LS69TA

iTrader: (30)

Just wondering how many of you active duty guys don't mind civilians? On my R&R trip home, I was the only one on my flight with like 400-500ish soldiers and not a one would even say a word to me, just mainly give me bad looks and one kept kicking the back of my chair during a briefing knowing it was pissing me off. Seems like contractors get treated like they're made of gold but us tax-paying DOD guys get treated like sh*t...is that the general consesus or am I just thinking too much into things?

BADFNZ

iTrader: (19)

I can't speak for everyone else, but I like dealing with civilians in different departments around base (TMO, IEU, Finance, etc). They seem to actually care and try their best to satisfy whatever needs to be done.

bballr4567

iTrader: (5)

I dont mind them at all!!!

Usually nobody talks to nobody on R&R flights because well you are pissed that you are in country and pissed you are going to have to come back to said POS country.

alc80

iTrader: (3)

i cant stand the civilians who work at our flightline galley, the cashier woman wont even reach inches to take your money. its like doing yoga stretches to reach over the counter to hand her the money for breakfast so she doesnt have to burn 1 calorie during her work day.......rant over.

other than that i like civilians

4150

iTrader: (13)

I work in Aviation Supply in the Navy and due to military downsizing a lot of our jobs have been taken over by civilians so we have ended up working side by side with them, some are good(usually retired military) but some of them are pretty bad. They are spoiled and whine when they have to go even a little bit out of their way for someone. The two fat ladies who work across from me are horrible, all day I get to hear them talk about what they are bidding on on ebay or bitch about some costumer who pissed them off.

About half of them(always the same ones) usually show up about 10-15 minutes late and leave 10-15 minutes early everyday, to ensure their job security they make sure not to show any military how to do their specific job or completely forbid us from doing it when they are not there. We get a lot of pissed off phone calls from squadrons when they can't get a specific part for their aircraft to make a mission because the person(civilian) has gone home or it's a weekend and we are not authorized to recall them. Of course nothing has been done to try and correct the situation because the COC is afraid of the civilians for some reason.

It's been said that civilians will replace us entirely at shore commands like where I'm stationed at right now, all hell is going to brake loose when that happens.

It just seems we got stuck with a lot of bad apples where I work at, the others I deal with on base are pretty cool for the most part.

weberje

iTrader: (1)

[QUOTE=4150;9471613]About half of them(always the same ones) usually show up about 10-15 minutes late and leave 10-15 minutes early everyday, to ensure their job security they make sure not to show any military how to do their specific job or completely forbid us from doing it when they are not there. We get a lot of pissed off phone calls from squadrons when they can't get a specific part for their aircraft to make a mission because the person(civilian) has gone home or it's a weekend and we are not authorized to recall them. Of course nothing has been done to try and correct the situation because the COC is afraid of the civilians for some reason.
QUOTE]

Is unfortunate to hear of the sack-less COC, b/c I'm sure these people have some higher director/boss. Have you voiced your concerns to your next in the chain?

I'm on the fence about civilian contractors. I understand the demand for them to free up our manpower so we can fight. However, as stated above, there can be a severe deficiency in work ethic and customer service, typically from the ones who've never served themselves.

I work in a training command (Instructor) so I am surrounded by many. My entire base is filled with naive, doe-eyed boots- so I find alot of our contractors get their rocks off pushing these guys around. Going to the gym, I have no distinguishing rank insignia, and they will talk to you like a dog.

My Pops served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam, so I grew up with his stories. Lemme share with you some of his wisdom to better put your place in this world into perspective:

There are different types of people in this world-

First, there's the "sheep".
The sheep are your average civilian- they follow all the latest trends and fads so they can fit in and be part of the flock (i.e. pink shirt with popped collar, dinner plate sized belt buckle, chain wallet that wraps around knees then connects to nipple). they will/can not defend themselves.

Second is the "wolf".
These are obvious: criminals, murders, rapists, terrorists, etc.

Last, is the "shepherd" or "sheepdog".
These are people like the fire dept, law enforcement, and military whose job is to protect the sheep from the wolves.

So, when Mr. Grabasandwich gets lippy or treats you dirty, keep that in mind. We do what we do for them.

robcas47

iTrader: (2)

It sounds like you just happened to be on an airplane with a crappy unit. soldiers going on leave shouldn't have much to be in a bad mood about, it's the one's coming back from leave that usually have an attitude problem. the only reason i can think of as to why you were getting dirty looks is because those soldiers were wishing they were still a civilian. regardless, it's not your fault they chose to serve and are in a POS country away from their families. as for the jerk who was kicking your seat, well you should of said something. if he was a lower enlisted soldier and mouthed off to you, then a near by NCO would have put him in his place. every group of soldiers traveling on R&R has either an NCOIC or a OIC for that unit's group and if this problem ever happens again then you just need to find out who it is and they should take care of it. i personaly think it's stupid to treat any civlian badly. aside from all the support we receive and the fact that our family members and loved ones are civilians, why else would we be doing what we do? and who else are we really doing it for in the first place? i work in army aviation and we work everyday with civilian maintenance teams. we pretty much trust them with our lives since they do a lot of the major repairs on our acft and we're the one's going out and flying on them. we have army maintenance as well but they don't get any of the major repairs since they are not as experienced as the civy's are. the only civilians that are ever a problem for soldiers are the ones that act like it's a huge pain in the *** for them to do their job and help them. mainly the ones that work on post in the states in finance or the one-stop in/out processing builings. and the biggest jerks always seem to work at CIF. i've told these people on a few occasions that if they don't like their job then they should quit. i love my job and have no problem doing it for them whether i'm asked to or not.

2002t/a06

iTrader: (2)

Im not real happy with the civilians i work with. they are lazy, and they do the bare minimum of work. They always call in sick. Us active duty end up having to stay late at work due to the civilians slacking.

bballr4567

iTrader: (5)

Talking about the civilians that wont tell you how to do their job we had one back at Campbell that worked in our battalion motor pool. If she wasnt there then you could turn in your weekly PMCS, get a new military driver license or even do operator fixes on your humvee.

The reason is that they made them in charge of the motor poll and if she isnt there then NOTHING can be done. It is a HUGE pain.

I also understand the need for cilivians to work but if they are going to give them jobs they need to give them less responsibility so that we can actually do our damn jobs.

Dont even get me started on the civilians that work at our medical clinics either. Im a medic and had to deal with those tards almost every day of the week.

LS69TA

iTrader: (30)

Yea, I know what alot of you guys are talking about. I see alot of the same stuff, but we actually have a decent group of guys who actually have much contact with the soldiers. Those of us usually in direct contact with the guys trying to get their MRAPs worked on go out of our way to be helpful. I guess for the most part the ones I happened to be traveling with just weren't very sociable. Most I've dealt have been pretty cool guys, so not really any complaints here I guess, other than we're all stuck some place we'd really rather not be.

El_Diablo

iTrader: (9)

I work for Wackenhut (civilian fire dept. in Iraq) and we have a pretty good relationship with the Marines/Soldiers where I was at. Most of us are prior service w/ either the Marine Corps or Air Force so we know how to conduct ourselves pretty well for the most part. There's always going to be a bad apple here and there that will leave someone with a bad impression though.

BlackSuperchargedLS1

iTrader: (5)

Your thinking too much into it. I'm a contractor and I sure as hell don't get treated like gold.

Did you say anything to any of the soldiers sitting near you? If not, they could be thinking the same thing about you.

Malicious

iTrader: (1)

Civilians here out number military like 4 to 1... whatever they want they basically get, at our expense.

TXZ28LS1

iTrader: (5)

no problems with civilians at all. my boss is a retired E-7, and shes cool as hell.. the only thing that pisses me off bout civilians is the pay in deployed locations. u guys seem to all make 100k easily tax free, and all i make is a measley $250 a month family sep pay...

LS69TA

iTrader: (30)

I'm DOD, so I'm taxed on 100% of what I make. I get paid hourly though, so that helps some. Still not very pretty when I look at the taxes I pay in. We're not like contractors who get the big tax break. We get nothing tax free.

brad8266

iTrader: (23)

If you guys want to whine about civilians and be jealous then leave the government and get a regular civilian job. I did the active duty thing and I am currently a reservist and a DOD contractor. Most of us do our jobs to contract specifications, thats what we get paid for.

All you have to do is put in your military time and get out and then get a good civilian job. Dont whine because you dont make what the contractors do because you knew what government pay was like and you volunteered to do it.

Malicious

iTrader: (1)

That's exactly what I'm working on ATM. Early out to a guard unit and a federal job doing exactly what I'm doing now making 13k-15k more than I am now starting, and that's calculated with all my untaxable allowances. Way better way to go if you actually want to be financially 'sound'.

Shah350

I used to work the flightline at Nellis and we had many civilians. They were ok to work with but had a very different work ethic; many of the contractors had the job as a "9-5" while a military member is on a 24hr work schedule and treats it as his life. I liked the civilians when I was in the service but, as I mentioned, they tended to have different work ethics.

GXPPOWER

i never had a prob with civilians. but i also worked with gs-7 through 11s at the ssb in fort campbell back 4-5 years ago so i never got out of contact.

i think its the a rotten egg can ruin the rest saying. unfortunately there are very ignorant people in our country and they don't realize the difference in supporting the troops instead of the war if they disagree with it.


and also YOU gotta remember if you were trained correctly during flights and such your really drilled to keep talking to a minimum so no press can try to catch information or other opsec stuff. never know who your talking to.

though myself id smile, nod my head, and shake hands with anyone who i could tell wanted to say they appreciated what we was doing.

2002t/a06

iTrader: (2)

Thats exactly what im doin man. doin my time and sayin yes to eas.