Hey Smokey,
I got a kick out of looking at your little picture -- LaLa.....it doesn't matter......., then looking over to the right and reading -- OK I'm stupid.
For some reason it just caught me off guard and made me laugh. Please don't misunderstand me -- I'm not trying to be disrespectful.
Unome,
You're right from what I know. I remember my father talking about it some. He said, "How long a guy remained an FNG depended on a number of things, including his attitude, his willingness to listen and learn, his competence, his dedication to the team and its task, the activity level of his team, and, of course, whether he survived his time as an FNG. A guy graduated from being an FNG when he had learned enough to keep himself alive and contribute to the team, and when the team had observed his performance in action enough to let them sleep just a little better during his watch."