Opinions

Everyone has one.

Mine tend to make my life harder.

It is times like these that maybe it is a tell tale sign that I need to transition to the civilian world.

Family Circus

>Click on "files" then September 9th, 2005.<

My mother sent me something very special. Instead of scanning the picture and posting it which will slow your computer down I thought this would be easier.

It made my day, maybe it will make yours.

I see a Finger and Thumb in a Shape of an "L" on People's Foreheads

In MARADMIN 428/05, my name is clearly not listed. I am not going to be promoted.
I know and fear my suspicions were right and the reason seems to point to my PME.
I wasn't really happy about the fact I was told by a person I despise, respect, but despise.

My options are:
1) Receive the training I am missing and kiss a lot of ass.
2) Prepare for the civilian world.
3) Be disgruntled, and piss everyone off.
4) Or go see the "doc" for all those "things" that I have been "sucking up" with for the last decade.

Currently, I feeling that option 1 is the best course of action.

T minus 315 : Day 40 : Rotation Time minus 48

I survived the "typhoon." I deployed to the states. I have slept an eradicated schedule. I have a stomach virus. I have been SIQ (sick in quarters) for the last few days. I am still living in a icebox in the middle of the desert. Oh, and I have a head cold.

All in all, not bad. Not bad at all. Could be worse... Right?

I personally wish to have deployed to the Middle East, then at least my crappy sleep/work schedule would not bother me as much.

I just read an article about the diversity on the social order of America and the military. I agree with the author. There is no point in going into specifics. The military is a scapegoat for the rational teenager and rational parent to have. We do our job, and they go to soccer games and PTA meetings and have coffee and cookies. I am paraphrasing here but I think you get the drift.

Even though I am in the good ol' US of A, the time here counts as if I were still overseas. That is the reason for the title of this post.

The good part of being sick is the fact I am getting lots of sleep. The bad part of being sick is I am getting lots of sleep.

Have you ever read the "Lockhorns?" It is a comic strip. When you have the opportunity you should. My life is similar. I am just missing the wife part right now.

I am been chaste or pure as of late. I don't know how becoming that will be.

September Stress

-The constant change in my venue has reminded me of what being a Marine is all about. I have mentioned this before in a previous post.

-The "per diem" that I am supposed to receive for being here, has not been received. And as my current rank I am not authorized to drive a non government vehicle. The cab fare for 4 miles is 8 dollars. I don't know how many of you have been to Yuma, but everything is at least 4 miles away, probably more like 10 to 15 miles.

-The real stress in my life seems to be that message I have waiting for. You know, the one that says whether I will get that promotion or not. I know of few things I could have done to make myself look better on paper. My excuse was the job tempo of my previous command. (Everyone has an excuse, I am not the exclusion.) In fact, I was denied Professional Military Education (PME) twice due to this operation tempo. Of course, none of that is documented. So, if I don't get the promotion and the reason is my PME, I will definitely not be a happy camper.

Working In The Coal Mine

This is the new me. I am hoping it doesn't last that long.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

This is me.

Yuma

I just received word that I will be returning to Yuma on a ....Deployment!
The thing is that I actually wanted to go back. I will receive a dislocation allowance while there. This is commonly referred to as "per diem."
So, hopefully, I should make up for the losses I had during my February disaster with my house.

Time Off

Apparently, no remembers whether or not we, the military, have holidays. I write this because I have received several inquiries about the Labor Day weekend. So I have decided to share this link with you all.
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/holidays.html

As far as how much actual time off we receive that depends on duty status and how the Commanding General feels he or she should give us. The most common is a 72 hour liberty, sometimes a 96 hour liberty is granted.

T minus 329: Day 26

Well, the people reading this today, should be aware of the "Super Typhoon" heading this way, by now. Yea.

I personally have survived a many hurricanes such as Fran and Bertha which were both class 4s and were back to back within 5 days of each other. Granted, this one is a class 5, but how much worse can it be?

Not too many trailers here.

The Sgt. Maj. is back. My first impression is a good one. It's kind of strange, but I can relate to this guy pretty well. I figure it is a good thing.

This is the first Saturday I haven't worked. It must have something to do with the typhoon thing or maybe it's because of Labor Day being on Monday. It doesn't really matter, I am happy either way.

Mail call didn't go on Friday, I am a little perturbed about that. There may have been a letter from someone who put smiley faces on the envelope.

For those people that have worked on a flight line or have been on ship know that your head is supposed to be on a swivel. (Meaning you should always be aware of your surroundings.) Well, last night I was sandwiched between two honchos(taxis) and my left calf muscle got the brunt of the force. Luckily, there is no visible damage. The Doc (corpsman, who lives next door) said I should just take note of my body and explained what I should look for in the next couple of days. Overall my legs are fine as long as I don't try to use them.

The main consensus here is this is a crappy place because of the command, meaning the higher ups make life hell for the juniors. Well, now that I have been here awhile, I may be one those people. I already started making changes, everybody hates changes. I am hoping that the few little tweaks here and there are going to make little better cohesion within my workcenter and moral will hopefully go up after some time.

One last thought, for those who know me, know that I have a hard time hearing things at times. I feel that I must have "Superman" hearing. Everyone here seems to be deaf. An example, would be the the other guy next door to me, he turns his TV up so loud that I can watch TV without having one. Which I don't. Think about this, I mean, how loud do you really need it in a room that is 10 feet by 15 feet.

Maybe I am getting old.

That can't be it. I like good sound vibrations too, but I ask the people around 1st if it is too loud. I have a surround sound system, my neighbor doesn't.

A note on my system, I broke out a compass and a measuring tape and calculated the best positions for the optimum sound in my given environment.

Promotions

Many of you are inquiring if I will receive a promotion or not. Well, the simple answer is, yes I anticipate a promotion. The complex answer is, I do not know whether I will be promoted or not.

The selection process is a once a year for each rank Staff Sergeant (SSgt. E-6) to General. 60 days prior to the selection board a message is released and it has a series of Military Occupational Specialties, MOS(jobs) listed by the corresponding number of who has promotion slots and who does not.

Some MOS' have several other MOS' "feeding" into other MOS. Such as, 6423, 6432, and 6433 feed into 6434.

The MOS' are listed by the feeder MOS and ones that stay the same in numerical order. In that list there will be several columns referring to the criteria for promotion. It is broken up into 3 sections, the above zone ( Marines who were in zone the year prior that did not promote), the zone (Marines who were not looked at the year prior), and the below zone (Marines that have not been in any zone thus far).

In each zone there is a column for Date of Rank (DOR - when promoted to present rank) and the Armed Forces Base Date (AFBD - when entered in military service). Usually, the above zone lists the AFBD as N/A, but this is not always the case.
45 days prior to the convening board, another message will come out with "tweaks" or changes in matters of number of allocations to date time frames that are eligible.

The board selection process is performed by higher ranking Marines with at least one officer for enlisted boards. Each board member receives a "jacket", which consists of Service Record Books (SRB) , Fitness Reports (FitRep), and any other information that the Marine sent to the board or is listed in other administrative records, for each Marine eligible for promotion. Each board member gives a brief (about 2 minutes) for each Marine's Jacket that he or she may possess. The board then takes that information and votes on who should be promoted.

In the case of the SSgt. promotion board, the board convenes in mid-July and the results are posted usually a few days prior to the first week of October. The list will state the names, MOS, and a number, which states the order in which the promotion will take place. The order is listed by the most senior Marines first and then descends to the most junior Marine. (Senority is time in grade (rank) then time in service.)

~~A side note~~

I may missed something here but all this information is available at the Marine Corps website.

http://www.usmc.mil/

~~

So back to the question at hand, Do I think I will be promoted?

I would like to think I am the best candidate for the next rank and will do the Marine Corps justice if given the opportunity to lead in the next rank.

Rain

If you did not know it, it rains here alot. So the effect of the rain on our metal containers that I work in, is rust.

This in turn means that we, myself and my fellow Marines, need to do corrosion control efforts whenever it does not rain.

Maintenance slows down to a crawl.

If we were at war with the rain, we would lose.

Complications, Part II

I have been told and retold enough times I felt I needed a second part to this. Apparently the consensus is 'I am too simple which makes me complicated.'

What is this supposed to mean to me?

It is definitely not the answer I was looking for. In fact, it kind of sounds like an answer I would give. If you didn't know, I tend to answer questions with more questions or say an abstract statement that could or could not answer whatever the question may have been.

Say it is the politics in me. The forever amount of red tape that I apparently absorbed somewhere down the line.

The way I look at this is, 'you the person reading this, is more complicated than I could ever be.'

Then again maybe I am misinterpreting this statement.

Being a child once again.

The thought or idea when asked of the junior Marines here are we are all kids that need constant supervision. I personally do not remember having this many restrictions ever in my life. Especially as a child. The idea is that the junior ranks (lower than mine) statistically are the ones in trouble. So, the restictions imposed make the average Marine stationed here feel like they are in the "tiniest of rooms" and have leash no longer than a few inches.

When I was a child I did not receive a punishment (or restriction) until I personally did something wrong. My older brother's wrong did not dictate my restrictions.

I hope I am getting my point across.

Tonight, I was checked, meaning someone of higher rank came into my room and verified that I am of age to drink, for which I was drinking alcohol, and I live in a clean and presentable manner. Which I am, because I feel why dirty up something that I have to clean in a few days when I can clean it as it happens. Or in other words, I pick up as I go. The thing is that this room I live in is 10 by 15 feet of livable space and has a area about 4 by 4 feet by the door that is completely useless. There is a mirror there, so that helps. I share my bathroom with other of the same rank and the bathroom is about 8 by 4 feet which includes a shower and a toilet. This space is all I have to make unclean.

I have to show my ID ever time I leave and enter my barracks. This great and all, but if the MPs are doing there job then everyone here is supposed to be here. The duty does not verify that I live here, just that I am military.

Really, I have yet to figure this one out. I know there is a reason, but it has me stumped. I asked a few people of higher ranks and they didn't know either.

The thing that really gets me is when I recieve a promotion to the next rank most of the restricitons go away. I am the same person as before but because I am the next rank all is better.

Nifty Link

A friend of mine just sent me this link. I think you all will enjoy it.

http://www.soldierworks.com/untilthen.htm

T minus 353: Day 12

I am lucky. I will be able to work tomorrow. The reasons for such have really nothing to do with me other than I should have kicked some tails in gear. I thought I was still getting my feet wet, but I was wrong about that.
I am soaking and there is not a towel in sight. I am not the only one, there is another guy in the same boat with me. He is feeling the same way. Such is life.

My speaking to the "nationals" here is proving much more difficult. When I am speaking about something above a grade school level the words I use apparently are not the ones taught to those who do speak English. My Japanese is proving most difficult to learn as well. I am understanding the traffic laws better, though.

PT, The Acting Sgt. Maj. And Inspections

From the time I got on station to about the 1st week in September, I am required to wear a white undershirt for PT. The theory is that if someone is going to need medical attention the newer personnel will most likely be the ones who need it. I personally think I may be in better shape than the personnel who have been here awhile.

The acting Sgt. Maj. is a MGySgt. and in keeping with the traditions of the Sgt. Maj., who is currently TAD, has weekly briefs with the Sgts. and below. I have witnessed only one thus far, but my fellow Marines tell me this "brief" is the same every week. My opinion of the brief is to keep it brief and have once a month. I did suggest it to the Sqdrn GySgt. and I will not repeat what he said to me.

Tomorrow, I will have the great opportunity to inspect the "C" uniform. Plus, I have been informed by my superior that "we" will be doing a different uniform inspection including JOBs at least once a month if not more.

Driving Under Japanese Traffic Law

I just checked out the guide, "Driving Under Japanese Traffic Law." The good news is that most of it is in English. The bad news is the size of the lettering is about 4pt. Hopefully, I will be able to take the test in about a week. I need to go to a different base to take the test, 30 written and 30 sign multiple choice.
The guide reads like a kids' safety pamphlet, but the signs are at least in color. The wording they use is a little odd. It seems like they try to translate with as many words as possible.
Most of the penalties are levied as jail time. So when the Corps said we are professional drivers they must have meant it.

The Good Book, Part III

Even though no one really has commented on me writing a autobiography, I was thinking, that may be a good way to use my spare time here. Especially if I do not get a car or license.
The big question about writing is, should I do a chronological version or something that resembles the way I think and talk?

T minus 359: Day 6

I am not happy about this place.

Without a car or driver's license this place has lots of walking or expensive cab fares. With a car, I would be looking at about $400 for the year to drive it not including gas. I figure if I use the cabs once a week I will spend about $800 to $1000 by the end of the year. Looks like a no brainer. In about 20 days I will be able to take the test and then I may be able get a car.

The tip-offs that I received so far have been correct, as far as the command and the area surrounding this place. I feel that I was demoted and I have less freedom than I had in High School.

Supposedly it is a privilege to be on the 4th deck of the barracks. Ha. I would have rather been on the 1st or 2nd deck. I will not have to worry about getting out of shape.