The post whore thread.

[HoneyBadger]

Can your "boss" write something that bad at this point in the game to screw you down the road ? You're not getting paid for the xtra time AND being transferred too.

Actually yeah... My he has another month to write my performance report. Either way, I want to do a good job and leave people remembering me in a positive way. I'm doing good things for the big picture at work, but most days, I'd rather spend that time with my family.

[wax_job]

Here guys with kids under 4, listen to this RadioLab pod cast. http://www.radiolab.org/story/91697-numbers/

The very top play button plays the entire hour long program, which is awesome, as RadioLab always is, or you can listen to each of the three parts. The first part is about babies and math. Pretty interesting, and has an experiment you can try with your own kid!

Sweet. I'm all about these types of things. Thanks

[Great-Kazoo]

Actually yeah... My he has another month to write my performance report. Either way, I want to do a good job and leave people remembering me in a positive way. I'm doing good things for the big picture at work, but most days, I'd rather spend that time with my family.

Have you told him family time is as important as /mil time? Or is he another one of those Zero's who uses rank to intimidate those under his / her command.

[HoneyBadger]

That's the thing - he has a wife and 2 kids... But he happily spends 12+ hours at the office every day.

I really don't understand how his marriage works. He ALWAYS places his career ahead of his family. I have argued a few times about it, but at the end of the day, I'm basically at his mercy.

[Irving]

So I was in the middle of this podcast http://www.radiolab.org/story/haunted/ , standing in the garage, looking for something when I caught a glance of movement going across the partially open door into the house. It immediately sent shivers down my spine, HARD. Now, I have two cats, a dog, a wife, and a kid. I figured it was one of them, but it didn't change the fact that it gave me the shivers. It turned out to be my wife, who got yelled at for scaring me.

[TheBelly]

Have you told him family time is as important as /mil time? Or is he another one of those Zero's who uses rank to intimidate those under his / her command.

This issue has always amazed me in two different respects:

The first is a concept I was taught called 'Mastering the Third Drawer.' It's a concept that basically means to prioritize your work, and then be able to quantifiably justify those priorities to your subordinates. It's very easy to do once you get the hang of it. One of the finer points that's worth mentioning is that the boss should never encumber his subordinates with those things that are not a priority. We all have to be careful about what we actually dive into and get pesonally involved in. I explain my priorities, explain the different projects, delegate the projects, and then understand that it's up to ME to guide their work. That means that I will have to go to their work station, site, bay, whatever and provide direction for keeping them on the course that I have laid out for them. The folks who are very good at this most often work for people that haven't figured this out. I'm ready to go at 3PM, but I have to sit around and wait for my boss to tell me that HE's done with HIS work. that's crap. If the boss does their job and actually manage projects, not just delegate-n-wait, then maybe he'd be done with work, too.

The second concept is something that has always been a pet peeve of mine, and it goes to the very reason that most enlisted Soldiers/Airmen/Saiors/Marines think very low of their Officers. Simply put, What good is mission accomplishment if you've burned out all your Soldiers? Will there be long nights? Yes. Will the be hard work? Yes. Will there be some definite 'What-The-Heck-Was-THAT?!' moments? Yes. The Officer that stays engaged is the one that will ultimately be more successful. Why? He's got the support of his whole unit/section/squad/etc. Soldiers will walk to the ends of teh earth for an Officer that shows courtesy when there is nothing to gain by showing courtesy. All it takes is ONE Officer to sit their troops down and say, "This is about to suck. Here's why......... We need to get the following things done......... Here is our timeline........ If you need me, I'm going to be in bay#3/squad room/etc. helping SGT Smith accomplish this mission. NCOs, let's meet up again at <time> and please update me. I'll go update the Commander and keep him out of our hair. Take the next ten minutes to update your families and friends, please."

The Officers Plan
The NCOs Supervise
The Soldiers Execute.

When the planning is done, the Officers should help Execute or Support the Execution. This means that *gasp* they might have to take instruction from an NCO. Most Officers will see this as demeaning, and that's why they'll never be as successful as others. Taking instruction from the NCOs isn't something that pulls from an Officer's authority. A LOT of Officers are just too sensitive about taking instruction from those who they outrank.

[Great-Kazoo]

This issue has always amazed me in two different respects:

The first is a concept I was taught called 'Mastering the Third Drawer.' It's a concept that basically means to prioritize your work, and then be able to quantifiably justify those priorities to your subordinates. It's very easy to do once you get the hang of it. One of the finer points that's worth mentioning is that the boss should never encumber his subordinates with those things that are not a priority. We all have to be careful about what we actually dive into and get pesonally involved in. I explain my priorities, explain the different projects, delegate the projects, and then understand that it's up to ME to guide their work. That means that I will have to go to their work station, site, bay, whatever and provide direction for keeping them on the course that I have laid out for them. The folks who are very good at this most often work for people that haven't figured this out. I'm ready to go at 3PM, but I have to sit around and wait for my boss to tell me that HE's done with HIS work. that's crap. If the boss does their job and actually manage projects, not just delegate-n-wait, then maybe he'd be done with work, too.

The second concept is something that has always been a pet peeve of mine, and it goes to the very reason that most enlisted Soldiers/Airmen/Saiors/Marines think very low of their Officers. Simply put, What good is mission accomplishment if you've burned out all your Soldiers? Will there be long nights? Yes. Will the be hard work? Yes. Will there be some definite 'What-The-Heck-Was-THAT?!' moments? Yes. The Officer that stays engaged is the one that will ultimately be more successful. Why? He's got the support of his whole unit/section/squad/etc. Soldiers will walk to the ends of teh earth for an Officer that shows courtesy when there is nothing to gain by showing courtesy. All it takes is ONE Officer to sit their troops down and say, "This is about to suck. Here's why......... We need to get the following things done......... Here is our timeline........ If you need me, I'm going to be in bay#3/squad room/etc. helping SGT Smith accomplish this mission. NCOs, let's meet up again at <time> and please update me. I'll go update the Commander and keep him out of our hair. Take the next ten minutes to update your families and friends, please."

The Officers Plan
The NCOs Supervise
The Soldiers Execute.

When the planning is done, the Officers should help Execute or Support the Execution. This means that *gasp* they might have to take instruction from an NCO. Most Officers will see this as demeaning, and that's why they'll never be as successful as others. Taking instruction from the NCOs isn't something that pulls from an Officer's authority. A LOT of Officers are just too sensitive about taking instruction from those who they outrank.

We had a LtJg who was more concerned about getting promoted, than his squadron. Fortunately there were others in the chain of command who had their shit together and knew how to get things done efficiently. It worked out as the LtJg wasn't able to pass his test for Lt so he got transferred.
Time management is a pet peeve, we saw it working for the state. There's the get it done AND there's the state employee mentality. One handles business, the other is sipping coffee complaining they don't have time .

What's that saying, A real leader looks for Solutions,Not Problems.

[fly boy]

lunch time!

[KS63]

It's official for me. STI double stack magazines are the worst, over priced SHIT I've ever owned. Got a high priced gun that won't function without buying 3rd party springs, spacers, base pads and followers. It makes the SV tuned mags at $145 each seem like a good deal. Made proudly in America. Yeah right!

[OtterbatHellcat]