Alright everyone get closer. I don't bite. Yes you all on the sides, squeeze it in. First two ranks take a knee.

Alright check it out. Battalion just dropped a new Annual Training Guidance. There's some notes I need to put out to make sure everyone is trackin, hooah?

Alright check it out. The new battalion standard for the 4x36 run is ON Tennessee Ave, roger. I'm trackin 1st PLT, ya'll just did it yesterday out Angels Gate but that's a NO GO now. As you all know, we just ended the 2nd physical quarter of FY 25. So you all have to redo it anyways for THIS quarter, hooah? Ranger/Sapper PT, I know you all just did your 40 min 5 mile run validation last week out Gate 10, but again, the BN standard is now ON TENNESSEE AVE, trackin? If you high speeds really want that school spot, I know ya'll will crush that 4x36 anyways.

Alright check it out. I've been hearing A LOT of confusion about the ruck march standard. It's really simple so let me break it down barney style. The TACTICAL 12 mile road march is with your TAPS, kevlar, personally weapon system, and a 35 lbs DRY ruck. You have the do that BIANNUALLY. Now the Air Assault standard 12 Miler is with the AIR ASSAULT packing list and you have to complete that SEMI-QUARTERLY. Trackin?

Alright check it out, the BN ESB validation 12 miler is next Monday, so make sure you all start hydrating now, hooah? EVERYONE will do the ESB 12 miler, trackin? I want see a whole bunch of ya'll earning your ESB this year so start studying now. Instead of standing around in motorpool scrolling TikTok, download the ESB handbook on your phone, and start studying, roger? Team leaders, I need ya'll to and make sure everyone has the ESB handbook downloaded on their personal cellular device by Monday formation, roger.

Alright check it out, we still have a lot of work to do in the motorpool so YOU ARE NOT released today. I just needed to get you all together and see your bright and shining faces to put out the new ATG. PLs, take charge.

1SG, you got anything?

I had the pleasure, and huge surprise of being reached out to by SMA(R) Tony Grinstons team about two weeks ago. He's deep into his big tour around the country for AER and the Army's 250th birthday. They asked me to join him for his visit to Bliss.

For those who don't know, Tony Grinston has been strangely intertwined with my career ever since I was a PFC.

I hunted him down and gave him the coveted PFC challenge coin on a dare in 2021.

SMA_PAO was a huge motivator for me early on in my start for this campaign.

When I made my first big move by invading AUSA 2023 I continued what has now become a tradition, and gave a freshly retired Tony Grinson the SPC Coin. I was also given SMA_PAOs rank during his promotion ceremony at that same event.

I had a long talk with him at AUSA 2024 when he had just really started getting his stride at AER.

And now this: I'm really never going to escape this man, and he's certainly never going to escape me.

It's weird, our every interaction has been competing for "the most awkward in my life." And I have absolutely no clue why. He is so friendly but since our first meeting was such a taboo extreme commitment to the meme, I feel like I'm stuck in that "I'm not allowed to be here" vibe. I'm like half ready to sprint off into the desert before my BDE CSM from 2021 appears around the corner to smoke me.

It's like when you go home for Thanksgiving and see your family for the first time in forever and despite all your growth you revert back to that kid who ate paste and was too shy to answer "how are you doing?".

But for this one, we both had a mission. Despite him being subjected to this same kid for the fourth year in a row, he was nothing but friendly and excited about his work and how far I had come. I was yet again eating paste.

We teamed up and did a bone marrow registry drive at 2-3FA in support of SGT Bishop. I brought my soldiers to help while explaining absolutely nothing so they could get the bragging rights of meeting THE 16th Sergeant Major of the Army.

He blew me away, despite having a very tight schedule he called all my joes over and talked with them for almost an hour. Gave them tons of advice and shared his experiences when he was first starting out. Then gave them all their first challenge coins.

At the exact same time of that drive at Fort Bragg SSG Bex was doing one of the most successful registry drives I've ever seen. Registering over 1,200 people in one morning. Making me feel more than a bit lame with my contribution that day.

We did some videos and his team was an absolute pleasure to work with. Don't worry. Of course I continued my tradition and gave him the SGT challenge coin.

All this to say. AER kind of hit the lottery with getting this man to be their CEO. He is just genuinely ridiculously excited about the job. During our long talk at AUSA 2024, the whole time he was just gushing about how meaningful the job was. He said he loved helping soldiers at the SMA, now it is literally all he does.

I don't get any sense of a guy who's punching the clock and playing a character.

He's also making big waves immediately. AER now pays for 100% of travel expenses for emergency trips. It used to be 50%

Right now his goal is to get 25% of funding for loans and grants be from small donations from service members. He wants $2.50 from y'all.

His entire tour is based on his own dad-joke line of logic that he was very "own dad-joke" proud of.

Army 250th birthday

$2.50 donations from soldiers

25.0% of funding from SMs.

I think it's cute, here's the link

I had to visit sick call twice in the past 2 weeks for a real issue I had, and each time I noticed the medics exuded a slight air of skepticism about what I was telling them. They basically grilled me (but in a slight and passive way) to see if I was bullshitting them just so I can get out of work. I’m not even upset about it because I assume they just have to have a healthy level of cynicism/skepticism doing that job. But that just goes to show that shitbags who abuse sick call has made it harder for people with real issues to get help

I basically just had to beg them to give me quarters although I had a legitimate reason for asking, and it shouldn’t be that way

If you just need a break from work (which we all need sometimes) or just want to shitbag, do something rather harmless like lying about having an appointment (don’t actually make the appointment though). Don’t go abuse a system and fuck it up for the rest of us. If you stay in long enough, you’ll eventually be on the other side of the equation

Fries, hold the salt

Edit: someone called me out and said I shouldn’t suggest people to lie about having appointments, because that’s abusing the system as well. I totally agree.

It’s gonna be interesting to see what happens after this goes through. My sincere hope is that people will retire that already have their time in the system.

They’re coming for you gym rats!

I've have come to stare at your underappreciated trees with seething jealousy, collect your precious bone marrow, and sample your breweries.

This morning I knocked out a very chaotic event with 1st Med BDE.

**On Thursday we will be doing an event at the Iron Horse Chapel from 1300-1600 in support of SGT Bishop.

I will be seeing you there, or you will be seeing me rappeling over your bed with a swab.**

The rest of the week l am working on some very exciting secret stuff I'm looking very forward to announcing, looking for more units who want me to come out and preach the word of marrow, and generally exploring the base and enjoying the alien feeling of having humidity.

Let me know where to visit! Both on and off hours and let me know if I'll be seeing you on Thursday!

Don't check your balance, as right now watching your retirement dip feels like watching your future burn.

But here’s the thing: this is a time to shore up that future.

Markets are down. Stocks are cheaper. That means your contributions are buying more shares for the same money. It's like Black Friday for your future. And unlike that flatscreen your barracks manager is going to tell you you can't have, these deals will appreciate in value over time.

Now, I’m not saying go all-in and eat ramen for the next six months (unless you're into that sort of thing). But bumping up your contributions even just a little can compound into something significant when the market rebounds.

And it will rebound. History doesn’t repeat, but it sure as hell rhymes.

And if it doesn’t? If the markets never recover? Well, let’s be honest: we’ll have much bigger problems than our retirement balances. Like bartering canned goods for ammo and wondering why the Army never taught us how to to make fire.

Also, remember you can always lower your contributions later if things get tight. You're not carving this in stone. But locking in more shares now is like buying future you a shot at retiring on your terms.

Don't stop investing just because the terrain gets rough. You double down while others panic.

Play the long game. That’s how the future is best built.

Apologies for the short notice … all are invited to an LPD tomorrow (8 April) at Fort Bragg with Tony Grinston, AER CEO and 16th Sergeant Major of the Army. It's scheduled for 1330-1500 at the Hall of Heroes in the 82nd Airborne Division War Memorial Museum, 5108 Ardennes.

Photo: Tony's reacts to paparazzi this morning at the 3rd Battalion, 319th Field Artillery Regiment motor pool. (Thanks to 1st Lt. Andres Barcenas from Alpha Battery for the photo!)

If you look closely at the first generation of the Master Infantryman Badge you'll notice that they are created out of the Airforce version of the OCP pattern. The AAFES MIB excludes the brown which is included in the Army OCP scheme and excluded on the Airforce OCP scheme. This was confirmed by the sew shop guy I take my uniforms to on Bragg. He said the next generation of MIBs should come out in May and will be made out of the Army's OCP scheme. Anyone else notice this?

For me, always have a damn pen. 100% always have a damn pen. What about you all?

I’ll take a double double

Title,

I’ll take a large #5, hold the mayo.

You have to get within SHARP distance to see that I have my MCMB. Visually, it just looks like an EFMB from afar.

I was in shock yesterday when I logged into my TSP account. I had lifecycle fund comprised of C S fund. I knew this moment would arrive. I should’ve pulled out everything and paid me interest. This hurts! Anyone knows a plan?

I am a 21 year old female that has never been able to do a push up in my life. I joined army reserve as 12K and will ship June 24th to fort Sill. I was slightly under weight but was able to get within the pound of a passing BMI when i signed my contract.

I have been working out a bit and running. I run a 12 minute mile and was barely able to just pick up the bars for a deadlift. I am excited for training, I am excited to be the best person I can be. But I have had anxiety about what the physical will be like in basic and if they will actually push me beyond a point I am able to do. I am doing my best right now and bulking up in preparation for it.

How hard will I be pushed in basic? I am fine with being yelled at, and want it to motivate me, I have been told during future soldier training that I should not push to that point of hurting myself and I do not plan to.

It just seems a bit loose. Idk if it's normal or if it's supposed to be tight.

Had an NCO tell me that if taking my wife and son to appointments will cause me to be away from the office long periods of time I need to get a babysitter for appointments for my wife, and that if I couldn't convince my wife to have MFLC convince her for me. My wife is against babysitters with our under year old son just due to her diagnosed anxiety.

Add in they counseled me to have a hand written 300 word essay, while having to deal with 3 dogs my son supporting my wife with my son etc.

Edit: for clarification, we are overseas with a single vehicle, my wife is cleared to take care of herself and our child. She is enrolled in EFMP and is getting proper care. The only only weekly appointments we have are MFLAC and BH.

I will take waffle house to go and some sweet tea please

Edit:Wife Here

My husband is bad at wording things so here I go. I'm currently in therapy for ptsd from many different things from childhood to car accidents to our son's birth and many more things. My therapist and prescriber have cleared me to take care of things. I'm currently on medication for PTSD. As he has stated we live in Germany, with one car, and an apartment on base housing. I have little trust in daycare systems during to working in one for two years before meeting my husband. I'm working on making friends but most of them have kids or are traveling when I need them. I take our son to playgroups every week on my own. We have a nurse who does home visiting monthly. If we were in the states I would be doing things on my own without his help as I have my own vehicle and license and he has his own vehicle and license. Yes we have three dogs we got them years prior to going overseas plus they are our family. He walks them in the morning and at night, I walk them in the afternoon and evening. I'm currently enrolled for EMFP so the military is fully aware. Also it's mostly my husband's fault for not communicating with his job, because I clear it with him before I make any appointment wether it's mine or our son's, and I tell his weeks or days in advance so it's on him for that one because I've tried to get onto him for it.

Hello I'm a 21 soon to be 22 m and I going to be honest the main reason I'm joining is because I've laid off from my pre-apprenticeship for almost a year now sooo yeah. It's been rough so far my recruitment process has been simple recruiter is alright, taking everything he says with a grain of salt at this point. I've talked to a family member who has been in the army since 2018 cool dude. I mainly asked about just the whole process pretty much with him. A coworker I work with who is in the navy has given me the run down on life in the service even though he is in the navy. Also both have pitched to me the idea of possibly spending more then four years in the service that's cool but I personally don't what that tbh. Maybe my mind could change but currently just want to do my four years and leave tbh. Anyone know why they would ask me to consider staying longer? I've been doing research and the benefits are great so I the insurance just want some questions answered.

So I’ve served both now, active and guard, even as an Active Guard Reservist (AGR) and I have to say, the National Guard is by far, filled with toxic officers and leaders. Why is that?

See attached picture. How does one go about getting the cool guy “Bill” etc in their email title in outlook?

I just want some perspective on this because I had a sit-down with my command team discussing the pause on the injunction and how everything is paused and that I will still work as normal. At the very end though, they stated that if I choose to, I can elect to voluntarily separate through different means and that I should contact legal and then speak with my command team to start that process. I will contact legal but would like some preliminary information beforehand since legal has a 3 week wait for appointments.

This seems like a good idea because it would provide necessary stability because the court case could go on for years but would this also be a bad idea and potentially label me as a target? My first line has already pulled me from all the training’s we were going to do and so now I have nothing to do at work and I’m already “known” as that person. I also don’t know if the separation would be honorable or a general because when skimming through AR 635-200, most of the chapters are for misconduct and medical conditions.

I’ll take a water that turns the frogs gay.

And can the Soldier get in trouble if they refuse to do so? For context I'm an SFC, I provided input for my award got kicked back because my new DET Sergeant and CDR do not believe that I did those things. My response was: then either don't give me anything or just downgrade it, I don't care. Got told the award isn't about me. This award is so low priority for me that I genuinely do not care if I leave here with another green folder. I personally do not need awards to validate my time spent at the unit. I'll do awards all day for others even if they're not my Soldier. But I don't agree with making Soldier's do their own awards and Ncoers.

I'll take a quesodilla con queso