You nailed it! The connections seem to never fade from my experiences too. Thank you for your service!

ROFL, nope! You don't get a free SAW for enlisting 😂

Thank you for your input! There is much to be proud of, even through the smallest of contributions from each Soldier! I hope I can always keep humility and see things from the 'follower' POV, no matter what role I may take. This is great advice :)

You know, when I was a SGT I had a Soldier under investigation for serious sexual crimes that I had no idea about at the time. My counseling statements showing his inability to reform on small things like not showing up to formation or completing work, despite the opportunities to correct his infractions, were part of the evidence shown to convince the military legal system that no leniency could be considered. He served time in a military prison, then, in turn, prosecuted and sent to state prison as well. Very serious. Thank you for sharing your story, and indeed, you seem to have encountered someone to have been proven as an offender.

@@ALICEPackTools if my daughter married a soldier, its because yall stole her . Not because your good enough, not because i gave her away. Because you stole her

@@ALICEPackTools public unions = curruption. Curruption = dishonor and death

I admire your passion @sfertonoc! I look forward to seeing more from your point of view. Indeed, I hope we all rise to the occasion and can inspire others to follow or support those we believe in at the toughest of moments.

Thank you for sharing, that sounds like it was rough. Do you have some advice or ideas you want to share on how you persevered through that time?

​@@ALICEPackTools My experience is you get zero reward for following a stupid or illegal order but contempt. I remember once doing the bidding of a supervisor who wanted me to fudge the reason as to why we were ordering a piece of equipment. The budgetary reason had to be one of improving protection on the ground and he wanted that berm built in order to decorate it with unit symbols and other nonsense having nothing to do with force protection. I went ahead with the loophole while pinching my nose and fudged the paper for him. However, when it came for me to obtain some kind of recognition for having pulled it off,, guess what, I got nothing but "don't know what you talking about", sneers and denial, and, in fact, I even got black listed for it. NEVER AGAIN. You will always end up being punished for obeying stupid, dangerous and illegal orders and favors like these. No one will want to admit to it and you will be the poor sucker-dupe for it. As part of the decoration on for the unit on the piece of equipment, my name was not even on there while theirs was proudly decorated there around the symbols. I cannot stand these bullet bureaucrats.

I hate that you had to experience that; a terrible lesson, hard learned. I hear hope and honor in your voice, however. I am glad you took away those nuggets and even more grateful you shared them here so we may have the chance to avoid similar traps!!

@@ALICEPackTools It is pretty dicey when being confronted to support supposedly a symbol as an individual since the individuals always loses to the symbol. Even if the individual would, say, invoke his own symbolic protections (religious reason, consciousness objection, Unit integrity, Patron Saint Michael for tough cops etc.), it always is tempting to "spoil" your unit with what a favored representative of said symbol says it wants. It kind of is like a child or bimbo asking for a favor, or, worse, one saying your are not a dad or "man enough" to do it or."fight for me". That is "cutes" manipulative. Ok, so, what do you do? Try to negotiate it away and avoid a power struggle. You can negotiate it with a sort of contract or understanding, with an alternative or passively finding an excuse for not being able to do it or avoid it altogether in a hush manner. Avoid "crucifiction" type showdowns, however, don't embrace the "Jesus" syndrome. Becsuse at that point we are talking about cultural and even god-like Agenda-conflicts that are way beyond one's capability or redevance to handle. As an ethnopsychiatrist said it observing African tribal warfare resolutions, "let the gods and symbols fight each other, divided, so that humans stay in control and united, at a cross road where the ancestral agenda of one tribe is laid out in the open to the other one". Basically we have to have diversity work for us, not against us.

It sounds like the 'slow roll' is a legitimate tactic from your point of view, if I am reading this right. I am facing similar conundrums between 'good for the organization' vs. 'good for the leader.' I'm internally combating my choices and have found that the solutions that remain in line with my personal ethics to be limited or stunted by irritating technological obstacles. Not trying to offload, but I feel your response really resonating right now!

take a 100mg of ibuprofen.... rub dirt on it! :P

Thank you for your support! We love you!

Fair note! I do find myself getting inspired and reflecting on my life experiences, and even assessing them, as I read or watch inspiring characters. Who inspires you?

Thank you so much! If you have any ideas on future 'tools' to talk about, we would love to hear them!!

ROFL, so many FLIPLs!!! Thanks for your support.... we will get him to read the books :)

This is so smart! I’ve been stuck in mental loops when trying to fix python NLP code outputs and ChatGPT set me straight 🤣🤣🤣

Thanks!! YOU ARE AHHHHHMAZING!