Values I learned during my Army training and how you can use them to help yourself - General

Values I learned during my Army training and how you can use them to help yourself

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My six month journey as a Soldier trainee has taught me many valuable life lessons that I feel can benefit the general public if used appropriately. Not only did I learn more about myself during this journey than I have before, I also learned more effective interpersonal skills that will be with me for the rest of my life. I am here to share the values and experiences I learned in hopes to enlighten my fellow FP'ers and hopefully improve your outlook on life and how you interact with not only others, but yourself as well. Many of these are extremely obvious, and most of you are probably already familiar with these concepts. But it's always good to reiterate on what was once learned. Maybe some of my stories can help put these values into perspective. As a soldier we are taught many principals. All of which fall back down on the seven fundamental Army Values, which in my opinion should be the seven fundamental values everyone lives by. These seven values are remembered by a clever mnemonic; LDRSHIP - Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honesty, Integrity, and Personal Courage. Each of these seven values are intertwined in one another, and help build the foundation for a positive way of life. Now besides the seven Army Values, here are many things that are drilled into our heads: [B]Save your money![/B] Every day we were reminded of this, and each weekend before we are released we are reminded of it again. Don't spend your money on stupid shit. Usually after training, many of us have large amounts of money... more than a lot of us have ever had. The money usually comes in enlistment bonuses. I've seen enlistment bonuses up to 40,000 dollars depending on the time and MOS. This is a lot of money, but many soldiers right after training somehow blow it within a few months of their return home. Many buy a new car, many spend it on TV's and other stupid shit. The funny thing, however, it's not only the big purchases that eat away at your account. I'd argue it's the smaller ones that do more damage. That candy bar near the cashier? Put that shit down, you don't need it. That soda? Fuck that, buy a reusable bottle and fill it with water. Not only is it healthier, it's much less harmful to your wallet. The point is, there is no reason to spend that much money that fast. How does this relate to you FPers? Well many of you have jobs, many of you don't. The point being is at this age, you should be saving any money you do make, only spending it on the necessities for life; i.e food, clothing, shelter and the occasional video game, or whatever. The rest should be put into a savings account or invested for your future. Put it toward college, a home, your kids, or whatever. The point is money is something that should be saved and used over a period of time. Start saving for your retierment now. The sooner you start, the more you'll have then. [B]Volunteer when asked[/B]... [B]or ask if you can help[/B] Every day, multiple times a day a cadre member or someone asks for a few volunteers. Those who volunteered more often were generally liked more by others, along with the cadre. They were the "go-getters." They displayed the value of Selfless Service day in and day out. Many of them seek out tasks to help with, never expecting anything in return. Why? Because it's displaying selflessness... putting others before yourself. How does this relate to you? Every day (you're not sitting alone inside on FP) you are probably faced with an opportunity to make a difference and help another person out. Whether it's holding a door open, or helping someone walk their groceries to their car, etc. Whatever. A lot of people "look away" when they notice that old fellow who can barely walk struggling to do X task, imagining that the moment they look away someone else would come and assist them. You have to ask yourself... is that really right? How long would it take to go out of your way to help someone less fortunate? Even if it takes 10 minutes... who cares? There is no way you're in *that* much of a rush where you can't spare those 10 minutes. And imagine this: when you finished helping them, you will have that warm feeling inside that you made a positive difference in someone's life that day. [B] Don't worry about things you can't control[/B] The company I was in for AIT was horrible... It was chaos and disorder on the leadership side. The majority of us would get in trouble for events out of our control; i.e. being told one thing by one cadre member and following that order only to be told that that order was incorrect and we need to pay the price (get smoked, UCMJ, or negative counseling). We were constantly chewed out by our 1st sgt for events that never really happened or were extremely minor. We lost privileges for reasons unknown, and so on. This constant high-stress was mental torture. People's grades started to slip, everyone partied harder on the weekends, got more drunk, etc. It was mostly, if not entirely due to the constant shit we got every day. We never really got a break. It got so bad that we got the Inspector General to start an investigation. Shortly after, we got a little talk from one of the Platoon Sergeants, also the Senior NCO. He basically told us that he saw all the bullshit going on, and there was really nothing he could do about it either. He was almost literally a pawn in the grand scheme of things. He told us that his entire military career, he dealt with a lot of the same bullshit. He learned a way to deal with it. Basically he stopped caring about the things he could not directly control. He told us that things were set in stone... carved into a mountain. They could not be altered no matter how much begging, griping, or otherwise trying to loophole around the system. In other words, trying to do any of that was just a waste of time and energy that could be spent just doing the damn task and getting it over with. How does this relate to you? Every day we all deal with bullshit. Stupid things out of our control. A good example are video game release promises that are never kept. Another are gas prices. Politics? The list goes on. We bitch, moan, and complain about all of those things. We waste time and energy worrying about these things that as and individual we cannot fix. In essence just stop, take a breather, and go with the flow. Now does this mean be completely passive? Hell no. There are some things worth fighting for. But there is a time and a place to do so. Essentially the lesson here is [I]choose your battles wisely[/I]. This all relates into the next discussion point: There is a bigger picture to everything. [B] There's a bigger picture... You're just seeing the small portion of it.[/B] During field training at AIT, when we went out to practice our combat medic skills, we would march with all of our shit down to an open field area with some bleachers. Now the route to get here was not too far, but it was far enough, hot enough, and the gear we were wearing made it a pain to march in, that when we got there, we were sweating like crazy. The stupid part about it was there was a more direct route... much more direct. About 1/4 of a mile more direct. But no. For whatever stupid reason we had to march literally all around on the road to get to our destination... going around our ass to get to our elbow as my step-father would say. It pissed me the fuck off and I had no fucking clue why we did it. We brought it up and it turns out it was a "safety issue" marching us down the grassy hill and that's what they were told we needed to do. They too thought it was fucking nuts, well some sergeants did. They started bringing us down the hill instead. But there was a bigger picture that none of us saw. No one even really thought of the safety issue. A two-dimensional being can only perceive things in two dimensions. A cube will look like a square, and so on. At our level, generally speaking, if we are still posting on this web forum and browsing these same mundane websites, then we are pretty low on the totem poll, relatively speaking. At our level, waiter, cashier, stock boy, even store managers, or whatever we may be, we only see the small picture... the end results. Many of the orders come from higher up... much higher up. To us, we see many unnecessary steps that seem to be half-haphazardly thrown in actually do have meaning and purpose. Someone smarter than us came up with not necessary the most efficient way to do things on the micro-level, but more on the macro level. We are pretty much just cogs in the entire system... each has a specific task that needs to be done in a specific order to achieve the end result. Can these tasks be modified? Yes. But when you try to bring it up and get shot down... well that's when you just got to deal with it and remember to [I]choose your battles wisely[/I]. [B]Why lie when you can just tell the truth?[/B] Fact: It takes more effort to come up with a believable lie than to just be honest. Making mistakes is a part of life. No one is perfect and we all do stupid shit. During my final weeks of training at AIT, I got into a fight with another Soldier. I was taking a shit in the porter shitter (we were in the field) and some douchebag kept throwing rocks at the box I was in. It is extremely annoying. Now I was already in a pretty crappy mood, and I was never really to fond of this guy who was doing it to me. I finished shitting, got out and we both fought. Eventually it settled down, but I was still pissed off. He kept trying to instigate me, but I kept walking. I was with my battle buddy, as he was with his, so there were four of us total. We were going to put it all behind us... it was pretty much done. Unfortunately for us two, there were witnesses. A couple of prior service saw the tail-end. They were not very happy at the incident, although pretty understanding. The four of us tried talking them out of bringing us to the cadre, but one of the prior service was an E-5 and ordered us to go... so we did. The Cadre asked what happened. They got both sides of the story. All six (two prior service added in) of us were honest. We told the truth... well for the most part. Neither of us straight out lied though and that was the key. Since we told the truth and were honest and remorseful over the incident, we were let off... completely. No UCMJ, no negative counseling, no nothing. How does this help you? Well in the real world, if you are caught in the wrong... well you were caught. There is no point in lying about it because then it makes you look and sound more like the scumbag you really are. It also takes more energy and effort to do so, and usually the truth does come out. Many times honesty gets you further than lying. It's gotten many people I know out of speeding tickets and so on (although for more serious offenses... you may not want to incriminate yourself, lol). In other words, you're more likely to be let off when telling the truth than to lie about it. Honesty is also a way of gaining respect. It's takes [I]personal courage[/I] to be honest when you know you're in the wrong. [B]Drink water![/B] Beat the heat, sergeant, beat the heat! The first day we started the combat medic portion of our training was brutal. It was buddy carries. We learned all the different ways to move a casualty, and then practiced on each other. It was hot and humid as balls outside. The extra gear we had on weighed about 50 to 60 pounds. Unfortunatly for me, I was the smallest guy there. I weigh about 130 to 140 any given week. Most of the others are at least 150 to 160. Plus their gear. At first I was doing pretty well. I was pushing myself in ways I never thought I could, using muscles I never thought I had (which is funny because after some of the creative ways we've been smoked in the past... ugh). A few hours in, the heat was getting to me. I thought I was drinking enough water... but apparently I wasnt. Eventually I started getting light-headed and dizzy... my muscles slowly told me to fuck off... I was a heat casualty. I stepped to the side and told the seargent and he had me sit out and drink water for the rest of the time. Lesson learned: Drink more water. Water is [I]extremely[/I] important. Very very important I might add. Drinking water is not exactly a science. Well actually it is. But it's not very complicated. Water intake should be determined not by a set number, but by how active you are in a day and what the temperature is as well. A good range for consideration, however should not be any less than about 2.5 liters a day and no more than 12 liters, regardless of activity. Never drink more than one liter an hour. Obviously the more active you are, the more water you lose by sweating. Water is also lost by urination (obviously), respiration, and defecation, tears, and other bodily fluids. Certain foods and substances, such as caffeine, alcohol, chocolate, and so forth all act as mile to moderate diuretics, which in many cases will dehydrate you faster than without that crap in your body. Speaking of crap, try to cut out the soda and energy drinks as much as possible. They are toxic. Even fruit juice needs to be consumed in moderation due to it's high sugar content. Beverages high in sugar can also dehydrate you as well due to the osmolarity in the cells and kidnies, and all that fancy medical scientific stuff I don't feel like getting into. In short, watch what you eat and drink. When you drink water, you should not chug it as fast as you can. Your body cannot absorb it that fast, and also chugging large quantities of water fast is likely to make you vomit... very bad. Take a few mouthfuls at a time. A liter should be consumed over the period of one hour, however you can load on your first liter and drink it faster if you are dehydrated, which chances are you are already dehydrated. By the time you feel the urge to drink water, you're already down about 5 percent of your fluid volume. Besides water intake, diet should also be properly balanced to replace the minerals lost, mainly sodium and potassium. The body looses about 900 grams of sodium per liter of sweat (if you noticed this is the same ratio as normal saline, then you get a cookie). Remember, food is also a source of water and should be accounted for to not exceed the maximum water intake a day. Gatorade is a good way to replenish the lost minerals. However Gatorade alone is not recommended and in fact detrimental to your health. Rule of thumb I personally like to follow is drink half the bottle, then refill it with water and drink the rest diluted. When active, one to two bottles is really all you need. The rest of your fluids should be water and the rest of mineral replenishment should be with a proper diet. [B]Quit complaining and stay positive[/B] [B]...oh and remain calm too[/B] Complaing about shit makes you sound like a whiner. It's annoying and it brings morale down. If it really sucks that much, then fix it. If you can't fix it, then stop complaining because you're wasting your energy and pissing off everyone around you in the process. Everyone knows it sucks, but saying it makes it suck that much harder because you're the one solidifying their feelings. Don't be that guy. When shit sucks, you have to stay positive, sometimes to the point where it hurts. Smiles are contagious. The more you think positive, the more you act positive. The more you act positive, the more people like you. You turn into a fun person that everyone wants to be around and soon enough you won't be forever alone. When you first meet someone new, don't let the first thing come out of your mouth be a negative or a complaint. If it is, you will forever be a negative person in their eyes. First impressions count! Make it a positive. If you're with someone you don't know in a stupid situation, like you're stuck on a broken down train, say something funny like "huh... must have ran out of gas..." You gain more respect and you're also able to handle the sitution better. You should also remain calm in bad or stressful situations. Calmness is also contagious, as well as panic. If you are confident and calm, other people will take follow. Soon a terrible situation can not be as terrible. During training, I noticed that those who were more calm and collected were able to perform better needle sticks than their stressed counterparts. I noticed this myself. After dragging my patient off the site of injury, performing all proper checks, I was pretty tense. By the time it came to stick them, I always took a mental step back... a quick breather, and bam! Perfect stick every time...well most of the time, lol Also have you ever noticed that when you lose something and you get flustered, you're less likely to find that item. Even if it comes and bites you in the dick, you will most likely not see it if you're paniking. Just take a step back... count to ten... then go look for your wallet. There are many other values and lessons that can be shared. The ones I gave are a small example of the values you can use to help improve yourself and your way of life. By no means am I saying that this is the best system for everyone. I will say though that it is a great stepping stone into becoming a better person...being able to help fit into the bigger picture and hopefully achieve the end game of a more peaceful way of life.

So in other words, the Army training camp teaches you pretty much the same stuff as kids shows like Arthur. [img]http://images.wikia.com/characters/images/9/96/Arthur_read.gif[/img] Huh. [editline]poo[/editline] nice thread though

Very good thread, but you must remember that most of facepunch has the attention span of a duck

[QUOTE=massn7;35893911]Very good thread, but you must remember that most of facepunch has the attention span of a duck[/QUOTE] I saw a duck cross the road today... it was actually very patient waiting for traffic to lessen.

[QUOTE=Master Kief-117;35893944]I saw a duck cross the road today... it was actually very patient waiting for traffic to lessen.[/QUOTE] Patience and attention span are two different things my friend :v:

Nice thread, I'll print this one off to keep it around.

Don't worry Master Kief, you'll lose your motivation within the year.

Nice read, thanks for the advice

Saving money is hard. May be easy for some, but for me it's hard. I have "no spending days" where the title literally speaks for itself. Fast food is pointless, no matter how good a dairy queen blizzard sounds, if you're going to be home in an hour and there's food there. Oh, water not only helps you save money but it's the best thing for you to drink.

What exactly is your MOS Oh and where's the part with dealing with the scumbags in your platoon

[B]Save your money![/B] Good advice, just don't die before you can spend it or store it where some reckless Wall Streeter can make it disappear. [B]Volunteer when asked[/B]... [B]or ask if you can help[/B] Sounds like an easy way to get yourself appointed company gofer and end up having the shitty parts of five people's jobs dumped on you because you don't stand up for yourself. [B]Don't worry about things you can't control[/B] "Because someone more important than you says so" is no reason to just shut up accept things. [B] There's a bigger picture... You're just seeing the small portion of it.[/B] Usually, if something appears to be happening because your superiors are idiots who aren't good at their jobs, it's because [i]your superiors are idiots that aren't good at their jobs[/i]. We don't live in a meritocracy, and most people in this world are just genuinely shitty at their jobs. The world is run by high school bullshit, rumor-milling, and favoritism/nepotism. Your boss didn't get there by being smarter and wiser and better than the other guy, he got there because his dad plays golf with his boss. Stupidity, greed, and incompetence are the real values that business runs on, and it's a wonder the whole thing stays together as well as it does. [B]Why lie when you can just tell the truth?[/B] Because everyone else constantly lies to your teeth, and you have to do the same to avoid being screwed over. If you constantly lie and deflect blame, fewer black marks end up on your record. If you constantly accept responsibility and tell the truth, every one of your fuckups will be documented and used against you, plus the fuckups that other people have lied about and pinned on you. Recipe for success, right there. People get ahead by lying to claim responsibility to successes and lying to avoid responsibility for failures. [B]Drink water![/B] Good advice, aways. [B]Quit complaining and stay positive[/B] [B]...oh and remain calm too[/B] Easier said than done, but important. That person who lies, bullshits, and plays politics all day is also invariably the boss's best friend. Put on your best positive face for your superiors and they'll be more likely to believe your bullshit over your coworker's bullshit. It's nice to see the Army tries to instill classical, apolitical values, but they're worthless in the real world. Reality isn't a children's book where honest, selfless people win in the end. It's a shitty, petty, miserable grind that rewards the corrupt and immoral and punishes the honest and hard-working.

I've always been told to never trust a used car salesman.

[quote][B]Volunteer when asked[/B]... [B]or ask if you can help[/B] Sounds like an easy way to get yourself appointed company gofer and end up having the shitty parts of five people's jobs dumped on you because you don't stand up for yourself.[/quote] People who volunteer a lot are the best people in the company. I can easily say that I am one of them. Sometimes S-1 would come over to our CTA and ask for volunteers and everybody pussies out and I knew that if nobody volunteers we would end up getting smoked. The 'volunteers' I knew were well-liked and the most motivated out of the rest of the company, they're the ones willing to sacrifice their own time so that the rest of their men could remain in the bays. They're not the rats that everybody throws their chores on. They're not the sycophant, brown-nosing privates that are eager to suck the Drill Sergeant's dick, though we did have a few. [quote][B]Don't worry about things you can't control[/B] "Because someone more important than you says so" is no reason to just shut up accept things. [/quote] You are a Private that signed up to become an American Soldier. I signed up to become a Mortar Infantryman and I always did what I was told. So far it got me to this position where I'm officially a soldier. The Drill Sergeants from my company use the saying [b]'It is what it is'[/b] which means it has already happened and you have no choice but to simply drive on. [quote][B] There's a bigger picture... You're just seeing the small portion of it.[/B] Usually, if something appears to be happening because your superiors are idiots who aren't good at their jobs, it's because [i]your superiors are idiots that aren't good at their jobs[/i]. We don't live in a meritocracy, and most people in this world are just genuinely shitty at their jobs. The world is run by high school bullshit, rumor-milling, and favoritism/nepotism. Your boss didn't get there by being smarter and wiser and better than the other guy, he got there because his dad plays golf with his boss. Stupidity, greed, and incompetence are the real values that business runs on, and it's a wonder the whole thing stays together as well as it does.[/quote] NCO's still get promoted for merit. The Army is downsizing and their literally kicking out NCO's left and right. Each Drill Sergeant had earned their rank and with the Army downsizing it's actually becoming much harder to become a higher rank than it was a decade ago. My platoon Drill Sergeant is only 24 and he became a Staff Sergeant in less than 6 years. He wasn't apart of some prestigious military academy, fuck he didn't even graduate high school. [quote][B]Why lie when you can just tell the truth?[/B] Because everyone else constantly lies to your teeth, and you have to do the same to avoid being screwed over. If you constantly lie and deflect blame, fewer black marks end up on your record. If you constantly accept responsibility and tell the truth, every one of your fuckups will be documented and used against you, plus the fuckups that other people have lied about and pinned on you. Recipe for success, right there. People get ahead by lying to claim responsibility to successes and lying to avoid responsibility for failures.[/quote] Do you even know how the NCO board works?? [quote][B]Quit complaining and stay positive[/B] [B]...oh and remain calm too[/B] Easier said than done, but important. That person who lies, bullshits, and plays politics all day is also invariably the boss's best friend. Put on your best positive face for your superiors and they'll be more likely to believe your bullshit over your coworker's bullshit. [/quote] That's funny, because the private that compulsively lies, bullshits and plays politics all day wound up becoming the scumbag of the platoon and became universally hated throughout the company. We called him 'Princess Peach.'

Holy crap, I remember when you posted that you were leaving. Welcome back and good thread! or was that someone else....

[QUOTE=Master Kief-117;35893432]My six month journey as a Soldier trainee has taught me many valuable life lessons that I feel can benefit the general public if used appropriately. Not only did I learn more about myself during this journey than I have before, I also learned more effective interpersonal skills that will be with me for the rest of my life. I am here to share the values and experiences I learned in hopes to enlighten my fellow FP'ers and hopefully improve your outlook on life and how you interact with not only others, but yourself as well. Many of these are extremely obvious, and most of you are probably already familiar with these concepts. But it's always good to reiterate on what was once learned. Maybe some of my stories can help put these values into perspective. As a soldier we are taught many principals. All of which fall back down on the seven fundamental Army Values, which in my opinion should be the seven fundamental values everyone lives by. These seven values are remembered by a clever mnemonic; LDRSHIP - Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honesty, Integrity, and Personal Courage. Each of these seven values are intertwined in one another, and help build the foundation for a positive way of life. Now besides the seven Army Values, here are many things that are drilled into our heads: [B]Save your money![/B] Every day we were reminded of this, and each weekend before we are released we are reminded of it again. Don't spend your money on stupid shit. Usually after training, many of us have large amounts of money... more than a lot of us have ever had. The money usually comes in enlistment bonuses. I've seen enlistment bonuses up to 40,000 dollars depending on the time and MOS. This is a lot of money, but many soldiers right after training somehow blow it within a few months of their return home. Many buy a new car, many spend it on TV's and other stupid shit. The funny thing, however, it's not only the big purchases that eat away at your account. I'd argue it's the smaller ones that do more damage. That candy bar near the cashier? Put that shit down, you don't need it. That soda? Fuck that, buy a reusable bottle and fill it with water. Not only is it healthier, it's much less harmful to your wallet. The point is, there is no reason to spend that much money that fast. How does this relate to you FPers? Well many of you have jobs, many of you don't. The point being is at this age, you should be saving any money you do make, only spending it on the necessities for life; i.e food, clothing, shelter and the occasional video game, or whatever. The rest should be put into a savings account or invested for your future. Put it toward college, a home, your kids, or whatever. The point is money is something that should be saved and used over a period of time. Start saving for your retierment now. The sooner you start, the more you'll have then. [B]Volunteer when asked[/B]... [B]or ask if you can help[/B] Every day, multiple times a day a cadre member or someone asks for a few volunteers. Those who volunteered more often were generally liked more by others, along with the cadre. They were the "go-getters." They displayed the value of Selfless Service day in and day out. Many of them seek out tasks to help with, never expecting anything in return. Why? Because it's displaying selflessness... putting others before yourself. How does this relate to you? Every day (you're not sitting alone inside on FP) you are probably faced with an opportunity to make a difference and help another person out. Whether it's holding a door open, or helping someone walk their groceries to their car, etc. Whatever. A lot of people "look away" when they notice that old fellow who can barely walk struggling to do X task, imagining that the moment they look away someone else would come and assist them. You have to ask yourself... is that really right? How long would it take to go out of your way to help someone less fortunate? Even if it takes 10 minutes... who cares? There is no way you're in *that* much of a rush where you can't spare those 10 minutes. And imagine this: when you finished helping them, you will have that warm feeling inside that you made a positive difference in someone's life that day. [B] Don't worry about things you can't control[/B] The company I was in for AIT was horrible... It was chaos and disorder on the leadership side. The majority of us would get in trouble for events out of our control; i.e. being told one thing by one cadre member and following that order only to be told that that order was incorrect and we need to pay the price (get smoked, UCMJ, or negative counseling). We were constantly chewed out by our 1st sgt for events that never really happened or were extremely minor. We lost privileges for reasons unknown, and so on. This constant high-stress was mental torture. People's grades started to slip, everyone partied harder on the weekends, got more drunk, etc. It was mostly, if not entirely due to the constant shit we got every day. We never really got a break. It got so bad that we got the Inspector General to start an investigation. Shortly after, we got a little talk from one of the Platoon Sergeants, also the Senior NCO. He basically told us that he saw all the bullshit going on, and there was really nothing he could do about it either. He was almost literally a pawn in the grand scheme of things. He told us that his entire military career, he dealt with a lot of the same bullshit. He learned a way to deal with it. Basically he stopped caring about the things he could not directly control. He told us that things were set in stone... carved into a mountain. They could not be altered no matter how much begging, griping, or otherwise trying to loophole around the system. In other words, trying to do any of that was just a waste of time and energy that could be spent just doing the damn task and getting it over with. How does this relate to you? Every day we all deal with bullshit. Stupid things out of our control. A good example are video game release promises that are never kept. Another are gas prices. Politics? The list goes on. We bitch, moan, and complain about all of those things. We waste time and energy worrying about these things that as and individual we cannot fix. In essence just stop, take a breather, and go with the flow. Now does this mean be completely passive? Hell no. There are some things worth fighting for. But there is a time and a place to do so. Essentially the lesson here is [I]choose your battles wisely[/I]. This all relates into the next discussion point: There is a bigger picture to everything. [B] There's a bigger picture... You're just seeing the small portion of it.[/B] During field training at AIT, when we went out to practice our combat medic skills, we would march with all of our shit down to an open field area with some bleachers. Now the route to get here was not too far, but it was far enough, hot enough, and the gear we were wearing made it a pain to march in, that when we got there, we were sweating like crazy. The stupid part about it was there was a more direct route... much more direct. About 1/4 of a mile more direct. But no. For whatever stupid reason we had to march literally all around on the road to get to our destination... going around our ass to get to our elbow as my step-father would say. It pissed me the fuck off and I had no fucking clue why we did it. We brought it up and it turns out it was a "safety issue" marching us down the grassy hill and that's what they were told we needed to do. They too thought it was fucking nuts, well some sergeants did. They started bringing us down the hill instead. But there was a bigger picture that none of us saw. No one even really thought of the safety issue. A two-dimensional being can only perceive things in two dimensions. A cube will look like a square, and so on. At our level, generally speaking, if we are still posting on this web forum and browsing these same mundane websites, then we are pretty low on the totem poll, relatively speaking. At our level, waiter, cashier, stock boy, even store managers, or whatever we may be, we only see the small picture... the end results. Many of the orders come from higher up... much higher up. To us, we see many unnecessary steps that seem to be half-haphazardly thrown in actually do have meaning and purpose. Someone smarter than us came up with not necessary the most efficient way to do things on the micro-level, but more on the macro level. We are pretty much just cogs in the entire system... each has a specific task that needs to be done in a specific order to achieve the end result. Can these tasks be modified? Yes. But when you try to bring it up and get shot down... well that's when you just got to deal with it and remember to [I]choose your battles wisely[/I]. [B]Why lie when you can just tell the truth?[/B] Fact: It takes more effort to come up with a believable lie than to just be honest. Making mistakes is a part of life. No one is perfect and we all do stupid shit. During my final weeks of training at AIT, I got into a fight with another Soldier. I was taking a shit in the porter shitter (we were in the field) and some douchebag kept throwing rocks at the box I was in. It is extremely annoying. Now I was already in a pretty crappy mood, and I was never really to fond of this guy who was doing it to me. I finished shitting, got out and we both fought. Eventually it settled down, but I was still pissed off. He kept trying to instigate me, but I kept walking. I was with my battle buddy, as he was with his, so there were four of us total. We were going to put it all behind us... it was pretty much done. Unfortunately for us two, there were witnesses. A couple of prior service saw the tail-end. They were not very happy at the incident, although pretty understanding. The four of us tried talking them out of bringing us to the cadre, but one of the prior service was an E-5 and ordered us to go... so we did. The Cadre asked what happened. They got both sides of the story. All six (two prior service added in) of us were honest. We told the truth... well for the most part. Neither of us straight out lied though and that was the key. Since we told the truth and were honest and remorseful over the incident, we were let off... completely. No UCMJ, no negative counseling, no nothing. How does this help you? Well in the real world, if you are caught in the wrong... well you were caught. There is no point in lying about it because then it makes you look and sound more like the scumbag you really are. It also takes more energy and effort to do so, and usually the truth does come out. Many times honesty gets you further than lying. It's gotten many people I know out of speeding tickets and so on (although for more serious offenses... you may not want to incriminate yourself, lol). In other words, you're more likely to be let off when telling the truth than to lie about it. Honesty is also a way of gaining respect. It's takes [I]personal courage[/I] to be honest when you know you're in the wrong. [B]Drink water![/B] Beat the heat, sergeant, beat the heat! The first day we started the combat medic portion of our training was brutal. It was buddy carries. We learned all the different ways to move a casualty, and then practiced on each other. It was hot and humid as balls outside. The extra gear we had on weighed about 50 to 60 pounds. Unfortunatly for me, I was the smallest guy there. I weigh about 130 to 140 any given week. Most of the others are at least 150 to 160. Plus their gear. At first I was doing pretty well. I was pushing myself in ways I never thought I could, using muscles I never thought I had (which is funny because after some of the creative ways we've been smoked in the past... ugh). A few hours in, the heat was getting to me. I thought I was drinking enough water... but apparently I wasnt. Eventually I started getting light-headed and dizzy... my muscles slowly told me to fuck off... I was a heat casualty. I stepped to the side and told the seargent and he had me sit out and drink water for the rest of the time. Lesson learned: Drink more water. Water is [I]extremely[/I] important. Very very important I might add. Drinking water is not exactly a science. Well actually it is. But it's not very complicated. Water intake should be determined not by a set number, but by how active you are in a day and what the temperature is as well. A good range for consideration, however should not be any less than about 2.5 liters a day and no more than 12 liters, regardless of activity. Never drink more than one liter an hour. Obviously the more active you are, the more water you lose by sweating. Water is also lost by urination (obviously), respiration, and defecation, tears, and other bodily fluids. Certain foods and substances, such as caffeine, alcohol, chocolate, and so forth all act as mile to moderate diuretics, which in many cases will dehydrate you faster than without that crap in your body. Speaking of crap, try to cut out the soda and energy drinks as much as possible. They are toxic. Even fruit juice needs to be consumed in moderation due to it's high sugar content. Beverages high in sugar can also dehydrate you as well due to the osmolarity in the cells and kidnies, and all that fancy medical scientific stuff I don't feel like getting into. In short, watch what you eat and drink. When you drink water, you should not chug it as fast as you can. Your body cannot absorb it that fast, and also chugging large quantities of water fast is likely to make you vomit... very bad. Take a few mouthfuls at a time. A liter should be consumed over the period of one hour, however you can load on your first liter and drink it faster if you are dehydrated, which chances are you are already dehydrated. By the time you feel the urge to drink water, you're already down about 5 percent of your fluid volume. Besides water intake, diet should also be properly balanced to replace the minerals lost, mainly sodium and potassium. The body looses about 900 grams of sodium per liter of sweat (if you noticed this is the same ratio as normal saline, then you get a cookie). Remember, food is also a source of water and should be accounted for to not exceed the maximum water intake a day. Gatorade is a good way to replenish the lost minerals. However Gatorade alone is not recommended and in fact detrimental to your health. Rule of thumb I personally like to follow is drink half the bottle, then refill it with water and drink the rest diluted. When active, one to two bottles is really all you need. The rest of your fluids should be water and the rest of mineral replenishment should be with a proper diet. [B]Quit complaining and stay positive[/B] [B]...oh and remain calm too[/B] Complaing about shit makes you sound like a whiner. It's annoying and it brings morale down. If it really sucks that much, then fix it. If you can't fix it, then stop complaining because you're wasting your energy and pissing off everyone around you in the process. Everyone knows it sucks, but saying it makes it suck that much harder because you're the one solidifying their feelings. Don't be that guy. When shit sucks, you have to stay positive, sometimes to the point where it hurts. Smiles are contagious. The more you think positive, the more you act positive. The more you act positive, the more people like you. You turn into a fun person that everyone wants to be around and soon enough you won't be forever alone. When you first meet someone new, don't let the first thing come out of your mouth be a negative or a complaint. If it is, you will forever be a negative person in their eyes. First impressions count! Make it a positive. If you're with someone you don't know in a stupid situation, like you're stuck on a broken down train, say something funny like "huh... must have ran out of gas..." You gain more respect and you're also able to handle the sitution better. You should also remain calm in bad or stressful situations. Calmness is also contagious, as well as panic. If you are confident and calm, other people will take follow. Soon a terrible situation can not be as terrible. During training, I noticed that those who were more calm and collected were able to perform better needle sticks than their stressed counterparts. I noticed this myself. After dragging my patient off the site of injury, performing all proper checks, I was pretty tense. By the time it came to stick them, I always took a mental step back... a quick breather, and bam! Perfect stick every time...well most of the time, lol Also have you ever noticed that when you lose something and you get flustered, you're less likely to find that item. Even if it comes and bites you in the dick, you will most likely not see it if you're paniking. Just take a step back... count to ten... then go look for your wallet. There are many other values and lessons that can be shared. The ones I gave are a small example of the values you can use to help improve yourself and your way of life. By no means am I saying that this is the best system for everyone. I will say though that it is a great stepping stone into becoming a better person...being able to help fit into the bigger picture and hopefully achieve the end game of a more peaceful way of life.[/QUOTE] Hello, I'm a Marine. When you discover that there's jack shit to do and your motivation slowly fades, none of this will be followed.

[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;35895970]People who volunteer a lot are the best people in the company. I can easily say that I am one of them. Sometimes S-1 would come over to our CTA and ask for volunteers and everybody pussies out and I knew that if nobody volunteers we would end up getting smoked. The 'volunteers' I knew were well-liked and the most motivated out of the rest of the company, they're the ones willing to sacrifice their own time so that the rest of their men could remain in the bays. They're not the rats that everybody throws their chores on. They're not the sycophant, brown-nosing privates that are eager to suck the Drill Sergeant's dick, though we did have a few. You are a Private that signed up to become an American Soldier. I signed up to become a Mortar Infantryman and I always did what I was told. So far it got me to this position where I'm officially a soldier. The Drill Sergeants from my company use the saying [b]'It is what it is'[/b] which means it has already happened and you have no choice but to simply drive on. NCO's still get promoted for merit. The Army is downsizing and their literally kicking out NCO's left and right. Each Drill Sergeant had earned their rank and with the Army downsizing it's actually becoming much harder to become a higher rank than it was a decade ago. My platoon Drill Sergeant is only 24 and he became a Staff Sergeant in less than 6 years. He wasn't apart of some prestigious military academy, fuck he didn't even graduate high school. Do you even know how the NCO board works?? That's funny, because the private that compulsively lies, bullshits and plays politics all day wound up becoming the scumbag of the platoon and became universally hated throughout the company. We called him 'Princess Peach.'[/QUOTE] I think you misunderstood. My statements are taking the OP's lessons from the Army and comparing them to regular private sector reality, not Army reality. I'm glad to hear the Army functions like that, but the careers (or series of shitty dead-end jobs) that most Facepunchers will have definitely do NOT function like that.

Thank you for sharing your wisdom OP! Info on how to function in life is underrated.

You sound like a private straight out of boot, wait till you've actually been in your unit for awhile and actually have life experience first before you try and give anyone advice.

[QUOTE=UncleJimmema;35896013]Hello, I'm a Marine. When you discover that there's jack shit to do and your motivation slowly fades, none of this will be followed.[/QUOTE] hahaha so true one friend of mine enlisted in the Marines now he has this sweet ass car and spends his money on these mods for it and he's asian. o.O

op is massive boot

[QUOTE=trotskygrad;35902243]hahaha so true one friend of mine enlisted in the Marines now he has this sweet ass car and spends his money on these mods for it and he's asian. o.O[/QUOTE] Haha he is not Marine, he's chinese mob.

[QUOTE=Master Kief-117;35893432] [B]Quit complaining and stay positive[/B] [B]...oh and remain calm too[/B] Complaing about shit makes you sound like a whiner. It's annoying and it brings morale down. If it really sucks that much, then fix it. If you can't fix it, then stop complaining because you're wasting your energy and pissing off everyone around you in the process. Everyone knows it sucks, but saying it makes it suck that much harder because you're the one solidifying their feelings. Don't be that guy. [/QUOTE] [img]http://terminallance.com/comics/2011-06-09-Strip_131_Bitch_and_Moan_web.gif[/img] Felt like this was appropriate :v:

[QUOTE=Master Kief-117;35893432][B]Volunteer when asked[/B]... [B]or ask if you can help[/B] Every day, multiple times a day a cadre member or someone asks for a few volunteers. Those who volunteered more often were generally liked more by others, along with the cadre. They were the "go-getters." They displayed the value of Selfless Service day in and day out. Many of them seek out tasks to help with, never expecting anything in return. Why? Because it's displaying selflessness... putting others before yourself. How does this relate to you? Every day (you're not sitting alone inside on FP) you are probably faced with an opportunity to make a difference and help another person out. Whether it's holding a door open, or helping someone walk their groceries to their car, etc. Whatever. A lot of people "look away" when they notice that old fellow who can barely walk struggling to do X task, imagining that the moment they look away someone else would come and assist them. You have to ask yourself... is that really right? How long would it take to go out of your way to help someone less fortunate? Even if it takes 10 minutes... who cares? There is no way you're in *that* much of a rush where you can't spare those 10 minutes. And imagine this: when you finished helping them, you will have that warm feeling inside that you made a positive difference in someone's life that day.[/QUOTE] you can do more good by working at a job where you are valued for your specialised skill, and donating some of the money you earn to an efficient charity. by volunteering, you are depriving a job from a more motivated and skilled person than you in that discipline. the economics of specialisation do not change when it comes to charity

[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;35902867]you can do more good by working at a job where you are valued for your specialised skill, and donating some of the money you earn to an efficient charity. by volunteering, you are depriving a job from a more motivated and skilled person than you in that discipline. the economics of specialisation do not change when it comes to charity[/QUOTE] This advice can be used while at work as well. If another employee, manager, whoever else works there asks for assistance, or you perceive that they may need assistance, then be the first one to offer help. This makes people feel they can depend on you. Favors are reciprocal. Imagine you helped all your fellow employees out during your shift one day. You can now go back to any of them for assistance later on. Not only that, but helping out with various chores around you place of employment will make you seem more responsible. If the garbage is full and no one else is tasked to do the job, then take it out. You might just have someone important watching. This is a big way people get promoted. Doing the right thing at the right time. Now let's play a little game. Who of the two would make a better employee? One who is on time every day, but generally keeps to themselves and only does what their job entails (and does a great job at it)... OR someone who may be late a few times a month, however, not only does their share of work, but also goes out of their way to help with other tasks around the job site, and socializes with the rest of the employees while keeping a POSITIVE attitude and displaying "go-getter" like qualities? Employers love that sort of thing. Charisma sells almost as well as a college education.

Yeah well apart from the OBVIOUS good advice in there, there is a whole lot of shitty advices. [QUOTE]Don't worry about things you can't control[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]There's a bigger picture... You're just seeing the small portion of it.[/QUOTE] '' don't worry somebody else is controlling your life '' In the Marines they want you like that, but in a society we need people who can make choices for themselves and can think critically. Thanks for the thought though

^ He's a soldier not a marine, just sayin'. Also please don't say what the Marine Corps wants out of a Marine if you aren't or never have been a Marine.

This thread made my day. Thanks, Master Kief.

[QUOTE=Master Kief-117;35908253]This advice can be used while at work as well. If another employee, manager, whoever else works there asks for assistance, or you perceive that they may need assistance, then be the first one to offer help. This makes people feel they can depend on you. Favors are reciprocal. Imagine you helped all your fellow employees out during your shift one day. You can now go back to any of them for assistance later on. Not only that, but helping out with various chores around you place of employment will make you seem more responsible. If the garbage is full and no one else is tasked to do the job, then take it out. You might just have someone important watching. This is a big way people get promoted. Doing the right thing at the right time. Now let's play a little game. Who of the two would make a better employee? One who is on time every day, but generally keeps to themselves and only does what their job entails (and does a great job at it)... OR someone who may be late a few times a month, however, not only does their share of work, but also goes out of their way to help with other tasks around the job site, and socializes with the rest of the employees while keeping a POSITIVE attitude and displaying "go-getter" like qualities? Employers love that sort of thing. Charisma sells almost as well as a college education.[/QUOTE] How do you draw the line between having your go-getting efforts appreciated and simply getting abused by the employer and becoming the guy that does all the crappy jobs for free? There's a guy at my work who does tons of extra stuff even though he doesn't have to, changing light bulbs, staying late, lifting heavy stuff - all the bad jobs -but because he's so useful and does all that extra stuff for free, he's never going to be promoted

[QUOTE=InvaderNouga;35908300]Yeah what you said is wrong. Sorry. Volunteering in addition to doing your job is a good thing to do. You're not depriving anyone from a job either, since it's volunteer work. You don't get paid for volunteer work.[/QUOTE] no it isn't because there's an opportunity cost to volunteering. you could be getting paid during that time. all volunteering does is inflate your ego because it feels like you're being a good person. if you actually care about helping, you should earn money and give it to well-managed charities that can employ someone or several people in your place, because you can do an order of magnitude more good that way. if, in addition to donating money, you need to volunteer to win friends, status, or maintain your ego so that you won't feel like a selfish cold dick while working, then that's fine, so long as you don't mistake the goal of this activity for actually helping.

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