I will go with an answer towards build the vocabulary and telling a story:

For the USAR/ARNG TPU and M-Days, there is a straddling act with regards to how we talk about money.  While on active duty what we make is a known known; everything is a simple click away on the various DoD sites.  The only variables are generally BAH and whether a S…[Read more]

I don’t have an SOP, but I can share some TTPs.

I’ve had 4 SMP Cadets during my time in the Guard, and each situation was unique based on what year they were and where we were at in the (at the time) ARFORGEN cycle.

I have always assigned the Cadets into an HQ PL role, but at the same time I tried getting them exposed to as many leadership…[Read more]

I would recommend “A Bridge Too Far” https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075784/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 for its staff dynamics and primers in groupthink and its mission impacts.

Ness, I feel you on this one. I just assessed to USAR as an AGR and have struggled at this. A couple of thoughts right off the bat:

1. Geography matters. How close are you to a USAR Mission Training Complex or to your assigned 1st Army partner brigade?  Both can be leveraged to provide some mentors to facilitate MDMP during your BA weekends.…[Read more]

Should you want to be “missed” from your organization after you leave?  Why or why not?

BLUF:  I’d like to be missed on both the personal and professional side, but I don’t want to be missed functionally.

Everybody wants to be liked, appreciated, and missed when they aren’t there (right?).  On the personal side, I’m no different.  I’d lik…[Read more]

I’m trying to get time with my SR in order to force some conversations. I’m sure other functional area officers may see some parallels to my predicament:

I’m an FA57 in a USAR ECAB. They haven’t traditionally filled this role, but here I am. I switched components from NG to USAR AGR, and in doing so lost some progression time so my first look for…[Read more]

Can you turn the “P” in LPD into “Personal” and do the dog-tag exercise, or perhaps the Great Teams exercise?  This would help with team building and personal connections.  Just a thought.

@kamalu76 — Though you speak about living conditions, you’ll need to actually get there first :-), so here are a couple JO Forum discussions that might be of interest to you as well:

Do It Yourself Move

First Move