Now I’m getting desperate. 3 years into the job and I’m once again passed for promotion. As my years progress in the job, so does my expertise. My family’s slowly falling to the wayside and Hawaii is more foreign to me than the countries I’m deploying to. At one point I come home to Hawaii from another trip to Southeast Asia where I had become fully acclimated to the heat. My wife wants to run errands as I get off the plane and I’m freaking freezing. We go home to drop off my luggage and I bust out an old down jacket and look like a crazy man shivering in 80 degree heat. But I digress.
I’ve become the go to guy for the Philippines and Indonesia. I deeply understand the cultures, the languages and the inner workings of their militaries and governments. At this point I’m in a rhythm and always overseas. I’m helping train newer guys in the office and looking for more work to stand out.
I request an office call with my senior rater (my boss’s boss) to discuss man to man what I need to do to earn the report cards I need to promote. He puts numerous requirements ahead of me to force my immediate boss to fight on my behalf and talk to him ahead of time. My boss believes in me and the work I’ve done and goes to bat eventually getting me the office call I need to discuss my future. Apparently, I’m one of very few people to actually jump through all the hoops to talk to him.
When we meet, he’s short and visibly irritated. Like he didn’t want to be there. To go through all the hoops to simply get an office call with him was such a pain, I figured he would’ve at least read my file. It was obvious he didn’t. During our discussion I show him my records, what I’ve done for the unit the past couple of years and ask him directly what I need to do to earn the evaluations I need to promote. He gives me nothing. No guidance, or specifics. Just tells me to put my head down, grind and work like everyone else. He tells me that he shouldn’t have to tell me what to do to be successful as a field grade officer and that we just need to give to the unit whatever we’re asked. I counter that I’m at a loss because I feel like I’ve done that and more, but have not been able to even get any visibility.
I go one to empirically show what I’ve done comparatively speaking to that of my peers. I explain the disadvantages of my position in being as visible as I could be. He’s irritated and his body language shows he’d rather be elsewhere. I choose to just leave it as is and assure him he’ll see my work this rating period. I leave with a plan to do what I always do when things get tough – work harder.
At this point, I’m a pro at this job. I’ve gained the confidence and support of numerous leaders throughout my unit and others overseas. Commanders are reporting back to my boss and my boss’s boss about my work. Leaders are writing letters of recommendation and I’m even recruited to work above my level alongside the embassy.
I take on more work and am able to successfully fix an emergency situation overseas that nearly put a Soldier in prison. The unit is singing my praises back in Hawaii and it seems as if all my hard work is now paying off. I redeploy back to Hawaii to all these pats on my back for all I accomplished and a ton of praise.
And then I receive my Evaluation Report from my Senior Rater. I’m stunned. No enumeration, no recommendation for promotion or schooling. Just a generic one liner that basically sealed my fate. They basically used me and kicked me to the curb when all was said and done.
I no longer wanted to work for this unit. I was used and abused and was recruited by our higher headquarters to work for them instead. I gladly took the opportunity and had the support of a new boss to try and keep me there until my retirement 2 years away. My family would be stable and I could finish my time in uniform and return as a civilian doing the same thing with my connections there.
But of course the Army had other plans. As I was working this move, I was informed I didn’t make the promotion list. Not a surprise, but still stings to hear. Rather than being forced to leave the Army without a retirement I was selected to continue if I chose to accept. There’s really not a choice, so of course I accepted. Almost immediately, I was placed on the list to move in the middle of the school year. WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK. Why on earth would they try and move me with barely two years left?
I went home defeated. I literally pitched a tent in my living room, crawled in it with my dogs and drank tequila to the dismay of my family. My boss tried fighting to keep me in Hawaii, but it was useless. I had one more trick up my sleeve to get me the one evaluation I needed to remain competitive and keep my family stable for the school year – but it required me to move on my own and take a 6 month operational assignment overseas. I took it.
In the end, it didn’t matter. It was too little too late, and the more I worked the more it just distanced me from my family. For what? The hopes for a promotion? I was giving my all like I had done throughout my career and the Army just continued to take.
I always believed that hard work pays off. Every time things got tough, I laced up my boots tighter and worked harder. It worked every time except now. That was a hard lesson learned. Hard work doesn’t always pay off.