BJJ and venting about work...
Have you ever witnessed such blinding incompetence, such staggering stupidity, that you almost felt fortunate? Kind of like getting beat up by Bigfoot or stepped on by Nessie. It's not pleasant, but it is just so extraordinary that you know nothing else will ever compare.
Speaking of getting beat up...
One of my buddies at work and I have taken the game to a whole new level. Instead of straight jiu jitsu, now it is closed fist to the body, open hand strikes to the face, and kicks to the body. These are not light blows either. My whole left side ribcage looks like I was in a car wreck.
It's much easier to understand now when a guy with a jiu jitsu background spends a whole match with someone in his guard in a vale tudo event. It makes a failed sweep so much more costly lol. I did eventually sweep, pass, mount, and pummel him, but my body took a lot of punishment before it happened. I didn't catch too much in the face, and nothing with much power, it's much easier to defend than the body.
It adds another element to your submissions too. I used a straight arm bar from the mount in the end, but he almost escaped. Normally he probably would have, but after I popped his open face a few times he moved his hands and I secured the arm to finish.
The guy I'm fighting is a new Drill Sergeant candidate. He's another Infantry guy, almost my size, I've got maybe 5 or 10 pounds on him, and always gives a very tough fight. he's gonna beat me pretty soon, and it'll probably be by guillotine choke on a takedown attempt. I need to work on my takedowns a lot, but that's only gonna help if I work on them at full speed. I have a bad habit of letting my head get outside their body when I do, and it's gonna cost me eventually.
Anyway, I needed to write something, and this is the first time I've been home before 2130 all week. I can't really write about work except to say that eventually it has to get better, but it won't until some people rotate out of the company. I figure if POWs can spend years in captivity, I can hold out for another few months. My main objective now is just not to get fired. I don't make decisions any more unless I absolutely have to. I have been told to "scan my lane" and not try to step beyond my responsibility as a Staff Sergeant (even a Staff Sergeant Promotable with almost three years experience on the trail), so I am forced to watch as the company makes many of the mistakes I've seen before and an amazing amount of catastrophic mistakes that I truly never could have imagined.
So I scan my lane. I train my Privates within the limitations placed on me, and I do my best to make sure that anything they miss or get shorted on gets made up for later. This means that it takes more time, but that's ok since nobody is allowed to go home before 2100 anyway lol.
Anyway, maybe I'll write more later. I've bitched enough already and I'll probably erase it before long but we'll see. You gotta understand that most of the Army is not like this and this is in no way an indictment of the Army or even Fort Jackson. (Actually, the level of training at Fort Jackson has increased tremendously in the last three years.) Occasionally you just end up in a bad unit, and before too long either higher will realize it and make changes or someone will leave in the natural course of things and it all averages out. I just kinda feel bad for the outstanding privates I have this cycle. They're not really getting shorted, they're just not getting the higher level of training and discipline that most of my past cycles have gotten. I'm afraid BRM is really going to be horrible this cycle. We qualify Wednesday. I can't expect too much from the Privates, even though we had a good group. It's not gonna be their fault when we have truly abysmal stats. They are feeling nearly as dogged out and run down as all the Drill Sergeants are for one thing, and that's never part of a recipe for success in marksmanship.
Enough rambling... out for now.
Speaking of getting beat up...
One of my buddies at work and I have taken the game to a whole new level. Instead of straight jiu jitsu, now it is closed fist to the body, open hand strikes to the face, and kicks to the body. These are not light blows either. My whole left side ribcage looks like I was in a car wreck.
It's much easier to understand now when a guy with a jiu jitsu background spends a whole match with someone in his guard in a vale tudo event. It makes a failed sweep so much more costly lol. I did eventually sweep, pass, mount, and pummel him, but my body took a lot of punishment before it happened. I didn't catch too much in the face, and nothing with much power, it's much easier to defend than the body.
It adds another element to your submissions too. I used a straight arm bar from the mount in the end, but he almost escaped. Normally he probably would have, but after I popped his open face a few times he moved his hands and I secured the arm to finish.
The guy I'm fighting is a new Drill Sergeant candidate. He's another Infantry guy, almost my size, I've got maybe 5 or 10 pounds on him, and always gives a very tough fight. he's gonna beat me pretty soon, and it'll probably be by guillotine choke on a takedown attempt. I need to work on my takedowns a lot, but that's only gonna help if I work on them at full speed. I have a bad habit of letting my head get outside their body when I do, and it's gonna cost me eventually.
Anyway, I needed to write something, and this is the first time I've been home before 2130 all week. I can't really write about work except to say that eventually it has to get better, but it won't until some people rotate out of the company. I figure if POWs can spend years in captivity, I can hold out for another few months. My main objective now is just not to get fired. I don't make decisions any more unless I absolutely have to. I have been told to "scan my lane" and not try to step beyond my responsibility as a Staff Sergeant (even a Staff Sergeant Promotable with almost three years experience on the trail), so I am forced to watch as the company makes many of the mistakes I've seen before and an amazing amount of catastrophic mistakes that I truly never could have imagined.
So I scan my lane. I train my Privates within the limitations placed on me, and I do my best to make sure that anything they miss or get shorted on gets made up for later. This means that it takes more time, but that's ok since nobody is allowed to go home before 2100 anyway lol.
Anyway, maybe I'll write more later. I've bitched enough already and I'll probably erase it before long but we'll see. You gotta understand that most of the Army is not like this and this is in no way an indictment of the Army or even Fort Jackson. (Actually, the level of training at Fort Jackson has increased tremendously in the last three years.) Occasionally you just end up in a bad unit, and before too long either higher will realize it and make changes or someone will leave in the natural course of things and it all averages out. I just kinda feel bad for the outstanding privates I have this cycle. They're not really getting shorted, they're just not getting the higher level of training and discipline that most of my past cycles have gotten. I'm afraid BRM is really going to be horrible this cycle. We qualify Wednesday. I can't expect too much from the Privates, even though we had a good group. It's not gonna be their fault when we have truly abysmal stats. They are feeling nearly as dogged out and run down as all the Drill Sergeants are for one thing, and that's never part of a recipe for success in marksmanship.
Enough rambling... out for now.
posted by Jack at 10:18
4 Comments:
$375, drill seregant... $375.
lol -- I'm waiting for someone to actually say that to me!
DS BCM
Well, as a mom, I have to say that to me - the most important thing is that my son get the very best training and I think he got excellent training during his basic. Every soldier deserves to have the best base to start from. Sounds like you go the extra 5 miles to make sure your soldiers get that... and even though none of them are my kids - I can't tell you how much I appreciate your efforts.
Oh and I hope your ribs are feeling better!
Thats an interesting take on your exerpt on "Elite". I too feel the need that training or personel attitudes within soldiers needs to be adjusted, especially while being in IRAQ for the past 8 months, and working with the NATN'l Guard. I can personnally see the diffence amongst soldiers who have a lack of Training( basic soldering skills)and the ones who do this on a day to day basis having that "winner" attitude. But I always remind myself that the ARMY and even the NatN'l Guard respresents American society as a hole. The Same Army and American society who's soldiers have been awarded the distinguished Medal of Honor, only three since 1975, all belonging to the Army. I get frustrated seeing ate up soldiers, especially ones that don't believe within the Army values to include their bass-ackwards leardership. But yet I always remind myself it these average everyday soldiers who are the ones protecting this country of ours, and it's these same soldiers who will be recognized throughout history. This is one concept the Marine Core will never understand, it takes an average everyday person(soldier) to overcome tremendous obstacles. So the corp may classify themselves as "elite" but keep one thing in mind the Marine corp may make the front pages, but it's the ARMY that makes history!
Makes you wish you had it on tape, well maybe, hang in there, not much longer
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