You can get the same feeling of futility from the Staffer's Hard Sayings Log, but it takes a lot longer to read. I remember being at CENTCOM sometimes and wondering why I was stuck doing such stupid stuff -- after all, I'd been the Engineer on two Seawolf-class submarines! Then, I realized that I basically had control over the administration of $540 million in coalition support funds and no real procedures in place to tell me what to do with them, so I could pretty much make it up as I went along, and I'd feel better. Then one of my Marine bosses would scream "Stay in your lane!" for the tenth time that day at some poor staffer, and I'd feel worse again. Then I'd get sent on another TAD trip to Warsaw...
The Staffer's Lament
[Stolen from CDR Salamander] This Broadside cartoon, better than any single item I've ever seen, describes the frustrations of being an officer on a major staff:
You can get the same feeling of futility from the Staffer's Hard Sayings Log, but it takes a lot longer to read. I remember being at CENTCOM sometimes and wondering why I was stuck doing such stupid stuff -- after all, I'd been the Engineer on two Seawolf-class submarines! Then, I realized that I basically had control over the administration of $540 million in coalition support funds and no real procedures in place to tell me what to do with them, so I could pretty much make it up as I went along, and I'd feel better. Then one of my Marine bosses would scream "Stay in your lane!" for the tenth time that day at some poor staffer, and I'd feel worse again. Then I'd get sent on another TAD trip to Warsaw...
You can get the same feeling of futility from the Staffer's Hard Sayings Log, but it takes a lot longer to read. I remember being at CENTCOM sometimes and wondering why I was stuck doing such stupid stuff -- after all, I'd been the Engineer on two Seawolf-class submarines! Then, I realized that I basically had control over the administration of $540 million in coalition support funds and no real procedures in place to tell me what to do with them, so I could pretty much make it up as I went along, and I'd feel better. Then one of my Marine bosses would scream "Stay in your lane!" for the tenth time that day at some poor staffer, and I'd feel worse again. Then I'd get sent on another TAD trip to Warsaw...
