Court-Martial or Less than Honorable Discharge

[phrogdriver]

There is no IA "problem." The Army and Marines are overtasked in OIF/OEF while the USN and USAF are undertasked and searching for justification for their budgets and personnel. They get their justification and the USA and USMC get the people they need. Kapow! The misery is spread equally. Would the public rather just bloat the defense establishment all around?

 

[DSL1990]

nvm.

 

[nittany03]

Does the Navy (or Army) offer training to navy personnel doing IA?

All IAs receive Army-specific training before they go. It's not like they're just yanking you off a ship and throwing you in the middle of a convoy in Iraq.

 

[ea6bflyr]

Does the Navy (or Army) offer training to navy personnel doing IA?

It's called Navy Individual Augmentation Combat Training (NIACT). Do a search on Google to learn more. Currently taught at Camp McCready at FT Jackson, it will soon move to a Army base in Wisconsin.

-ea6bflyr

 

[BigRed389]

I know a few people that have been getting our or retiring for the fear of an IA. WTF?

While I was volun-told to do my IA, I do not regret it. It was a good experience but I don't want to do it again anytime real soon. Been there, done that!

My comments for her: BOO-HOO....SEE YA! Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

-ea6bflyr

Similarly, a "trick" for 4 year and out SWOs is intentionally delaying getting the EOOW qual so that they won't be under the IA gun their 2nd tour.

 

[HeyJoe]

Sure does look like a "It's all about me and my opinion counts more than those above me". She claims that she's not against the war and calls this a "people accountability" issue saying it minimizes her job and training. Good thing she never got Coffee-mess Officer. All kiding aside, you can't be in active or reserve duty role today and not know that you are a candidate for IA assignment. Deciding to second-guess your assignment when your number is up sure does cast a lot of doubt on her argument/credibility. Working in a Selective Service assignment after ONR was more to her liking and aligned to her skills? YGTBSM!

 

[nittany03]

she said she wasn't afraid, but i'm guessing that being afraid did have a part in her decision- i mean she did point out how she was going to be a jewish female negotiating with arab men as a reason she couldn't do it. that sounds like fear to me. otherwise if she wasn't fearful at all, why not just do it, and if the negotiations suck, her superiors will quickly figure out not to have jewish females negotiating with arab men?

But see, she's the enlightened one who realizes this and is thus entitled to second-guess her superiors, because she just KNOWS she's right and they're wrong. :icon_tong

 

[bert]

Not to imply that two wrongs have accidently made a right, but...

I know her; she had no business being in the Navy. She wasn't emotionally or psychologically suited for the military - very bright girl and seemed a decent, if immature, human being - but with no military qualities. This was a win for all concerned - we are no longer paying for her, the nature of the discharge will keep her from getting too many more benefits from her time served, and she is not hopelessly squandering the time and resources of her superiors or subordinates (let alone her peers who would have shouldered her workload).

I fully understand the desire a lot of you feel to make her live up to the obligations she freely swore to undertake. But the Navy did the right thing here by booting her out the door rather than pushing her into theater and we are all the better for it. (And throwing her in jail would simply mean squandering more tax dollars on her while giving her jack-ass argument more exposure than it deserved).

BONUS EDUCATIONAL NOTE: If those are the best phrases that can be picked out of your FITREP then your career is already over, you just might not realize it yet.

 

[eyzondapryz]

This is just rather ridiculous..Why is she complaining, or better yet making a mountain out of a moe hill. Really though, knowing she can't suck it up and and just get the job done pisses me off, especially knowing that the Army and Marines are over there busting their asses! A pampered princess who's officially become a disgrace..Two words: Good Riddance!

 

[nittany03]

well, it sounds like her CO also didn't realize it yet:


since she is an LT, she would have made LCDR...

Well, without knowing it, we don't know if she is an Early Promote (the goal), Must Promote (somewhat worse,) or Promotable (that and below are kiss of death). Or her ranking.

 

[FlyinSpy]

All kiding aside, you can't be in active or reserve duty role today and not know that you are a candidate for IA assignment. Deciding to second-guess your assignment when your number is up sure does cast a lot of doubt on her argument/credibility.

This is absolutely true, and is also a reason why I predict the mid- to long-term viability of the Navy Reserve construct is in jeopardy. Reservists (as well as AC folks) know IAs are here to stay, and have to keep that bogey continually in their sights. The downside is that the "operationalization" of the Reserves that has occurred since OIF is (IMHO) inconsistent with the expectations most Reservists have - namely, that a full mobilization, with subsequent deployment to combat, was a "once in a career" occurrence. The new mindset of "1 in 4" for Reservists is essentially unsupportable, at least for most professionals. I predict that employers will start screaming "uncle" in the not too distant future when 2nd and subsequent Reservist involuntary mobilizations start happening. How can you expect to have a career in that sort of set up? The short answer is "you can't", and I believe Reservists will begin rapidly voting with their feet. The first wave of this has already begun - the RC is seeing very few new affiliations from folks (O & E) coming off active duty, which was traditionally a significant source of manpower. This is because the AC guys know the calculus far better than Joe Off the Street looking to enlist directly in the Reserves. You thought the T-notch was bad? Wait for a few more years in the 96-2002 YGs.

I'll use myself as an example: having been mobilized twice in the last 2.5 years (albeit for short tours) and having done an ADSW deployment that should have been a mob, I can't do any more. The fact that I'll be getting out of my current high OPTEMPO billet shortly will help things somewhat, especially since I will have "mobilization stink" on me for a period of time that will shelter me from involuntary mobilizations. However, once that time period is up I have to give serious consideration to getting out entirely - like I suspect the LT in question should have. I like the Navy and I like the jobs I've had a lot, but my career and family are red-lined. Once I lose their backing, I have some hard choices to make. Sad but true.

The AF is starting to put their foot down with respect to these assignments; they call them ILO (in lieu of), rather than IA. Last Fall the Chief of Staff essentially said "we're done". Short summary and a link are below:

http://www.afa.org/magazine/march2008/0308ilo.asp

In a nutshell, Moseley says they will fill billets that are job-related to AF skills, but will zero out the support otherwise.

 

[bert]

well, it sounds like her CO also didn't realize it yet:


since she is an LT, she would have made LCDR...

That phrase means nothing without seeing her average, the CO's average, and her place in the competitive group (if there was one). You also need to know if that was in the first or last line or buried in the middle. Then you have to consider the consequences of not having a warfare pin in your designator.

Not jumping on you, DSL, but FITREPS aren't as straightforward as you are interpreting them to be. I have to confess to be too lazy to try to teach a FITREP 101 in this forum, but take my word for it that it isn't as simple as the article (or you) make it out to be.

 

[bert]

EDIT: now i'm wondering why her naval reserves CO even thought about promoting her if she never could earn a SWO pin. everything i've read says not getting your SWO pin = career death.

My point was that you don't know what he thought about without seeing the whole package. I know you want to think that the words can be taken at face value (trust me, those of us writing them would be a lot happier if we didn't have to speak in code) but that isn't how the system works.

 

[brownshoe]

but that isn't how the system works.

So true. I deal with it everyday in my industry. Crap set aside sh!t. Don't worry, I'll not get started again. (Put my soap box away.)

This "PC" stuff just pisses me off!:icon_rage

Steve

 

[HeyJoe]

If those are the best phrases that can be picked out of your FITREP then your career is already over, you just might not realize it yet.

I believe there is a term for it: "Faint praise"