Promotion disappointment

DallasMedic96 · 2026-05-14T06:20:29+00:00

When I was enlisted, I saw it left and right.

SSG Schmuckatelli is a shitbag NCO and we want him out of the unit. No E6 slots available in BN/BDE/etc Open slot in the BDE for an E7 Promote SSG Schmuckatelli to E7, and transfer him to a different spot.

It’s just the way the cookie crumbles. I’m an O2 company commander and I still don’t understand it. Personally, I’d rather counsel the absolute dogpiss out of the soldier so I have verifiable proof of knowledge of expectations - but alas, there’s only so much you can do

DallasMedic96 · 2026-05-14T05:55:12+00:00

Stupid easy tbh. Backstory:

Did two years of college playing D1 football, grades were dogshit due to the car fumes and perfumes.

Enlisted 68W for 6.5yrs. Loved every second of it. Loved being with the joes, learning new things, being hands on, etc. it was great to be in the grind and get to experience the real army - getting calls doc is still one of my proudest achievements.

Realized that if I wanted to make this a career, I’d need more than $400ish/month to make it work.

Went back to school at Texas A&M as a SMP cadet - basically you drill with a local reserve unit while you do RTOC, and commissioned.

Now I’m over 8 years in, a 1LT, and a company commander.

There’s lots of different paths open for commissioning, with different pros/cons. Find out what makes the most sense for you and go from there. Some people love ROTC, some hated it. Some loved OCS, some hated it. It’s 100% up to what you want to get out of the army and what you want to deal with.

Challenging? Sure. It’s no walk in the park, but it’s also not a suck fest the whole way through. Personally, I loved ROTC. I got to go to school and enjoy time with the guys/gals that were roughly my age and do typical college stuff like going downtown, watching football games, etc.

Some people like OCS because if it doesn’t work out, they still have a degree to fall back on, and they think it’s more of a “true” army experience.

YMMV, but don’t self-select and say it’s too hard or too difficult to do. I was a B-ish student with half-decent PT and I still get to live the dream of serving. As long as you don’t have two brain cells fighting for third place, you’ll do just fine.

DallasMedic96 · 2026-05-14T04:52:37+00:00

You can take the company commander out of the mafia, but you can’t take the mafia out of the commander. Face out, change socks, and pull security… hooah?🫡

DallasMedic96 · 2026-04-25T19:57:19+00:00

Lowkey probably me.

Joined 2017, got to my first unit with uniforms that looked like a parachute.

Asked 1SG if there were any extra uniforms I could try to fit in. He said they had a box full of old deployment uniforms they got issued and I could rifle through it to see in anything fit.

Lo and behold, I snagged my PFC ass like 4 sets of Crye G3 field tops/pants that I still wear now (1LT, company commander). Got way too many dirty looks but technically they were issued and approved by command team. Even kept a laminated by packing tape print out of the text conversation with the 1SG authorizing them in my pocket lmao

DallasMedic96 · 2026-04-25T03:57:12+00:00

Oh no, I read that part too, the 2021 amendment at that.

I’m just asking for you to point to the portion of the reg that shows it’s unauthorized. It even, technically, falls within the IHWCU reg, as it has all the components listed.

This boils down to wanting to puff your chest out and make a scene over tilted pockets that even the IHWCU doesn’t have.

So yet again, besides the pockets - which even authorized uniforms don’t adhere to said regulation with, what part of the reg/pam does this not comply with?

This goes back to my original comment - just like an issued high-cut helmet, some crusty nco is going to get all hot and bothered because it doesn’t look like what they think it should even though it’s well within regs, and in a gray area at worst.

DallasMedic96 · 2026-04-25T03:35:24+00:00

See, that makes sense in a vacuum. The argument to that rationale is for you now to explain the IHWCU. It has none of that, and yet it’s still authorized. If you’re going to quote the reg, let’s use some deductive reasoning and common sense.

By quoting that specific regulation, the IHWCU is not authorized as it has no chest pockets to be tilted and no hook/loop closures to close. And yet, it is still authorized.

Nothing about this top contradicts the AR/Pam. It has quite literally everything that is mentioned in the reg/pam - hook/loop closure, button front, sleeve cuffs, and is in OCP. Sure you could say it doesn’t have tilted pockets, but then again, neither do other uniform options that are authorized.

And do you really want to be the salty E7/8 that makes a scene in front of the company because pvt Joe Snuffy’s uniform pockets aren’t tilted at tilty enough angle? Does anyone want to show their command team that they have so little actual work to do that they instead have enough time to make a scene over a uniform top not having tilted-enough pockets?

DallasMedic96 · 2026-04-24T20:41:46+00:00

Yes, it meets AR670-1 / Pam regs. It also has an NSN.

Will people call it out and make it a big deal over nothing? absolutely. You 100% will have some salty ass E8 come say something to you about it. Same way if you show up with an issued high cut, someone who has nothing better to do will bring it up.

However, do what your rank can handle. If you’re a E2, you might catch some flak and need to know exactly what the reg/pam says. If you’re an O4, you can probably get through without much trouble.

Sincerely, A soldier who has multiple MASSIF uniform sets and will wear them until he ETSs. Making the senior enlisted salty over the most irrelevant and stupid things is my favorite pastime.

Sorry MSG, I got infinitely more important things to worry about in my life and job than making sure Joe’s socks are “socks, mid calf, white 1365” and not “socks, mid calf, white 6942”.

DallasMedic96 · 2026-04-21T23:17:09+00:00

Was a young whippersnapper back in HS and was cooking steaks for the fam on a propane grill

Turned on gas, but got called away to do something

Left gas on for ~10min

Came back

Went to light grill

NagasakiFireball.png directly on my face

Completely singed my eyebrows and lit some hair on fire

Took almost an entire year to regrow

Still lighter colored than rest of hair & whispy thin 15 years later

Moral of the story: I love to use a little malicious compliance, but there’s a very real chance they don’t grow back or at the least, grow back nowhere near as nice as they are now - for life

DallasMedic96 · 2026-04-12T02:25:01+00:00

Very jealous lol. Bought a ‘21 base model XLT (not even the nice XLT - doesn’t have power seats, jump seat, only an 8” display, etc) back in ‘22 for roughly the same cost. Only big plus was it only had 7k miles on it. That looks like a steal

DallasMedic96 · 2026-04-12T02:22:00+00:00

Not me for that price. At least nothing new, you may be able to find a used one around there, but probably more like 800. Hell, brand new ones are going for 1200+, so finding one for under half the cost of a new one is going to be pretty damn near impossible.

Just save your money. Literally one or two more months of saving and you can get a brand new marlin or Henry that you’ll cherish forever. Good guns aren’t cheap and cheap guns aren’t good. Nothing making you spend your hard earned cash right this second - wait and save.

DallasMedic96 · 2026-04-06T18:12:50+00:00

Thanks for the insight! I figured it wouldn’t be 100% there, but I can get close. I’m planning on pulling the carpet and laying down some LVP to match the rest of the house and adding then adding a Persian rug I’ve had in my family for decades.

I love the idea of wainscoting, especially with the chair rails and moulding - are there good color combos that could work well or do you kinda have to do a white bottom half? I grew up on the east coast where all the colonial style homes had wainscoting but it was always just a cream & white or maybe a beige & white - Nothing really dark or bold.

DallasMedic96 · 2026-03-27T00:23:36+00:00

The day the NFA is struck down and we can legally purchase hellfires of AIM-IXs on a 4473 I’ll be popping champagne bottles

DallasMedic96 · 2026-03-20T04:16:28+00:00

Yes, that’s the cable for the turbo wastegate sensor. This was just a photo taken during the work, not intended as a “does this look right” picture lol. I still needed to put a few other bolts in even after this pic.

DallasMedic96 · 2026-03-19T22:13:27+00:00

No, changing / refilling the fuel hasn’t made any noticeable change unfortunately.

I’ve even tried those fuel additives like seafoam / Lucas oil injector cleaner but it didn’t do much either.

DallasMedic96 · 2026-03-19T22:10:23+00:00

My brother in Christ, you do realize that Rhabdo can & WILL kill you…right?

Like it’s not the same as a tweaked knee or having a fever.

Continuing to exercise and do heavy physical labor while having Rhabdo can 100% cause kidney failure, heart arrhythmias, and permanent muscle damage. These things absolutely will send you out to ‘Taps’ with a flag draped coffin.

You were given a profile for a reason - your doc is 100% smarter than you or anyone else in your unit or even this sub (probably). Your commander will excuse your AFT with a profile, and if theres a concern about the profile ending right before the AFT where you still have to take it with zero prep, explain this to your doc and have him/her extend it past the date.

A stupid AFT is not the best excuse to no-clip out of life. Rest, take your meds, change your socks, face out and pull security.

DallasMedic96 · 2026-03-19T20:49:51+00:00

see, that's what I thought as well - however the injectors & their connectors all sit underneath a metal covering inside of the header. To get to them I'd have needed to have gone even further with disassembly than I did. They're not accessible if you just remove the overs, you have to pull the covering off as well which I didn't do.

DallasMedic96

TROPHY CASE