US Army Reviews

Pros

Junior and middle management opportunities. Opportunity to travel and learn other cultures. Multitude opportunities to develop a myriad of skills.

Cons

Lack of opportunities for senior management development. Difference in benefits and opportunities available between US Army Reserve and US Army Active Duty soldiers.

Advice to Senior Management

Make available more opportunities for senior leader development of Reserve Officers. Provide the same benefits available to Regular Active Duty Officers

Pros

As long as you do what you are supposed to and do it well then there is great job security.

LOTS of benefits, medical and education are great and you accrue more vacation time here than in any other job.

Cons

Much of the leadership is close-minded and cannot adapt to changing times and often fail to realize that there ARE exceptions to EVERY rule, things are not always black and white.

If you have a problem with leadership it is EXTREMELY hard to address the issue and if it persists your options are limited. You can't just quit like a normal job.

Advice to Senior Management

Learn to adapt to and analyze each situation and then determine a course of action based off the details, rather than just having a black or white/yes or no response. So often Soldiers get screwed-over simply because their leaders won't look at their situation as a single event, rather the leaders look at it as falling under a general category and give a generic response based off of that.

An example: A junior leader is up for promotion but states he is not ready since he has not been in the position long enough and has not even had the chance to actually lead, so instead of giving him more time he is forced to go to a promotion board because "there has been no negative actions against him that would prevent him from going." Now this junior leader is going to become a mid-level leader that doesn't even have the experience of a junior leader and will a) be seen as a terrible leader by his subordinates and, ironically, by the same superiors that forced his promotion, and b) likely become a misguided leader like those that put him there because he was promoted before he could develop as a leader.

Pros

In the Army, the military for that matter, you will be afforded the opportunity to travel, train on different vehicles, weapons, and many other "military" specifics. Army aviation is more relaxed than the rest of the Army with many opportunities for advancement, like becoming a maintenance supervisor or flying as a crew chief. The health/dental care is second to none and paid vacation is pretty cool, especially since you can start accruing leave days from day 1 in the Army.

Cons

Sometimes the work day/week can be long and sometimes youre required to travel to other locations for training exercises. Not to mention the occasional "deployment." The money is decent though..

Advice to Senior Management

I believe that the Army is "sometimes" over micro-managed and would benefit from allowing lower management to perform their duties. Im not implying that every unit is ran in this fashion. In my experience with the army and it management, this is my only complaint. Everything else is tolerable... and even fun.

Pros

Benefits, Camaraderie, Free personal training!

Cons

Long Days, Long Deployments, Sometimes less than desirable leadership.

Pros

The benefits are very good.

Cons

Cannot be sure your leadership will be any good. Revolving door of personnel.

Pros

Experience, Education, Travel and Benefits.

Cons

War Zones - much longer deployments than other services.
Lack of commitment from other government agencies (Dept. of State, HHS, Commerce, Energy, etc.)

Advice to Senior Management

Conduct a corresponding increase of Special Forces as you decrease Conventional Forces.
The number of conflicts from unconventional sources will only increase in the future.
"Terrorism" IS the new warfare!

Pros

good learning experiences, great benefits for education and great for self advancement. once an NCO the sky is the limit and you can learn many different trades along the way.

Cons

long hours are the worst with no over time. deployments every other year can get a bit annoying especially if you have a family the pay sucks for the first few years and its worse if your single.

Advice to Senior Management

more pay! better health care!! better training for leaders and ensure people aren't getting promoted to fast, the promotional system sucks!! some people are book smart where as others are trade smart and do there job well.

Pros

Pride in our country, comradery, duty to our country, retirement benefits. The Army provides soldiers with benefits such as educational benefits, medical benefits,

Cons

Being away from loved ones, especially during the holidays and special family moments....birthdays, weddings, etc. There are many schools that military members have to attend which also take them away from their families in addition to deployments.

Advice to Senior Management

None.

Pros

Great Benefits, 30 Days Vacation, Chance to complete your education while serving

Cons

Basic Training. Waking up early to do Physical Training

Advice to Senior Management

None

Pros

Professionalism, opportunity, travel, cameraderie, family support, medical/ dental and retirement benefits.

Cons

Deployments, quotas in promotions and command selections.

Advice to Senior Management

Make advancement truly merit based.