ARCOM for calling out inappropriate use in Social Media. Appropriate or not?

She does not deserve an ARCOM. She does not deserve an AAM or any medal. At MOST she deserves a certificate because she was just trying to do her job as a NCO. Her statement “I looked them up, introduced myself and explained to them why they were stupid." falls short of the professionalism I expect of a senior NCO. Since the NCO Creed starts with "No one is more professional than I", I believe there is a learning opportunity in this for the 1SG and also an opportunity for her to share her experiences.

Since she was so quick to let the director of the Army SHARP program know about these service members transgressions, she must have some knowledge and interest in the program. I would have her appointed as a SHARP representative for the Brigade, Battalion and Company, and I would have her prepare a presentation on 'Monitoring Social Media of your Service Members'. After her Battalion and Brigade Command Sergeants Major were satisfied with the presentation, I'd make sure she had the opportunity to present it to every unit in the Division as part of the Divisions SHARP training program, as long as it did not interfere or take away from her assigned duties.

Her move to turn them into the director of the Army SHARP program rather than an immediate supervisor or someone in their chain to deal with the problem tells me she was either to lazy to find out about their immediate supervisor or chain of command or was looking for recognition she ended up with.

The Soldier's who attacked her and who were wearing uniforms in their profile photos are evidently not only not professional but also not the sharpest tools in the shed. It would probably behoove a serving member of the armed forces to not 'put themselves out there' by using a profile picture in uniform.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a politically driven award. The Soldiers and former Soldiers that besieged her with aggressive unprofessional typed comments should have been put in check, but not by the HQDA Director of SHARP. That was a spiteful "oh yeah, I will make sure you get hemmed up move". She went about her correction wrong. You should always handle situations on the lowest level. Her comments in reference to the situation are unprofessional and demonstrate a serious lack of real leadership. As SNCO's we are supposed to correct deficiencies not take a personal vested interest in destroying Soldiers. By going to the highest level, she spotlighted and put on blast the entire organization for which these Soldiers belong, all without allowing the leadership an opportunity to fix the situation. In my professional opinion this SNCO wasn't deserving of an ARCOM, a COA, or a Coin. If anything, I believe she should have been counseled for not upholding the creed in reference to "Officers of my unit will have maximum time to accomplish their duties, they will not have to accomplish mine." She "CC'ed" the HQDA SHARP Director and therefore elevated this situation to a level that was unnecessary and involved a whole lot of Officers that had better things to do then to police up some unprofessional Soldiers on the internet. Our duty as NCO's is to enforce good order and discipline for Commanders, not run to them for recognition or for them to enforce the regulations for which we are supposed enforce.

Granted this is all based off of my "Monday Morning Quarterback" assessment of what has been written. There might be more to the story or it maybe distorted in the conveyance of these articles, but I stand by my assessment based on what I can see.

Finally, we all have a duty and obligation to teach, coach, and mentor our next generation and it is getting increasingly more difficult with Social Media and other forms of technology. Never pass up an opportunity to make a correction, create a professional learning point, and reinforce good order and discipline. AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD....STOP THE POLITICALLY MOTIVATED STYLE OF LEADING! "BACKBONE!!"

Joe's should be able to have their options, but Joe needs to fix his privacy settings.hahaha