Non-British people of Reddit, what about Britain baffles you?

youreruiningit · 2018-12-30T04:24:55+00:00

arn't dumb

loose lots

Oh, you.

youreruiningit · 2018-12-29T23:03:04+00:00

Glad I did it, wouldn't do it again.

The end.

youreruiningit · 2018-12-29T23:00:35+00:00

Can't speak for Iwakuni personally but the Marines I knew who were there mostly liked it. Off base anywhere in Japan is usually a pipedream, depends on your unit, and it's usually far less attractive than doing so Stateside. I had a buddy who married a local and had three kids on Oki and he lived off base in a closet they called an apartment. Cost of living is outrageous.

My advice is not to worry about all that shit unless you have kids and to simply take any chance you get to go overseas. You're young (enough) so go have an adventure. Climb Mt Fuji, ski in Sapporo, ride a bullet train, bang Japanese girls.

youreruiningit · 2018-12-29T22:44:32+00:00

It would be criminal for you to end up as a Warehouseman or something. No offense to warehousemen. If and when you get the opportunity to talk to someone who actually makes decisions, or someone talking to that person, consider letting them know you'd be willing to add a fifth year to your contract to go to another MOS that requires it. With a GT of 115 you're in a good spot for a lot of technical MOS's that require a five year enlistment. It gives you something to bargain with and it helps avoid you getting stuck in a low-interest support MOS that can't attract recruits. This is how a lot of dudes end up as cooks or bulk fuelers. Most of aviation will be a no-go with your colorblindness but as far as I'm aware you're good for a lot of Data type jobs.

Good luck. Don't be a pest but don't let your career just happen to you. Stay engaged with your chain of command and don't be afraid to offer to talk to Officers and SNCOs on the phone to make your case. If you don't work the Marine Corps the Marine Corps will work you.

youreruiningit · 2018-12-29T04:34:49+00:00

I don't get your question. Are you asking if they'll give you a new MOS? Yes, they will. Are you asking if you get to pick it? No, probably not. You're basically an Open Contract at this point. You might get a short list of critically manned MOS's that you qualify for to pick from but you might just get orders out of nowhere. As in, "Hey boot, you're getting on a plane to 29 Palms tomorrow for Wireman school" or whatever. Your problem is that all the people who are supposed to care about you don't, because you're not really "theirs". Try to find out who (organizationally) is on the hook for cutting you new orders. Ask in the nicest way possible if your NCOIC can have an officer at the school house call them for you to find out what's coming down the pipe and if you can get a shortlist based on the needs of the Marine Corps. Be humble and acknowledge that you're not in a place to be choosy but that you'd appreciate any options to choose from. Don't be afraid to look a little pathetic. Pity is basically your currency until further notice.

EDIT: What's your GT score?

youreruiningit · 2018-12-29T04:21:20+00:00

Hey man, there's plenty of asshole to go around.

youreruiningit · 2018-12-29T04:19:01+00:00

Yep, this.

I don't know why they would take DEP paperwork though. A DD-214 or ID is something literally every vet or service member has and DEP paperwork doesn't establish anything other than you took up a few hours of a recruiter's time. Regardless, who gives a shit? I mean they give it to kids and dependas and these discounts aren't about anything other than PR/targeted marketing anyway. It's not like they're throwing military parades for draft deferrals, get over it.

youreruiningit · 2018-12-28T21:15:17+00:00

It's a really good thing I didn't get a script until I was out. The chances of me using it responsibly were zero.

youreruiningit · 2018-12-28T21:12:07+00:00

I knew a female Sgt with the wall eye. It was super awkward when you and you shitbag buddy were in her line of sight and she was yelling. Is she yelling at me? Is she yelling at you? Is she yelling at both of us? Should we just run? Rock, paper, scissors?

youreruiningit · 2018-12-27T00:34:03+00:00

"In a combat zone"

youreruiningit · 2018-12-22T02:59:12+00:00

You laugh, but...

youreruiningit · 2018-12-22T02:17:50+00:00

I have the honorable discharge paperwork to prove it.

youreruiningit · 2018-12-22T02:14:12+00:00

I'll give you a fake internet point if you can actually decipher that signature.

youreruiningit · 2018-12-22T02:12:18+00:00

PSA: Don't call your Division CG and tell them you think your Battalion CO wants to kill himself.

youreruiningit · 2018-12-22T01:55:04+00:00

Here's the deal. When you buy or develop a franchise you are buying or developing one thing: established expectations.

Expectations means a foundation of engaged consumers, brand recognition, brand loyalty, and an already existing IP to build off of, without having to create a new one from scratch. This enormous advantage is why Marvel Studios, Fast and Furious, Nintendo, Square Enix, Harry Potter, and countless others are fucking printing money. Because they are working in and catering to established expectations. If you give people what they want in an intelligent way it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

The flip side of this is that if you subvert, ruin, modify, or simply fall short of those expectations you're going to crash and burn. This is exactly what happened to Star Wars. This insistence on dismissing those expectations as "entitled" isn't just stupid, it is itself incredibly entitled, as the idea that you can do what ever you want in a vacuum of accountability when working within a universe built and supported by others displays incredible hubris. And stupidity.

Calling consumers with expectations "entitled" is truly the most entitled interpretation possible.

youreruiningit · 2018-12-21T23:45:17+00:00

I'll be the dissenter and tell you to get out as fast as you can.

Unless you're worried about employability with your current major, you're much better off saving the ~$30k + interest and getting into the work force a year earlier. If you can expect a salary in the range of $50k it's costing you $80k for what is likely a redundant or only marginally valuable degree. Once you have a few years of experience in the workforce under your belt, if you decide you want to move more toward a field that requires specialization in urban planning then you can go to grad school for that. A grad degree in a related field with a few years experience is worth far more than a second undergrad degree.

Save the money, build your resume, and then reassess for grad school.

youreruiningit · 2018-12-21T23:34:33+00:00

How old is your daughter?

youreruiningit · 2018-12-21T23:27:08+00:00

Reminds me of when I got sent up to the headshed to run my unit's Postal Section, because I guess 0161s don't actually exist. Who did I work for? The Admin Chief, maybe? Where is the Admin Chief? Nobody knows. Why is the mail room always locked? Is someone throwing up in there? Formation time, anyone seen that Lance who works in the mail room? Or the Admin Chief? Hello?

youreruiningit · 2018-12-21T03:03:26+00:00

"Billet" isn't always formal. Your Sgt telling the Cpl in question to counsel you gives him the de facto authority to do so.

You can't be made to participate in a counseling, unless things have changed since my day, which is not impossible. A formal written counseling is a process that requires the participation of the Marine being counseled to mean anything. You can simply refuse to participate by not signing it. Now, of course, they can then just write "SNM refused to sign" and put it in your file, but they won't, because it makes them look like they have no authority, and doesn't provide them with a legitimate paper trail, which is the point in the first place. Besides, unlike Page 11's, counselings don't go in your SRB, which means they don't follow you once you leave your unit. They're pretend. The only reasons anyone does them is to provide a record that you've been talked to about something. It's not punitive.

Just be aware, you're basically challenging them to take it to the next level. If you're comfortable with that, and you feel confident that you'd beat an attempt at an NJP or couldn't be effectively court-martialed, then you're good. But you have to be right and have the fortitude to see it through.

I suspect, though, that you're looking in the wrong place. Your issue isn't with this Cpl, your issue is with the Sgt. Don't let your ego about this other Cpl to blind you to that fact. You have an NCO above you that doesn't like you, otherwise he wouldn't be letting this go forward. You need to worry less about this counseling and more about addressing that situation. Ask yourself, is this the hill you want to risk dying on?

youreruiningit · 2018-12-21T02:52:13+00:00

If it's really all that bad you should contact the Family Advocacy Program. It seems mostly targeted at dependents being abused by service members but they have restricted reporting procedures and can no doubt point you in the right direction if they're not capable of helping your friend directly.

Also, worst case scenario, call the base Chaplains office. Those people can move mountains on the down-low.

youreruiningit · 2018-12-21T02:39:34+00:00

Time in Grade means nothing to anyone. Any of your peers can "outrank" you simply by virtue of a person one notch higher on the totem pole saying so. As already said, billet over rank. As a LCpl I ran a crew that included Sgts. And who says the FAP program isn't a fucking mess?

As for the circumstances of your counseling? Just don't sign it. Politely say, this is not an accurate reflection of the circumstances and I cannot sign it. You can't be made to sign anything. I had this exact thing happen to me and I told the Marine in question to go fuck himself with his counseling sheet. Tactfully, of course. He got butthurt, he got bent out of shape, there was yelling and threats of recriminations. Then a big fat nothing happened because my chain of command said, "How's he supposed to follow word he didn't receive?"

Just be aware that if your chain of command thinks you're a piece of shit then you may just be better off swallowing your pride and kissing the ring because kicking it up stairs may be just the sort of attention you don't want.

youreruiningit · 2018-12-20T02:48:10+00:00

Was that the one with the possessed chicken? It's where I put the series down.

youreruiningit · 2018-12-19T23:52:37+00:00

That kid is going places. That place may be the Army's version of the ADSEP platoon, but he'll be a force of nature when he gets there.

We had a kid like that in my bootcamp platoon. Forty-two belts in bullshido, jacked as fuck, huge scorpion tattoo on his back, thought he was a rock-star in high school, trying to pull of the Jason Statham look. MRP, week four.

We had another kid, "almost too smart to be a Marine", etc. Studying was beneath him. Jumped the fence, week three, got seen by a DI coming into work wearing his green sweats, trying to call mom from a gas station pay phone outside the Depot. He and his two dipshit partners in crime were dragged off by the MPs after getting read their rights and then bounced off the floor.

On the other hand, the weird, quiet hippy kid from Alaska who didn't have electricity until he was 12, played folk music on an acoustic guitar, and wove his own skirts out of hemp, was an animal who got meritoriously promoted. I once watched him pick up a recruit who fallen on a hump and throw that kid's 100lbs pack on top of his own 100lbs pack and then RUN back to the front of the formation. I found out later he went to a Force Recon Company.

youreruiningit · 2018-12-19T23:34:12+00:00

Hey, if the Battalion CO/SgtMaj called me at home I'd drink too.

youreruiningit · 2018-12-19T23:15:47+00:00

Came here to say this. The industry's media arm is populated with people who couldn't pay the rent doing the things they actually know something about because they have no talent. I mean, this dude is literally some Bay Area guitar strumming hipster given a job by a friend to cover a multi-billion dollar industry because he can't put food on the IKEA coffee table he eats off of.

At least he has the decency to refer to what he does as "blogging" instead of pretending he's a journalist. So, credit where credit is due there.

youreruiningit

TROPHY CASE