The first month or so of being back in the office has been a crazy transition. I was expecting to come back to the same situation but almost everything was different. My team's production was down almost 60% and my Station Commander got a DUI so there was an internal promotion for his spot. On top of that, the entire battalion/brigade is not doing so well for recruiting numbers, even compared to other battalions or brigades in USAREC.
This has caused what I call "The natural cascade of ass-chewing". Here's how it goes: My brigade commander reports to the USAREC commanding officer, a two-star general, who was undoubtedly not pleased with the sudden drop in numbers. On top of that, there is usually a policy that the brigade with the lowest production gets a mandatory ass chewing once a month/quarter for being at the bottom. If you're above the bottom 20% or so then you're good but you don't want to be lower than that. My brigade commander probably got an ass-chewing for being at the bottom and having an overall lower number than usual for our brigade. This then trickles down to my battalion commander out of Houston. Houston battalion normally is a great big producer of bodies for the Army because it's densely populated area and it's in the south where people like the military and don't mind working hard for a living. Due to the recent winter storm and a few other factors, our battalion is not doing so hot. There is a widespread lack of manpower within the battalion to add to the grim situation. More people on the phones means more chances of contacting someone who may be interested in the Army!
Any how, My battalion commander didn't like his bottom of the barrel ass chewing as we were two spots away from rock bottom. This in turn passed down to my company commander: a vegan who was OCS and not prior service. If you've been in the military you'll understand why that is funny and not desirable. He mandates tons of phone calls that don't make sense and hours that are unreasonable. I also was chastised for asking for more manpower when the battalion commander and the company commander came for a visit. I have many qualms with my commander about various things but when he is in our office we almost always have a candid discussion about one thing or the other we disagree on. I find him both slightly bothersome and entertaining to interact with.
I have been seriously contemplating starting a podcast. I have a genuine interest in getting to know people and how they look at life and how they have lived. I have loved podcasts almost since the inception of a podcast on the apple music store. I remember fondly downloading them onto my Ipod when I was in high school wondering why the store didn't charge people for hours of great content. I have a laptop and a great microphone for doing it. I have all the software for editing and reaching out to people via Zoom or Teams to get a conversation going. I think that maybe I'm a little scared or intimidated. I think maybe I still worry about my image on social media. I find myself making excuses such as "they won't want to be interviewed by a nobody" or that I am not special enough to have a podcast. I mean, even if nobody listens to it, I think I would be satisfied having done it. I will send an invite to someone this week, and I have a few in mind, to interview and do my first ever podcast. Hopefully during work hours! I'll say it's for recruiting but really it'll be for me.