Spartan

I'm a 1LT(P) right now. I have my sequence number and list annotating that I'm promotable. My question is, when the hell do I get promoted? I've asked my commander, S1, and BDE S1 and nobody seems to know when exactly the promotions will start for year group 10. I know a lot is up in the air right now because of the longer periods between promotions and the drawdown...but this is kind of ridiculous. If anyone has any insight into officer promotions or when the sequence numbers will be published for promotion dates I would be much appreciative. Thanks

I recently read an article about the ADF looking at allowing commonwealth and US soldiers who are serving or recently served within their respective militaries to transfer to the ADF within their respective specialty fields. Is this true and how is this possible?

A little background on me. I am a currently serving US Army Field Artillery Officer with 3 combat tours to Iraq. I have fulfilled leadership positions within the Field Artillery branch from Gunner, Section Chief, AIT instructor, Fire Direction Officer, Platoon Leader, and currently a Fire Support Officer within an infantry company. I have certifications in cannon crew member, Paladin Commanders Course, Basic Non Commissioned Officer Course, Total Army Instructor Training Course, Field Artillery Basic Officers Leadership Course, and Joint Fires Observer.

Would these skills and experience transfer to equivalent courses within the ADF, and is field artillery even a branch that is eligible for transfer if the article I read is true? What about transfering for officers?

Serious answers from people who actually know what they're talking about please. Thanks

When I was down range and was engaged in combat my body responded in a number of ways that I did not understand until recently. The most notable effect for me was auditory exclusion. I literally did not hear the sound of my own weapon firing on several occasions. I had tunnel vision on several occasions during actual up close encounters with the enemy, something that wasn't prevalent if the enemy was 50 meters or more away. Honestly, the first time I was engaged I had a very urgent need to urinate was well. Not ashamed to admit that now that I know that it's quite normal. There were times when time seemed to slow down and other times it sped up. Hard to explain.

My question is for anyone who has been in a life or death fight, have you had some of the same physiological responses that I had? Or, if you don't mind sharing, what were some of the reactions that your body went through during the event/events?

It seems here on YA that many people throughout the world legitimately hate us...as a people. I'm curious to know why that is. Do they hate our government, policies, politicians, or the actual members of society? Please make well thought out answers with clear and concise arguments.

Remember, this isn't an opportunity to spam this site, it's an opportunity to help an objective American understand why he is so hated throughout the world without ever having met these "adversaries".

When I came home from Iraq initially, I had Re-occuring nightmares. Over time these subsided, but now, I have extremely violent dreams where I'm either still in Iraq or some other life threatening situation where I end up killing people. Sometimes the dreams are like worst case scenerios for me and I can't tell that I'm dreaming, then, when I wake up my heart is beating so hard that I think it's going to come out of my chest and my pillow is almost always covered in sweat. What does this mean and how do I fix it?

I would like to know what you all think the most intense battles of the Vietnam war were. I know Tet was an intense time but there were several individual battles during that time that all had unique characteristics. Please give a good argument and supporting details. If you have more than one then number them in order of most hard fought and so on please.

I would have to contend that the most intense in my point of view would have to be the hill battles around Khe Sanh, Khe sanh itself, Hue, Ia Drang, and Dak To or hill 875.

I just saw a question about their military strength and I saw a good percentage of the answers being that they are strong enough to defeat the USA. Although I disagree with this, I'm curious to see what evidence the people making those statements will present here. What makes them so sure and how much do they actually know? Is it from experience, education, or pure speculation?

Let the ignorace begin!