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From the forums

FORCED PROMOTION BOARDS?

The easy answer is yes, but that doesn’t mean the Army can force a soldier to do well. As a senior NCO, I’ve always resisted any push to force soldiers to a board. Let the good leaders and those with motivation and drive get promoted ahead of the lazy ones.

Make sure everything is documented in their counseling, especially in the promotion counseling. Just annotate that the soldier denied and have him sign it. If that is how they want to deal with their career, then so be it. Work with the soldier that wants to lead and fast track.

STAY-AT-HOME MOM

This isn’t a matter of someone standing extra watch for her; not for a day, or for a week even [“Charge or discharge? Single mother jailed for refusing to deploy,” Nov. 30]. This is a one-year deployment. Everyone understands that sometimes things can’t be avoided and you might have to pick up your buddy’s slack if he/she has no other option but to watch their child. This happens to everyone. What doesn’t happen to everyone, however, is getting pregnant and knowing fully nine months ahead (we don’t even get this much heads-up on deployments) that you’re going to need someone to cover down on your child. This soldier displayed a blatant disrespect for the system and rules that were set in place and followed by thousands of single-parent soldiers before her.

EXPENSIVE PIN-ON CSIB

[The Combat Service Identification Badge] is, like, 12 bucks. You buy it once. Enlisted soldiers get a clothing allowance, officers make enough money. I dare any soldier that whines about this to show me that they never wasted money at a bar or strip club or something like that. Soldiers whine about uniforms in every issue of the Army Times; it’s like we’re a bunch of Girl Scouts.

dude, WHERE’S MY CAR?

I lost my van while I was in Iraq in 2004. I left my van at the barracks because my unit said it would be safe there while I was gone. I was later informed about halfway in my deployment that it was towed away because it was an abandoned vehicle and the company was charging for tow and for storage. My command tried to get more information for me, but by the time I got back from the desert it was just way too much to pay compared with what it was worth.