TBOLC, Week 6

This week the class halves swapped locations and the half I'm in studied TC-AIMS in a computer lab. On Monday and Tuesday, it was PowerPoint slides with some practical exercises; we didn't get out early like last week, but at least we got to do things.

The rules for the lab are kind of strange, though; for example, we weren't allowed to read magazines or newspapers, even on our breaks. Weird....

Things got better on Wednesday because we had a project to do and so were given a bit more freedom. In groups of three, we had to prepare an operation order and PowerPoint brief to give the next day.

Thursday was uneventful, but far, far longer than it needed to be. In the morning, we perfected our operation order and practiced our presentation, but had to wait around until 3:30 to present it. We didn't finish until 4:00.

Then there was the issue of the "mentorship luncheon," which I'm still angry about. The class had been divided into several groups and each one was assigned a mentor. At first we were told that we should brown-bag our lunch and meet our mentors at 11:30. Later we were told to get a take-out box from the DFAC and meet the mentors at 12:00. So that's what I did.

When I went to the room at the appointed time, though, I found out that our mentor had rescheduled for 8:00 at night. When I asked around, I found out that a few people had been there at 11:30 -- not because they were excited, but because they had no better place to be (the classroom was being used by another group). They said he had come in, found it curious that only three of the twelve in our group had shown up, said, "See you at 2000," and left again.

So when we got back, we were treated to a lecture about being on time. Our mentor didn't ask any questions about the miscommunication (as he saw it), because he'd figured it all out in his head. Since, as he assumed, nobody ever comes half an hour early to a meeting, the three who showed up somehow knew that the right time was 11:30, while the other nine either didn't try hard enough to communicate or didn't care enough to sort through the confusion.

In other words, it was our fault. That's why we had to show up at 8:00.

What I took issue with was his postulation that nobody ever shows up half an hour early. This was a wrong assumption, and rather than ask questions to get his facts straight he ended up looking like a jerk.

This, in spite of the fact that this was supposed to be a mentoring time. There are reasons why mentors are supposed to come from outside your chain of command, and this is a prime example. Another would be that it's neither voluntary nor spontaneous. *sigh*

But that's the way the Army is.

Friday went much better. Everyone met all together in the classroom again and we got some PowerPoint slides. Mentorship lunches for that day were cancelled (whew!) and we got out at a decent hour.