Hello,

I am currently an E-4 Active Army with 4 months time in grade. I have 9 months left in the military before my ETS date comes up to complete my 3 year enlistment. I was just notified that I am being put on the list (OML) to attend WLC. I am currently an active junior in college which I have been allowed to go to. As some of you are aware the Statement of Understanding is signed by the Battery level Commander to allow soldiers to go to college at night if they wish. Obviously there has been a change of command and we have a new 1SG that doesn't know too much about me that is an advocate for sending me to the course (which a 1SG should so it's a good thing). I have juggled the options and quitting college to go to a Warrior Leaders Course is not the best avenue to properly transition myself into the civilian workforce to finish my degree and whatnot. BTW I am in TRADOC and am non-deployable. On the other hand I hear alot of moaning and groaning from soldiers that want on that PLDC soo bad they can taste it. What I am asking for on here is any advice on how to handle this because I do not want to steal or waste an opportunity for another deserving soldier that wants to further his military career. Please refrain from telling me that WLC cannot hurt me. I know it won't hurt me it could only help a person in life. There are just other priorities in my life that I have to set up for. BTW, I am not interested at all in getting promoted to SGT. I am perfectly happy with ETS'ing as a SPC, I served my time and am proud to, but it's time to move on. Thanks for any advice.

Well, some colleges give you semester hours for WLC, I recieved 3 Semester hours through BCCC. But if you are hell bent on avioding responsibility by all means use your NCO support channel and the 1SGs open door policy to let him or her know in no uncertain terms that you have a plan that does not include WLC and that it would be wrong to take that opportunity from another more motivated soldier.

You are absolutely right DoubleDuece, in fact I am almost certain that it would give me college credit. Unfortunately not any college credit that is associated with my degree plan. When you join the Army pretty much your P.E. credits are taken care of and some electives. My degree program requires that some of my electives actually be associated in the field I am studying. The NCO support channel is what alot of people are telling me. It will most likely be the route I am to go. I am kind of hoping to hear from some people here that you don't have to go if you don't want to. I have to have my ducks in a row if they stand me in front of the man (CSM). If we go through some long talk of what my plan is in life and after that he says "ok, well I am gonna send you anyway" I need to know if I can look at him in the eyes and say "No SGT Major, I don't want to do that" without facing punitive action against me. Don't get me wrong by reading this. I am just the type of person who likes to have a battle plan ready when people are talking to me, I don't like to give people that dumb clueless look, it just gives them more reason to say "see you don't know what you are doing you are confused, you need to go to WLC". Again thanks for the help.

Just sign your deck statement and get it over with. Too easy

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is a deck statement?

quote:

Originally posted by armylife18:
Just sign your deck statement and get it over with. Too easy

Why would one sign a Declination of Continued Service Statement (DCSS) for not wanting to attend WLC?

I know a guy who got out of WLC by signing a DCSS. Our 1SG was trying to force him to go. He had less than a year to his ETS, he went to Legal and they told him to sign the DCSS, and it worked.

How many years ago was this?

There is no Service Remaining Requirement (SRR) for WLC. There is no SRR for promotion to SGT. There is a 6-month SRR for BNCOC.

You need a SRR to sign a DCSS. You can't just sign it because a 1SG tells you too.

Sorry I didn't know what you meant by "Deck Statement". That makes no sense to sign a DCSS just to stop from going to WLC. The point of my post is to get the opinions on how to handle this situation with the best tact, and to find out if it is an actual requirement under the circumstances if the soldier is getting out. I mean some people talk about the needs of the Army, I just do not see how it is the needs of the Army to pay for me to attend WLC 6 months before I get out.

I highly recommend you attend WLC, I totally understand you want to attend college classes as well. Think of it like this:

You go to college for 8-16 weeks and get 3 college hours for studying really hard, turning in essay, doing research, and taking a few test.

You go to WLC for 4 weeks and get 3 to 4 college hours for participating in Army training. It's excellent training and will benefit you more than you know. If you are lucky you might be able to work out both, meaning you can tell your college that you will be out for a few weeks and need a extension. You'll get the NOPDR, military education (promotion points) and on top of all that you WILL have fun. I know this SGT who went to WLC with 11 months left in the Army, he's still alive and taking college classes.

Well, the way I see it will be for you to attend WLC its only going to be 2 or 4 weeks and its for military progresion and there is nothing worng with that. One thing you have to remember is that going to college is at the discretion of the command. Since you think going to WLC is a waste of your time cause is not in ypart of your curriculum the Command can say the same thing about going to college. If the other excuse that you are going to use is that your getting out, they can just turn around and ask themself why waste government money on Tuition assistance on a Soldier that is getting out in a couple of month let's save the money for a Soldier that is planning on staying in the service longer either way your SOL, your best bet is to attend if your name comes down. Just because your name is on the list doesn't mean that you are schedule to attend. it might take a couple of months depending on class availability before you are schedule to attend. Just think real careful about what your excuse is going to be. Remember we are Soldiers we might not like some of the stuff that Army policy requires for us to do but we just got to deal with it.

If your school is flexible enough to let you have the time to attend and still finish the class, by all means attend WLC. If it isn't, show your PSG/1SG your plan for when you get out and how WLC doesn't help you to achieve those goals. Make sure you have a good solid plan and everything is lined up for you to make a smooth transition. If they still say to bad, suck it up and attend WLC. Be professional about the whole thing and it will help you to get what you want.

I would try to do both. Even though you don't think you need WLC, and the credit hours are meaningless for your degree the fact that it is a "leadership school" is a great resume builder. You are apparently completing your degree and transitioning to the civilian workforce. You are an E-4 with 4 months in grade so I am guessing you don't have any time as a team leader or supervisor. With WLC you can add that you attended a 4 week course designed to teach the principles of leadership. That's a great argument for putting you in a managerial position instead of at the bottom of the ladder.

quote:

Originally posted by Cholo9:sa
Well, the way I see it will be for you to attend WLC its only going to be 2 or 4 weeks and its for military progresion and there is nothing worng with that. One thing you have to remember is that going to college is at the discretion of the command. Since you think going to WLC is a waste of your time cause is not in ypart of your curriculum the Command can say the same thing about going to college. If the other excuse that you are going to use is that your getting out, they can just turn around and ask themself why waste government money on Tuition assistance on a Soldier that is getting out in a couple of month let's save the money for a Soldier that is planning on staying in the service longer either way your SOL, your best bet is to attend if your name comes down. Just because your name is on the list doesn't mean that you are schedule to attend. it might take a couple of months depending on class availability before you are schedule to attend. Just think real careful about what your excuse is going to be. Remember we are Soldiers we might not like some of the stuff that Army policy requires for us to do but we just got to deal with it.

You are right there is nothing wrong with military progression at any stage of a career whether it be a 3 year career or a 20 year career. Let me remind you that I volunteered to serve my country. Knowing full hand that "it's war time baby". I signed a contract for 3 years and 16 weeks knowing what I was receiving and knowing what my ETS date was and my plan from the start. So by me being Active Duty, I EARN that free tuition to go to college at night. I take 4 classes every 16 weeks. That is 4 nights a week. It has already been approved by the command. Books have been bought, parking passes purchased. At the end of the semester it puts me at the end of May. So that leaves me 3 months and 2 weeks to ACAP move my wife back home to start her High School teaching job at the beginning of August, and properly transition myself into the civilian world to at least set myself up for success. How would it be wasting money for me to keep going to college this next semester when I am 8 classes away from my B.S.? I'm sorry but that mindset absolutely makes no sense. As a matter of fact that is the military mindset that makes people like me leave and not wanna stay in and go Warrant or Green to Gold. There is too much screwing that goes on. I mean within those 3 months there is leave to be taken to locate a place to live, send out resumes'. I don't mean to go off on a rant here people I was just asking for advice on what level of tact to handle this. Cholo9, the way you are talking is a deterrent to all soldiers that want to further their civilian education while in the Army. Believe it or not if you talk to higher up people (COL, General, etc.,) they actually want to find a way to enforce soldiers into doing certain civilian education. So thinking that the Army is wasting money on me continuing my education is completely absurd and your way of thinking on this matter is a direct reflection of what's wrong from an NCO to soldier standpoint (if you are an NCO). 3 months folks, that's how long I have to ACAP and transition myself. To a civilian I know that saying you were a SGT puts a picture of John Wayne in their mind and you are good to go, but it just is not possible in my case to attend. For the completing arrangements for my family's sake it's not a sound decision. I apologize if I offended anyone, I don't mean to attack anyone with words, it's just in my humble opinion in the Army's best interest to let me "roll out" so to speak. Final though: There is a method to the madness you know? Ask yourself, why do they not PCS soldiers when they have 6 months left in the military? Because it costs too much and they do not get a maximum work fulfillment out of the soldier before they ETS. Folks, WLC costs a little bit more than a PCS move. This is just my wave of thinking, I could be wrong. Thanks for the advice from some of you who had good points. Please keep em coming.

Sorry to belabor you all with some of the same stuff I have already said but I feel the need to rephrase some and add new. Cholo9, I wouldn't even of joined the military if it wasn't for the education benefits, just like some people with 8 kids join because of the health benefits. To deny me education benefits and label it as a waste of government funds is to deny some the health benifits they deserve because they are getting out as well and it is a waste of government funds. My command approved for me to go to school. So to backpedal now and make me pay back $1492.00 in tuition fees for dropping all my classes is completely absurd and out of the question. I have consulted JAG and set up an appointment to get some legal counseling on the matter to figure out all of the "just in case's". It just makes me upset that certain people's attitudes about getting out of the Army is a "Well he's getting out, let's inconvenience him as much as people and take away priveliges for no reason" type of thinking. "I know my soldiers and will always place their needs above my own" That line right there should dictate outcome. If I failed to mention this I'm sorry again, I am not going to some pud full time job. I am going to be working a part time job and am going to be a full time student starting my Graduate work when I get out. New University= Campus Tours, advising meetings, scholarship preperations and interviews. Need I go on? I obviously can just go on with all the stuff in my life and maybe some of it may seem irrelevant to the issue at the core here, but I am trying to pump out all the information that I have so if there is some small smigeon of hope that somebody on here knows something that I don't know, maybe they could help a fellow soldier. Again folks, thanks for your time and help.