[whocares175]

as someone currently going through the delta course (albeit almost done with it) i would like to comment on the study hall issue. i have to agree with SF718 in the basic feeling that study hall is a waste of time. if an individual isn't motivated enough to study and work on their weaknesses then they shouldn't be here. study hall should be voluntary for all soldiers. i found plenty of time to study at home with a wife and 3 kids and still maintained a 95% average through SOCM and a 93% average through SFMS. the idea of study hall is to provide uninterrupted study time...but what about when an individual doesn't know how to study? or what about if the material doesn't make sense to him? the biggest problem with study hall is that there isn't anyone there who can answer your questions or help you to see why things are the way they are. there is supposed to be an instructor present during study hall. they aren't. half the time they come take roll and disappear. the other half they don't even come by. you could argue "well ask a classmate who understands it better" and the exact counter point you'll hear is "they're in study hall too for failing as well". so there goes the credibility of anyone else in study hall with few exceptions (the guy that normally gets 90-100's and bombed one test for what ever reason). yes there is A LOT of information being put out in the course and for a good reason. we just need to figure out a way to get the guys who WANT to know it the information in a way that makes sense and weed out the ones who don't WANT to know it. i've known several guys that really didn't want to be there and were happy with simply skating by with a 75% even though they could do a lot better. honestly i'd rather have the dude that failed trying working on me than the guy who barely passed but had the potential to do a lot better.

as for the other issues brought up in this forum-saftey briefs-while i hate them just as much as everyone else in the course and wish and keep hoping for the day of "you got the safety brief when you got here, those are the standards, disobey and you're out" i've been in the army long enough to know this isn't going to happen. i do appreciate what JSOMTC does as far as us going to the safety briefs only for long weekends. my personal feeling is that once you hit MOS phase this is how it should be. after all you have proven yourself to be somewhat mature and competent.

language school-breaking language school up the way it used to be was retarded. i'm glad they brought it back to all of it in one shot. i never was given answers to any tests. language school was challenging and i studied 3-4 hrs a day everyday and think i got a lot out of it. my biggest complaint was the during the OPI i wasn't allowed to talk beyond skill level 1 and neither were any of us who tested with that particular tester. there were several of us that our instructors told us we could speak at a skill level 2. i would've appreciated that opportunity.

as for .50 cal's and humvee's-as an infantryman i was only briefly exposed to these in basic AND when i got to my unit. it wasn't until i got to Ranger Battalion that i finally learned about setting headspace and timing and how to drive a humvee. he does have a point in stating that there is a lot of common soldier skills left out of the Qcourse however that's where someone who's an Xray has to realize they're will be a step learning curve when he gets to Group to learn these things.

on the subject of O's and E's-that guy is an idiot. plan and simple. Bragg has enough brass that if he's trying to convince anyone he doesn't know the relationship between officers and enlisted....well lets just say i want some of whatever he's smoking.