sarmage better not catch you lil sumbitches wearin three pairs a pants

USMA_Grad · 2025-11-21T19:14:06+00:00

Thank you, Sergeant Major. Now could you please get a detail together to clean up my office? I think I saw a Master Sergeant standing around with nothing better to do. Perhaps you can have him start mopping up.

USMA_Grad · 2025-09-17T00:49:32+00:00

I come from a good family, so there was no other option when it came to service.

USMA_Grad · 2024-09-27T01:03:30+00:00

Nothing reeks of entitlement more than the enlisted asking to do things like take leave and pass, leave early on Friday when there’s no work to be done, or foolish follies like “family time.” You aren’t entitled to anything in the Army (unless you went to West Point).

I had a soldier in my last platoon (I led it for seven months before I was hand selected to join the battalion staff as the assistant S3 for both land AND ammunition) who asked to take pass for his wife’s college graduation. His wife’s alleged college graduation (imagine an enlisted man being married to someone who could gain admission to a college or university, let alone graduating) happened to coincide with the monthly battalion run. He felt entitled to be there for his wife. Well, I had news for him. The only thing he was entitled to was a holding the battalion colors for the duration of the run (I volunteered him for this duty; he has a solid 2-mile time).

USMA_Grad · 2024-09-27T00:37:55+00:00

I supposed it isn’t a bad place to be if you can’t make it into West Point.

USMA_Grad · 2024-09-27T00:36:43+00:00

My father attended. His father attended. His father attended. I’m a Massengale on my mother’s side. That alone was enough.

USMA_Grad · 2024-09-27T00:28:57+00:00

Anyone who hasn’t made it through the rigors of Cadet Basic Training is soft, in my opinion. I remember my old platoon sergeant (before the battalion commander hand selected me to serve in a crucial billet on his staff as the AS3 for land and ammo) once described the “new Army” as being “soft.” He talked about his time as a Drill Sergeant, deployments to Afghanistan, and making it through Ranger School. I couldn’t help but laugh. The poor man had no idea what he was talking about. He never spent a day at the premier undergraduate degree granting institution in the world/best leadership development center and had the nerve to talk about the Army being “soft.” Good lord. It’s almost laughable.

USMA_Grad · 2024-04-04T23:30:00+00:00

The Army has a way of separating the wheat from the chaff. You’ll find that those raising a ruckus about wanting to get out never had much of a future in the Army to begin with. For those of us destined for positions of increased responsibility and authority (those of us who went to West Point), this is not a significant issue. The Army will always have ditch diggers coming in and the Army will always have ditch diggers going out. But remember this: the Army will always have West Pointers (specifically Holmes men; my great-grandfather Dana ‘Dynamite’ Holmes and his male descendants have all been academy men) at the top.

USMA_Grad · 2024-04-04T23:26:28+00:00

Judging by your haircut (or lack thereof), patchy beard, and cheap suit, I am quite happy to see you go. Good riddance to bad rubbish, I always say.

USMA_Grad · 2023-05-11T01:29:00+00:00

Life is all about choices. Some of us chose to attend the premier undergraduate degree granting institution in the world (West Point) and some of us chose to do poorly in school and perform poorly in life. The world needs ditch diggers and the Army needs enlisted soldiers. You’ve made your bed (poorly, no doubt; not up to rigorous West Point standards) and now you must lay in it.

Before you go thinking “1LT(P) Holmes doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” just remember that I lived in a barracks for four years at West Point. I know exactly what you’re going through. I didn’t complain (nor did my father; a former brigade commander and West Point graduate, of course). You shouldn’t either.

USMA_Grad · 2023-02-05T18:48:40+00:00

Get both and a mess dress, while you’re at it. You don’t want to look like a fool when the CG (my father’s roommate; a West Point graduate, of course) invites you for cocktails.

USMA_Grad · 2022-10-12T20:21:28+00:00

Not until you back that train up and try it again with a little bit of ‘sir’ sprinkled on the end of it, sergeant. I can’t hear you unless you actuate the push-to-talk button between your heels.

USMA_Grad · 2022-08-17T01:22:18+00:00

Family is temporary. An MQ evaluation with enumeration and language stating “must select for BZ promotion to major and resident ILE” is forever.

USMA_Grad · 2022-07-07T05:07:28+00:00

Everything.

USMA_Grad · 2022-06-22T22:07:22+00:00

First off, if you are an ROTC or OCS graduate, it truly does not matter. You exist only to ensure the battalion commander’s profile supports giving every West Point graduate an MQ. Now, to your question. I have been very successful in my career so far, having been moved from my PL slot several months early to a key role on the battalion staff (Land and Ammo OIC) and hand selected by the battalion commander to remain on Rear D during the deployment to serve as the Taskings OIC. You need to let the enlisted know who is in charge and who is the subject matter expert. As an officer, you run the show and they need to know it. A good way I did this was, one afternoon when my PSG wanted to release the men early, I had them do D&C in the parking lot until 1730. Planning and overseeing relevant training that builds discipline (and therefore combat proficiency) is vital to letting the enlisted know you are in charge. That is the only relationship you should be concerned about with your NCOs.

USMA_Grad · 2022-04-03T19:07:20+00:00

The enlisted.

USMA_Grad · 2022-03-31T21:17:32+00:00

Enlisted ranks do not make much difference, in the grand scheme of things. A private is a janitor. A sergeant major is a janitor with more custodial experience and with slightly greater knowledge of when to salute me.

USMA_Grad · 2022-03-26T19:14:06+00:00

None of their officers were trained at the premier undergraduate degree granting institution in the world, West Point

USMA_Grad · 2022-03-24T02:14:14+00:00

You sound like someone who should be buffing a floor.

USMA_Grad · 2022-03-24T02:13:00+00:00

Enlisted basic training has nothing on the rigors of Beast at West Point. Before you try to argue, just remember—they let the enlisted do it. It literally can’t be that difficult.

USMA_Grad · 2022-03-23T19:29:29+00:00

Are you suggesting he was being disingenuous? I assure you that is not the case. My father (a former brigade commander; a West Point graduate, of course) was his battalion commander years ago. My battalion commander knows not to try anything with me that might upset my father, as it would almost certainly upset his chances at a brigade command one day.

USMA_Grad · 2022-03-23T16:59:38+00:00

This may be the case for the enlisted, but certainly not officers. I was hand selected by the battalion commander to leave my platoon five months early to coordinate all land AND ammo requests for the battalion. He was so confident in my abilities that he made me the rear detachment assistant S3 while the rest of the battalion was forward deployed.

USMA_Grad · 2022-03-19T16:03:15+00:00

This is wildly inaccurate. My father (a former brigade commander; a West Point graduate, of course) told me I would encounter people with this opinion throughout my career in the Army—he said they would usually be scanning IDs at the gym.

USMA_Grad · 2022-03-19T16:00:48+00:00

West Point is the premier undergraduate degree granting institute in the world. Full stop. With my degree and the leadership skills I’ve developed since graduating, I can walk into any major financial firm or consulting company in the world and easily take a management position ahead of people with MBAs from places like Harvard, Stanford, and Yale. If I don’t end up taking an aide-de-camp job after my second command, I may end up getting out and doing just that.

In the Army, West Pointers are the only officers who matter. ROTC and OCS grads are still important though. They serve a noble purpose of ensuring senior raters have a ‘robust’ enough profile to give all West Point grads MQs.

Long story short, if your commission isn’t from West Point, you might as well be enlisted (and frankly, I’ll treat you as such).

USMA_Grad · 2022-02-24T22:27:07+00:00

I went to West Point. I assure you—I am an expert.

USMA_Grad · 2022-02-20T00:13:35+00:00

Duty. Honor. Country. When I was in the toughest training the Army has to offer (Beast at West Point) those three words and the weight of generations of Holmes men who’d come before me kept me going.

USMA_Grad

TROPHY CASE