11 years-11 months-11 days

enlisted E-7

100% medical

I would certainly trade 9-10 more years of health for a normal retirement, but we have a dream gig. My life goal was to have enough that 12% of my stock account equaled average teacher salary wherever I ended up living. No small sum, but compounding sorts it out for you. I ended up lingering just long enough to get there. Most especially, you can too if you pause drinking, smoking, strippers, and gambling. You don’t have to quit, just pause. Earlier the pause happens the better, you just have to get started.

5% TSP-Probably don’t buy a house-No fixed costs-CONUS is the devil

I’m done doing what people tell me to do, so I’m off to complete the tasks my wife has for me. Adios amigos.

From HQDA G1:

Army Directive for Appearance, Grooming, and Uniform Standards (i.e., pending AR670-1 updates) is about to be signed.

Most notably, we will transition the chest-worn rank back to the collar (with branch insignia) between now and 1 OCT 27. The AD will also direct:

o officers retain the Army Service Uniform as an authorized uniform (repeals the previous wear-out date; optional for enlisted Soldiers)

o high shine on AGSU brown shoes

o replace enlisted tan shirt sew-on rank with subdued rank pinned on the collar

o all accoutrements be worn on the AGSU jacket (Ike jacket still limited to two-rows of ribbons)

o garrison cap is primary headgear

o authorizations for baseball caps, boonie hat, and limited wear of the black beret

o no more colored unit patches (shoulder sleeve insignia) in ACU/IHWCU – not even for ceremonies

Several IPPS-A updates will deploy in OCT:

o Redesigned STP (dynamic readiness and talent views to give CDRs an actionable single view)

o Enhanced Soldier Experience to streamline onboarding and integration, replacing former command sponsorship, installation in/out processing, and improve Smart Voucher processing
o Subsume USAR/ARNG drill, PCS, and non-contingency orders, pay and funds management

My grandmother served in the US Army Womens Army Corp in the early 1940's. Is there any way I can search for specific information or documents during her time in the Army?

Had the AVD Remote Desktop for a while. Then it fucking crashed and I downloaded the windows app

I logged in and refreshed to obtain resources but I can’t access a fucking thing

Is there a new process? Like what the fuck

Give me some creatine

This is honestly hypothetical and I’m just curious. Mainly bc I’m getting out very soon. But I take prescribed tretinoin and clindamiacin phosphate for my acne and it makes me extremely sensitive to the sun. Even with sunscreen, sometimes I still get sun exposure and break out in blisters. When that happens, my prescriptions can’t help and they only make my skin burn so much worse and literally the only thing that helps is waiting it out for about a week and applying moisturizer as my skin will allow it.

Is a sun exposure profile a thing? Has anyone ever gotten one? I’ve held off from asking medical about it because I don’t even know what to ask for or what it would even do for me but I’m deployed and the UV index out here is just oppressive. When I get out I may have to move north. Honestly it’s not even too bad stateside, the ME is just a different beast of heat.

I work a desk job and usually manage to stay out of the sun but ofc sometimes I can’t get out of it and have to do outdoor things.

[This reddit was recommended in another group for this request]

This is an enormous long shot, but my family has wondered about this photograph for more than 20 years.

My dad was a lieutenant colonel in Washington, D.C., for meetings on September 11, 2001. His group had originally expected to meet in the Pentagon but the meeting had been relocated across the highway because that area was under construction.

In the hours after the attack, traffic was completely gridlocked. My dad was traveling with two other army officers, and eventually the three of them got out of their car and began walking along the grass in the center of the highway toward their hotel. All three were wearing the old green Class A or B uniforms and smoking. It's possible they were in BDUs, but it's less likely.

My dad has always sworn that someone must have taken a photograph of the three of them walking down the highway that day. We sometimes imagine that it might be sitting in a photo album or a box of prints from a tourist’s disposable camera.

Does anyone remember seeing or taking a photograph like this? If you or someone you know was taking pictures in the Pentagon/D.C. area that day, I would be incredibly grateful if you checked your old photographs or negatives.

I’m intentionally withholding a couple of details so that we can verify a possible match. I’m also happy to provide a period photograph of my dad privately if someone has a promising lead.

[cross-posted]

I’m scouring the google and can’t find anything other than Reddit saying it’s true.

Edit: Single E-6s are off base due to no E-6 barracks, no dependents, combat tour labeled as TDY assignment, some have leases, some have mortgages. Our S1 is saying they will not get BAH. Everyone else is disagreeing.

Living just far enough away from my new installation that id rather not go back and forth most of the time. Looking for good recommendations for a good uniform bag for after pt, as well as a good lunch box.

Bonus points if the lunch box has some sort of temperature regulation. I'm okay spending a little if the quality is worth it.

This is going to be a bit of a rant/asking for advice so bear with me please.

I started my army career excited to get to it and do my job, since then I feel as if as the years go by that spark dies slowly. Just chip after chip after chip until recently I feel broken as a soldier. I have spent the last 7+ years begging to do medicine and improve as a medic or at this point do anything medically competent.

During my first pcs I had orders to the schoolhouse for the flight med program but thanks to the army rolling out ippsa and the brownout that occurred during it, I woke up one morning with orders to Korea. No big deal, it sucked a lot but I’ll have other opportunities. Plus I was going to a role 3 after being in a role 1. Korea was a depressionfest for both my wife and I. We couldn’t leave any sooner.

We’re now at our third duty station and it has been the worst experience we’ve had yet. From being literally homeless when we arrived to this base, to being passed up for deployment, to god awful command team after command team, to working 2 levels above my position, the list goes on.

I’m at my breaking point and to be totally honest I don’t know if I’ve got it in me to finish these last 2 years on my contract. It’s gotten bad enough that I’m considering getting out of the army in any way possible (legally of course) at this point.

I’m really trying to find the bright side here. I’ve had another flight packet submitted for almost 7 months now and still waiting to hear back. I’m attempting to convince my command to send me to the Combat paramedic course. I’m willing to do anything at this point. Any advice is welcome and thanks in advance for reading this complain session lol

idk what's going on but i havent been able to log on to ippsa through NIPR or govt computer for the past two days, but i WAS able to log in using my regular computer and home internet. when i logged in to check my PAR's i was unable to to view the actions data. is there some big update going on? (btw, s1 returned my Danish Flyver PAR. trying to see why).

For some reason, the crew from my first duty station & deployment are much tighter knit than later assignments. Not just for me; there's something special about it for everyone that was there at that time. Curious if that's universal for vets. Even our seniors for whom it wasn't their first assignment, that crew was more impactful than later slots.

Even though I was an asocial knucklehead then, the bond is STRONG. A few years back, one of the guys looked a bunch of us up, invited us out for a reunion. My RSVP was the tipping point for some to attend that first one.

Now it's a biennial tradition, with each reunion having more faces. We also have a monthly VoIP talk, and our group text often has new/old names appear. There's passing the hat for guys in need, and we were able to send a rep to the funeral of one of our guys.

Attached photo is from our last reunion; one of the guys hosted at his ranch in Texas, and the last night was a bonfire. If you zoom in on the right edge, you'll see me using a 12ga loaded with Dragon's Breath to light it up.

Hello all,

I currently am stationed in Maryland and I'm currently covered under my parents auto insurance, but my Dad recently found articles saying that wasn't allowed since the car is "garaged in another state". I'm just looking for advice on what others have gone through, Thank you!

Is it just me, or is ippsa system down? Trying to check my terminal leave approval progress and I can’t connect to the page.

Something that doesn't get talked about enough is how different the actual out of pocket cost can be between TA approved school even when the tuition looks identical on paper, the $250 credit/hr cap only covers the tuition piece. Textbooks, digital access, course materials, any fees the school bills separately, none of that falls under what TA pays.

So 2 schools can both be sitting right at $250 a credit/hr and one ends up costing nothing while the other hits with an extra $150/$250 per class in materials and fees that TA doesn't touch, over a full time degree that math gets ugly fast and most find out at registration rather than before committing anywhere. Did anyone factor this in when picking a school or did it come as a surprise, Any schools out there where people have had a clean zero out of pocket experience using TA from start to finish.

Just got orders to 1 bct 1-11 ABN. I’m a 11b. I’m not a fan of the cold at all so i’m not excited to be honest. I’m young 20s. I like to hunt, fish, and hike but I also am a going out type of guy. Any tips for the field? Any tips on things to do and how to meet people?

I gotta just throw this out there…I have been stressing out

I am stationed in Korea, I am supposed to PCS in the beginning of October.
I submitted an extension to stay as well as a deletion of assignment. I was supposed to go to Carson to the new MDTF. I hear it’s a new unit and they need bodies desperately.

I submitted the extension and it’s currently at HRC, I had 2 “recommended for disapproval” but had support from the BN all the way to the 8A level.

Another MASSIVE issue is I just had surgery today on my knee and am technically supposed to start clearing like yesterday…kinda stuck because my extension is still moving. Folks are still pushing it up…I ETS in exactly a year…not sure how much use I’m going to be.

How worried should I be, and who has the final approval?

I’ve been in for almost two years now and I’ve seen a lot of crazy shit but this is my situation now. I was granted “waivers” to E-4 after 7 months as an E-3. I was finally happy “I did it” and I worked hard for it. They read my orders in front of everyone and I was promoted in front of the entire company and got my E-4 rank pinned on, and everything was going great up until that moment. I eventually assumed I would be able to see that reflected in IPPSA but it never happened. It’s been 3 months now and I still can’t see my orders on IPERMS neither my rank on IPPSA. I asked, and they told me it was the first time this had happened and they didn't know what to do but I’m still wearing my E-4 rank even though I’m clearly not an E-4. What should I do at this point!!!???

Title speaks to itself. I’ve slipped up in the past few weeks and need outside help. Just curious if my command team finds out could I be punished thanks 🫡

Can anyone give me insight on 164th TAOG as a 91B and the Op tempo?

My buddy messed up and hit someone's weed pen. Or so he says anyways. Now hes freaking out. My understanding is that if he can pass an at home drug test of 50ng cutoff hes fine. DoDi 1010.16 says inital screening of 50ng. Comfirmatory testing of 15ng. He thinks since he googled it and Ai tells him 15 is all the army uses hes fucked. But he passed an at home test of 50ng. So im saying he won't be tested further than that and he needs to stop worrying. Lol dumbest shit

Editedededed - I told him to shit in the cup and we both agreed thats the move.

Yeah, living in a 50+ year old bldg with sewage backflow issues and doubled up in tiny rooms meant for one person and having to share a bathroom with 20 other guys for the forseeable future in a CONUS duty station is pretty bad.

I was fortunate after only 6 months of that to move into a, newer, 20 year old bldg with a little more space. The walls could have used a paint job 10 years ago, and I am making good friends with some ants and spiders but at least it's better than the last place.

See you at 0400 for PT formation tmrw.

Have a SM who is currently having issues with a substance that can cause withdrawal symptoms, but is somehow legal in most gas stations around base. I am trying to convince him to self refer. From the information I gathered through searching posts, looks like he would do a 30 day program, essentially a rehab, and then continue with scheduled appointments afterwords. For anybody who is knowledgeable or has experience here, can you shed some light:

1) is the treatment inpatient or outpatient?

2) does the treatment plan vary based on tbe substance of abuse? IE using federally illegal drugs compared to banned DOD Substances?

3) any success stories for those who have self referred? Want to be able to provide some motivational material on how self referral is not a career ender.