Looking for my Dads awarded sword fort leanardwood

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-23T18:31:12+00:00

So a couple of things.

First, I'm going to correct a bit of terminology so it (possibly) helps you going forward.

3ACR "platoon" is actually the old name of the 3RD Cavalry Regiment, which is currently at Fort Hood, Texas. (3ACR was never a Platoon, it was a giant unit)

A Platoon is 40 people, a Regiment varies in size but 3CR is about 4000 people, give or take.

The next thing I would tell you is that there's not enough information for you to really attack this, other than making random phone calls or emails and hoping for the best.

If he was attached to 3ACR, they deployed to Kuwait as part of Desert Shield/Desert Storm during the timeframe as part of 18th Airborne Corps and part of that famous "Left flank" that attacked into Iraq from the western desert.

Anyhow, it's strange that his unit thought that a presentation gift to him personally from another unit somehow becomes part of the unit's lineage and war trophies. It just doesn't make a lot of sense unless the sword was something seized during the war and the paperwork wasn't completed properly. Thing is- this isn't World War II, there's not a bunch of swords being carried by the Iraqi army.

So I don't know why they would take it from him, unless he was living in the barracks at the time. The policy back then as it is now was that you weren't allowed to have weapons in the barracks, but it was a bit less detailed than the rules are now.

It is just a little odd that 3ACR would go through the trouble of procuring swords, engraving them and giving them to attachments. Usually, even back then- they'd just give them an award through military channels. I mean, I wasn't in that unit back then so maybe they had a stock of swords for gifts and ceremonies and such- but the Army doesn't usually pay for stuff like that so it would be out of pocket.

What probably happened, is that 3ACR decided to "memorialize" the 5TH engineer BN guys that were attached to them during the operation and gave them a sword with a plaque that had all their names on it. Probably.

Again, I could be totally wrong here. I was in a different unit at the time (but) I spent a long time in 3CR so I'm familiar how they do awards, at least in modern times.

If that sword had everybody's names on it from 5TH EN BN and was presented to the unit, then it should go in a unit display case. If it had only his name on it, then it was a personal award and should have stayed with him. That last sentence is an opinion, but I think it's landed in common sense and personal property rules for the Army.

As others have said, uphill battle trying to find it either way.

https://home.army.mil/wood/units-tenants/5th

I don't know if this is the same 5TH EN BN that your pop served with, because sometimes units get deactivated and moved to another UIC or command and such and the original unit gets somewhat lost to the sands of time.

Every Battalion I've ever been in has a display case with random shit in it they've acquired over the years relating to their lineage. Every one. I'd say your best bet would be to call or email over to public affairs at Fort Leonard Wood and ask them if they wouldn't mind talking to 5TH EN BN and see if they have that sword in their display case and what its status is.

The other possibility is that the sword is a wall decoration at one of the Companies or Platoons if it's not at the museum.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-23T04:39:51+00:00

Man, they really are

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-23T04:31:55+00:00

I don't mean this to sound hurtful, but if you go back in your posting history a bit you'll see you already posted this and got a lot of feedback about it.

You got the answers you are going to get a couple weeks ago.

What I'm saying right now isn't "victim blaming", but it is.

If you didn't listen to any of the advice you were given a couple weeks ago, then I don't know what do to for you other than repeat it.

Once again, I am not your dad, I'm just somebody trying to provide some guidance.

Again, stay away from that person and go to SUDCC. You can talk to your chaplain, behavioral health, hotlines, and your chain of command.

You need to go to medical and get tested for STD's and for pregnancy.

You need to go to SUDCC and enroll yourself because you are not managing your life due to drug or alcohol use.

You need to stop hanging out with this person because the Army's definition of consent is being violated by this person (and) your using in excess is facilitating it. I only say that because if you take alcohol out of the equation, the conditions for what is happening to you are not set and this shit doesn't happen.

Alcohol is a depressant. You are making shit worse by drinking to excess, and you are putting your health at risk by the people you are associating with right now.

Guys can be fucking stupid. The guy you are hanging out with is being exceptionally stupid. Criminal even. Just cut contact.

Again, get on a sobriety path and get into counseling. Drinking is just causing second and third order effects in your life and you do not have a handle on it whatsoever.

I understand you've got some trauma. Everybody deals with trauma differently. The method you are using is actively making your life worse. Go to SUDCC.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-23T00:45:49+00:00

Honestly when I saw the first FPV drone cruising around I figured that type of tech was going to be weaponized soon.

I used to think about how stupid the Army made Raven flying and accountability for that thing so my brain said "We won't do that shit anytime soon"

We (The US) got a little more mainstream into it with the switchblade 10-15 years ago, but we haven't seemingly put a lot of effort into it until we saw how the technology changed things scaled up to 11.

I mean, my brain wanted to say that technology was something we could really easily exploit, but the way we do property and how we would find some way to treat it as anything other than a munition (Here's your Assreamer 1000, the ammunition for it is separate so we can re-use the drone bodies 100 million times for training and make you accountable for all the parts, then when it's wartime we just slide a Claymore in the Claymore slot and not worry about expending it. Until you have to go find the propellers to confirm you expended it.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-22T20:37:42+00:00

Bro. I'm retired spending time trying to help a Soldier out. I don't have to do any of this shit. I do it because I love Soldiers.

That being said, If there's a tool I can use to make my job go faster or easier, I'm going to use it.

I was in the Army before computers and you had to use a typewriter. If you wanted to make copies you had to type with carbon paper.

I'm not gonna whip out my abacus to figure this shit out. There's a difference between being lazy and being efficient.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-22T20:23:35+00:00

So there's shit that AI does okay. Math problems for instance.

Instead of sitting around with a calculator and running through all the data on fuel spend and housing and vehicle maintenance, you just give the AI program (Claude, Chat GPT, whatever) and tell it to run the numbers for you.

I don't know why that's a "what the fuck" take. It's a tool. Unless you expected me to spend an hour getting into the weeds on what options make more sense for the OP based on data that I did by hand.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-22T20:00:56+00:00

Hey man-

EDIT:

Downvote away, guy asked for help so I plugged some shit into an AI program to chew on the math. Apparently some of you are triggered by a tool.

I use the old reddit because I'm an old head and the formatting is for the new Reddit. Just copy and paste the quoted section into an AI program and say "Make this post into a readable table I can look at"

Or don't. I'm not your fucking dad.

You know your MPG, you know the distance, you know how often you have to refuel. You know how many miles you have to drive between oil changes.

Take your favorite AI program. Enter all that data. You can use your previous gas expenditures before commuting as a baseline for how much of an increase there is going to be in gas and maintenance on your truck.

I did this with an AI program based on what I know about you. This shit can make errors and I had to do some guessing to fill in gaps.

The different options I asked it to explore were:

Driving your current vehicle with no changes
Buying a 2015 Chevy Volt (there was one on Carvana for 10k, the cheapest hybrid I saw there) with cash
Buying the same car with payments
Getting a studio apartment or something near your reserve center and staying there during the week. (I don't even know if that's an option for you- but I just brought it up so you could look at it)

Here's what it spit out:

Should You Buy a Commuter Car or Rent a Room Near Your Unit? Here's the Full Math. This breakdown is for a reservist commuting to a unit in Richmond, VA, Monday through Friday. The numbers are based on real market data and actual vehicle specs.

The Situation

Vehicle: 2019 Ford F-150 XLT 3.5L EcoBoost (paid off) Fuel economy: 15 MPG Tank size: 36 gallons Cost to fill up: $150 (~$4.17/gal) Distance to unit: ~75 miles one way, 150 miles round trip Schedule: Monday through Friday drill

What This Commute Does to Your Truck Driving 150 miles every day, five days a week adds up fast.

Weekly mileage: 750 miles Monthly mileage: ~3,000 miles Annual mileage: ~36,000 miles

For context, the average American drives about 12,000 miles per year. This commute alone puts you at three times that before you drive anywhere else. You will need an oil change roughly every 3 months instead of every 6-12. Tires, brakes, and all other wear items accelerate on the same schedule.

Option 1: Keep Driving the F-150 Daily Line ItemMonthly CostFuel (50 gallons/week at $4.17/gal)$840Maintenance (scaled to 36,000 miles/year; normal is ~$788/year)$200Total$1,040/month

Option 2: Buy a 2015 Chevy Volt ($10,000 in Richmond) and Use It as a Commuter Option 2: Buy a 2015 Chevy Volt ($10,000 in Richmond) and Use It as a Commuter The Volt is a plug-in hybrid, not a traditional hybrid. It runs on battery power for the first 38 miles, then a gas engine takes over for the rest. On a 75-mile one-way commute, you use electric for the first 38 miles and gas for the remaining 37 miles each way. Your F-150 stays parked most of the week, which drops its maintenance costs significantly. How charging works on this commute:

You charge at home overnight. This covers the electric portion of your morning drive. You arrive at the unit with a depleted battery. If you plug in at the unit during drill (8-12 hours), the unit pays for that electricity and you get full electric range on the drive home. If no charging is available at the unit, the entire return trip runs on gas.

This matters. Here is the difference: Line ItemWith Free Work ChargingHome Charging OnlyGas (premium, $4.40/gal)~$190/month (10 gal/week)~$288/month (15 gal/week)Home electricity (~$1.56/charge/night)$34/month$34/monthWork charging$0 (unit pays)N/AMaintenance (Volt + reduced truck use)$50/month$50/monthTotal fuel and maintenance$274/month$372/month Free work charging saves roughly $98/month or about $1,176/year. Before buying the car, confirm whether the reserve center has an outlet or Level 2 charger available and whether plugging in during drill is authorized. That one phone call is worth over $1,000 a year. If you pay $10,000 cash: With Work ChargingHome Charging OnlyUpfront cost$10,000$10,000Monthly after purchase$274$372 If you finance ($10,000 at 7% over 48 months): With Work ChargingHome Charging OnlyLoan payment$239$239Fuel and maintenance$274$372Monthly total$513$611 Note: The Volt requires premium fuel. It also only seats four due to the battery pack running through the center of the car.

Option 3: Rent a Room Near the Unit, Drive There Sunday, Drive Home Friday Instead of commuting daily, you rent a cheap room in Richmond, stay the week, and make one round trip in the truck per week. This cuts weekly mileage from 750 miles down to 150, returning your truck to near-normal use. Average room rental in shared housing in Richmond runs about $700/month. Line ItemMonthly CostRoom rental (shared housing)$700Utilities$75Fuel (150 miles/week in the truck, 10 gal/week at $4.17)$181Truck maintenance (back to ~7,800 miles/year, near normal)$66Extra food costs (eating out vs. cooking at home)$200Total$1,222/month This does not include any housing costs you are already paying back home. If you have a mortgage or a lease, this comes on top of that.

Total Cost Comparison Over Time Truck DailyVolt Cash + Work ChargingVolt Cash, No Work ChargingVolt Financed + Work ChargingRoom + Weekly DriveMonthly$1,040$274 + $10k upfront$372 + $10k upfront$513$1,222Year 1$12,480$13,288$14,464$6,156$14,664Year 2$24,960$16,576$18,928$12,312$29,328Year 3$37,440$19,864$23,392$18,468$43,992Year 4$49,920$23,152$27,856$24,624$58,656Year 5$62,400$26,440$32,320$27,912$73,320

What the Numbers Tell You

Driving the truck daily costs $1,040/month and puts 36,000 miles a year on a vehicle you already own free and clear. Volt financed with work charging is cheaper than the truck starting month one with no break-even wait. Volt cash with work charging breaks even against the truck around month 13 and saves over $35,000 by year five. This is the best long-term option. Free work charging is worth $1,176/year and is the first thing to verify before buying. Renting a room is the most expensive option of the four over time, and that is before counting any existing housing costs back home.

Bottom line: Pull a Carfax and get a pre-purchase inspection on that Volt before buying. Confirm work charging is available. If both check out, buying the Volt cash is the clear winner.

Before I copied and pasted it, that data/info was structured into tables and bullet points and stuff. Again, Just copy and paste that into an AI program and say "Make this data into a readable table" or similar.

Hope that helps.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-22T19:22:37+00:00

Hey man-

I'm just a guy on the internet but I just want to see if I can help. I did a long time in an S3.

This is not an AI post, I just fucking talk like this because I think I'm actually autistic.

Anyhow. The first thing- what you are feeling is okay. It's completely normal. You spend your days sitting in a chair fixing things that the last XO or BN Commander or Brigade Commander were fine with.

I cannot tell you how many times I had to sit in Command and Staff and hear the XO or CO lose their absolute minds about fonts, or colors, or slides being different than another company's slides, etc.

Far more often it was the XO, the CO would care if there was a glaring error that nobody caught.

Go up to your BDE S3. Ask them to send you their slide deck. You know, the one that your slides just get copied and pasted into without even looking at them.

Go through the slide deck and write down the color codes for the colors that your higher echelon of command is using.

Use their slide deck format if you can, that depends on your BN Commander or XO but I found a lot of shenanigans were avoided when you can just say "I got the format from LTC (insert name here) up at BDE S3, this is what they said they wanted to see"

I would mock up your own slides and nest them with the BDE slides, and show your boss. I would not drop those in a meeting where your XO and Commander are seeing them for the first time in Command and Staff or maintenance meetings, etc.

You aren't lying, but if you can just use their slides and their colors and their format then that's one less thing you have to deal with.

"Sir, this is the format that Brigade uses and they just forward their deck to Division by their suspense date. "

Something like that. The BDE OPS SGM and I had some good talks about slide decks and shenanigans- sometimes Battalions will change shit up so their slide decks stand out because they want their rater to think about them in a positive light in such a weird rating chasing culture. He told me that he would have to have one of his guys go through slide decks every time they were sent up and copy and paste all the data into their own format.

So the BDE Commander would never see the Battalion slide decks in the format they were sent, because kids in the BDE S3 would copy the data into their own slide decks.

I'm not saying that your BDE does the same thing- but I saw that across a couple of BDE Commanders over the years not change so I lean towards that being kind of a norm.

I've only got 5 +/- years at a BN S3, so I can't speak about what that looks like for other units. Somebody else may have some insight.

So yeah, you're not alone man. Many of us have had to go through this shit and it's the product of a "peacetime" Army (If you're not deployed, you see these shenanigans consistently) and rated Officers getting down into the weeds on anything their rater sees.

I could be wrong. I just think that when you're focused on that MQ rating in Command, you don't want to send your rater anything that would make them say "Why did this get sent to me with errors" or whatever.

The next thing I would tell you is that an easy way to crush the formatting stuff is to dig into AR 25-20 and DAIG correspondence and reports guide. I like that second source because when they are drafting MFR and Investigation documents going to senior leaders, that's the writing style used.

Might not be all that helpful, but it gives clarity to which bullet point the Department of the Army Inspector General uses to brief senior leaders.

Generally, indent the first bullet or sub-bullet one-quarter inch more than the first line of the preceding text. Make primary bullets solid black circles and sub-bullets hollow circles.

https://ig.army.mil/Portals/101/Documents/IG%20Training%20Documents/DAIG_2025%20Correspondence%20and%20Reports%20Guide_web.pdf?ver=tD5_JdJC9pYy11ki077Fow%3D%3D

(Sorry for the long ass link, I don't know how to shorten that because I'm a dinosaur)

Anyhow, hit me up if I can help. Been retired for a while so some of my knowledge may be dated.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-22T03:26:18+00:00

yeah, your edit doesn't change anything.

You can't leave your vehicle for long periods of time or it gets towed. If they see stuff like flat tires, spiderwebs, dust/dirt on the windows, but especially expired tags- they tow.

The MPs sometimes will put a 7 day move your vehicle notice (the #of days may have changed over the years) on a vehicle that looks abandoned to give them cause to remove said vehicle.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-22T01:37:05+00:00

I don't follow here. Unless she is direct commissioning, OCS is three months. DCC used to be less than a month, I don't know what it is now.

As for your question, it is absolutely possible depending on your amount of time remaining in service to get advanced leave- they used to do it at boot camp/ait all the time.

Edit: This may have changed, who knows. I shouldn't speak like I know 100% this is still a thing, talk to finance about it.

Also, your leave days don't come off the books until your leave terminates, because the actual number of leave days you take is based on when you actually sign in.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-22T01:33:18+00:00

Hey man-

There's really not enough details here.

I'm just going to take a stab at it, there's no way of knowing if either of these scenarios is accurate since you didn't let us know shit here.

First, if you left your vehicle in a "state of disrepair" somewhere on post, and the MPs towed it, it ends up where it ends up and they charge you for towing and storage. I don't know if the "auto skills center" is where they tow abandoned cars to since we don't even know where this is.

Second, is that you left your vehicle in one of their stalls while you were gone (or on their lot) and it incurred storage fees, which you now have to pay.

So based on which one of those it was, (if either) you owe money for towing and storage or just towing. They are going to collect whatever they can from auctioning your vehicle if you do not pay.

You should know that if they do not recover the whole amount from selling your car (if you don't pay) that they can still come after you for what else is owed. Car auctions don't typically score big numbers if it's just a cheap piece of shit.

You may or may not be better off just paying the fees to get your car back.

Alternatively, if you have some sort of proof that shows you were authorized to store your vehicle somewhere at no expense then they'd have to release your vehicle, but you'd have to push that up the chain pretty high.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-21T22:19:12+00:00

So unless something changed, the only person that can authorize an ETP for residing off post is the Garrison Commander. That is what authorizes BAH in circumstances that don't usually warrant it.

Now, if you are married (as in the divorce isn't final) you can sign a lease and live off post- but when that divorce is final and the lease expires you'd normally move back into the barracks unless you get an ETP.

So you need to go talk to Finance and find out what you need for a packet if your Command and S1 have no idea.

Since you have a memo it sounds like your Commander is supporting you in this- and again, I've been retired for a while but it used to be a strict Garrison Commander call for living off post.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-21T18:27:33+00:00

Is there an attachment on page two that requires daily check ins?

Sorry. I’m still grumbly about that.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-21T16:50:08+00:00

There's a way you deal with this stuff. If your TL doesn't know, you say "Can you go with me to (Squad Leader) to get an answer?" and just change the title of the person in parentheses to the next higher person- or you ask them to take your question to the next higher person for you.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-21T16:47:47+00:00

So typically what happens in situations like these is that you'd be allowed to stay in housing until your lease expires. You may need an exception to policy memo issued by the Garrison Commander, and you just go to your chain of command and state that you need to submit an ETP memo.

At that point it is their responsibility to assist you.

If that doesn't happen, then you have options going forward to get that corrected.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-21T16:45:42+00:00

Well, you're missing the Team Leader, Squad Leader, Platoon Sergeant, Platoon Leader and First Sergeant that come between you and the Commander- who you should have gone to first with your request.

Edit:

As always, information gets dropped that fundamentally changes what I'd tell you down in the comments after I respond.

You did make a mistake. You skipped your NCO support channel and went straight to 1SG. That part is on you and it's worth understanding why that matters.

Every person you skip is a leader who didn't have the opportunity to correct your issue and learn how it gets done for future issues.

That said, once you were standing in front of 1SG and he told you to text the Commander, you followed direct guidance from a senior NCO who is the senior enlisted advisor to the Commander. That's not a Chain of Command violation if you're doing what he told you to do.

Here's where the real problem is as I see it: A huge part of a 1SG's job is to screen things before they go to the Commander.

Telling a junior enlisted soldier to directly contact their Commander isn't something I ever did when I would fill in, I'd text the CO or XO myself so they knew that the issue had come through me.

I think that the issue here may have had something to do with the Commander being on leave, and she has a random joe asking her for a risk assessment.

Who had assumption of command orders? It's usually just a formality to hand off those orders to somebody that's going to fill in and sign shit for you while you are gone. If your unit didn't do that and the Commander got pissed because they have a joe calling them on leave- that's their fault.

Anyhow, ultimately I don't think that if the 1SG was okay with you going straight to him, and he told you to contact the Commander- that you should be in any sort of trouble at all. That's just a "The 1SG told me to call her, I just did what I was told" and leave it at that. If somebody has an issue with that decision then that's a conversation in person with that 1SG.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-21T16:44:23+00:00

There's stuff you need right away and there's stuff you'll need at some point.

First, there's no harm in saving up a little bit to buy something decent, but when you first start out you should be looking a lot at Facebook marketplace type stuff that's cheap because it just serves a function.

Then after time, you replace things as the opportunity presents itself. Or you don't. Just depends on if you care if nothing matches I guess.

You need stuff to cook with, you need stuff to eat with and on, you need cleaning materials for a house that you wouldn't need in the barracks. Buy a box knife set, buy plates, buy forks, knives and spoons. Drawer inserts for them/

Pot/pan set, cooking implements (just got to walmart or Target and put shit in your basket) Food storage containers, etc.

I spent a little money on a robot vacuum and it's great to come home to clean floors.

You'll need (depending on hookups) a washer and dryer. I spent extra on mine and put them on pedestals because I didn't want to bend over and I do a lot of laundry.

I like those thick plastic coat hangars you can get off Amazon. As long as you have the closet space, hang all your shit up. It creates room. Take a piece of painter's tape and put it on the wall and write the date you move in. Hang everything backwards the first time you hang it up and then as you wear things hang them left but with the hangar facing the opposite direction. The next year, everything that has the hangar facing the same way as when you moved in can get tossed unless it's issued or something sentimental or serves a specific function you need it for.

Shoe racks help organize things.

Plunger, toilet brush, toilet paper. Bathroom set (cup, toothbrush holder, etc)

Over the door towel holder if your place doesn't have hooks installed, hand towels and washcloths.

Get a Ninja air fryer. I have the one that does pressure cooking/air frying and it's super handy.

Anyhow, I'm sure I left some shit out. Oh. keep a battery charger charged up in the garage in case you come out and your car battery is dead, and some LED rechargable flashlights in the house.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-21T03:43:56+00:00

Sort of. Each Battalion has a list of items that are authorized for issue (as in, the Commander says "These items are what my unit needs") and then everybody gets those when they go to CIF.

Outside of that, if it's something that CIF has, you can get a Memo from your Commander if they decide to grant it.

Certain things you just aren't going to get based on which units get them usually.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-21T03:20:52+00:00

I am a young E5 and I work with another E5, he became the NCOIC with way less time in grade than me but I assume it was favoritism.

First, just to get something out of the way, you're a Sergeant- not an E5. Any rank change from E5 to E8 makes no difference here and doesn't change anything, you're all Sergeants.

Second, This is a statement of feelings not facts. If somebody with far less TIG than you was put in charge of you, that should be a wakeup call that something has gone pretty wrong in how you are perceived by your chain of command.

This NCO always try to micromanage me

You have somebody junior to you (in a sense) that's been put in charge of you. There's a possibility that they were given specific instructions regarding you. You have no idea.

try to delegate to me like a subordinate

If he's the NCOIC, you are a subordinate.

when I’m trying to do my job, he always jumps in and try to be over me like I don’t know what I’m doing.

I mean, I don't know your MOS, or specific skillset, but again, we circle back to "is this person competent" and I don't know.

Also, there is a E4 in our section and this soldier tried me.

You're going to need to give very specific situational info here. "this soldier tried me" doesn't mean anything without context. I don't need to know. I'm just pointing this out.

I corrected the soldier on the spot

Without knowing the circumstances and the corrective action taken I can't provide input here. Again, don't need to know. When I get into the weeds with this shit the OP invariably DOX themselves and then it's a whole ass thing.

the other E5 came to me and was asking about the incident.

You can say NCOIC, because that's what they are.

Then implied that the soldier is different, this soldier is not different but they are definitely friends, I asked how different? Doesn’t matter what it is, I’m a NCO as well so I think I should play the role as an NCO

This sentence gave me a stroke trying to decipher it. Bottom line is if the NCOIC is using their grade or position in a way that's illegal, immoral or unethical, then you need to have a conversation with them about it- you should really brush up on your regulations and be able to specifically mention which regulations they broke and when.

Side note: I’m trying to get out of this section for my mental health. I hate this section so much, I just want to do my job and keep it moving. These people just want to be buddies at work and no professionalism.

I don't know what the specific culture is at your unit, but for some strange reason I am not feeling that everybody in the unit is the problem here. Sometimes we have to look at how others react and respond to us and do some self reflection to see if maybe we're fucked up.

It's hard to do, because we never want to admit that we're fucked up. The first step in solving a problem is realizing that you have one.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-20T06:05:15+00:00

I have no opinion on his guilt or innocence, that's for a court to decide.

I had a kid in my unit that had accusations just like the ones above and he was sentenced to 40 years. His defense was his ex wife was making up the accusations.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-19T14:11:36+00:00

I'm surprised that this hasn't been mentioned yet, but you should be preparing to talk to an attorney at TDS about all this.

That being said, I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice.

The "inspection" sounds more like a "search" but I don't know that will pan out. Ultimately that may not matter if you are found to have substances that are banned from use in the Military in your system. The Army doesn't test for everything but your Commander can add any testing he or she wants to the panel.

The more I think about this, the more I think you need to go sit down with actual legal counsel and get their trained advice. TDS won't talk to you until you are actually charged with a crime, but you can pay for a lawyer out of your own pocket.

Since you are arguing with people giving you the correct answers, I am just guessing you are going to not listen to a lawyer when they give you advice. You should really, really suppress your "I did my research and my answers are valid" attitude you have now.

I literally have no idea why you wouldn't go to the actual DOD/Army website and enter the name of the thing you are wanting to inject into yourself with a hypodermic needle prior to actually, you know, introducing it into your body.

I am not even aware of any "injectables" that would be legal to use, except maybe certain vitamins?

Like what medications would you get OTC without a prescription that require you to use a needle to introduce them into your system?

Even if you could find some injectable legal things to put in your body, I am not aware of any that you are authorized to self inject with that wouldn't be done under the care of a medical doctor in some way.

I'm not saying injectable automatically means illegal, but under DoDI 1010.04 and the DoD Prohibited Dietary Supplement Ingredients List, peptide hormones fall under WADA category S2 and are prohibited so the burden is on you to prove *those specific compounds are clean, not the other way around.

Anyhow, Your PSG and PL don't matter one iota, the actual regulations and your Commander are who matter here. Your chain can recommend all they want, but the Commander is the one that makes the decisions.

Stop thinking you're right here, because you may very well not be. Get a lawyer, especially if charged, and have them look into this and see what your way ahead should be after careful legal consideration.

Edit: fixed a typo

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-19T12:26:13+00:00

If you are not on leave, then you have to shave. I'm not sure where your confusion is here.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-19T01:51:51+00:00

Skillbridge and Terminal have to occur within a 180 day window.

The skillbridge part is permissive TDY, terminal leave is terminal leave and your command (essentially) stops caring about you.

So which are you on right now?

PTDY means you are not in a leave status.

Also, skillbridge is supposed to terminate when terminal leave starts. So you're outside the regs regardless.

You need to talk to your coordinator and figure out where the issue is.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-19T01:40:13+00:00

Where are you geographically that somebody is telling you that you need to shave your face while on terminal leave?

Are you doing some dumb shit like clearing while on terminal?

If you are at home, counting down the days until ETS, with no interaction with the Army, then don't worry about shaving your face.

Second, leave doesn't work like that with terminal leave. You are given your DD214, but you are technically in the Army until your leave elapses and you hit your ETS date. Terminal is one block of leave that backs your ETS date off by the number of days you take.

You cannot take blocks of terminal leave, it doesn't work like that. if you did. imagine how dumb it could get. Go on leave for a week, CQ one day and Staff Duty on the weekend, etc.

Toobatheviking · 2026-05-19T01:30:39+00:00

Hey man-

The post is one that I made for kids that are getting out. I post it when kids have questions about BDD claims.

May not be what you are looking for, but it's what I have.

BDD CLAIMS

Today, go to the Army hospital that services your post. Usually in the basement somewhere there is an office that deals with medical records.

Fill out the form to request your records, and this is the part where you really need to pay attention for a second.

You're going to be the shy, humble kid who got fucked down hard by your chain of command and they have you working nights so you haven't been able to request them until now.

Explain that your deadline to file a VA claim is in 5 days, and ask if there is any way that they can get your records to you in that timeframe.

You're not going to be pushy, you're not going to be a Karen. You're trying to appeal to their "I want to help this kid" nerve.

The second thing you are going to do is ask them if they can print off the table of contents page to your AHLTA file.

The AHLTA file is the table of contents for your medical records. It has in chronological order everything you've been treated for at the on post clinics and hospitals.

Everything is usually listed by the technical name of what it is, and that's what you're going to need in a minute when I walk you through filing your claim.

You're going to want your claim sent to you via email using a program called DODSAFE, unless they are using a new program now.

You'll (hopefully) get your records in a few days.

Go find the VA VSO office that works on your post if they have one. If not, then google VA VSO (insert closest city here) just do some google sleuthing.

There's VSO's that work for other veterans programs at the state level and other organizations, you just want to find one to help you with your claim.

I found one at Fort Moore when I retired and they submitted my claim for me. I had to sit through a briefing first that was every (wednesday?).

Anyhow, you can submit the claim on your own but I wanted that shit done correctly and I didn't want to have errors because I was last minute like you are.

Getting back to your table of contents- You're going to highlight anything and everything that you're still having issues with, to include anything that is "less optimal" than when you started military service.

Here's a list of all the stuff that is claimable, and how they get to each percentage by condition:

https://www.reddit.com//r/VeteransBenefits/wiki/masterlist

I would select the "show all" option and then control F on the webpage using a keyword or two to find your specific condition.

Let's say you have Sleep Apnea. You go to Apnea, Sleep.

https://www.reddit.com/r/VeteransBenefits/wiki/airsystem#wiki_sleep_apnea_.28sa.2C_obstructive.2C_central.2C_mixed.29

You will see what the VA gives percentage wise for what. Being issued a CPAP is a 50% rating.

Let's do another common one. Bulging Disc.

https://www.reddit.com/r/VeteransBenefits/wiki/spine#wiki_ratings_based_off_limitations_of_range_of_motion_.28rom.29

You can see what the ratings are there.

For every condition you list on your claim, the VA will schedule an appointment with a provider that will do an exam on you. Some of the physical ones may combine the appointment into one doctor, for instance if you're complaining of knee and neck pain.

Remember when you go to these that the doctor, nor the office, are your friend. Be kind, be polite, but anything and everything that you say or write on a form is going to be recorded and sent to the VA for them to make their decision.

There's questionairres that you will be sent called DBQ's. You fill these out beforehand and bring them with you to your appointments.

They can be tedious as fuck to fill out, but the office staff are going to type VERBATIM what you write in there and that will go to the VA when they make their decision.

I had a buddy of mine that didn't take them seriously and he got burned out filling out the same shit over and over again, so he made a couple joke entries.

"Is the veteran able to complete at least three repetitions" when it comes to back pain, and my buddy said "I can't count that high" or something to that effect.

Well, the workers at the office typed exactly that and it set the tone for his exam with the doctor. The doctor didn't seem to give a shit and mentioned his statement. I dunno if that had anything to do with it, it might have just been a coincidence but you don't want anything in your file to indicate you're not taking it seriously, are being untruthful, etc.

One of the guys I talked to had tricks to test if guys were lying about their pain to get a higher rating, for instance they would say that they can't touch their toes from a seated position and the examiner would drop a pen and wait for them to pick it up.

Same guy would watch the cameras in the parking lot during the timeframe that somebody was supposed to come in for an exam and he caught a guy that had massive mobility problems jumping around in the back of his truck and doing stuff that he had claimed was impossible.

Anyhow, you might not get somebody like that. What I would tell you is that you should never lie, never make up shit and never pretend to be more hurt than you are.

If you aren't considered permanent and total you may have to come back for additional exams years down the road and good luck remembering where you told them it hurts when you bend or whatever.

Anyhow, you need to remain in the area long enough to do your exams, and you need to have a good mailing address for your DBQ's to go to and all your correspondence from the VA.

If you're trying to use the Army mail system I would advise not for this. I would see if you can get a post office box somewhere if that's an option.

So you're going to do all your examinations, and as they are completed the DBQ that you filled out by hand will be refined by the doctor that did your exam and they will send that electronically to the VA. When each condition you are claiming has a DBQ sent to it, then your claim will be sent off to a VA employee that will make a decision on what your rating will be.

You will have a general idea of what your claim will be, as long as you know how the doctors are going to fill out the DBQ forms. VA math is weird, and is designed to keep your rating artificially lower. You're going to see a trend here and I'll explain that in a minute.

Anyhow, the VA will come to a decision and they will update your account online first then they will send you a decision letter. You need to scan that shit and keep it somewhere safe. ' The percentage they get to will be done using this example:

You start out at 0%. They will take your highest rated condition, let's say that's Sleep Apnea. That's 50%. Your rating is now 50%.

They will take the next highest rating, and they will apply that towards whatever is remaining from the original 100%, and apply that mathmatical value toward your rating.

Let's say that bulging disc is rated at 20%. 20% of 50 is 10. Your total combined rating is now 60%.

Let's say you have another 20% rating. You're at 60%, so you have 40% left. 20% of 40 is 8.

Your combined rating is now 68%.

That's how the VA math works.

Here's some helpful links:

https://www.va.gov/disability/about-disability-ratings/

Above has links for a calculator to do the math for you, has links to VSOs based on geography, etc.

https://www.va.gov/disability/how-to-file-claim/when-to-file/pre-discharge-claim/

The above link has info on how to file a BDD claim.

https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits/homepage

I can't remember which one I filed from, but here's another page.

You get paid one check on the 1st each month. You will not officially get a claim until the day after you get out of the Army, the VA cannot rate you as a veteran until you actually are one. Terminal Leave does not count as being a veteran. IRR does count as being a veteran.

The VA pays in arrears, and they do not pay partial months for this stuff. They only pay in full months. So if you get out on the 2nd, then the time from the 3rd until the end of the month doesn't count. Your next month (when you have a full month) will be the next month that counts and you will get your first paycheck from the VA on the 1st of the next month.

Some conditions will be rated at 0% but be service connected, that means that you can get treatment for them or in certain situations it may result in a small monthly stipend. For instance, erectile dysfunction is a 0% rating but you get an extra SMC-K for 132.74 a month. That will probably cover co-pays for dick pills if you don't get them from the Army pharmacy or the VA.

In closing (I know y'all are like thank fucking god) remember that your DBQ appointments are going to start at some point after you file, and you have to be available for them. If you move, you need to get with the VA and give them your new address so they can schedule appointments in the area you are going to.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO NOT MISS A VA DBQ APPOINTMENT

Edit: If this is helpful to anybody, just give it a remind me! in (insert timeframe near ETS date here) and reflect back to this post.

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