The Inefficiency of the army...and feeling the loss...alone again
On Monday Jay took his PT test for Airborne school. He needed to do a certain number of pushups (check) a certain number of situps (check) and run 2 miles in 15:54. He ran the 2 mile in 15:59. They sent him walking back to his barracks to pack his things...moved him to the failure barracks to await reclassing and outprocessing. And that wipes away the past 3 months of training.
Something I would like all taxpayers to realize is that the military just wasted a whole crapload of your money by letting 5 seconds wipe out 3 months worth of very expensive training for one soldier (and not just one..this happens all the time - sometimes for just 1 second over the time). And now, he will most likely need to enter a new training period...and be trained in another field altogether...again, making it so that the last 3 months were a complete waste of time and tax-payer money. And this is how the army works.
They have offered Jay the possibility (it's not definite...it's a "most-likely") of a retest. The thought is that it will be in a week from Friday. Here's the catch...he will no longer have to run the 2 mile in 15:54. He'll have to run it in 15:12. And he'll need to complete MORE pushups and MORE situps. WHY? Well...nowhere else in Jay's MOS nor during Airborne school is it necessary to run that fast. They don't have any other time during the entire 3 weeks that they have to run 2 miles in 15:54 let alone 15:12. Why do they do this? Because the army doesn't really care all that much about those ASVAB tests and stuff...they care if you are a PT stud. Jay was suppose to get an award after his last AIT for such great academic achievement. But because someone had a higher PT score than him, that other person got it instead. After Basic Training, the guy who got the highest award there was not someone who had the best marksmanship (that was Jay, actually) or someone who had any other skill. This guy was a loser in every other way...but he had a good PT score and got the award. I hope he can still run fast when he's running away from insurgents in Afghanistan...because he didn't earn any other skills besides that. He'll have to choice but to run.
So now we are once again in limbo. Jay is stuck at Fort Benning with no plan to return home. He's pretty much stationed there until they decide where else to send him...but it won't be here unless he passes that harder PT test.
They will give him a list of army jobs that are currently open (sometimes all they have are infantry jobs) and will make him choose his top 3...and then the army will choose which one of those they will let him train for. And then...after some more wasted time and useless duties, he will be shipped off to another post to train for something else. After training (which could be between 7 weeks and a year depending on the MOS) he will be stationed somewhere ELSE and we can move with him. However...if this new AIT is longer than 22 weeks, the army will let us move with him as well.
So once again...we are at the mercy of the most inefficient government agency out there...the military. I want to come home...but it's just too expensive. I have a job here now and have to finish out my school year at least. I'm really hoping that Jay passes his next test. I don't know what more I can do but sit back and wait...it's really hard to do...but it's all I have. That will be the fastest way for him to get home to us
Something I would like all taxpayers to realize is that the military just wasted a whole crapload of your money by letting 5 seconds wipe out 3 months worth of very expensive training for one soldier (and not just one..this happens all the time - sometimes for just 1 second over the time). And now, he will most likely need to enter a new training period...and be trained in another field altogether...again, making it so that the last 3 months were a complete waste of time and tax-payer money. And this is how the army works.
They have offered Jay the possibility (it's not definite...it's a "most-likely") of a retest. The thought is that it will be in a week from Friday. Here's the catch...he will no longer have to run the 2 mile in 15:54. He'll have to run it in 15:12. And he'll need to complete MORE pushups and MORE situps. WHY? Well...nowhere else in Jay's MOS nor during Airborne school is it necessary to run that fast. They don't have any other time during the entire 3 weeks that they have to run 2 miles in 15:54 let alone 15:12. Why do they do this? Because the army doesn't really care all that much about those ASVAB tests and stuff...they care if you are a PT stud. Jay was suppose to get an award after his last AIT for such great academic achievement. But because someone had a higher PT score than him, that other person got it instead. After Basic Training, the guy who got the highest award there was not someone who had the best marksmanship (that was Jay, actually) or someone who had any other skill. This guy was a loser in every other way...but he had a good PT score and got the award. I hope he can still run fast when he's running away from insurgents in Afghanistan...because he didn't earn any other skills besides that. He'll have to choice but to run.
So now we are once again in limbo. Jay is stuck at Fort Benning with no plan to return home. He's pretty much stationed there until they decide where else to send him...but it won't be here unless he passes that harder PT test.
They will give him a list of army jobs that are currently open (sometimes all they have are infantry jobs) and will make him choose his top 3...and then the army will choose which one of those they will let him train for. And then...after some more wasted time and useless duties, he will be shipped off to another post to train for something else. After training (which could be between 7 weeks and a year depending on the MOS) he will be stationed somewhere ELSE and we can move with him. However...if this new AIT is longer than 22 weeks, the army will let us move with him as well.
So once again...we are at the mercy of the most inefficient government agency out there...the military. I want to come home...but it's just too expensive. I have a job here now and have to finish out my school year at least. I'm really hoping that Jay passes his next test. I don't know what more I can do but sit back and wait...it's really hard to do...but it's all I have. That will be the fastest way for him to get home to us