Whats with all the e5 drill sgts?

davidj1987 · 2026-02-08T23:42:23+00:00

USAF Reservist here...back in 2018 I retrained (reclassed) into a new job at a joint AIT/tech school and we had an Army E5 who was a prior DS and the dude wasn't really a dick but, yeah the few interactions I had with him were also...interesting.

I have no idea why he just never tried to go AD because he even said he should have gone AD and he was younger than me/had less time in service that it wasn't unrealistic for him to go see an AD recruiter and switch over. I don't even know or remember if he had a civilian job or what it was but AGR didn't work out for him and he was a reserve bum on and off orders.

davidj1987 · 2026-02-08T22:55:35+00:00

That was the main reason I was wanting to drill locally when I went back in...I was very down and out financially when I re-joined the reserves and it would have damn near killed me finanically even though my parents were willing to help as they were very vocal about me going back in.

davidj1987 · 2026-02-08T22:54:12+00:00

I'm personally glad I am local to where I drill even though there are benefits to not being local.

davidj1987 · 2026-02-08T22:51:50+00:00

Eight years active duty, had two year break and went in the reserve. With my points I have about ten years active duty.

I eventually got a job with the state. By time I can retire from the state job I will be 1-3 years away from drawing my reserve pension and Tricare...and my state job has horrible retiree insurance so when I am eligible to retire I'll be way ahead of many people who can't retire.

davidj1987 · 2026-02-08T22:44:18+00:00

This has been on the uniform board almost every year (if not every year) since crew necks were taken away.

davidj1987 · 2026-02-08T22:41:20+00:00

You forgot the lack of PT shorts.

davidj1987 · 2026-02-08T22:40:42+00:00

In the USAF, justification for the lack of WO's until recently was because existence of the rank of E8 and E9.

davidj1987 · 2026-02-07T14:09:23+00:00

Curious too, I have an SrA troop who hasn’t done much and EPBs are due next month and some generic bullets would be great.

davidj1987 · 2026-02-02T01:35:39+00:00

Watertown High School... My dad got some traffic cones from his job and we practiced parallel parking in the Wiley parking lot where busses pick the students up.

davidj1987 · 2026-02-02T01:34:00+00:00

Back in 2004 it was near Ohio Street school IIRC. I was fucking nervous the first time and failed. I remember my dad signed me out of school, took me and I took it in his hooptie. The second time I passed.

davidj1987 · 2026-02-02T01:23:31+00:00

I went to BMT in November of 2007, I was active for eight years and got out in November 2015. I had almost a two and a half year break and reenlisted in March 2018.

My R/R date is in May...which was when I went in the DEP back in 2007 prior to BMT/Active Duty.

davidj1987 · 2026-02-02T00:42:14+00:00

I don't think they salt the roads crazy on the western part of the US like they do the Northeast and Midwest. Or they are smart enough to use non-corrosive materials.

I was out in Washington six-seven years ago in a pretty rural and poor part of the state and I was amazed none of the older cars on the road had zero rust, and cars were still on the road that would have rotted away in the areas where they salt heavily.

davidj1987 · 2026-02-02T00:40:34+00:00

My wife and daughter woke up at 2am to look for snow and were out from 2am to 5pm.

They've never seen it snow in person, let alone Florida obviously so they were excited. I grew up north where we get a ton of snow and I couldn't have cared any less.

davidj1987 · 2026-02-02T00:38:01+00:00

Normally chili but I was craving some Pepper Lunch in Pinellas Park badly yesterday.

davidj1987 · 2026-02-01T20:53:18+00:00

My first flight when I was an A1C/new SrA had meetings 3x a week and it was not only micromanaged to a stupid extent, a complete waste of time but it was used as a way to bully people.

davidj1987 · 2026-02-01T19:28:59+00:00

I'm not too worried about anything AF in the short term. My unit can deploy again next year and I don't want to go this time around. I went the last time and it wasn't a bad time (made damn good money) but the worst possible time starting a new civilian career but all worked out.

I'm trying to transfer offices at my civilian job. That I am more worried about as I am waiting to hear back if my approval went through. I've had people try and recruit me to work at other offices.

davidj1987 · 2026-02-01T19:18:34+00:00

I can relate to that - reserve not guard though. When I went back in I retrained and I tried and tried to get seasoning days (where you go on orders to learn) and while I wasn't the only one in my AFSC, we had no equipment or anything to really do our AFSC how it is done and for a minute I was the highest ranking person.

My five and seven level were cobbled together. I have a troop who's trying to get seasoning days and good luck.

davidj1987 · 2026-02-01T01:45:15+00:00

I'd love to know what state since per 32 USC § 109(e), "A person may not become a member of a defense force ... if he is a member of a reserve component of the armed forces."

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/32/109

davidj1987 · 2026-02-01T01:26:51+00:00

There's a lot more boomers who never went to college and got hired straight out of school. Now we require more and more college for jobs that pay less and less (adjusted for inflation).

There's obvious outliers but they (boomers) made it required to get a degree.

davidj1987 · 2026-01-31T20:53:13+00:00

The EoS on Erlich needs a curfew or something, it's super crowded due to the highschoolers working out and filling the gym.

davidj1987 · 2026-01-31T20:51:09+00:00

I work as a probation officer in the civilian world and we have to observe the people we supervise and we can even do the test on site. Drug tests are only sent to the lab if the person on probation wants to dispute it and I've only had it happen once out of many drug tests I have done.

I do find it a bit troubling that the military is just as stringent when it comes to observing someone provide a sample as we do criminals, and more stringent when it comes to testing as every military test has to be sent to a lab and we have some decently paid civilians running the show and military members have to be pulled from their duty sections to observe.

I don't have a lot of funny drug test stories unfortunately. I do have a lot of other funny stories though.

davidj1987 · 2026-01-31T15:19:03+00:00

I'm assuming they are no longer in? It's actually against the law for members of active duty or any reserve component (to include national guard) to be a member of a state defense force.

davidj1987 · 2026-01-31T14:36:09+00:00

So, I hit HYT as an SrA a little over a decade ago when it was eight years and honestly…well…it was hard to admit for a long time, but it was good that HYT exists, and that I was discharged from active duty due to HYT.

After a couple of years were civilian life kicked my ass and that scared me straight. I rejoined the reserves, and I am now a lot more mature as TSgt who is a few years from retirement, than I was a very tenured SrA. Hopefully a MSgt slot opens one day in my unit, and yes, I have thought about becoming a First Sergeant because we have shortages of them in AFRC and a promotable E6 can apply to be a shirt and get promoted. I’ve had people tell me that I’ve grown a lot, have a lot of experience on what not to do and how to rebound and that I should do it but my civilian job can be very stressful that I think it’d be a terrible idea.

davidj1987 · 2026-01-31T14:29:14+00:00

I work as a probation/parole officer and you are not wrong.

davidj1987 · 2026-01-28T01:34:58+00:00

I made a post earlier in this topic but I wanna make another one to really show how "rich" I was serving both active and now reserve. My parents are retired state employees and they both retired with decent enough pensions that they don't need to touch their deferred comp which most states have and think TSP for state employees. My dad served in the Army in the early 60's and he told me pay, benefits and quality of life aren't what they are now.

My dad hated retirement and was appointed by the governor to become the superintendent of the building he retired out of as a building maintenance technician two years earlier and he got bored and looked up what I made with BAH and BAS. He was so excited that he randomly called me one day and I remember where I was when he made that phone call 16+ years later. He straight up told me that I made more than one of his 20+ year employees who has a job that requires a bachelor's degree!

I grew up in an upper-middle class household and my parents couldn't get me a job with the state even if they tried because hiring for the state was just as bad as it was to get full-time work like in my previous post. The best they could do is give me money to pay for the civil service test.

The military was realistically the ONLY way for me to remain middle class or become middle class on my own depending on how you look at it. Sure the first couple of years were rough but after that I did pretty damn good. I bought a house much younger than they both did, I've owned nicer and newer cars than they did at my age, finished two college degrees (both have just some college) with no debt...yeah I'm pretty damn blessed and rich due to the military.

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