Guns and your Individual Augmentee (IA) assignment

[EM1]

I know I'm a bit late to this discussion, but I think the reason IAs came about and won't go away is congress. They mandate longer breaks between tours for those on the ground, mandate this, mandate that, but won't pay for an Army strength that supports their mandates. So, the Army taps other branches that have already fully funded personell to get around it.

Complete BS, and I totally agree that if a sea battle broke out the Navy wouldnt take on IAs...but that's congressional funding at its finest.

That said, I've vollunteered for an IA (was turned down) and intend to do so again in the future. I dont really see supporting directly those on the ground as a waste of talent when there are plenty of, for lack of a better word, "cheesy" shore rotations out there.

 

[Scoob]

Maybe I'm being a bit cynical but I believe that at least part of the reason why there is no simple mechanism to turn off IAs (and part of the reason why they were created in the first place) is that senior leadership likes being able to tout that the Navy has X number of sailors fulfilling BOG roles in the GWOT.

I know I'm a bit late to this discussion, but I think the reason IAs came about and won't go away is congress. They mandate longer breaks between tours for those on the ground, mandate this, mandate that, but won't pay for an Army strength that supports their mandates. So, the Army taps other branches that have already fully funded personell to get around it.

The real reason for IAs is a combination of the two of your thoughts. Its was so the Navy could tout how much we are directly supporting the GWOT IOT get a piece of that Congressional funding.

 

[Pags]

The real reason for IAs is a combination of the two of your thoughts. Its was so the Navy could tout how much we are directly supporting the GWOT IOT get a piece of that Congressional funding.

It's gonna bite the Navy in the ass when the wars all end and the beancounters say "you've been managing just fine for the past 10+yrs with 10% of your manning on IA, so we're just going to cut your bottom line by 10%."

Most Os I know who went IA spent 12mo in a box re-making power point slides for 16hrs a day or managing the contracts for all the local ditch diggers and cooks. Sure, the work needs to be done, but is it a good use of our JO manpower?

I also know plenty of guys who volunteered for an IA because they thought they were going to be kicking in doors and karate chopping Osama in the neck. They were a tad surprised when they showed up and were handed the aforementioned jobs.

 

[Clux4]

I also know plenty of guys who volunteered for an IA because they thought they were going to be kicking in doors and karate chopping Osama in the neck. They were a tad surprised when they showed up and were handed the aforementioned jobs.

Were they seriously expecting to show up and then be handed a MiTT, BTT or PTT when most of them were just learning the basics of convoy ops, security and the likes. How many of these folks had fired a rifle in the last 4 years to even say they were comfortable with it?

 

[Pags]

Were they seriously expecting to show up and then be handed a MiTT, BTT or PTT when most of them were just learning the basics of convoy ops, security and the likes. How many of these folks had fired a rifle in the last 4 years to even say they were comfortable with it?

I think some of them were just guys who imagined themselves as snake eaters and they thought an IA was a way to get into the war. In the end, they got to the war, but they were there to do the all the BS work that needs to be done when manpower is basically free.

 

[Uncle Fester]

I know plenty of stashed Ensigns who asked me how to volunteer for IA's, and obviously had visions in their big puppy eyes of returning to class up at API sporting a shiny new BSV, CAR, and maybe a panty-dropping war wound or two...nothing bad, you know, just a 7.62mm crease on the temple or something.

Me: "Well, winged aviators are being sent over there to sling Powerpoints and make coffee. What exactly do you, as a non-anything ensign, feel you can contribute to the war effort?"

 

[Pags]

I know plenty of stashed Ensigns who asked me how to volunteer for IA's, and obviously had visions in their big puppy eyes of returning to class up at API sporting a shiny new BSV, CAR, and maybe a panty-dropping war wound or two...nothing bad, you know, just a 7.62mm crease on the temple or something.

These would be the same type of guys I knew. Why these guys didn't commission into the Army of Marines, I'll never know, but I knew guys who threw their hands in the air for any IA that came across the wire at any stage of training.

Obviously, the wars need to be won, but we all have our part to play. If you want to shoot bad guys, go join the Army or Marines. Sometimes it may be hard to see how your job benefits the Big Win when you're in certain parts of Naval Aviation, but it's still important in the effort. I flew cargo helos out of Bahrain. It certainly wasn't dropping bombs when there are TiC, but we still played a big role in supporting and sustaining the Coalition ships guarding the ABOT and KAAOT oil platforms that made up approximaely 95% of Iraq's GDP. Did it mean long, boring flights for me? Yes. But it meant that the ships were on station protecting the oil plats. And it may seem like a just another PMC hit, but those Aussies sure loved us when we brought them a helo full of toilet paper after they'd run out a few days ago.

 

[Scoob]

Me: "Well, winged aviators are being sent over there to sling Powerpoints and make coffee. What exactly do you, as a non-anything ensign, feel you can contribute to the war effort?"

Jumping on an IA grenade and slinging ppt and making coffee, so a winged aviator doesn't have to.

we still played a big role in supporting and sustaining the Coalition ships guarding the ABOT and KAAOT oil platforms that made up approximaely 95% of Iraq's GDP. Did it mean long, boring flights for me? Yes. But it meant that the ships were on station protecting the oil plats. And it may seem like a just another PMC hit, but those Aussies sure loved us when we brought them a helo full of toilet paper after they'd run out a few days ago.

Yes, but the DH contribution far greater than the Northbound mail/cargo was the Southbound pax.:icon_bigg

 

[Pags]

Yes, but the DH contribution far greater than the Northbound mail/cargo was the Southbound pax.:icon_bigg

Retro pax were always much happier than the Fresh Fish.

There were points that I was pretty sure my contribution to the War was flying O-6s to the plats. On my 2P cruise it seemed that we flew a lot more mail, cargo, and high pri pax to the plats. My second time in Bahrain it seemed like every flight was an O-6 who felt the need to go up to the "tip of the spear" with his entourage.

 

[Flash]

If the bullshit jobs are disappearing Flash says, I imagine that's more because staffs and task forces are being disbanded as part of the OIF drawdown, than due to any billet QA.

I should caveat what I said earlier, while there are less of the bullshit Army support type jobs a lot of the joint staff type jobs are still often for 1XXX designators that get plugged with people no matter their background. What you end up with is an office with an EDO, a Merchant Mariner, an Army medical lab technician, an AEDO, a SWO and an aviator doing nothing even remotely close to what any of them are trained for. But that isn't too much different than regular staff work though so nothing new there.

 

[Hozer]

There are about 200 here now at Ft. Jackson. Easily the most "diverse" group of folks I've been around in a long time. Day 4 assessment, most are genuinely deer in the headlights right now as the reality for many that they will be in theater in a matter of weeks has set in. Weapons immersion has most of us more concerned about the ability of some people to move about strapped. The females and heavier folks are generally in the hurt locker because of the temps and weight of gear. The range of experience of our group is as varied as you might expect as are maturity and levels of motivation/professionalism. Most are reservists. The utter lack of weapons familiarity is clearly a chasm that totally unnerves the drill sergeants but they conceal it well (mostly). More to come....I'm on weapons watch right now...oh the good news? We get 700 rounds each of 5.56 and several hundred on the M9.

 

[kmac]

Hozer, that's a very interesting (and different) experience. Since I'm on a GSA for a PRT, we have 3 months of training prior to going overseas. Those of us who have arrived (COs/XOs, Civil Affairs, Engineers, etc.) have had a little bit of language training and are now going through the briefs/learning phase. The security elements don't arrive for another week or so. All in all, our schedule has been non-stop but hasn't begun with any weapon training/handling. I see the same thing with diversity here. On the Navy side, we have folks from all backgrounds. Aviators, SWOs, Merchant Marines, etc. My PRT's Sergeant Major must be loving his first experience working with the Navy.

 

[bubblehead]

Weapons immersion has most of us more concerned about the ability of some people to move about strapped.

I would be concerned too.

We get 700 rounds each of 5.56 and several hundred on the M9.

Outstanding!!

 

[Jim123]

The utter lack of weapons familiarity is clearly a chasm that totally unnerves the drill sergeants but they conceal it well (mostly).

Watch out for muzzle discipline on the range (not yours, the utterly unfamiliar people). Seriously. There were some real weapons retards in my NIACT class three years ago and they wore any rank from E-4 through O-5.

 

[Scoob]

Hozer, that's a very interesting (and different) experience. Since I'm on a GSA for a PRT, we have 3 months of training prior to going overseas. Those of us who have arrived (COs/XOs, Civil Affairs, Engineers, etc.) have had a little bit of language training and are now going through the briefs/learning phase. The security elements don't arrive for another week or so. All in all, our schedule has been non-stop but hasn't begun with any weapon training/handling. I see the same thing with diversity here. On the Navy side, we have folks from all backgrounds. Aviators, SWOs, Merchant Marines, etc. My PRT's Sergeant Major must be loving his first experience working with the Navy.

Do the new PRT crews show up at training knowing which PRT they're going to, or do they assign you while in training?