US Army Reviews

Pros

The US Army is in the business of defending out nation. The training that the army offers is outstanding. i would recommend that anyone who is interested in making this comittment thoroughly review their long term options and goals to make sure that this is a good fit.

Cons

The US Army is in the business of defending out nation. The job is demanding and requires extensive travel and time away from the family.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing good things. The Army is unparalleled in their training opportunity, unparalled in their advancement opportunity. The army offers an excellent basis for training that will make soldiers a success no matter what career they choose to pursue

Pros

travel is a great opportunity

Cons

moving every three years is hard

Advice to Senior Management

I do not have any advice at this time

Pros

health benefits, travel experience, tuition assistance, room for personal growth, team building and leadership skills acquired, and opportunity to meet many different people

Cons

leadership doesn't listen, unqualified people are promoted and often abuse their rank once promoted, if you are lower ranking your opinion does not matter and even when your right your still wrong

Advice to Senior Management

listen and learn from lower ranking soldiers, just because you out rank them doesn't mean that they may not have a good idea

Pros

You'll meet a lot of great people, travel, and have plenty of opportunities to advance. The benefits are great and keeps you feeling secure.

Cons

A lot of the people you work with are completely detached from reality. The pay is lousy. You have very little control of you life.

Pros

-self fulfillment through civil service
-serving something larger than yourself and gaining the personal courage to then know that you can do and accomplish anything

Cons

-low pay
-medical care is not the greatest as many doctors are in training
-too many different assignments and living situations
-lack of adequate housing while sent to areas such as Korea--as housing for soldiers who do not come with their families is stricken to barracks style living all based on rank, and without a high rank you are treated like a child.
-having to always answer to someone for everything and having a policy/rule for EVERYTHING from the way you dress to the way you cut your hair, eat, sleep, drink, etc.

Advice to Senior Management

-Get away from the old style of thinking and start realizing that today's Army is changing faster than the bureaucracy of the army is changing -- start coming up with new ideas for things instead of just continuing traditions from generations past just because that is how its been done for the past 10, 20, 30 years, etc. Some stuff does NOT work!!

Pros

Hollidays, room for advancement. Seeing new places

Cons

Away from family. Pay is very low for the time you work

Advice to Senior Management

Communication

Pros

The benefits are outstanding and are comparable to great US companies. The travel you will incur can be both exciting and burdensome depending on your family situation. The training you receive is very beneficial and broadens your skillset.

Cons

The hours can be very long and demanding. Depending on your job funciton the job can and will be dangerous at times. There are a lot of hoops to jump through to get things done due ot the nature of the system.

Pros

- Great pay and health benefits

- There's nothing like leading Soldiers

- You meet and work worth a handful of great Americans

Cons

- Leadership have no clue that people can't be treated like robots and expect them to constantly perform at 100% 24/7.

- Leadership have no clue that bouncing families around the country and world all the time is going to cause problems with those families.

- Severe integrity issues throughout officer corps and senior NCO Corps.

- Almost uniform risk-adversity.

- No merit based promotion and little to no merit based opportunity unless you are a combat arms branched officer who is willing to work 18 hours a day (Army sees total time spent "working" as the true measure of your worth, not how efficiently and economically you accomplished it).

- Equal pay for unequal work- some of your peers will spend their day on the golf course, consequence free, while you do their job for them and receive the same pay check and work many more hours.

- Most officers are not willing/capable of standing up to their superiors in disagreement in almost all situations, nor are they willing/capable of doing so while offering viable alternative courses of action.

- No officer retention program despite the drastic upcoming drawdown- good officers get out after their initial commitment because they know the organization is severely dysfunctional. Bad officers stay in because they get paid well, never had to do much work (the good officers ended up accomplishing the mission for them), and don't know any possibility for life besides the Army. Results in a very toxic environment for many Soldiers.

- Senior field grade officers tend to think they are still Platoon Leaders and Company Commanders, and in such stick their nose in the business of the leaders in those positions. They display almost uniform distrust of any officer below their own rank to accomplish their mission. As a consequence, the Army is rife with poor quality officers.

Advice to Senior Management

The Army has a severe misunderstanding of how to treat its personnel and how to motivate them. Empowered small unit leaders are the solution for a bottom-up change. As such, superiors need to actively listen and evaluate the advice of their subordinates. The command climate of the Army is exactly the opposite of this right now.

Instill a climate of accountability- if someone fails a mission, truly hold them accountable. Don't send them on their way to fail more without mentoring them, and certainly don't dump their failures on the relatively few competent leaders the Army has for them to clean up.

Pros

its a great place if you need it, if you know how to survive in the world outside the military it was a way better life. inside the military there's way to many dumb decisions directed from someone else sitting in a chair somewhere.

Cons

combined the cons in with the pros

Advice to Senior Management

use common sense

Pros

Adventure, good pay and benefits.

Cons

Your career is not your own. Promotions and pay are not based on merit and perfomance.