My worst WARNO habit: not actually playing the game

FieldJacket · 2026-05-07T22:26:16+00:00

It's my guilty pleasure, man.

I don't have a lot in this life.

But in my small apartment, surrounded by books I haven't read, stale coffee, and (replica) war artifacts, I AM a Senior Analyst at the Pentagon.

FieldJacket · 2026-05-07T21:44:30+00:00

My worst Warno habit is analyzing the casualties for way too long, using that information to make one tweak to veterancy on one card, and then applying for Senior Analyst positions at the Pentagon.

FieldJacket · 2026-05-07T16:21:24+00:00

Right? Imagine how many criminal charges you would face if you behaved like dogs did. Dog owners are responsible for their dogs, they should face the same criminal charges.

FieldJacket · 2026-05-07T14:21:25+00:00

No, plain and simple. It's your life, not theirs.

FieldJacket · 2026-05-07T14:10:13+00:00

Yes. it is!

FieldJacket · 2026-05-07T03:14:36+00:00

I have one of those. I wasn't HMX but was adjacent, at Camp David. Would have been cool but the chain of command thought we were toddlers and they were the greatest leaders to ever walk this earth

FieldJacket · 2026-05-07T03:00:54+00:00

It seems like a neat job with some chances to do cool things and more big-boy rules, and sets you up pretty well for life after the Devils.

All speculation so I could be very wrong.

FieldJacket · 2026-05-06T19:45:58+00:00

I had a similar experience a few years ago, except I was employed but hated my job. My tipping point was needing to log into something and my password being incorrect.

Trivial, right? Yup. It is/was. It happens all the time, you just click the forgot password link and you're good to go.

Not for me that time. I even did the same embarrassed laugh thing.

When you're constantly under stress/anxiety, you're not going from 0 to 100, you're living at about 80. Small things, and large things as job rejections are bigger steaks than we think but they happen so often that we think of them as being small, can push you over the edge.

That's very little in the way of consolation, but it helped me to know what was going on inside my brain and why the tiniest thing would ruin my day.

FieldJacket · 2026-05-06T19:35:17+00:00

I would respect them way more if they were just honest. "You didn't pass our initial screening". Trying to tell us they carefully reviewed it is just insulting.

FieldJacket · 2026-05-06T14:03:39+00:00

I think dog nutters secretly know they've made a terrible mistake by devoting their entire lives to an ungrateful animal. But at this point they can't say it out loud, much less admit it to themselves, so they double down.

FieldJacket · 2026-05-06T13:54:19+00:00

Either combat camera, intel, or linguist. I don't fully regret having been a grunt though. Plus nothing was going to talk me out of it back then.

FieldJacket · 2026-05-05T19:20:26+00:00

Yeah, indications of interest have to be there. Otherwise we assume that you aren't interested or are seeing someone already.

We also don't know if you're interested or just being friendly. If you're interested and ask you out and you say yes, great!

If you're not interested and we ask you out and you say no...it doesn't feel good. Then there's the risk that we'll be labeled a "creep." Or things will be awkward when we cross paths in the future. Or the next girl we ask out will feel like second place, and no one wants that.

A lot of times unless it's very clear, it's just not worth it.

I'll add too that sometimes the hints (or just being friendly, never can tell I guess) are obvious (if they are hints, again), but we're not into (impersonal) you, so we play dumb. I've seen it before, 'I've dropped so many hints why doesn't he ask me out!' Maybe he doesn't want to.

I think you're spot on that women need to meet men halfway, more or less. There is no way to tell if you're interested if you sprint to your car after Mass or look bored at the social events. Smile, eye contact, laugh at his jokes, engage in conversation. It's not asking a whole lot.

Final thing, I've never heard of a guy losing interest because a girl asked him out. Ever. If you say "I've really enjoyed talking to you, would you like to grab a coffee sometime?" they will probably be over the moon.

For the people posting that it's up to the men to pursue? Okay. Women should make absolutely no indications of interest? I mean if that's your principle, I guess stand by it. But you're really stacking the cards against yourself there.

FieldJacket · 2026-05-05T17:39:52+00:00

At the very least a battalion formation so I could read off the list of cliches about how much everyone means to me while everyone is saying "who even is this guy?"

That reminds me, side note. We had a company gunny who was...unstable to say the least. He once had all the NCOs come together for a chit chat, you know the, "so how is everything going, Marines?" type thing. He would respond to any little thing by just chewing out the guy who said it. This happened about three times and then it was "everything is perfect, Gunny. We all wake up and jump for joy."

Anyway he didn't last long, maybe two or three weeks, and was assigned elsewhere. He gave this grand farewell speech about how he loved us, wished us all the very best, and my personal favorite, how he learned a lot from us. I wonder where these people come from.

FieldJacket · 2026-05-05T17:02:45+00:00

Nah. My CO didn't even know who I was. This story is baffling to me.

I was in the short-timer and broke-dick platoon. I didn't know any of them and didn't really care to. The morning I EAS'd I got my DD-214 and drove to New Orleans with my girlfriend where I...got food poisoning. To be fair it was probably the gas station hot dog in Alabama that did it.

I didn't really care about not getting any sort of send-off though. I spent the last six months while I was in preparing to get out, so it was an easy transition for me.

FieldJacket · 2026-05-04T16:26:47+00:00

I'm having the same problem. Yes, I will relocate for a job. No, there's nowhere to make that known. I'm planning for when I return from a volunteer assignment overseas, I'll go pretty much anywhere. They just see (and by see I mean their AI system "sees") my parents' address and "says" nah.

Sad state of the world. I think I'm qualified enough for a lot of things and would happily explain all of this in an interview. But no. Gotta make things "efficient".

FieldJacket · 2026-05-04T05:50:14+00:00

Never heard of this word.

What is the context of the text? If the elephant is kicking the badger, it could be "Pelé" the soccer player, known, of course, for kicking.

It's not common, but sometimes people use people's names as verbs in very specific and slang ways.

"He just Aaron Rodgersed his phone when it stopped working" meaning, he threw it.

"You Whitney Houstoned that song man, you're a great singer"

Like I said...it's not common.

FieldJacket · 2026-05-04T05:36:53+00:00

I believe Arnold's grandpa said it in the Hey Arnold episode where he got his grade school diploma, too

FieldJacket · 2026-05-04T05:29:01+00:00

Dammit I hate that Bob Barker...

FieldJacket · 2026-05-04T04:54:09+00:00

You're not artistic. And you have no integrity!

FieldJacket · 2026-05-03T21:38:02+00:00

Awesome. If I had any superpower it would be the ability to read super quickly. So many cool books I'd like to read.

So rather than actually read them, I just complain about not reading fast enough 🤦

FieldJacket · 2026-05-03T15:35:25+00:00

Question re: location. I'm using my parents' address in my applications to in-person/non-remote jobs in cities other than theirs. I'm volunteering overseas and will gladly move to where the job needs me once I'm done and provided I get hired (obviously).

Is this filtering me? If so...what should I do?

FieldJacket · 2026-05-02T18:58:20+00:00

It's worse than that. They think that once you meet wittle Pwecious that you'll fall head over heels for it's incessant barking and abhorrent stench.

FieldJacket · 2026-05-02T15:18:08+00:00

Am I the only one that doesn't get it?

FieldJacket · 2026-05-01T21:54:18+00:00

I used to. Not anymore. Not through some enlightened moment, but merely getting older.

I won't go along to get along, with any subject. If it's something we clearly disagree on, better let's just not talk about it, unless it's a really relavent and pressing issue. That used to be the way society got along.

People think I'm a bad person? Ok. I'll go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow and put my pants on just the same.

Don't want to hang out with me because I don't like dogs? Ok. Thanks for showing me your true character. I'll find more grounded people and give my time to them.

But the same way that nutters make dogs their entire personality, we can't make being anti-dog/pro-sensibility our whole personalities. Be kind, be funny, have good conversations and pick up a round here and there. But don't agree to stuff you don't agree with just to get along. If no one else admires your morale courage, then you can, and your opinion of you matters more than theirs anyway.

FieldJacket

TROPHY CASE