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I've been in the Army for 4 1/2 years now, give or take. From Day 1 arriving to my first unit, I felt the need to compete. I was a PV2, and I made friends very quickly. My battles and I (all of us, PFC and below haha) all had an understanding that we were to compete for EVERYTHING. Yet, that made none of us hate each other. If I sucked at running, I felt no shame or embarassment going to PVT Joe who ran 9 (exaggeration) min 2MRs. We all competed from promotion, and when one got the best of the other, there were never hard feelings. Nowadays, this seems to be non existent in today's Army. Everyone wants to be in the Good Ol' Boy Club, and we, as Officers and NCOs, allow it to happen. I've seen countless Specialists get to go to the board and pick up 5 the next month...why? They DONT work, ZERO leadership ability, ZERO knowledge of respective MOS, etc. But, because said Specialist is a good guy, he gets "buddy system'd" into everything. My question for all of you is, how do you cope? I've voiced my concerns, and I get told, "Get promoted." Check roger, done that. I got promoted, now, what actions can I take short of continuing to make him look bad? Trying to get a reduction board is like trying to push spaghetti uphill! What do we do as Leaders to stop this?
Posted in these groups: 
NCOs
Competition
NCOs Competition
Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 11
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SGT Simpson, you gave the reason for the problem in your comments. "We, as Officers and NCOs, allow it to happen." You cannot influence the entire Army, maybe not your BDE, maybe not your BN, maybe not your Company...But you should be able to affect your Team, your Squad, and your Platoon.
Begin by holding yourself and your Soldiers to standards. If others don't follow, they will at least notice, and you will be proud of the job you have done.
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My observation over 25 years as it pertains to promotions ect: 80% networking, 15% hard work and deserving, 5% slips through the cracks. Adapt or get left behind....
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And here all this time I thought it was just in the Navy. This is the biggest reason that I didn't stay in past 10 years. I wanted to build MY career from my hard work, not someone else's.
(5)
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