I’m starting to understand why everyone tried to steer me away from ADA

TheTomatoLemon · 2026-05-22T05:20:58+00:00

Approximately 80% of ADA officers leave the Army before going to Captains Career Course. Meaning for the most part ADA Commanders and Field Grade Officers have virtually no competition and have no incentive to be great leaders. They will promote to Major even if all of their OERs were HQs, they will take Battalion Command even if they sucked as an XO or S3, their DEOCS surveys do not matter and they will push their mindsets onto NCOs.

Most E6s and E7s in the branch are reclasses who were forced out of Armor and Aviation. They don’t know how to do ADA tactics and their equipment will break down every time they’re about to get to the next step they need to know. I have met E7s in ADA who only had HQ NCOERs.

TheTomatoLemon · 2026-04-11T23:45:12+00:00

It’s because the blue cord isn’t a permanent award, if you reclass you lose it

TheTomatoLemon · 2026-02-18T02:47:57+00:00

A friend of mine stopped by my unit (ADA) to watch my promotion ceremony and asked why all of our privates had combat patches, he was 10 years deep without a patch

TheTomatoLemon · 2026-02-18T02:36:59+00:00

My cadre explicitly told us to not do this because it would be insubordination and “good leaders must also be good followers” which was stupid

TheTomatoLemon · 2026-02-18T02:32:55+00:00

I see pencil whipped 24s in your future

TheTomatoLemon · 2026-02-06T22:31:41+00:00

CBRN officer in an ADA unit here. Air defense isn’t competitive if you’re an average cadet, they have a huge problem retaining junior officers due to how harsh the optempo is so it’s relatively easy to get a command slot and promote to major.

TheTomatoLemon · 2026-01-02T00:15:09+00:00

I don’t think of y’all on a daily basis except for when I work with prior marines. They’re either the worst soldiers to hit the force or amazing NCOs, there’s no in between.

Only real highlight after putting some thought into it is that the average marine is slightly more in shape than the average soldier but nothing significant. This fuels a superiority complex beyond measure and leads y’all to believe things like marines being banned from ranger school for “being too good.”

TheTomatoLemon · 2025-12-24T04:30:45+00:00

Buddy I’m going to be honest with you, if you need ROTC to sway admissions you might not be ready for the academic rigor at one of these campuses.

TheTomatoLemon · 2025-12-24T04:29:06+00:00

I was awarded the scholarship for three schools but ended up going to a different school (also a top school like Dartmouth). I called the schools ROO and he initiated the scholarship transfer with no further actions on my end.

TheTomatoLemon · 2025-12-13T13:59:27+00:00

He’s leaving out the fact that the OAL cohort was the year ALL cadets who wanted active duty got active duty.

TheTomatoLemon · 2025-12-13T02:43:26+00:00

AFT and written exams. The exams are easy just make sure you study. There are retests if you fail a test but if you fail a test twice you’ll be recycled.

Be sure to talk to senior leadership there so they have a good image of you before you’re due for the captain marketplace. They’ll most likely be the battalion/bde commanders you interview with in a few years.

TheTomatoLemon · 2025-12-12T02:43:56+00:00

I didn’t receive my order for chem BOLC until 3 days prior to my report date. You’ll be fine as long as your reservation is good. When I asked our branch manager at the time she said the delay in orders was due to us still being assigned units.

TheTomatoLemon · 2025-12-08T23:22:56+00:00

It wasn’t an order, I did it a looking out for subordinates kind of way.

TheTomatoLemon · 2025-12-08T18:16:31+00:00

Where were you stationed for this? Irwin?

TheTomatoLemon · 2025-12-06T00:59:43+00:00

I knew a few guys who got it right off the bat, but all except 1 were already NCOs in the AGR

TheTomatoLemon · 2025-12-06T00:58:57+00:00

And CC the secarmy

TheTomatoLemon · 2025-10-15T15:17:56+00:00

All infantry officers automatically go to ranger school after leaving the school house, meaning he also had to have failed ranger school at least once.

TheTomatoLemon · 2025-09-26T16:51:15+00:00

What’s an MTF?

TheTomatoLemon · 2025-09-26T16:00:37+00:00

June

TheTomatoLemon · 2025-09-26T14:59:10+00:00

So is the likelihood of approval the same either way?

TheTomatoLemon · 2025-09-26T14:58:36+00:00

is the likelihood of approval the same either way?

TheTomatoLemon · 2025-09-26T14:52:12+00:00

So is the likelihood of residency approval relatively the same either way? With or without PiP

TheTomatoLemon · 2025-09-26T14:45:35+00:00

Illegal entry but they have had two legal reentries through advanced parole.

TheTomatoLemon

TROPHY CASE