Re: "Full Metal Panic" dub (disc 1).

On Mon, 01 Dec 2003 21:28:35 -0500, Jack Bohn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:

>Galen Musbach wrote:
>
>>On Mon, 01 Dec 2003 08:32:46 GMT, Richard Hudson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 10:49:01 -0500, Chris Mattern <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>>wrote:
>>>>
>>>>Um, Mao's 25.
>>>
>>>How does someone become a senior NCO at the age of 25?
>>>
>>>Even in the US, promotions aren't THAT rapid.
>>
>>I made E6 in 5 years -- had no clue what I was doing,
>>but promotions are based on test-taking ability, and I
>>had that.
>
>Eh?  I was given E3 out of bootcamp, and given E4 about two years
>later, but isn't there some time-in-rate requirement before
>advancing?  I mean something on the order of a few years?

Started bootcamp at age 18 in Aug'83 (G.Lakes RTC);
E3 on completion (after about 2 months ... I don't recall
exactly). Basic Electricity and Electronics class was supposed
to take another 2 months, but I finished in 2 weeks because
it was self-paced and I already knew most of it. That allowed
me to start A-school ahead of schedule, which required ...
32 weeks? I think. Promotion to E4 on completion, and
sent on to Power School (6 months in Florida Summer),
followed by Prototype (6 months in Connecticut winter). 
During Prototype, I took the advancement test for E5, 
and passed it, although I couldn't receive the actual pay 
until I'd completed the 1 year time in grade. Then I was 
assigned to a ship; where, after 3 years time in grade, 
I took and passed the E6 exam.

Since I'd made E5 in under 2 years, I was an E6 in
under 5 years. Ironically, the advancement system
played a major role in my never enlisting past the 6 year
obligation that was the initial contract back then. Re-enlistment
normally occurs at the 2, 4, or 6 year point in the first
contract, since the Navy offers sizeable incentives to
people who have completed their initial (expensive) 
training for extending their contracts. But at my two
year point, I was in the middle of being advanced and
would not have received the bonus due my new rank
if I'd signed before the promotion was complete.
(Brevet promotions have a long tradition.) At the 4 year
point, I had to choose between extending for 6 years
as a technician, or waiting 2 years and re-enlisting for
4 years as a supervisor; the supervisor bonus was higher
even at the shorter term, so I waited. And at 5 years,
I received a promotion to duties I subsequently found
myself unable to handle -- the navy doctors told me I'd
be dead before 30 if I couldn't reduce my stress level --
and re-enlisting would have been suicidal.

Now Page 2: Do you suffer from breast pain? Try Udderly 
Smooth, available at your Walmart pharmacy; several 
women have told me that it eases the pain of swollen 
breasts during pregnancy, and I always believe random
unsolicited anecdotal evidence. That's Udderly Smooth
Lotion, available at your pharmacy.

After leaving the service in Aug'89, I decompressed
for a few months and then started college at the
beginning of '90; they don't even ask about SATs
if you're a veteran, and I didn't have to take gym
classes either. Since my main reason for going was
that the Navy was paying for it (tuition assistance
program), I basically took any class that interested
me for the first 2 years (year round studies); when 
the money ran out, I was one semester away from a 
double major in Physics and Math, so I went ahead and 
finished. It was then my thought that, if Math interested
me so much, I should study more of it, and I went
on to Graduate School. 2 more years completed 
a Master's degree, but by then I was showing the 
limits of my ability, and the notion of continuing 
didn't fascinate me. Also, my father had been
diagnosed with a terminal illness, and I thought
it best to stay near home.
Fortunately, a local businessman who had been
trained in electronics in the Air Force was looking for 
someone with electronics supervisory experience; I had 
the credentials, and landed the job. Perhaps being older 
does make a difference, since I was then able to handle it.
In the service, I was always unimpressed by officers 
who thought that a college education gave them a better 
grasp of my job than I had; and yet now I know, having 
received such an education, and real supervisory 
experience, that I didn't understand my job nearly 
as well as I had imagined. 
After nearly 10 years with this company, my main 
responsibilities are new product design and quality 
assurance manager. It can get difficult at times:

Customer calls: "We're having a problem on the 
production line; what do you think could be causing it?"
Me: "Do you have any details?"
Customer: "No, all I know is that we have a problem."
-- I have a low patience threshold with morons, but
it's a bad idea to let the customer know that ...
this is why I could never run the company myself.
The "problem" was that our module couldn't pass
the bench test designed for a competitor's module;
since the circuitry is completely different, this would
be expected by sensible people ... it passed the
operational testing just fine. 
Many of our clients don't understand their own product
requirements, which is why they can't go to a bigger
company for their design work; customized customer
service is what we do well. Our competition can sell
the customer what he asks for; we sell him the module
he needs. The trick is to make the customer aware
of that without letting him know what his actual
requirements are, since he could then go shopping.
We also make specialized single-purpose test
equipment, since bigger companies aren't interested
in the lower volumes.

In case anyone is wondering, I have heartburn
and can't lie down to sleep; the medication just
isn't as effective as it was when I first started
taking it. Drinking too much coffee for too long
really does cause stomach problems; who'ld have 
believed it? I wonder if this post is coherent at all.

-Galen