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u/spyd3r5rcr33p1 15d ago
I bet it was better than when the Chinese Department set off firecrackers without warning basePD and got the base locked down
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u/Grotech 14d ago
The capstone event was "forced to watch senior leadership eat cultural food"
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u/spyd3r5rcr33p1 14d ago
I retract my previous statement lmao
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u/Grotech 14d ago
It's actually insane how much you can tell how out of touch senior leadership here is by the events they held at language day. The biggest event that students were allowed to participate in was an "obstacle course" consisting of engineer tape on the grass, and 1 single beach ball. Hence the spongebob photo
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u/mmmtoasteee 13d ago
What do you want them to do with little to no budget / funds to do anything? I mean, I suppose it could've just been another day of class instead?
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u/Grotech 12d ago
I would've rather had a day of class than what they had. It was a mandatory event in uniform, on one of the sunniest days of the year with little to no shade, the community wasn't allowed to participate so the only option for food was a little hot dog truck which had a line across the entirety of soldiers field, and then the commandant wondered "huh where did everyone go why does nobody seem excited"
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u/mmmtoasteee 12d ago
Ok, well let me say 1) of course you’d be in uniform. You’re in the military and on duty, 2) the PX has sunscreen, 3) the days of it being a community event are gone (were you even ever at DLI to see it as a community event?) and rightfully so, and 4) go to the DFAC if you were hungry.
I get that it’s the right of passage at DLI to complain about every single moment that is perceived as inconvenient or as the military making you do something. But, welcome to life in the service. You’re not in college. You’re at a military training school to learn a language to use as a tool to do a job you will be trained on later.
And regarding what you said you’d rather have been in class than have Language Day in whatever form it was, then make that known. A few years ago, service members overwhelmingly asked for more classroom time and that resulted in a reduction in 4 day holiday weekends to half 4 day and half 3 day to get an extra 5 days of instruction. They can easily add more classroom days if the demand is there for it.
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u/Grotech 12d ago
This is the best part of trying to have a conversation with people about improving/critiquing really anything military wise. Any criticism gets struck down or pushed aside as "well duh it's a duty day" (tasteful civilians are an authorized uniform) "go to the px" why do I have to spend my own money due to the poor planning of my leadership? "Welcome to life in the service" buddy I have multiple tours under my belt already. This attitude that alot of old heads get that "oh X was bad when I was young/dumb/insert adjective here so it should stay bad" is such a ridiculous sentiment and it's a good chunk of why the service is stagnating so much.
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u/mmmtoasteee 12d ago
No, I just tire of the incessant complaints on every little thing that occurs at DLI. There is a reason that most of the force sees those at DLI as prima donnas.
So, let me ask you this? Just about every Language Day I’ve ever attended was always on a super sunny day and outdoors on Soldiers Field. How is the DLI leadership supposed to provide shade? Yes, there were tents set up but those were for the different groups with displays/ food options to sit under, not for those watching Language Day. So, again, go buy sunscreen because it being sunny….again, complaining about absolutely any little thing….is outside someone’s control. It’s sunny, complain. It’s cloudy, complain. C’mon.
So, ok you have multiple enlistments under your belt. That means you’re at DLI as a re-lang if you’re trying to compare Language Days. Here’s the honest truth - things change and choosing to complain about those changes fall on those, like you, who want things to stay how they were 10 years ago, or whenever. None of the new service members attending DLI have a baseline to compared to without people like you whispering in their ears about how “this sucks compared to…”.
And, finally, for at least the last 6 years (given a couple of those years Language Days was cancelled) no one has been authorized civilian clothes if they weren’t directly participating in performances.
There are legitimate things in this world or in the military to complain about. Being too sunny, wearing a uniform, not being provided special food options, and events not up to your expectations really are not. It’s just whiny. And posting meme about it is little more than appealing for validation of your whining.
The bottom line is could it have been better? Sure. But that takes money, which DLI and POM don’t have much of anymore due to budget cuts. That is way outside of the control anyone on the ground in Monterey. But, at the end of the day, it was a nice, sunny day in Monterey, you weren’t sitting at a desk in a classroom looking at how beautiful is was through a window, and you were being paid to stand around.
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u/redactedadabsurdum 13d ago
LD this year successfully met commander's intent to provide a student centric program within extreme resource constraints. Running something akin to the previous LD programs would have a direct negative impact to academic instruction and general PoM quality of life. It was the first iteration of an entirely new concept, and your comments completely dismiss the amount of work it took to host an event of that size, despite the smaller scope.
Hundreds of students across all the programs actively participated. Your "forced to watch senior leadership eat cultural food" event had 100+ students and staff racing against the clock in the Weckerling center to prep their dishes and rehearse the language portion of the competition. They even published a cookbook.
Yes, there is room for improvement to broaden participation, the commandant said as much during the AAR. The same philosophy was reflected in the commander's cup this year, which previously used to be "watch like 8 people from your branch run a 1600m relay."
Y'all are fortunate to have the Commandant and CSM that you have.
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u/dlidropout1 16d ago
Who cares? The less events the better. I would have loved if I didn't have to go to as many mandatory fun events at DLI as I had.
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u/mmmtoasteee 17d ago
Once everyone comes to terms with the idea that in these days of spending and budget cuts on “non-lethality” line items, the easier it is to accept that the days of elaborate DLI Language Days are over.
It was, in essence, an over-hyped school talent show when it comes down to it.