Posted on Nov 23, 2014
Does anyone get offended by being called a "Joe"
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I recently posted a question about lower enlisted soldiers being offended by being called a "Joe". There was a question about soldiers being offended from being called a "Private" which is an official term. Who's offended by being called an unofficial term such as "Joe"?
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 17
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SGT (Join to see), I don't mind being called a joe. It's what millions of Soldiers were called long before I joined, and I see no reason to break tradition.
You have to be careful, though. In my old unit, our CO (commanding officer) was about to release us for the day and our 1SG was busy at battalion. The CO texted our 1SG to ask if he had anything for us.
Our 1SG's response: "Have the NCOs stand by, but you can let the hoes go." Auto-correct for the win! Our CO earned mega cool points that day for reading us 1SG's typo, lol.
You have to be careful, though. In my old unit, our CO (commanding officer) was about to release us for the day and our 1SG was busy at battalion. The CO texted our 1SG to ask if he had anything for us.
Our 1SG's response: "Have the NCOs stand by, but you can let the hoes go." Auto-correct for the win! Our CO earned mega cool points that day for reading us 1SG's typo, lol.
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SFC (Join to see)
I just call them Richard. When they look puzzled and ask, "Richard???" Thats when I let them have it. I say, "Do you prefer Dick instead?"
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Next thing you know soldiers will get offended by being referred to as soldiers. Someone is always going to be offended by something, so at some point you just have to draw a line and call out ridiculousness for what it is. Joes being offended by being referred to as Joes should seriously put some thought into the idea that they might be in the wrong profession.
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SGT (Join to see)
SGT (Join to see), I can't lie... I laughed the first time I heard an NCO joke about us being privates, but that's because I have really bad taste. I like your analogy of the Army being one perpetual dick joke. That would certainly explain all of the dick drawings I've seen since I joined, lol!
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SGT (Join to see)
SGT (Join to see) Oh you have no idea. When I was deployed to Afghanistan everyone was in two man rooms in our hooch. Two intrepid SGTs that shared a room took it upon themselves to add some artistic culture to their surroundings and proceeded to cover their walls with pop culture dick drawings. Batdick? Check. Air Jordan dick? Check. Casper the friendly dick? Check. Spongedick? Check. By the end of the deployment all four walls were just covered with hundreds of unique dick drawings of above average artistic talent. I'm sure the majesty of their handiwork blinded the future occupants.
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SGT Richard H.
"joes" never bothered me as lower enlisted, but "Sarge" always sounded a bit like fingernails on a chalkboard to my ears.
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SGT James Hastings
Like you, Sgt Hanner, I never was bothered by Joe but Sarge wasn't what I wanted to be called by friends either. I tried as much as possible to be a person to those under me. We knew we were in the Army and yet we still tried to be just people unless someone got out of line.
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