Work Harder!!!!

Have you ever been told to that hard work will get you to the top? Or work harder and you can go home earlier. I bet at some point in your life you have been told something closely resembling those. In the military does it really matter if you work harder? When I first joined the Army I use to think so. If I work harder then my NCO’s will notice me and reward me somehow, whether it was through time off, going home early, an award of some kind or a really cool detail that was fun. As I spent my time in the army I noticed that it didn’t matter how much harder I worked than my peers, we all got the same treatment. We all got the same awards for being deployed whether we had gotten demoted or promoted during the time the award covered. We all got paid the same, same time off, and same details. The only difference that I noticed between the “dirt bags” and those of us that worked harder was that we got more work. Logically I don’t think that is right, do you? The “lazy” guy that does the bare minimum gets off the same time as me and does for example half the work. When I finish my tasks early because I work hard and fast, I just get given another task or rewarded by being left in the desert longer because I am one of those guys that can be trusted to get the job done. Does that mean that I am just not good at time management? Is the “lazy” guy better at time management because he can make a simple hour-long task take until C.O.B.? Your leadership will probably say it will show on his evaluation, but does it? Is your evaluation any better than his? And who really determines which is better? In civilian life maybe working hard does get you noticed, and better pay checks, and promotions. I don’t really know that side of the house because the few jobs I have had outside the Army were crap anyways. So really in the Army hard work has taught me better time management because now I can make an hour-long task take about seven or so hours, although it is incredibly painful for me to do that. Is it wrong to think that way?