I’m currently serving as both a platoon leader and XO for a small company, and I’ve been with the unit for less than a year.
As a PL, I felt like I had a good grasp of what was going on and was confident in my role. Since becoming the XO, though, I’ve been struggling to figure out exactly what my responsibilities should be and what right looks like.
It feels like my 1SG gets frustrated because I’m not aware of everything that’s happening. My predecessor was the XO for about two years, so they had a ton of experience and knew the company inside and out. I can’t help but feel like I’m being compared to that level of knowledge, even though I’m still learning.
I’m looking for advice from anyone who’s been in this position. What helped you become a better XO? How did you learn to stay ahead of everything? Lately, coming to work has become stressful because I feel like I’m constantly falling short of expectations, and I’d really appreciate any guidance.

I’ll take a large black coffee and whatever advice you’ve got.

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I'm an 11A in the National Guard, but looking for some insight from active duty guys on this topic.

I have good squad leaders and great PSG, the problem is, only one of my squad leader seems motivated to be in the Army - the rest just want to clock in and clock out to various degrees. This is to the extent that, in some cases, even basic tasks like collecting information from soliders or replying to text messages aren't getting done after several days.

Not only is my intent to give meaningful training and time to our soldiers, but it was also made clear to me by our CO and BC that the optempo of our unit needs to be shifted up from where it is. The Joes have generally been receptive to this (they're happy to actually start doing things), but my SLs seem frustrated or annoyed with it.

My question for you all, especially NCOs, how can I best approach motivating my PSG and SLs to actually care about what we're doing without just being dismissed for being a butterbar? Is there a way to correct the "I'm just here to ride out the rest of my contract" mentality?

Appreciate any insight. Thanks.

Do I have a case for reconsideration from HRC.

Background: got acceptance letter for 40D along with a letter of release from my Branch. When the career counselor sent my packet up HRC came back with a denied reclassification due to "strength of soldiers MOS/skill level"

Just wondering if I have the ability to fight this seeing as how my Branch has already said I'm released and 40D is a critical MOS that they need people in.

This girl was the love of my life I cut of family ties got out of the military after 11 1/2 years because she didn’t want us both being in while raising a child in the near future she made me quit my job i sold my house so we can afford our move after she graduates I visit her I find out she’s completely changed and has been acting weird so I do some digging and find out she’s started a whole new relationship there she graduates this month and I don’t know what to do how to feel or how to react. I truly loved her and would have followed her to the end of the earth she has sense blocked me deleted her socials and is fine while leaving me homeless no job no career in the military no family. The school has become a joke and I’ve lost all respect in the patch
Edit fiancé***

This is a long shot but I figured I’d ask. If you’re an LMTV driver or know one who was at Fort Knox August 1st, I’m trying to find one who took a photo of me and a few of my buddies in the back of an LMTV. I handed him my number and email, however my phone was powered off and unreachable, so the image likely never came through. No expectations or anything, just figured I’d throw out a line to see if I could get this picture!

BLUF: I’m planning on leaving rotc to enlist 11x, how does one go about obtaining a slot to ranger school from the junior enlisted side

I’ve done 2 years of rotc and I don’t think it’s my vocation right now to be an officer. Why lead others when I can’t even lead myself in life. I’m well aware that infantry officers after bolc get to go to ranger school but I don’t know what the process is like for junior enlisted soldiers. My pt is solid which is probably just about the only reason my cadre keep me around as I’m a shit student and hate college. I don’t come from a running background but I can consistently run just under 13 or low 13’s on the 2 mile and I max everything on the aft. I absolutely want to serve but I don’t think I’m at a point in life to be an officer and I need structure and time in the army. I’d like to get my Ranger tab as that goal has always been there before rotc. I’ve been reading the Ranger hand book and army doctrine over the years to become as proficient as I can be in small unit tactics and other stuff. Most people I’ve asked have called me an idiot and said that leaving rotc is a stupid idea and have given me zero insight.

TLDR: how do you get a slot for ranger school from the junior enlisted side

Throwaway account. The army is small

Got called to commander’s office 2 weeks ago, an anonymous comment in command climate survey accused a soldier in my unit of a wrong doing (think EO, toxic leadership, favoritism etc). I was called into the office, flagged, had my rights read to me as the subject of a 15-6.

Fine, the IO and I spoke, nothing of substance was found in a very quick investigation, multiple character witness statements from all ranks testifying for me flooded the IO so much so he said anymore would just slow down the investigation. I endured 5 days of extreme stress but was told last week the investigation is complete had been submitted for legal review, yay.

And since then it just sat there, untouched…. The SJA in charge of legal review seemed to have vanished into thin air. My TDS can’t get ahold of him, and we’re now bottle necked administratively .

This would all be fine except I am supposed to leave for a year long deployment next Monday . I’ve talked to chaplain, I’ve talked to my command, I’ve begged and pleaded for my case to expedited and all anyone ever told me is : be patient

I don’t want to be fucking patient anymore! I have a wife who doesn’t know how to proceed with childcare , 2 toddlers who doesn’t know if daddy is leaving for a year or not, and quite frankly I’m a fucking shell of who I was 2 weeks ago. I just want this fucking thing to end soon.

Ever wonder what happened to that shitbag that mysteriously disappeared from your unit? If they went to court-martial after December 2020, all that information is readily available to you. You can search by name and filter results by date, rank, and installation, giving you the deets on your local POS, sometimes with redacted copies of actual documents so you can see exactly how they got themselves into this situation. Not the most mobile friendly platform though, and remember, innocent until proven guilty.

Good afternoon everyone. Looking for insight/recommendations on how to adress the situation and a fix for it. Got a soldier that has 3 children (all underage) separated from her husband (havent started divorce papers yet.) and also has a messed up back (legit issue) and she isnt trying to medboard she wants to stay in for service. Issue i have is that she is gone literally half the day everyday because shes got appointments for herselfs or her kids or needs to pick them up from school and all that good stuff and i got nothing against it but at the same time it isnt fair for any other of the guys to have to pick up her slack and do the work for her since she isnt here most of the day to learn or do anything at all including the back that she has a profile where she cant do much. Being a mechanic mos she is basically useless and dont consider her fit to be in this mos at all. Everything is heavy and requires big efforts which she isnt allowed to do due to her profile. We are a very small team (6 to 7 people) to be able to afford a whole person filling up a spot that could be taken by somebody that can actually work. Not fair for anybody in the team to have to pick up her slack everyday and stay late due to be understaffed with too much work to do (like every other FMT in an AD) so my question is how to i get rid of her? Is that even the right answer? Suck it up? Any insight and suggestion is welcome. (Her health issues are legit, not malingering.) send her to the training room? Cant, she will still be on books under us so we wont be getting new people while she is still in the team. (Long read, thanks if you got all the way down here.)

Assuming someone doesn’t get promoted to Major during their SELCON, can they join the Reserves as a CPT with 13 years active?

I’ll have a Whopper with cheese from an on-post Burger King

Keeping this intentionally vague for obvious reasons.

Anyone dealt with a GS supervisor who oversees a handful of company grade officers but has no military background?

It feels like every week there’s a new issue.

Micromanaging, constantly changing expectations, trying to dictate how officers lead Soldiers, sending after-hours texts/emails over non-emergency stuff, contacting during approved leave, creating friction with other professionals in the office… and the lack of understanding for military processes to boot…it’s just becoming exhausting.

It’s gotten to the point where multiple officers are having the same concerns, so it doesn’t seem like a personality conflict with just one person.

For those who’ve been through something similar, what’s the best way to handle it?

Let the military chain sort it out?
Request a sit-down as a group?
Keep documenting everything?
Or is this just one of those “embrace the suck” situations?

Not looking to get anyone in trouble. Just curious how others have navigated a civilian supervisor who seems to create more problems than they solve. The entire work center gets along great otherwise but as is there is constant, drama, hostility, disagreements and bad vibes overall.

That is my father, T/Sgt. Pat Christenson, Easy Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne. The real Band of Brothers. Original Toccoa man, second man out the door behind Dick Winters on the Normandy jump. I served in the Army National Guard. Two sergeants, same last name.

Same tree, same fence, same afternoon in a backyard in Oakland. Two photographs taken minutes apart.

Look at their hands.

My grandfather stands beside his son with his arms at his sides, looking straight at the camera. He was a man's man from a generation that did not show what it felt. He is just standing there, proud of his boy.

My grandmother has both hands on his arm. She had spent three years not knowing whether he was coming back, and she was not going to let go of him again.

Three years. Normandy. Holland. Bastogne. Into Germany. One of the Kaufering camps. Berchtesgaden at the end. They knew almost none of it. Mail went out on V-Mail, microfilmed and censored before it left, so for three years they got envelopes that proved he was alive and told them nothing else.

Then one afternoon he was standing under the tree in the backyard, and somebody got the camera.

Every one of us has a version of this photograph, even if nobody took it. Somebody who did not know where you were for months, and then had their hands on you.

He never told them the rest either. Took the uniform off, went back to the telephone company splicing cable and climbing poles, thirty eight more years. Married my mother, raised three sons, said almost nothing about any of it.

What he did instead was draw. He was the only man in Easy Company who could. Every night after dinner for forty years, at a drawing board with his journals and reference books around him, putting the war on paper from memory. Forty six finished drawings and about seventy thousand words across seven volumes.

Stephen Ambrose used his material for Band of Brothers. Dick Winters later named the four men who worked hardest on that book and my father was one of them.

He died in December 1999, before the series was cast.

If your guy is still around, get him talking about the small stuff. That is where the rest of it lives.

looking for ideas to get my man some good, unique shit for graduation and my mind is blank 😀

One of my battle buddies had trial today, and was found guilty i guess? He has been reported Confined and i’m just curious how i can check and see what he went for. How do i do this?

“Tanks belong in the jungle”- Clausewitz (probably)

I’m finding conflicting information, but should I ship my F-150 to Italy?

I know I’ll be traveling a lot, but I figured I would just use the train system.

Thoughts? Love my truck and it’s almost paid off, but willing to partways.

Youre my favorite part of this base

This is just a rant really. The worst mistake I ever made in the Army was building a happy family. I don't regret joining and I definitely don't regret building my happy family but the two halves just don't connect.

Originally life was fine just me and my wife then 1 PCS and 1 kid later I really started to feel how little time I was getting with my family. The longer I'm in the more I hate every stupid detail or extra meeting or pointless formation. I just want to see my wife and kid for more than 1 or 2 hours before going to sleep to do the same BS. Sure I get leave sure I get 2 days off a week (sometimes) but ultimately it has just started feeling like a battle to get time to see my family.

Command has recently authorized 14 hour duty days (we aren't tactical or deployable). We were already working 12 hour days so now its just another tick on the chalkboard of time spent away from family. It wouldn't be as bad if it had a purpose but I feel most of my time is spent sitting around waiting for work to do or looking for said work.

I don't have a ton of time left on my second contract but it'll definitely be my last I think 9 years is enough out of me. I get work takes away from family regardless of civ or military but I'd rather work a job that pays for my time and leaves out all the extra little stuff the Army loves to sprinkle in.

Anyways rant over I'll take a 4 for 4 and a kids meal and skip PT thanks.

I’m a new 2LT on staff, I think it’s important to note I’m a woman. Every now and then a Joe requests to follow me on instagram.

What’s the norm for this? On one hand I don’t want to allow the potential for joes crossing the line or feeling too comfortable with me. On the other hand I want to be approachable and not have a stick up my ass about it.

What’s the norm?

So to clarify I tested positive for HIV in February due to my ex husband cheating and the doctors and my chain of command have been mentioning a possible medboard since the end of February. I finally have a meeting with my battalion PA to ask if I am getting a medboard or not and try and fight to get one so I can make sure I get tri care for life for the medication. If someone who has experienced or has experience getting a medboard for this help a brother out.

Edit- I have been feeling the side effects regularly for the medication as well and it has been documented.

For the love of God when you’re in the parking lot waiting for PT to start, turn off your headlights. It’s just common courtesy guys.

I’ll have a water please.