Posted on Dec 31, 2014
CQ on New Years Eve after last minute change and after no holiday leave; suck it up or would you complain?
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This soldier is pulling CQ today, New Years Eve. The reason why he is upset and thinks it isn't fair is because he was deployed for the past 12 months in Afghanistan with a different unit while his unit was in the rear. He's the only soldier in the battalion that was deployed. He got back 3 months ago and as soon as he got back, he went to work everyday till 1700. They didn't give him half days or 4 day weekends for redeployment and he never asked for them either, he didn't feel it was his position to ask for days off.
He didn't take block leave because he went on leave in October for 29 days and was told that if he did put leave now, it would probably get denied because he just took leave, so he didn't. He just found out yesterday that he had duty today because they changed the roster last minute. He asked the NCO in charge of the roster to see if there was anything he could do because he wanted to spend this new year's eve with his family since last year he wasn't here, unlike everybody else. He was told "at least you get to spend Christmas with your family" meaning that that should've been enough. He now feels that his unit doesn't really care about him or his family.
Is this soldier overreacting? Did his leadership fail him or is he just complaining?
He didn't take block leave because he went on leave in October for 29 days and was told that if he did put leave now, it would probably get denied because he just took leave, so he didn't. He just found out yesterday that he had duty today because they changed the roster last minute. He asked the NCO in charge of the roster to see if there was anything he could do because he wanted to spend this new year's eve with his family since last year he wasn't here, unlike everybody else. He was told "at least you get to spend Christmas with your family" meaning that that should've been enough. He now feels that his unit doesn't really care about him or his family.
Is this soldier overreacting? Did his leadership fail him or is he just complaining?
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Leadership
Leadership
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 61
I don't know about the details on whether he should pull CQ duty on New Years Eve, but from everything you described, it sound like there is a generally over the top and UNNECESSARY "suck it up" mentality -- which is not positive leadership, and therefore fair reasons for feeling like the command doesn't really care about him. Reasons:
- The nature of the "last minute change" seems suspicious to me. Everybody has to pull undesirable CQ sometimes, but "last minute changes" with no explanation breeds suspicion and ill-will. You can't just throw that at somebody with no explanation the day before New Years and say "at least you saw your family for Christmas" and not expect them to lose some faith in the command.
- Not getting to even ask for holiday leave? Anybody should be able to ask for holiday leave. If somebody wants to turn him down, then that 1SG or whoever should put their name to the paper and turn down the leave and stand by it if questioned later. It sounds like he was intimidated into not asking, which is a leadership failure.
- Going to work EVERY day right after a 12 month deployment, and not getting a single half day off to try to take care of his household goods, family, or general welfare? Somebody should have at least talked to him to see if there was a need for it. Not even asking him is what creates the perception that nobody cares about him.
In short.... CQ duty may be fine, but based on the information you gave, I think that any Soldier should have some concerns about whether his chain of command really cares about his well being or not.
- The nature of the "last minute change" seems suspicious to me. Everybody has to pull undesirable CQ sometimes, but "last minute changes" with no explanation breeds suspicion and ill-will. You can't just throw that at somebody with no explanation the day before New Years and say "at least you saw your family for Christmas" and not expect them to lose some faith in the command.
- Not getting to even ask for holiday leave? Anybody should be able to ask for holiday leave. If somebody wants to turn him down, then that 1SG or whoever should put their name to the paper and turn down the leave and stand by it if questioned later. It sounds like he was intimidated into not asking, which is a leadership failure.
- Going to work EVERY day right after a 12 month deployment, and not getting a single half day off to try to take care of his household goods, family, or general welfare? Somebody should have at least talked to him to see if there was a need for it. Not even asking him is what creates the perception that nobody cares about him.
In short.... CQ duty may be fine, but based on the information you gave, I think that any Soldier should have some concerns about whether his chain of command really cares about his well being or not.
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SGT Kristin Wiley
It seems like the command failed to follow up with the soldier and help him reintegrate into the unit following his deployment. Some of these things may be perspective based, but bottom line is that the command should be doing more, especially his first line leadership. If this happened to one of my soldiers, I would have swapped with him in a heartbeat, but then again I have no family and I don't drink so New Year's is null and void to me.
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SGT (Join to see)
When this soldier arrived from deployment, not a single NCO bothered to ask how he was feeling, if he needed anything, if he needed a few days off or nothing of that matter. He didn't really care either, he didn't expect anyone to ask him anything anyways. He was deployed for 12 months and no one from his command ever reached out to him while he was deployed his PSG and 1SG kept some contact but they left the unit sometime after he left. Anyone would think that theres a reason the unit doesn't care about this soldier, maybe he was a scumbag, an irresponsible soldier. But the reality is that this soldier was actually a good soldier. Never had a an adverse action taken against him, not even a negative counseling statement. In 2 years in the unit he received 3 AAM's and 4 coins for exemplary service and dedication to the unit.
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You need to bite the bullet and do your duty. Once it has been completed, a visit to your 1SG is in order. There may well be a very good explanation that just wasn't communicated.
If a Soldier needed to be somewhere due to an emergency or something important, it would've been my honor to pull the duty myself, even if I had other options. There are times when we as leaders get an opportunity to take care of Soldiers and set an example, and this is an excellent example.
If a Soldier needed to be somewhere due to an emergency or something important, it would've been my honor to pull the duty myself, even if I had other options. There are times when we as leaders get an opportunity to take care of Soldiers and set an example, and this is an excellent example.
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1SG (Join to see)
SFC (Join to see) - Oh really. Did you read my entire comment (from four years ago)? We has since modified the question with some more backstory. However, the backstory doesn't change what right looks like.
Decent units have a DA 6 for duties such as CQ. The need for CQ doesn't go away on holidays. If anything, they are more necessary. If this individual was duly assigned a duty on New Year's, then that is what is.
However, every unit in the Army has policies to deal with switching Soldiers on duty rosters if the need arose. And if the Soldier was truly in need and there wasn't a ready solution available, I said that this particular 1SG would pull the duty - seeing as how I will likely be up dealing with shenanigans anyway, might as well help a Soldier out.
Now, with the rest of the story, all I can say is that a decent unit would lake better care of this Soldier and get him what he needed to take care of things after deployment. It wouldn't go like that in my unit.
But then again, I'm just dumb, right?
Decent units have a DA 6 for duties such as CQ. The need for CQ doesn't go away on holidays. If anything, they are more necessary. If this individual was duly assigned a duty on New Year's, then that is what is.
However, every unit in the Army has policies to deal with switching Soldiers on duty rosters if the need arose. And if the Soldier was truly in need and there wasn't a ready solution available, I said that this particular 1SG would pull the duty - seeing as how I will likely be up dealing with shenanigans anyway, might as well help a Soldier out.
Now, with the rest of the story, all I can say is that a decent unit would lake better care of this Soldier and get him what he needed to take care of things after deployment. It wouldn't go like that in my unit.
But then again, I'm just dumb, right?
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TSgt (Join to see)
I wouldn’t say dumb, sounds like your just part of the leadership problem in the military. 1SG (Join to see)
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TSgt Mike Graham
Of course we’ve all pulled duty that was inconvenient, but just how much effort does it takes to give a good man a heartfelt explanation BEFORE he pulls the CQ?
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1SG (Join to see)
TSgt Mike Graham - Indeed, that should have happened. A lack of communication is the single biggest issue here, and it should be coming from both the Soldier and his CoC.
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