From the first day in your first unit untill now. How much has the Army changed?

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 25 Jun 2017 22:44:27 -0400

Response by Jordan Gaudard made Jun 25 at 2017 10:52 PM

Jordan Gaudard — Sun, 25 Jun 2017 22:52:56 -0400

Lots, some good and some bad. There are many times when I hear those senior to me tell stories of "the good o' days" and I know those times are gone, but it isn't always a bad thing. I personally enjoy a good smoke session.

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 25 at 2017 10:57 PM

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 25 Jun 2017 22:57:08 -0400

Basic training at Fort Knox 1979 December 5th made a man out of me I am successful today thanks to my basic training and my experience in the army

Response by LTC John Mohor made Jun 25 at 2017 11:01 PM

LTC John Mohor — Sun, 25 Jun 2017 23:01:59 -0400

SSG Alexander Polson, considering my first active unit, reserve unit and last unit were all inactivated. The Howitzer I started with required a separate FDC with the M-109A2/3 now the M-109A6 I believe has it all on board the gum itself. Many were excluded from serving now women even serve in the infantry.

Response by SSG Ronald Bloodworth made Jun 25 at 2017 11:19 PM

SSG Ronald Bloodworth — Sun, 25 Jun 2017 23:19:23 -0400

The Army was
Still in the process of switching from steel pots to kevlars when I joined. The HMMV hasn't even been invented yet; we still used the M-151 jeep. The M-16 and M-1911, and M-60 machine gun were all in service. There was no such thing as "internet". BDU was the duty uniform; Class A uniforms were green and low quarters required spit shining. US forces were stationed in Europe and other places around the world to deter a soviet invasion. (Yes, the Cold War was real.) Society were the aggressors in Afghanistan and the US government supplied mujah hadeen with stinger missiles and usama bin laden was a recipient of those very weapons. The taliban was compared to the founding fathers after the soviets pulled out and Kabul fell. Saddam Hussein was a U.S. ally with the U.S., Britain, and the soviets arming him to the teeth while Iran& Iraq fought an 8 year long war to a stalemate and then quit.
MRAP was a term that had never been heard yet. Out TTP's were all geared toward open warfare against massive Soviet type formations. The M-1 Abrams was a new weapon system along with some others. Most of what we use today hadn't been fielded yet.
Discipline was more stressed then than now. DADT hadn't even been though up yet, much less, rescinded. The M-72A2 LAW was still used heavily. The AT-4, M-240B, M-9, MK-19, M-249 hadn't been fielded yet.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 26 at 2017 12:01 AM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 00:01:53 -0400

Hey I use to love the knees and ankle rotation!!! But I love the bent leg body twist even better. Works like a charm every morning.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 26 at 2017 6:39 AM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 06:39:58 -0400

The biggest change is the inclusion of women in the combat arms, female rangers! I didn't see that coming when I enlisted in the Infantry back in 2007.

Response by MSG Michael Caldwell made Jun 26 at 2017 7:32 AM

MSG Michael Caldwell — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 07:32:31 -0400

15 duty uniforms and 3 sets of dress uniforms 1979-2013

Response by PFC Jon Petersen made Jun 26 at 2017 8:11 AM

PFC Jon Petersen — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 08:11:13 -0400

I think a lot has changed, especially in Basic training. I was surprised when I out processed at Fort Dix, that the recruits were talking to the Drills like they were on the block.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 26 at 2017 8:35 AM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 08:35:50 -0400

I always find these discussion fun as an Army Brat for my first 17 years seeing what my father experienced as a Soldier, then my 5+ years in college working towards becoming an officer in two commissioning programs, then my last 24+ years on active duty.
Sometimes I feel as if I have been in longer than I really have been, and things sometime blur between what I think I remember and what may have been something I saw before I officially joined!
Regardless, I can say with the best of them, "When I first came in..."

Response by SFC Dennis A. made Jun 26 at 2017 10:00 AM

SFC Dennis A. — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 10:00:56 -0400

I started out with C-Rations and starched Cotton Fatigues. No such thing as computers, internet or cell phones. When I got out we have MRE's, T rations and BDU's we had some computers but no internet yet. Now I read some of the post to try and keep up with what's going on and have to Google about half of what is talked about to figure out what they are talking about.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 26 at 2017 12:16 PM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 12:16:51 -0400

1. M-151 to FAV to HMMWV to MATV...
2. ANGR 106 with a KW7 to KY27 to KY57 to integrated secure voice gear
3. No computers to swapping disks on huge useless desk top with HAVARD graphics to a GRID laptop with DOS to "Windose" to Windows 3.1 and PowerPoint to every Soldier having a "smart device" of some kind
4. OG-107(excellent)/507(crap) to BDUs version 1-4, 6 color deserts, 3 color deserts, the wholly useless ACU and finally the excellent OCP pattern on the still useless ACU frame (Velcro name tags?!? Really?!? My name has never changed and I was in the army for the whole 32 years...)
5. Worn out M-16A1 made by General Motors to M-16A2 fresh out of the box from Colt to the useless M-9 then to the M-4 and all of its variants. (add the M-60 GPMG to the M-249 (okay) and M-240(great))
6. Very few females even on the periphery of the combat arms when I was a Signal Corps PFC to having females join my unit for the first time the day I became an Engineer Company Commander.

I'm a dinosaur, I've tried to keep up and can generally handle myself technologically but there's no way I could have seen the radical change in IT (C4I2) that today's leaders have to deal with. I worry that we'll eventually fall into institutional stupor/stasis because of the vast amounts of data that a commander has at his fingertips.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 14 at 2017 2:20 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 14 Jul 2017 14:20:32 -0400

When I joined 10 years ago; it was definitely a more disciplined war machine and NCO's had more tools that were authorized to use for development in preparation for Iraq and Afghanistan. Now a days if a NCO takes Soldiers into Afghanistan and says don't go and step over there the Soldier while not following orders will ask "why" and end up stepping on a landmine. This analogy goes both ways literally and metaphorically especially when it comes to grooming thought process and military mentality to young Soldiers.
The good part I like though is back in the day us as Soldiers looked up to Bosnia and Desert storm vets. Now were it, and Soldiers look up to us. It's our turn, lets show them what's up.