trying to "look cool" in front of everyone? It's the other ensigns who need to shut that ass clown and others like him down, not some LT from STUCON who's probably just biding their time waiting to get out. We're going to be stuck with those idiots, not them, so it should be our problem to deal with. Anyway, the real problem, like I said before, is the comm sources. Yes, people will bitch about this, but they're producing crappy officers. Too many are getting by, thanks to the soft standards most academies and ROTC units hold, and yes, I hold my own school accountable too. I'm not saying we need to get back to the old school skull cracking days of years past, but something on that base level needs to change. I think they should pull out these disrespectful, un-officerlike, D-bags, find out who produced them, then make a call to their school to let them know, hey, you suck, fix your program. My .02, I'll get off my high horse now.

 

[webmaster]

And can a mod throw me a set of wings over here? K thanks.

Done.

 

[armada1651]

I would consider that to be a bunch of horseshit.

It may well be, but that's what we were told at least twice this morning - we have to be led by NASC staff. So technically we're being led by the chiefs leading aircrew PT, although we've also been told that we're not allowed to PT "with" the aircrew...so we're essentially forming up next to them, eavesdropping on and copying their PT.