When is enough character enough?

Well, they say that hardship breeds character. It is now 3:19 in the morning. I am still at work. We have not been released yet. When we do get released, we have to be back into work today at 11:00.

I'm not complaining about this - it is by no means the most grueling schedule the Army has slid across my plate.

I would just like to point out that were any civilian organization to force the same work requirements upon their employees, the labor unions would have a field day with them. Since retro is in this season, I think it would rejuvenate the movement of tarring and feathering, or perhaps running people out of town on rails.

They (being the Army senior types) say we can work long hours all the time because we get paid 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Not true. For this to happen, we would have to be getting paid an hourly rate, for every hour in a given year. As it is now, we are salary workers. Our pay charts are set up so that each military member's pay is per month. For the "we are paid for every hour" idea, essentially never clocking out of work, my pay (I am an E-5, and have been in for a little over 4 years. Military pay is based on rank and how long you have been in) equates to $3.49 per hour.

I guess it really boils down to perspective. I could look at it as making $3.50 an hour, or $0.05 cents a minute, of $30,648 a year, or whatever. But it still doesn't make it right the amount of hours we put into this job as military members.

Yeah, I'm rambling, but it is almost quarter to 4, and I'm entitled to, because I'm still on the clock.