I got back the the house a day early Thursday night.  I told Leslie I’d be back on Friday, but drove back after we were released. The best decision I made these last two months was driving to Little Rock so I didn’t have to wait for a flight on Friday with the rest of the MPAD. When no one else wanted to eat breakfast, I could hop in the car and go get some coffee. At night when I wanted to skip Golden Corral, I grabbed someone else and we hit some other place. A word about Golden Corral. It’s an OK restaurant as long as quantity = quality in your eyes. I’ve never seen so much fat and gristle on meat like I did at the North Little Rock GC. It is better than the Fort Dix chow hall, so I didn’t complain as much about GC this time in Arkansas.

Yesterday I completed my promotion packet to become a Sergeant. My Platoon/Section Leader, 1LT iPhone, asked me how I would react if I didn’t get promoted. I had to think for a second because I hadn’t considered the possibility of not getting back to E-5. I think I’d throw a serious pissed off fit for a day or two, calm down, and become even more focused on what I would need to do to become a Seargeant. I’ve seen to many sh*tbag NCO’s in my two years in the reserves. I know I can be a better NCO than them and actually maintain the standard like an NCO should. LT iPhone doesn’t think I won’t get promoted, he just likes to ask probing questions to see how people will react. He’s pretty good at it because sometimes I don’t catch him doing it until I’ve already reacted. At the beginning of October I just thought he was being a jerk when he said things like “I know you’re just an E-4, but what do you think about…,” then I recognized what he was doing. It’s a game I like to play every now and then.

Another thing the last two months taught me the value of the Army’s risk assessment.  The Army has a tool called the Travel Risk Planning System (TRiPS).  It the best example of cover your ass micromanagement i’ve ever witnessed in the Army.  The system is designed for soldiers getting ready to take a long trip in their privately owned vehicles (POV).  The TRiPS system asks a soldier various questions about the destination, how much sleep in the last 12 hours, if the solder has taken the Army’s silly Accident Avoidance class, and then questions about alcohol, medication and the weather.

Before you get worried about my safety, because safety is not a joke we are all the Safety OIC, my trip was a low risk.  It helped that I told it I would take a break every two hours and I got plenty of sleep the night before.  Thank you Army for making sure the risk in my travel was mitigated to the lowest, and only acceptable, level.

If the NCO Corps is the backbone of the United States Army, The Risk Assessment Matrix is the tailbone.

Here’s the serious story I did on Staff Sergeant Brian Raley.  My focus statement is “Brian loves Rocking.”

Brian Loves Rocking from Adam Stone on Vimeo.

This post is tagged 1LT iPhone, Accident Avoidance, Cover your Ass, Golden Corral Challenge, Home, Promotion Boards, Sergeant, SSG Brian Raley, Tailbone of the Army, The House, Travel Risk Planning System, TRiPS