Hmm…advice on this one is tough. Opinion is easy, however.

My experience is that politics plays a huge part of what we see in the guard, however, I will temper that with generally the politics are “fair” when you know the dynamic. Example: 2 middle of the road LTs, all things being equal if one is AGR and the rater/senior is bumping up against their profile, the AGR will get top blocked. The reality is, though, that rarely does one rate or senior rate a 50% AGR force, which makes it the responsibility of the rated officer to stand out, which unfortunately in a lot of organizations doesn’t take a lot of work.

There’s also doing your job and not letting the politics get to you. That’s probably the most effective way to stand out. When I counsel a subordinate who feels that the system is out to get them, I show them how they may have set the conditions for the system to want to get them, and how just brushing it off can be the better option. I was supposed to take my rifle company earlier than I did. Politics played into how I didn’t. Instead of getting upset, I did my job. Instead of a traditional reserve command tour I took that company at a later time, got 29 months of active command time on a joint deployment.

Long way of saying that you have to be smart enough to read the people, the situation, and where you fit in to answer this for yourself. To get back to your question about compromising a personal compass…just don’t do it. You don’t have to, and it’s not worth it.