What is the best O-1 inducting to the unit that you have seen?

2015-05-17T21:37:10-04:00

Over the years I have seen some funny inductions of O-1s into units. The first was in Afghanistan I saw an Ensign of a Seabee unit (Navy) have to carry around a boot that will filled with cement that had rebar as a handle. He had to keep it with him and not allow his chiefs to get it from him. He had to hold it until a more junior officer joined the unit. Well they deployed, he just graduated from his course, and they were not getting any fills....so yeah, not going to happen. The chiefs stole the boot and mailed it home.

During the extended combat training I am on now we had our CSM have a 2LT in our unit hold a plate in the air with a napkin on his forearm and wait in front of the Battalion Commander until the BC told him to put it down or leave. The BC was briefing and did not know what was going on, so the LT stood there for an hour with the CSM standing there grinning.

Share your stories.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made May 18 at 2015 4:21 AM

2015-05-18T04:21:31-04:00

We have a couple of LTs coming in to replace a pair of CPTs. I feel for them.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made May 18 at 2015 5:52 AM

2015-05-18T05:52:26-04:00

I know a couple of 2LTs who while on their first ECT had to make a video for their Commander about saluting 1LTs. I won't mention any names...

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made May 18 at 2015 8:01 AM

2015-05-18T08:01:33-04:00

Or given. Get assigned to the 506th as a brandy spankin' new "dos lost-tenant" and let me know how your initiation into the Brotherhood went. Any Currahees out their that can validate if the initiation has changed in the last few decades?

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made May 18 at 2015 8:04 AM

2015-05-18T08:04:08-04:00

Is this beyond going out into the wood line to shake trees to see if your PSG can find where you are on the map or are we talking the endless line of salutes as your entire platoon exits the motor pool single file, 10 paces apart?

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made May 18 at 2015 8:04 AM

2015-05-18T08:04:58-04:00

I always love that pic Brian!!!

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made May 18 at 2015 8:44 AM

2015-05-18T08:44:08-04:00

Two stories from my own LT days.

1. First official day on duty after commissioning. Show up to drill, only to find out that my company has *9* LTs (including myself), 7 of which are O-1 and 5 of which are freshly commissioned. CO pulls us all in and hands out a slew of mandatory briefings that are due, and says that we all have until lunch to prepare our briefings, which we will then give to the unit either that day or the next. Not only am I the first in the hopper to brief, but the brief I'm given is Homosexual Conduct Policy (this was a decade before the end of DADT). The whole unit decided to turn the briefings into a constant hazing exercise. The only line I still remember was one E-4 who raised his hand and said, "I'm a little unclear about the female side of this policy; can we have a practical demonstration?"

2. Three years later. Still an O-1 (admin paperwork issue; it got remedied a few months later and back-dated). Transfer to a new unit, only to find out that the unit itself is also new, and I'm the 3rd person assigned and the next drill is that weekend. Show up for first drill and I'm literally the acting Battalion Commander. Next day, 4 new people, including one Officer, a MAJ. I'm demoted to acting HHC Commander. Due to the schedule, the next drill is 2 weeks later, and by then they have a new CPT who takes HHC CDR, and I become the S2 (where I was intended). The next drill after that, the third for this unit in total, and we have a brand new arrival: my wife, an E-3 at the time, who was transferred by "needs of the Army" (she did not make the request). This is ironic, as the reason I voluntarily transferred to that unit in the first place was because my wife and I had been in the same unit...