Bureaucracy lives

[gsabc]

And the Army is full of it.

BD is going through the initial training sessions for her new job. She has a bachelor's degree in early childhood education. The job requirements say that the teacher should have an associate's degree. The people there seem to think that BD has to go get an associate's degree before she qualifies. They need to go ask someone if her bachelor's degree is okay.

The training also involves first aid and CPR training. BD whipped out her pediatric first aid and CPR certification cards, both up to date and not expiring until at least late next year. The school PTB need to check to see if those are acceptable, or whether she still needs to go through the training.

I think that when those people walk through the door into work, their brains must automatically shut off. I'm making the assumption that they were ever activated in the first place.

[MarleysGh0st]

There's the right way, the wrong way, and the Army way!

[earendel]

And the Army is full of it.

Amen, brother!!!

[wintergreen48]

Here's an Army story for you...

The Wonder Child decided that he should do his patriotic duty, and he enlisted in the Army Reserves a few years ago, while in college. While in college, he was working on two separate degrees (not just two majors, but two different degrees); thanks to a lot of AP credits, he was on track to graduate in four years. We prepaid his tuition for all four years (eight semesters), and everything was cool.

In May 2006, at the beginning of the summer following his Junior year, he was (temporarily) activated, and was on active duty until the end of the year. He returned to school safe and sound for the Spring 2007 semester (this was his seventh semester). Then in the Fall of 2007, he enrolled in his eighth semester (the last one for which we pre-paid). But he had a bit of problem when it came to graduating: much of the coursework that is required for both of his degrees is set up to follow a Fall-Spring sequence, that is, some of the classes are really two-semester courses, with the first half in the Fall and the second half in the Spring, and they offer them that way (you cannot take the first half in the Spring and the second half in the following Fall), and since he lost what was supposed to be the Fall 2006 semester of what was supposed to be his senior year (or rather, had to 'reschedule' it to the following Spring), the sequencing got screwed up, and he had to enroll in a ninth semester (Spring 2008) in order to finish the final degree requirements.

Well. As it happens, one of the benefits of being involved in the military is that they provide tuition assistance, and the eligible amount happens to be enough to cover all of the expenses of the semester, and since the ONLY reason why he had to go through the extra semester was because of the timing of when the military put him on active duty, everything seemed to work out perfectly.

So the Wonder Child applied for the tuition assistance benefit... and it was denied. And the reason that it was denied was that, in their eyes, he already had enough credits to graduate, and the Army will not pay for someone who just wants to take what the Army thinks of as "a few extra courses.' That is technically true, in the sense that the Wonder Child did in fact have enough TOTAL credits to graduate, but he had not yet satisfied all of the course requirements for either degree, each of which required just one more course, and the military would not pay.

He could have avoided the problem by just taking off that Spring 2007 semester after he was on active duty, in effect postponing his entire Senior year, but he did not realize at the time that this was going to be a problem. So, in effect, he was punished for trying to get right back into school upon completing his temporary assignment, and the Army penalized him for something that the Army, itself, caused. He did in fact graduate last May, with special distinction in both degrees (due to the huge number of credits he had amassed, including the AP credits he had earned before going to college), but it was a lot more pricey than we expected. And with me being, um, in search of new employment opportunities all this year, it was particularly nasty.

I know that Rexer is at fault here somewhere, and when I figure out just exactly how it is his fault, he will be receiving a sternly worded letter from me, a very sternly worded letter indeed.

[minimetoo26]

I know that Rexer is at fault here somewhere, and when I figure out just exactly how it is his fault, he will be receiving a sternly worded letter from me, a very sternly worded letter indeed.

Along with 10 bucks, you know!

[Bob Juch]

And the Army is full of it.

BD is going through the initial training sessions for her new job. She has a bachelor's degree in early childhood education. The job requirements say that the teacher should have an associate's degree. The people there seem to think that BD has to go get an associate's degree before she qualifies. They need to go ask someone if her bachelor's degree is okay.

The training also involves first aid and CPR training. BD whipped out her pediatric first aid and CPR certification cards, both up to date and not expiring until at least late next year. The school PTB need to check to see if those are acceptable, or whether she still needs to go through the training.

I think that when those people walk through the door into work, their brains must automatically shut off. I'm making the assumption that they were ever activated in the first place.

That's a bad assumption.