It's a small Army

[brinktk]

When I was a young soldier there was a member within my Battery that I genuinely did not get along with. To me, he seemed pompous, arrogant, and unwilling to admit EVER that he could do wrong. He outranked me for a time and really tried to get under my skin on several occasions because of that rank. Him and I butt heads on many occasions and came close to fighting one another several times. He was also lazy, not willing to learn his MOS, and couldn't run for more than half a mile without falling out. Needless to say, the day that I didn't have to deal with him anymore was a happy day for me.

Now, I must say that I try not to be a petty person, and I also try my damndest to remain professional at all times...yet, I am human....

Fast forward 10 years to a dining facility on Custer Hill, Fort Riley Kansas...I'm eating my breakfast with a fellow platoon leader this morning...We are BS'ing about one thing or another and I glance my head to the right...lo and behold...my favorite person in the Army materializes in my field of view. He immediately recognizes me and comes up to greet me. I notice immediately that he is grossly overweight, still a specialist (E-4), and looking like a bag of donuts...I fail to mention any of this to him as I query about what he's been up to the last 10 years in the Army...Apparently, not much...he had not yet deployed and managed to grumble about how he was getting screwed by being chaptered out of the Army...I sat back in my seat and he immediately realized that I was now an officer...his jaw dropped and the look on his face was priceless. Of course I managed to to keep the conversation civil and bid him farewell as he went to sit down and eat his breakfast.

Lesson to be learned...it's a small Army, you never know who you're going to run into if you stay in long enough...also, don't let anyone get you down or compell you to do something stupid. This soldier used to tell me that I would never amount to anything and that I would NEVER outrank him...the point is, be carefull who you're an a--hole to, because what goes around really does come around....small victories!

 

[muscogeemike]

When I was a young soldier there was a member within my Battery that I genuinely did not get along with. To me, he seemed pompous, arrogant, and unwilling to admit EVER that he could do wrong. He outranked me for a time and really tried to get under my skin on several occasions because of that rank. Him and I butt heads on many occasions and came close to fighting one another several times. He was also lazy, not willing to learn his MOS, and couldn't run for more than half a mile without falling out. Needless to say, the day that I didn't have to deal with him anymore was a happy day for me.

Now, I must say that I try not to be a petty person, and I also try my damndest to remain professional at all times...yet, I am human....

Fast forward 10 years to a dining facility on Custer Hill, Fort Riley Kansas...I'm eating my breakfast with a fellow platoon leader this morning...We are BS'ing about one thing or another and I glance my head to the right...lo and behold...my favorite person in the Army materializes in my field of view. He immediately recognizes me and comes up to greet me. I notice immediately that he is grossly overweight, still a specialist (E-4), and looking like a bag of donuts...I fail to mention any of this to him as I query about what he's been up to the last 10 years in the Army...Apparently, not much...he had not yet deployed and managed to grumble about how he was getting screwed by being chaptered out of the Army...I sat back in my seat and he immediately realized that I was now an officer...his jaw dropped and the look on his face was priceless. Of course I managed to to keep the conversation civil and bid him farewell as he went to sit down and eat his breakfast.

Lesson to be learned...it's a small Army, you never know who you're going to run into if you stay in long enough...also, don't let anyone get you down or compell you to do something stupid. This soldier used to tell me that I would never amount to anything and that I would NEVER outrank him...the point is, be carefull who you're an a--hole to, because what goes around really does come around....small victories!

My story is very similar to yours. I served in several fields and MOSs and it was astonishing how I would meet up with soldiers from my past.

As a young Army draftee in 1966 I was sent to Germany. My squad leader and section chief was an overweight, chain smoking, alcoholic Sp5. I don’t remember him doing much of anything except smoke, drink coffee and BS. He was infamous for squandering his pay on women, booze and gambling and neglecting his family. Unfortunately he was also a USMC Korean War Vet (I believe he had a Silver Star) and apparently in those “old days” that made him untouchable. Even in those days he was a disgrace as a soldier and a man.

The years passed and I stayed in the Army. In 1972 I was deployed from the states to Germany on a REFORGER exercise. The last few days of the exercise was with our parent unit, the same one I had been sent to in 1966. Upon arriving there I discovered that this same guy was still there and was still a Sp5, by now I was a Plat Sgt.

You are so right - little things have a way of coming back to bite you in the ass.

 

[viper2007]

You know something guys, I suppose all of us had this sort of encounter sometime or other in our lives. What brinktk and muscogeemile said is really true- what goes around do come around.

My personal experience was in the nursing line- I had this RN who was my senior, knows nuts about certain things, but would act like a know-it-all. He, too, said that I would not amount to anything... Or so, he thought...

Some years later, I was managing the ambulance service of a healthcare organisation in Singapore. We were advertising for RNs to be part of the ambulance crew. Lo and behold, guess who came to apply... none other that that guy!

It was indeed a shock for him to see me doing the selection interview- he told me that he probably would not get the job after all the nasty things he did to me. I actually called him a few days later to inform him that he was successful- he did meet the criteria set by the management.

But sad to say, we had to let him go after a period of 6 months, the ambulance team was constantly complaining about him, in fact, none of the team wanted to work with him- I guess old habits die hard...

God do have a sense of humor!

 

[DocWatson]

I ran into the same sort of thing an a few occasions. As a young soldier I was hell bent on making it into a more refined unit that our Army has to offer. There were two certain NCOs who I clashed with, both were training hard to try out for the same unit and in their view I would never make it in any part of the Army. Gladly I moved on and did not see them for several years.
Now when I think back I still get that magnificently warm sense of satisfaction I felt the next time I ran into them. They having not changed fired off an insult to which all I could do was smile. They were still with the same unit and did not seem to have improved themselves at all.
'What the **** are you smiling at?', was one challenge.
To which I simply reached into my Para smock, removed my sandy brown beret and placed upon my head winked and went upon my merry way.