Do you ever..........

[TOMBO]

Get the urge to say F this and get out of your respective service. Do you just get frustrated and pissed off with all the BS you have to put up. I know we all volunteered and signed our names. I am just wondering as this is how I feel right now. I know that there is BS no matter what you do. But do you ever just get sick of it. Being deployed missing family events. Not getting to spend as much time at home cause you have duty or some other crap you have to put up with. Sorry I needed to vent, I am on the verge of doing this I think. Which I know probably isnt the best idea considering I have almost 8 in and a wife and 2 kids. Man I just get sick and tired of dealing with people who are higher on the chain than you talking down to you and talking to you like you are an idiot and you dont know what the hell you are talking about. And being criticized for being a few pounds over but yet there a fat sh*ts still around. Well thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

[FrankRizzoXD40]

lol....that was a funny rant.

Sorry to hear that you are having a rough time.

I know that Ed Ely was in the USAF, perhaps he has some insight.

I know I haven't served, but having higher-ups treat you like that can be frustrating. Many of them have a "do as I say, but not as I do" attitude that can be very annoying. They will admonish you for doing one thing and then turn around and do the same thing themselves.

I hear you.....

Congrats on the healthy family! Now that is something to be happy about!

Frank

[Cumminalong]

Originally Posted by TOMBO

Get the urge to say F this and get out of your respective service. Do you just get frustrated and pissed off with all the BS you have to put up. I know we all volunteered and signed our names. I am just wondering as this is how I feel right now. I know that there is BS no matter what you do. But do you ever just get sick of it. Being deployed missing family events. Not getting to spend as much time at home cause you have duty or some other crap you have to put up with. Sorry I needed to vent, I am on the verge of doing this I think. Which I know probably isnt the best idea considering I have almost 8 in and a wife and 2 kids. Man I just get sick and tired of dealing with people who are higher on the chain than you talking down to you and talking to you like you are an idiot and you dont know what the hell you are talking about. And being criticized for being a few pounds over but yet there a fat sh*ts still around. Well thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

Well, I've been in 15 years now and I can honestly say that each time I've re-enlisted it's been with hesitation, but it has all worked out well for me.

What I will say is this. If you WANT to get out, make sure you HAVE an out. You have a family, responsibilities and, like the rest of us, bills to pay. If you have a good career lined up on the outside, I say go for it. If not, think about the consequences.

Sure, there is good and bad any place you go. The command that you work with and it's attitude toward the guys in the unit is what makes the job enjoyable or totally suck. I've been on both ends of that stick. Remember this, commands change every 2 year or so and so do the attitudes and emphasis. It goes in cycles. Some times you are on the crest of the wave, some times your are in the trough.

Whatever you decide to do, HAVE A PLAN. I, by no means am trying to play the whole retention, do-your-duty, senior NCO thing, but you have a wife and kids that rely on you. Keep them in sight and talk about it with your wife. Having a spouse that is informed and supports you will make your decision easier.

Keep your head up!

[TRIGRHAPPY]

I know exactly how you feel...... I'm going on 7 years in and every single day I think about it. Everything is changing so fast, and in my opinion, not for the better....it seems like all the other NCOs that are worth a darn are punching out, and I want to as well. However, having an "out" is a necessity......I didn't happen to have one when my last reenlistment came up. I made up my mind then and there that I would be getting TWO, yes TWO degrees in the extra 4 years i signed on for, so i could get the **** out when my time was up. So i'm working on a bachelors in Technical Management with DeVry, and after that I'll be going for a bachelors in political science. I only need about 28 more credits and I'll have the technical management degree.

Before I joined I told myself I would be using it to get a degree.....but i tend to put everything into my work, so I haven't had time. The way i see it, my first 6 was for them, the next 4 is for me. So I'm making time, even when there is none, to get me degrees. I take 4 classes per semester, and I currently have a 4.0.

Have an out, and if you don't have one, get one. This way, when the time comes for you to sign on the dotted line again you won't HAVE to.

[Radio Relay]

Sorry for the length of this post, but I want make a point that making a career in the military can be tough. Even when you make higher rank. From someone who has seen it from both sides.

My Dad was career Army. He and we (his family) suffered through deployments, hospitalizations, and the stress of continually moving. He wasn't married during WWII (where he saw heavy combat with the 82cd Airborne), but he was married to my Mother when he went to Korea. He was gone three years and wounded twice, but never allowed to come home (he spent time in a hospital in Japan, then they sent him back to Korea).

He broke his hip in a training jump about a year after he got back from Korea, and was in the hospital for 10 months at Ft. Bragg.

Then, when we were in Germany (in the fifties), he was never home. He was always patrolling the boarder watching for Soviet tanks. I can remember practicing evacuation drills with my Mother, and brother and sisters. Just in case the Soviets came in.

We got back from Germany in 1960. My dad made Sergeant Major, and we had 5 good years. Then, in 1965, My Dad was sent to Vietnam. When he came back after his tour, he'd had enough, and he retired.

At age 50, my Dad died of liver failure due to severe alcoholism. 25 years of the stress of Army life killed him. My Mother died a year before he did. She was also in her early fifties.

My Sister also married a career Army man. She was pregnant and delivered both of their children during her husband's deployments to Vietnam. She stayed with him throughout his career, but they are now divorced.

I joined the Marine Corps with the intent of making it a career. However, after four years active duty, which included a tour in Vietnam, I decided to do something else. Fortunately, I wasn't married, and the Corps gave me training and skills in a marketable trade.

I owe everything I've had in life to the Marine Corps, and I've spent most of my civilian career as a military contractor. I don't regret my decision to leave the military.

There are benefits to staying in. There are benefits to getting out. It's an individual thing, and difficult decision one way or the other, but trust me, there is chickens**t no matter where you go. Civilian, or not.


Thank you all for your service!!!

[yocan]

Meh the only two things I ever get pissy about are monetary waste (dumping 200 humvee tires because tehyd didn't fit in the shed for about 1000 bucks, and thats runflats, rims and everything... for example) and lack of permission to customise our gear..... and lack of permission to use other gear we have. I want a collapsible stock on my A4, I'd bring it myself... its an accurate rifle, let me put a good stock on it that will aid in accuracy... there are over 200,000 M14s in warehouses, let us choose to use them if we want, I think each fireteam should have one SAW, one M14 and 2 M4s, that of course is my opinion, and I wish we could bring our own .45 ACP pistols. That we have to put our med kits in the same position is an issue for left handed Marines...

[fourstar60]

You are just a warm body to the military. They don't particularly care about you one way or the other, as long as you fill the billet. I have found that you generally have more responsbility in the military than you do on the outside, but you get way, way less pay. Don't get me wrong, you meet some great people, you get to do some interesting (and sometimes very cool) things and there is BS wherever you go, military or civilian.

My major regret is that I actually thought I would have less job security on the outside. I was almost afraid to get out. Now I make 3 and a half times what I was getting paid in the service, I put up with less BS overall and I don't have to deploy anywhere, EVER. I should have left the service after 8 years. The re-enlistment bonuses don't even come close to the lost earnings over the last 12 years.

Then again, some people aren't in it for the money and that really wasn't my primary motivation either. I guess after being retired for 7 years, I see it a little differently now.

[Crimp]

Yeh, I got tired of all the BS and said F-it and got out of the Navy - after 21-1/2 years.

[cwjeep]

Look to the future. Will you get out an get a hum drum job that you will become tired of too. I put in my 20 and have been retired for 20, I sure enjoy that $2,500 paycheck each month that I earned. All jobs have their good and bad points. Civillians don't get paid for travel to many places they would never see otherwise and do things they would never get to do. Just put up with the BS and people that look down on you, its everywhere. My boss is 45 retired Navy and spent his carrer on a carrier as an air traffic controller, I am 60 and he looks down upon me because of my age. I did more and saw more in 3 days in VN or during my days as a pilot then he ever experienced then during his 20. Yet he talks down to me. He is my boss because I didn't want his job, I just wanted a retirement job, not the hassles of being the boss, so I put up with it.

So just deal with it, every job or career has problems. Relax and enjoy your time, make memories. Hang in there.

Dont always believe that civillians make more money. It just like any job, doctors get paid more then janitors. Depends on what you do. I was making about $48,000 a year 20 yrs ago as a pilot. I was paid $67.00 per month as an infantry man in 1967, depends on what you do.

Wish you the best, I know it is a difficult decision. Like one of the previous posters said have a plan. If you don't have a plan , you won't get anywhere. My moto is: Nothings happens unless you make it happen.
Others won't do it for you. Be positive. You make it happen. Make a plan.

[E-City XD]

Yep, I got fed up and left the AF after 4 yrs. Now I make alot more money and have time for the family and don't put up with nearly as much BS. Haven't regreted it for a minute.