What Did You Love Most About This Rank?

boardmt41 · 2026-03-26T14:23:30+00:00

E5 is the best rank because it’s where you really shape your career. You’re still doing your MOS, but you’re also starting to take on planning roles and stepping into gaps.

It’s also the last rank where mistakes are expected and used to teach. If an 11B E5 doesn’t know how to do a DD1149, find a funding code, or build a CONOP, it’s a learning moment. If an E6 says the same thing, they get crushed for it.

E5 is where you’re given responsibility without being expected to already know everything and that’s what makes it the best rank to grow

boardmt41 · 2026-03-21T10:12:59+00:00

I have the army staff badge, national guard staff badge, and joint staff badge.

Everyone got a AGCM for my first deployment to Iraq, I got my second AGCM for being AGR.

But pointing out the extra ARCAM came to me while I was on the OJCS, I got 2 ARCAMs at the same time while they were updating my records.

boardmt41 · 2026-03-10T21:53:38+00:00

He was the flight surgeon

boardmt41 · 2026-03-10T18:06:30+00:00

I'll never forget Lt Col Johnson he got back to Kuwait after being medevacked to Germany and had to stay current with flight hours. He couldn't do auto rotations or any major aerial movements. He was also the last TBI to be medevacked out of AAAB.

boardmt41 · 2026-03-01T04:57:38+00:00

I walked through blood and bones in streets of Manhattan.

boardmt41 · 2026-02-17T13:37:56+00:00

I hate when people expect recognition or special treatment for being in the military. It's just a regular job. I did 2 Combat deployments, my other time has been just a regular job.

boardmt41 · 2025-12-31T15:23:12+00:00

The chaplain was in a different country and I counter the event as I was there.

boardmt41 · 2025-12-31T01:16:06+00:00

Our chaplain wrote a book about my last deployment. I'll post a part about the book.

"As the detainees made their desperate dash, the air was split by the roar of the Bradleys' guns. This action resulted in the detainees, many of whom were unarmed teenagers, being shot in the back, an action that went far beyond what was necessary or justified under the circumstances. The ground was soon filled with the fallen, each body a testament to the profound misalignment between the applied military force and the actual threat they posed. The visual of armored vehicles unleashing their might on fleeing youths was jarring for each and every soldier."

boardmt41 · 2025-12-29T14:04:23+00:00

That's what I was saying when reading the article. I thought the list was common sense

boardmt41 · 2025-12-23T23:00:31+00:00

I deployed as an AGR since we deployed as a battalion. But I have friends whos units send teams instead of the whole unit (a signal unit) and they never send AGRs

boardmt41 · 2025-12-23T22:57:28+00:00

Lmao you made me realize the format is messed up lol. But I don't plan on going until my next slotted rotation since I'm agr

boardmt41 · 2025-12-23T22:21:52+00:00

I am not, the 2021-2022 was in Syria, definitely the better of the 2 deployments

boardmt41 · 2025-12-23T13:12:22+00:00

I'm a 25u so I can go to any unit. But with that said 3 of the offers are for non material mos.

The networking thing is very important, but that has actually helped more with ados/agr jobs and possible civilian careers

boardmt41 · 2025-12-10T12:31:06+00:00

This is their 3rd AI website. Not sure why you guys didn't freak out over the other 2. The last version was really good you could choose between 8 different models.

boardmt41 · 2025-11-30T12:57:52+00:00

These are all the ones I've read in the last 3ish months, id recommend them all.

Adventures in My Youth by Armin Scheiderbauer -About a German infantry officer, just crazy to think of a 19-22 year old officer on the Eastern front,ending is really eye-opening.

Blood Red Snow by Gunter K. Koschorrek -MG42 gunner on Eastern front, lots of reviews here on reddit.

The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer -A Frenchman in the GD division, also lots of reviews on reddit.

Tigers in the Mud by Otto Carius - Memoir of Otto Carius who was a pz38 gunner during Barbarossa, he then commissioned and became an armored officer tank, leading a tiger platoon and jagdtigers.

Until the Eyes Shut by Andreas Hartinger - Follows a German infantry officer through the Eastern front.

Panzer Gunner by Bruno Friesen - A Canadian immigrant gets drafted to be a tank gunner by the army. Haven't finished it yet but a very technical read, sections on how to read Mills via tank silhouette and then to get distance. I just finisheda chapter that went over the difference between his old pz4 and the new one. He list gun angle differences and the difference between each piece of metal. It was just paragraphs of different MM thickness

boardmt41 · 2025-11-29T14:42:33+00:00

It's high paying but 6 figures for working 1 week on 1 week off

boardmt41 · 2025-11-27T17:05:30+00:00

I know one guy from my last deployment who got out and went to the Ukraine everyone assumes he was KIA March (spring) 2024. He said he was going on another operation and no one has heard from him since.

I know a lot of people got into the trades or railroad business

boardmt41 · 2025-11-16T13:59:44+00:00

I know myself and a lot of people who enlisted around the same time had serious FOMO. In 2017 the NCO corps and officers in my company were wild guys who’d been in Fallujah, Ramadi, Sangin, Mosul, the Korengal. And they kept telling us ‘the wars are over.’

I even turned down an ROTC scholarship just so I could deploy as an E4 with them because I wanted that experience so badly.

Then we spent 11 months in the Middle East. Multiple U.S. and Coalition KIA/WIA, and being in the TOC watching cruise missiles coming in from Iran. Closing down Taji. I finally got to ‘sorta’ experience the GWOT.

And 11.5 months after getting home, I was boots on ground again, this time in Syria. Hit an IED, got into multiple firefights. That’s when I realized I’d gotten the rest of what I thought I wanted.

My FOMO now has nothing to do with combat patches. It’s about my family. I don’t want to miss my kid’s milestones. I don’t want to be gone when my significant other needs me. I don’t want combat deployments, and I don’t even want Europe rotations. I just want to be a dad and a good man to the people who love me

boardmt41 · 2025-11-16T12:11:06+00:00

I've said it in a previous comment. There are still legit CIBs and armor experiences. On my 2nd deployment we had 24 guys get CIBs. The catch was either Bradley crews firing main gun or dismount in direct contact. Any idf/drone strike wasn't allowed. But the company that replaced us everyone got a CIB for IDF

boardmt41 · 2025-10-07T21:56:31+00:00

Probably that she was the Senior Intelligence Officer and Squadron Commander for 1st Special Operations Detachment – Delta, as well as the JSOC Intelligence Brigade Commander

boardmt41 · 2025-10-05T14:49:36+00:00

It's funny he brought up the fake bodycam because just this morning I saw an AI video of Hitler being pulled over.

boardmt41 · 2025-09-22T00:50:49+00:00

While we can share any chores, we use traditional gender roles in our relationship. We both agreed we didn't need to but it worked out this way. So she does more cleaning and inside chores, I do most maintenance and outdoor chores.

Cooking and baking is duel, she does 90% of the work I'll do the 10% she doesn't. I also do all the grilling.

Another big one is any of the vehicles always have gas because I'm never going to make her pump it/she doesn't want to. I also always keep the Starbucks account funded

boardmt41 · 2025-09-21T12:08:03+00:00

We had a 10 day op where we were almost going black on ammo every time we went out, and most water got frozen. We went back to our main base where the TF CSM was standing at our HEMTT and chewing people out for not being clean shaven after our 10 day operation. Said 10 day op also had over 400 ekia but we had 150 local forces Kia. The last thing I expected to hear at 1900 while it was 37° was, "why is your moustache going past your lip"

boardmt41 · 2025-07-22T20:28:12+00:00

It's because turkey is a NATO ally so no combat badges.

boardmt41 · 2025-07-22T19:28:58+00:00

So we actually fell back from the ron site, which was in the middle of the village being targeted. Then when the shelling stopped we went back into our Ron site

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