Leaders: What has been your greatest or worst Leadership Challenge?

As a 1SG I had a Soldier that really tested my patience on a daily basis. Actually had a few different ones but I will talk only about one. This particular Soldier was a boxer and would intimidate just about any Soldier around him and about any NCO that was in charge of him. He would sometimes show up to work and sometimes he would not. He was close to ETSing and thought he was above the rules. one thing led to another and one day he finally went crazy I guess. He started showing up to my formations (when he showed up) doing things like carrying a small moroccan flag which eventually led to him coming to formation with a full sized one draped over his shoulders (in ACUs). He would show up on other occasions and be wearing a fez. He said that he had converted to the moorish Islamic religion and would say that the name we were calling him (SPC Last name) was not his name and he didn't know that person. We went through many other issues with this Soldier as well including illegal activity. So the behavior continues to get worse as does his conduct. Eventually we ended up putting a battle buddy with him at the request of behavioral health. He beat the crap out of that guy and left post. We didn't see him for a few days and of course we initiated the DFR packet and all that good stuff starting the 24 hours after he was gone thus being AWOL. Well I get a call from the MPs about three days later and they had him in custody. He had broken into a German house (people were home) went to their fridge and helped himself to some food. Then sat down in their living room with them and ate the stolen food. Needless to say they were scared out of their minds. And as if this was not bad enough, while I was on my way to pick him up from the MPs I get another call from the MPs saying it will be a little longer before he is ready for pick up, because they had just received a call from his German girlfriend (he was married wife in the states with his kids) saying that he locked her in her house and stole her keys. We had him re evaluated by behavioral health and ended up having him admitted to a psych ward over the thanksgiving weekend. In the end we reccomended Courts Martial and were able to get pre trial confinement for him. He entered a plea and was discharged with a bad conduct discharge. Normally from Germany, Soldiers that are being chaptered are escorted to the gate of the airplane and the NCO ensures they get on the plane. However, for this Soldier we didn't think that would be sufficient so we organzed a MAC flight and had 3 NCOs escort him all the way back to the states.

After a soldier had been tossed around from plt to plt, and finally arrived in my section, I just had a discussion with me regarding his past......forget whatever happened a new day starts now! After that no issues at all. You can't do anything about the past, but what you do from today affects your future.

Had a soldier whose wife was having an affair. She hired another soldier to kill him. The hit failed. She was arrested, and while awaiting trial, the soldier tried to see her. Not once, but three times. Why? Because he still loved her. There was no leadership in the world that could turn him around. In the end, a once good soldier was chaptered out because he just would not listen. He was my best 60 gunner. BTW, did I mention he met his wife while dating her daughter when those two (soldier and daughter) were still in high school?