A SOLDIER'S PERSPECTIVE
THE WEB'S LEADING MILITARY BLOG SINCE 2004
This week’s Army Times lead story is titled “The No. 1 reason NCOs are quitting the Army: BAD LEADERS.” Amen!
As a promotable Staff Sergeant it absolutely drives me bonkers seeing how many of my peers treat junior NCOs and how many officers treat us all. The NCO Corps has taken a back seat to leaders that want their hands in everything. Here at Fort Hood we will be shutting down operations next week for a day to address a distressing uptick in sexual assaults on post (13 IN ONE WEEKEND!). I’m told that most of these occurred in the barracks.
It is the JOB of NCOs to visit the living environments of their troops often, not just when they are told right after PT. At least in my unit I can tell you that I’ve never seen another senior NCO in the barracks in the evening on a Friday or Saturday and I’ve been here almost three years. They would be appalled at what they would see. I’m constantly stopping fights, ordering Soldiers into their rooms for the night due to intoxication, or identifying potential conflicts of interest between junior NCOs living in the barracks and their Soldiers.
NCOs should NOT be drinking with their troops AT ALL! I don’t have the facts but I think that alcohol is a leading cause of these incidents. These Soldiers get together and each buy a case of beer or a bottle of liquor and just hang out. After too much alcohol inhibitions are lowered and bad things happen. Perceptions are altered as to what someone is thinking or what is right. The next morning one party realizes what happened possibly against their will if they were sober. Alcohol is NOT an excuse for sexual assault or inappropriate relationships.
Life is difficult for juniors especially young Sergeants. Suddenly they are leaders and they must find way to deal differently with friends they now outrank. They have to set an example and enforce a standard even if it’s unpopular.
Another issue in the military that the Army Times addresses and I agree with is the fast paced promotion system. I remember when they did away with the 4-week PLDC (now WLC) requirement and went with a 2-week model. Two weeks is not enough time to create and institutionalize junior NCO leadership skills. The same goes for CPTs. Unless an officer completely screws up they WILL be promoted to CPT and possibly Major. The article says that the promotion rate to Major is “95-98%” which is absurd. Working with Captains on a daily basis I can say for a fact that there are more than 2-5% of them that don’t deserve to be promoted to Field Grade status. Unlike the NCO ranks there is no personal boarding process for young officers working their way through the junior officer ranks.
I don’t know if it’s a Corps Policy or Army policy but some very competent and knowledgable Master Sergeants (yes, I’m talking about CJ as well) are ineligible to perform duty as a First Sergeant solely because they have a permanent profile that prevents them from running with troops. These injuries were a result of combat action and now these guys and girls aren’t allowed into leadership positions. It’s not like there are is a vast pool of Master Sergeants to choose from and I’ve seen too many completely ineffective 1SG in those positions because they can run but they couldn’t lead ants to an Oreo cookie!
The military has been more focused on the “next cool thing” instead of focusing on our troops. NCOs get virtually zero opportunity to attend college the way officers do unless they are fortunate enough to attend the Sergeant Major Academy. Officers are frequently allowed to attain their Masters Degrees with promises of additional service. NCOs get no such offers, even if to attain an Associates or Bachelors degree. We promote Specialists and Corporals to Sergeant without proper training. We promote Sergeants to Staff Sergeants without ALC. We promote Staff Sergeants to Sergeant First Class without SLC. Some of these NCOs wait over a year because of deployments before they’re able to attend this training. I’m waiting to pin on my SFC rank and haven’t been to ALC yet!!
Let there be no misgivings here, though. The Army made these changes because NCOs weren’t doing their jobs and properly mentoring and counseling their Soldiers! Had we been doing our job the Army wouldn’t have taken our authority and input away from us and decided to promote automatically. We dug this hole and it’s up to us to fill it back in with sound leadership principles and return to focusing on our troops.
Finally, we need to get rid of these senior NCOs who are unapproachable. There is a high level CSM on Ft. Hood that no one feels comfortable even approaching. It’s okay to be a hardass leader but Soldiers should feel like they can approach their CSM for guidance, instruction, or just to say hi without having their heads chopped off. I’ve heard the term “toxic” applied to various leaders and this comes close. This is second hand knowledge, but I was talking to a 1SG neighbor in another unit who said that most BN and BDE CSMs are afraid to speak up during meetings because they fear his reaction. No leaders should have Soldiers that feel this way. Sort of goes against the idea of the “open door policy.”
We can reverse this trend. It just takes personal motivation and a dedication to the troops. I recognize that even leaders needs personal and family time, but our first priority as leaders should be our troops. We have to be willing to sacrifice some of that to assist our troops. It’s going to mean that a Friday or Saturday night may be spent in the barracks for a few hours just seeing what goes on after hours. I want to leave with a quote from the Army Times article from a SFC that summarizes everything I’ve said here:
“One of the things I harp on is we have tenets of leadership, leading by example, knowing your Soldiers, knowing your jobs, doing theright things and setting the example for your Soldiers. Today, those things are not done. Everybody gets the impression that leadership is a trait we all posssess. But it’s taught, and we’re not being taught properly.”
I couldn’t say it better.
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ArmyVet
Sexual assaults- now THAT is an issue where we need NCO leadership.
How about instead of saying “The next morning one party realizes what happened possibly against their will if they were sober”, we stop- right here and now- assuming that sexual assault allegations arise when a victim was too drunk to realize they didn’t want to have sex. That places the onus on the victim to not get drunk, instead of on the person who committed the crime. A soldier should be able to be passed out drunk and not be worried they will be raped by a fellow soldier. But- they should have more respect for their job than to be passed out drunk. As of today however being passed out drunk isn’t a crime and sexual assault is.
Maybe it should read “The next morning one party realizes what happened was possibly against the will of the other person.” Let’s start telling soldiers to have sex when they are sober, instead of trying to liquor someone up for the purpose of getting sex that is otherwise unattainable. I think will clear up some time for more good training.
SGT Widowmaker
That isn’t what I intended. The point I was trying to make is that frequently, alcohol is involved. Read the reports on sexual assault and 80% of the time, that is the case. But, whether or not alcohol is involved it is NEVER the victim’s fault. Alcohol seems to be a major contributing factor in the overwhelming majority of these incidents.
The onus is BOTH the victim and the perpetrator when alcohol is involved. I completely agree with your last paragraph there.
army wife
What if your in a unit that wants to distroy their soldiers. My Husband is in one of this and everything his Leadership want is to distroy their soldiers life. My Husband has a lot of medical Problems and needs a MEB. His Doc told him that but his Unit is fighting it even he cant proform his Duty. They violet profiles and dont care in what condition the Soldiers are. All they do is care about them self and get promodet. The Army needs to look into unit like this one and get rid of the Chain of Command before more Soldier get treated like Shit bags. This unit was deployed. Half of the soldiers came back earlier because of medical problems. The ones what had to stay are so burned out that they are going to complain to higher ones about the way they get treated. The army needs to wake up and take care of their soldiers and not of bad Leaders
K.J. Hinton (OldCavLt)
Unfortunately, some things never change.
What you’re describing were the same conditions I contended with in Germany back in 72, 73, 74 and 75 as a SP4… except for the addition of the hash smoke on Fridays.
At the time, I was assigned to Recon, 1/4Inf, then in the 3rd ID in Aschaffenburg. Our barracks were terrible until late in my tour, the NCO’s were terrible (For the most part… there were some outstanding NCO’s as well, to be fair) but so was everything else: equipment (M114A1E1 tracks) a lack of fuel, a lack of parts… a lack of… everything.
We had good officers in Recon. But some of the NCO’s were drunks; many of the troops were druggies (We actually sent in a bottle of JP4 instead of a urine sample for one troop)and then there were those involved in the black market and, of course, the occasional gay NCO who would use his position, or at least try to, while the others turned a blind eye.
It’s for these reasons and others that I have been talking my stepson out of enlisting. Because unless you’re going Ranger or SF, and possibly Airborne, I can’t trust the run of the mill NCO to want to, or to actually do, their jobs.
There’s a reason our only living Medal of Honor recipient is getting out, when his military future is set if he stays in. And that’s particularly troubling since you know he could write his own ticket.
TDP
The soldiers are the brave that protect our country pray for let’s them.
http://youtu.be/qUkkHgWc2NY
Cesar Perez
Sergeant, God bless you!I wish there would have been more NCO’s like you when I was in service. I can only name a few that I really looked up to because they had the, “I want you to be where I am someday” mentality. The leadership I witnessed was something that really made me not re-enlist because I thought, is this really the best thing for my life? I like to believe that I excelled in my time serving but I can only imagine what a better institution the Army would be if everyone took upon personalty responsibility for their Soldiers.
Cesar Perez
personal** responsibility
Anthony N. Emmel
Sounds vaguely familiar. I was in a medical unit in the late 80s and most of the NCOs there were just out to burn people. “How many art 15s can we hand out?” It was like a game to them.
Rob Williams
You develope leadership skills by mentoring and giving people ownership ot their areas. A leader needs to be consistent, approachable, poccess an even temperment, and hopefully be inspiring.
Pingback: Bad Leaders Are Destroying Our Military- I concur with SGT Widowmaker « Army Girl, Army Wife
Army Girl, Army Wife
Right on SGT Widowmaker, this Army Officer totally agrees with your post (especially the part about rapid promotions)!
Drill Sergeant Juice
I am in total agreement with you, SGT Widowmaker. I have a P3 profile on my PULHES and have to give up my Hat because I can’t run. I think I am an outstanding NCO. I do my darnedest to take care of troops and do the things you do. I have seen those upper enlisted who receive rank for being out in the FOB drinking coffee and sending others out on missions become 1SGs, SGMs and CSMs. Their leadership skills are lacking and appalling. AND they look at me like a scab for being injured and having surgeries to correct my ills. I am not complaining. I can deal with my problems. But, I see the pool of NCO leadership shrinking at an astounding rate. The Army Values are just cute cards passed out and not something to live. I see upper echelon leadership dismiss the high-speed, competent soldier for their ‘buddy’ soldiers in the rule of promotion. WTFoxtrot!?! I have lost good E-5s to this stupidity. And I have to babysit the E-7s, E-6s, etc. because no one knows what is going on or what to do. This is demoralizing.
Phillip
You know what, no matter what we say or do nothing changes. Senior NCO’s and Officers only care about how their NCOER’s and OER’s look. They Senior NCO’s lost focus on “Putting the need of the Soldier before their own”. They dont help the soldier get closer to their families, they dont care about the soldier Exceptional Family Member issues, they don’t care period! All they want is a NCOER or OER that looks stellar on paper.
jennette
I agree with your posting. Leaders at all levels have to be involved with our Soldiers. I have been in the Army for 15 years and I have seen all the examples you talk about. On the weekends I was always in the barracks checking on my Soldiers, talking to them, and trying to help them through their issues. I had a 1SG that tried to be a hard ass and was unapproachable, I was just an E6 but I had to tell him I wasn’t afraid of him and he shouldn’t want his Soldiers to be afraid. Once he knew what the Soldiers thought about his leadership style, he changed. I see Soldiers, hard working and dedicated Soldiers get treated like crap because they have a profile. Those Soldiers give 110% everyday but because they have a profile, they are substandard. I think this type of mentality needs to go away…a Soldier shouldn’t be judged because of a profile.
shannon
Unfortunately this is so true. I am a SPC in the army and I feel like I cant approach my supervisor, that is an E6 now. It seems like leaders today only care about themselves rather than their soldiers. they are quick to counsel you negatively but positively,never at all. My NCO went ahead and had another NCO type her weapon card and give her 40/40 when she didn’t even shoot at all, that’s why she got promoted to E6.
SGT Unmotivated
I am so glad that you wrote this post. I have been in the Army 3 years and have 5 more to go. I am an Army brat and love the Army with all my heart. I came in knowing that this would be my career. However 3 years later, my ets date can’t come fast enough. I once was what you call a hooah hooah soldier, now I am so close to just wanting to throw in the towel and naming my own self a s*** bag. I am in an air defense unit although I am not air defense. Their promotion points are very low so there are alot of young soldiers who got promoted to e5 waaaay to soon and sadly are very immature and not ready to be leaders. I got to the unit as a PFC and am now a SGT. I worked very hard to get promoted. I joined the Army at the age of 22 and already had a good amount of college, i worked on my correspondence courses and was able to get promoted pretty quickly compared to many of my peers in my mos (25U). I went to wlc a week after getting promoted to SPC. One thing that boggled my mind was the amount of SGTs in my unit telling me to hold out on WLC and wait until the last possible minute. I thought, why would I do that? That was just an example of what kind of leaders we had. There are many lazy people in the Army looking for a handout. Then once they get their rank, they feel the need to treat other soldiers like crap. I was brought up to respect one another. And no matter what rank I am, I never want a soldier to feel that they can’t approach me. My unit has poor leadership all around. One of the main problems is the Army seems to be becoming too officer led. Starting with my battalion commander. He has put it in all of the officers heads that they can treat NCOs, no mater their rank like they are beneath them. This has caused many of the senior NCOs in my unit to not even speak up and take care of the enlisted soldiers. My father is a retired SFC and my stepfather is a SGM. They also have noticed this problem and said it is one of the major downfalls of the Army today. I don’t want to ramble on, but I just want to say this. Everyone I know that I have told I am getting out keeps telling me I should just reenlist and get to another unit. I am too scared that I will run into the same problems. I talked to many soldiers that were in other units while I was in Afghanistan and they have the same problems. Poor leadership and it is causing many soldiers who had dreams of staying in to now want to get out. Everyone says stay in you can change things. Sadly, I don’t think me as one person can change anything. I feel instead of being so focused on pointing the finger at lower enlisted soldiers, the “higher ups” should be evalutated by the joes and you will see where your real problems are. In closing, I read an article about a soldier who committed suicide while deployed overseas because his leaders basically dogged this poor kid until he could not take anymore. People around saw what was going on but no one would stand up and say anything. It should not take a soldier killing themselves before someone speaks up. Oh and his leaders, moved on with their lives in the army, some even being promoted. When will something change?
CJ
I almost got out as a Staff Sergeant until a conversation with my dad, a retired Navy E9. He said, “Son, if you’re getting out because of poor leadership, in who’s hands are you leaving your troops?” That got me thinking that I wanted to be someone that provided a positive example of what leadership and caring for Soldiers looked like in spite of what was around me. I stuck it out and I’m finally in a position where I can at least provide influence on junior NCOs and Soldiers and show them what right looks like.
I would ask you the same question my dad asked me. However, it really only works if you’re in it for the right reasons, which I think you are. Thanks for your comment.
SPC Lost in the sauce....
I doubt by looking at the date on the last comment anyone will see this but I am literally lost in the sauce when it comes to dealing with the complete lack of regard from my leadership. As a 12B our main mission is route clearance, from TL on up to PSG they all would rather speed and race down our routes than actually do our jobs. Today for example one of the few E5s with a desire to do the mission regardless of the time it takes was enterogating something he felt the need to check out further; over the net the PSG 3 trucks back says “Its clear, fuck it we’re guna miss chow.” A comment that is becoming all to familiar from all of my leadership.
From a lower level leader; my TL was chastising the SQD for a soldier being late to mission prep states after a long rant; ” I will drag you all down to hell and leave you their cuz I dont give a F***, I dont give a F*** bout any of you anymore.” Followed by the A TL attempting to quote the second line of the NCO creed studering his way through it makes it the end and leaves out probably the most important part to his junior soldiers “and the wellfare of my soldiers”, like it wasnt even in the sentence. I fully understand that in situations of stress and anger things get said, got it. But to tell his soldiers that he would drag us to hell and leave us their because he didnt give a F*** about any of us; to ommit portions of the NCO creed either by blind rage or incompetence ( my personel vote out of knowing the individual ) in order to what; make us want get in the soldeirs ass to get to the motor pool on time. Big Negative ghost rider…. only fueled extreme discontent. These are but mere glimpses into life in my SQD and PLT. As a senior E4 ( rank that gives me nothing but headache and constant verbal denouncement ) what do I do fix this; what do I do to change these individuals who ride their rank instead of instilling any sort of cohesion within their soldiers. LOST IN THE SAUCE… is there anyone out their?
Ron
I know the frustration…I was an E5 in a NG unit active duty and got fed up with drinking, fights, and insobordination. I saw people pay to escape details…officers not show up for days…my 1sgt vanished for several months, never seeing our barracks…it was us E5′s that ran the show, most E6+ just hid out somewhere together and would not even hear about problems we had…I got cussed out by a female E6 for complaining in front of others…I unloaded on her back hard and that did it…end of career and I am all too glad.
Tom
I got out early. I sat around most time doing not a damn thing but read manuals. Most NCOs goofed off and only talked to me to call me foul stupid names or threaten me. I finally went to the JAG, it helped a little but later, I felt it hopeless so I went to a chaplain for CO discharge as I dont trust anyone there.
Robert oli
I had served with a unit for a month and then some without a commander and we did more in that month and a half and morale was way up… The senior NCOs just did there job and no BS involved things got done and done well…. They either need to go through the same programs we go through and then they can walk the walk…
They need to stop trying to please BC and trying not to let personal families get involved with work…
ICE
What do you do if you work with a bad E6 going before the E7 board, and you know there is nothing in writing in that packet that would let the SGMs know that Soldier shouldn’t get promoted???