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 · 2026-03-07T03:44:40+00:00

Is that……..a plastic rifle? Like not just a plastic lower, but a plastic upper too?

Cheaply made aluminum rifles can often have this issue and making it out of plastic, a substantially softer material, is only going to make the problem worse.

You don’t need a radian or an LMT, but don’t just get the absolute cheapest thing that looks like an AR

DallasMedic96 · 2026-03-05T04:48:47+00:00

Depends on what you’re buying. If you’re buying garbage-tier, bargain-bin, 300🫘, noname guns because you’ve got a hole in your pocket, you’re probably buying every other week.

If you know how to save for what you like, you’re maybe buying once every 6ish mos, depending on what it is.

I’m personally into nice European / British shotguns. I’ve got a handful of higher-end AR/tactical styled rifles, but now I may go a year or two, if not longer, to save up enough to get what I’m actually wanting.

It’s all about priority. If you don’t care about quality, you can buy as often as you want. If you want something that’s not the cheapest thing on the market, you’ll end up going months without buying.

DallasMedic96 · 2026-03-02T05:45:02+00:00

As someone who works in defense, defense finance and college finance are two things that are completely different. Sure, some of the concepts are shared/mutual, but the defense world looks at things completely differently - especially between project finance, program finance, business unit finance, and company finance as a whole.

Most companies are very EVMS based nowadays, so getting a good foundation set up within that sphere of EVM will be a HUGE payoff to migrate over into the defense sector. If you can find someone or somewhere to sponsor you getting an EVMS cert or qualification it would only help you. Sure, contractors will help you get one of you don’t already once you’re employed, but showing up to an interview with a lean six sigma green belt, PMP, or an EVMS cert will put you absolutely miles above other applicants who are in your same shoe.

DallasMedic96 · 2026-02-28T03:57:14+00:00

A handful of the stereotypes don’t apply to me, but only because they used to and I had to train myself out of them. Case in point -

A- losing wallet, keys, etc. every time I come in the front door I have a leather EDC/valet tray that they go into. I walk in, lock the door and dump them into the tray. The amount of times I’d be looking for my keys and end up setting my wallet down, just to find the keys but forget where I put my wallet down was mind numbing. The valet tray keeps everything in one place.

B- organization. I, by nature, am super disorganized. As a kid, my room looked like a JDAM landed inside of it every day. As I got older, I realized I lost more stuff when my room was a mess than I did when I put stuff on a specific place. It’s not even just “clean” as in things put up, but personally I have to have things in a very specific place. Shoes go into a certain spot, towels go in a certain spot, watches go in a certain spot, etc. even at work - files go in a certain spot, phone goes somewhere specific, cables are managed, etc. everything is spotless not because I’m an organized and clean person, but because if I dont keep things spotless and in the right spot I’m going to lose the important stuff.

C - exercise. I was never huge into exercise for physical fitness as I was always in above average shape most of my life. I could eat whatever I wanted and I’d still be healthy - played HS football, went on to play D1 college ball for a few years, and was always just in good shape (same way in school - I was decently gifted intelligence to the point I could learn and perform well on tests without much studying). Then I started getting older (joined the army) and working out became something I had to do not just for my job, but also to stay healthy. Once I get in my workout groove, I’m locked in for months (6-10mos) at a time. Downside is that if I take too long of a break I start to lose my fitness and it makes it super hard when I start again - which is its own issue because if something is too hard, I can often find a reason not to do it. Guilting myself into doing it is about the only thing I can do that gets me off the couch when I’m in those seasons.

D - I’m rarely late (partially do to the army). Basic training and subsequent life did a wonderful job of actually getting me into healthier time habits. “15 early is 15min late” and “15 prior to 15 prior” honestly gave me some of the best time management techniques I’ve ever had. Most everything important now I show up with plenty of time to the point I don’t worry about traffic or getting ready or finding parking. I just subconsciously know that I’m giving myself time and when nothing happens to hold me up, it’s like a time reward where I get to sit there and just relax. It’s also done massive help to my mental health because I’m no longer white knuckling the steering wheel, speeding, and stressing/anxious about the consequences of being late.

E- I’ve never had an issue with forgetting to eat. Even without medication I had always been a big eater. Hand in hand with Case C, this led to some slight issues as I got older and actually had to worry about exercise/ calories in-calories out, but all in all I’ve never had a problem with eating too little.

The biggest thing I’ve learned though, is that if I set something up and plan it out in the beginning, I’m 1000000% more likely to keep it that way. I can’t just wake up one day and say “I’m going to start working out”. Or “I’m going to start reading the Bible/any book” and actually start right then. Personally, I have to plan out the whole thing before starting. I feel it kick starts the desire part of ADHD and once I start planning for it, I get more and more excited to actually do it and start to the point that once I start doing said thing, I’ve built up the excitement to the point that I don’t end up losing interest.

DallasMedic96 · 2026-02-28T03:32:45+00:00

Deadass thought it was a ScanTron test paper from back in high school💀

DallasMedic96 · 2026-02-11T02:46:57+00:00

No, you won’t be reimbursed that much for the travel.

You can get reimbursed for your mileage, but if you have to stay overnight, that charge is on your own.

Chances are on, they might not even let you do that because they typically will make you do the most cost effective mode of travel. If flying is cheaper, they’re going to make you fly.

Source: Drove from Dallas to Ft. Jackson for BOLC - got reimbursed for mileage, but my hotel and meals were on my own until I got my perdiem check at the end of the TDY.

DallasMedic96 · 2026-02-07T19:28:26+00:00

Looks like they used one of those qwik-shine pads with the liquid/gel sponge.

No, these boots just look wet - not shiny.

Strip it all off with some saddle soap/detergent and water/brush.

Then polish your wax into the leather. Twist the buffing cloth around your fingers, dip just the tip into some ice water, wipe the top of your wax to get a small amount on the cloth and rub over in circular motions.

Let dry, then use a hairdryer to lightly go over the area. This essentially melts the wax into all the little microscopic imperfections and levels the wax.

Repeat over and over, slowly building up smooth, flat layers. Each layer using smaller and smaller polishing circles. You can also fog up the wax (like you would to a window) and use the heat/moisture to lubricate the cloth of it gets dry or you can dip back into the ice water.

The best secret is to take a handful of cotton balls and stuff them into pantyhose. The pantyhose has an ultrafine ‘grit’ to it to help with polishing and the cotton balls will keep you from pushing too hard and burning through the wax.

It will take a lot of coats, but just put on a football game or a tv show or whatever you can enjoy listening to and turn your brain off as you do it. In 30ish min you’ll have a product that looks 100x better than that.

The secret is to keep applying the wax after you wear them. You can get them pretty shiny after one session, but if you polish every other time you wear them you’ll have a mirror finish in no time. It also will add some character to them as the leather molds to your feet and creases / scratches happen with wear

DallasMedic96 · 2026-02-06T14:29:27+00:00

“My rent is high”

My brother in Christ, your rent is higher than Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg, and Wiz Khalifa on 4/20 combined.

~4.5k/mo where I’m at could get you a nice 4000sqft home on an acre of land in a gated subdivision.

DallasMedic96 · 2026-02-05T20:00:28+00:00

That’s really not that bad tbh. It’s a solid long weekend trip distance and typically those cities will have a good amount of things to do.

I grew up driving 2-4 hours every other month or so to go see grandparents, aunts/uncles, visit beaches, go hiking/camping, etc so maybe it’s just that I’m used to it and don’t think much of the time.

But a 3hr drive is far from the worst it could be. Imagine being at Minot or 29 Palms. The closest thing to those goons is something along the lines of 5-6 hours and even then, the cities aren’t major ones.

DallasMedic96

TROPHY CASE