What do Soldiers expect from their leadership?

I agree trust dictates how much a soldier would do for there leader. I am currently rating 2 ncos and i believe a good portion of evaluations should be based on there teams performance and capabilities, not just on what the induvidual can do. Is he preparing his soldiers for his job, keeping track of soldiers medical readiness, enforcing standards? Good response tho. bullet chasing.

I hate, yes hate, bullet chasers. They are self serving disgrace to the Corps and are nothing more than a disservice to the soldiers they are supposed to prepare for whatever may come their way. A soldier without basic soldier skills is not to blame, the nco who didn't prepare that soldier is. There are way too many rotten apples in the Corps and I will continue to either fix them or get rid of them. Even at my modest level of influence.

WOW!! To read and learn the thoughts of our young NCOs of today, explaining your leadership in your generation, its astonishing for me how different your thinking and plan of attack is from those of my generation. So very different from the way I was trained to take orders- " keeping my pie hole shut " and how I would execute as a future leader. I am a soldier from the Vietnam Veteran era- I joined four (4) years after that war ended- meaning, all of my NCOs and many of our officers were Vietnam Vets; Trust me when I tell you, these war hardened soldiers did not play- remember, I was the new Army and a volunteer. Here is what I was taught and how I was prepared to be a professional NCO with the hard core leadership of our amazing Vietnam Vets- in 10 short points.
1. If your not an NCO and not in charge its simple- do what your told and keep your pie hole shut.
2. Your right is not to question why, but to ask " how high ", after you move out!
3. Respect is earned - agreed however, respect goes only one (1) way- Up!
4. When you are told to execute, DO NOT question the order- yes Sergeant or HOOAH are your safety net.
5. If your uniform and / or gig - line earns you the nickname " Joe Shit the rag man ", you will be spending hours upon hours during you own time getting your uniform tight!
6. In approximately 90 days after taking a leadership position, I learn which soldiers actually are proud to be soldiers and which soldiers decided they do not want to be soldiers (trouble makers). I will make arrangements to send you back home to Mom and Dad with stellar speed.
7. You as a soldier need to understand that I, SFC Joe Snuffy am not here to like you, or give a rats a$$ if you like me or not- I am here to train you, prepare you, and keep your act tight- if we deploy to a combat zone, my ultimate job is to bring you home in one (1) piece.
8. If I am your NCOIC and learn thru sources other than you, that you went " outside my house " or behind my back and complained to an NCO or Officer about anything, who cannot help you, well, lets just say you now have another problem- ME!!
9. If I learn you have disrespected my brother or sister NCO or Officer- you will learn to regret that!
10. If I learn you have shown disrespect to our Nations colors- hiding and not saluting during Reveille or Retreat, I promise that you will be there, each and every morning and evening until you ETS to learn how important this ceremony is.

SFC Rick, I'll be the last one to argue any of the points you made. Only thing you seem to forget is that today, we are forced to pamper our little privates. Dictated by equal opportunity and sharp and god knows how many policy letters. I was in a different army for 8 years before I moved to this country, and believe me, my experience is way closer to yours compared to what they expect of me here. If i chew someone out, it's hazing. If I curse, I'm hurting their feelings. .... I'm sure you get the idea. As far as being young, I'm about to be 40, so I'm fairly sure I've seen my fair share.

SSG David Martin - I knew a few Senior NCO's with hidden agenda's only looking out for themselves, so I ended up bumping heads with a few all the way up to the rank of Sergeant Major. When a person take on the leadership position responsibility is in that package, NCO's become better at what they do learning from their subordinates because they have a lot to offer.

MSG, right on. I had some senior NCO who where like you and it was great working for them, but the shop chief and 1st shirt where not, so in the end, it was bad. If I had someone like you there, I might still be in.
#1 is big with me and a boss who tells me what he needs and backs me, I will bust my ass for him or her.

I find I have some contention with some of those comments- rather than inject in a negative way, its probably better to say nothing! its a new Army and new generation!

I believe everyone should think like this. Leaders are not always as squared away as they think and need to be able to handle constructive criticism. I ask my squad at least once a week what can we improve on. However i let them know that i am not there to be liked. My job is to make sure they are taken care of. A lot of soldiers ive had loved this mentality i have because im always pushing them to get better while letting them know I nor anyone els is perfect and that there feed back is what makes a great team.