On the contrary, I found in my basic training that the ones always volunteering came across as "ass kissers" to others in the platoon.
I was under the impression we were talking about things like volunteering when an instructor says "I need five of you over there, move."
Common sense here guys. (Che that's exactly what I'm talking about.)
You can tell the difference between the soldier who volunteers because he thinks it will make him look good in the instructors eyes AND the soldier who volunteers because he's not afraid to extra work and just wants to see the work done instead of people looking down dragging their feet.
Any soldier has seen it.
You see it anytime you need a work party. Troops overhear an officer tell an NCO that they want something done so the NCO approaches the body of troops and troops
a. start to walk away
b.turn their back towards the NCO so their not noticed
c. try to look busy doing something
d. try not to make eye contact because they don't want to do the work.
Thats being lazy. Their tired and they would rather someone else do the work than them.
There is always going to be the dummies who are all "Come on guys lets go go go, there's no I in team! lets get it together yay". Those are the fake people who look like ass's cause their over doing it.
There's also the troops who when the instructors need something difficult done can scan the crowd and say 'You, your not afraid of hard work and your not an idiot, i need this done'.
Another point about always volunteering is that when the instructors constantly see YOU with your hand up they will say 'no your always volunteering' and end up picking someone else who hides from work.
You don't need to go out of your way so the every staff member knows who you are and your name but I still think it's important for them to be able to look at you and recognize that your a hard worker, not lazy and not afraid of work. There is an art in being a hardworker without being a keener.
When I've wrote assessments I've given above standard to soldiers who when I've said " I need volunteers to.." they were already up and moving.
I think in the end it depends on what you classify as the grey man. I use it to describe a soldier who goes out of their way not to get noticed, pull their weight or stand up for themselves.