Posted on Nov 20, 2018
What’s your most problematic issue with your soldiers?
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I know we all have problems when dealing with soldiers, PT usually comes to mind but I would like to know as leaders what issue you all deal with the most. For me it’s forms, I even made a form binder. I have almost every form my soldiers and I use daily with the instructions on how to fill them out. I would like to know what’s everybody’s else’s issue are and how you have over came them?
Soldier
Training
Forms
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Posted 6 y ago
Responses: 9
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Not asking for help. I had one Airmen get in almost $100k in debt trading stocks. He made a bad trade lost a bunch then thought he could make it back with some quick turn around trades. Got a $20k credit card, lost more. Got another credit card, maxed that out. Got a third card. Maxed that out too. The bills for those cards came due and he was over $60k in debt and now paying 24% interest on all of it. He had to file bankruptcy, lost his security clearance, got discharged from the military. If he had only come to us and said "I just lost $5k trading stocks I don't know what to do" we could have helped him. The Air Force has programs like the Falcon loan, we could have gotten him advanced pay, put him on some form of payment plan. We could have saved him credit, his career, and his future.
Get to know your people, let them know they can trust you. Your might be the difference that keeps someone from screwing up their life at 18.
Get to know your people, let them know they can trust you. Your might be the difference that keeps someone from screwing up their life at 18.
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SPC Samantha Stapley
Young enlisted soldiers going into debt was a huge problem at my first Duty Station in Fort Hood. 18 year old kids would buy their first car, with payments more than they could afford; get all of the credit cards that were offered to them; and spend every last dime.
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SFC (Join to see)
It sounds as a whole the military should promote more financial IQ classes. I hear these stories way to often. And the sad thing is these course are offered free. But everybody hears about them when it’s too late
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Maj (Join to see)
SFC (Join to see) my old Squadron used to require all first term Airmen to attend a financial readiness course.
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Service Members, that only enlisted or commissioned out of personal need, without one ounce of patriotism. And can’t even try to fake patriotism, for the good of the uniform.
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SFC (Join to see)
I saw a lot of that in the recruiting world MSG (Join to see) Sir. The problem with this issue should be addressed then during qualifying a potential soldier. The sad thing I saw young men being qualified who were active gang members, who wanted just to learn how to be more efficient fighters and strategic members of there gang.
I never recruited anyone like this as I held extremely high standards. But for those recruiters who were hurting for numbers would coach them on how to pass MEPS. This has definitely had a difficult outcome for civilian law enforcement who do not have advanced training skills like the military does.
But as long as CI is unable to work under a double function they will never see the actual problem of how poor pre enlistment is operated. Everything that usually has a unit or branch disfunction starts with Recruiting. I would recommend getting rid of quotas and focus more on quality.
That's just my insight.
I never recruited anyone like this as I held extremely high standards. But for those recruiters who were hurting for numbers would coach them on how to pass MEPS. This has definitely had a difficult outcome for civilian law enforcement who do not have advanced training skills like the military does.
But as long as CI is unable to work under a double function they will never see the actual problem of how poor pre enlistment is operated. Everything that usually has a unit or branch disfunction starts with Recruiting. I would recommend getting rid of quotas and focus more on quality.
That's just my insight.
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SFC Francisco Rosario
I agree with you SFC Mary Beaver. One of the bigest problems that i had when i was in was dealing with Soldiers who didnt want to adapt. Some of those individuals would come in thinking that they would be able to continue to act like they did when they were back on the block.
Some even thought that they could intimidate me or some of my other NCOs. Some of these hard-cases would break down as soon as they realized that they were alone and that they could not get away with their behavior. This was more eveident while stationed overseas, primarily because they could not just pick up and leave. However stateside it was a bit more challenging since it was much easier to go AWOL.
Some even thought that they could intimidate me or some of my other NCOs. Some of these hard-cases would break down as soon as they realized that they were alone and that they could not get away with their behavior. This was more eveident while stationed overseas, primarily because they could not just pick up and leave. However stateside it was a bit more challenging since it was much easier to go AWOL.
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SFC (Join to see)
I know a lot about soldiers and going AWOLSFC Francisco Rosario. I actually got threatened by a 1Sgt because his soldier went AWOL and he said he was going to have me court martialed because I was hiding him! Hahaha, I was like you have got to be kidding me! I really had no idea that he was even thinking about going AWOL, until he actually went missing.
And he was down there in Stewart, I was all the way up in N Georgia. But he was a hot mess and one of these Hawaiian kids who weirdly had a lot of his family and friends stationed at Stewart? But they let him come back a few times from going AWOL. That to me was the ARMYs fault. Quantity over quality. A lot of times they end up being outstanding soldiers in the beginning, but man! What a headache down the line. But he had done like three tours in some pretty heavy hostile areas. So emotionally I'm pretty sure he was over it!
But we have no one really to blame but ourselves for bad selection. In the civilian world our diets suck, our life styles are far from commendable in most cases. And soldiers are starting to break down physically and emotionally after two two years of enlistment. I truly blame the over use of video games and no manditory physical education in a lot of school. Regionally your best soldiers come out of the north states or the Midwestern states.
One day we're going to get hit hard by another country and very few will be able to protect themselves or there families. Sad if you think about it.
And he was down there in Stewart, I was all the way up in N Georgia. But he was a hot mess and one of these Hawaiian kids who weirdly had a lot of his family and friends stationed at Stewart? But they let him come back a few times from going AWOL. That to me was the ARMYs fault. Quantity over quality. A lot of times they end up being outstanding soldiers in the beginning, but man! What a headache down the line. But he had done like three tours in some pretty heavy hostile areas. So emotionally I'm pretty sure he was over it!
But we have no one really to blame but ourselves for bad selection. In the civilian world our diets suck, our life styles are far from commendable in most cases. And soldiers are starting to break down physically and emotionally after two two years of enlistment. I truly blame the over use of video games and no manditory physical education in a lot of school. Regionally your best soldiers come out of the north states or the Midwestern states.
One day we're going to get hit hard by another country and very few will be able to protect themselves or there families. Sad if you think about it.
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SFC (Join to see) I always found at a macro level four problems:
1. As Maj (Join to see) said, they dont ask for help until they are in way over their heads or their blip has already hit the command radar.
2. They don't know the words to ask for what it is they are trying to do. They google random crap or talk to Barracks lawyers. If they had the right terminology, they could find the regulation and ask better questions. They ask for a "reg" and well intentioned people start citing Field Manuals...
3. They would rather ask random faceless people on the internet than have a one on one conversation with their unit leaders.
4. Junior first line leaders are hit or miss for solid, regulation based advice. I see it on here all the time. A Sergeant that doesn't know there is a pregnancy related chapter as an example.
Edit: sorry forgot to offer a solution:
1. Take bad news well. It does not mean giving a pass for substandard behavior, but you have to set conditions where people will not wince at the thought of coming to you for help. There was a long failure chain that preceded Saddam Hussein being pulled out of that spider hole in Tikrit looking like Ron Jeremy after a bender. It started with not taking bad news well, so generals and others didn't tell him.
2. Junior leaders need to be coached to research and elevate if they don't know how to proceed. You learn how by solving the problems and doing research.
3. Use the regulatory and doctrinal terminology and use it correctly.
4. The Army relies on systems, processes, and procedure to achieve central control and decentralized execution. GEN Milley and SMA Dailey don't weigh in on individual training and soldier issues in Automotive Section, 2d Platoon, Maintenance Troop, Support Squadron, 11th ACR. That is why they have a Section Sergeant. Platoon Sergeant, Platoon Leader et al up to the FORSCOM Command Group to use regulations, exisiting authorities, delegation, processes, forms, and disciplined initiative of leaders to solve problems.
1. As Maj (Join to see) said, they dont ask for help until they are in way over their heads or their blip has already hit the command radar.
2. They don't know the words to ask for what it is they are trying to do. They google random crap or talk to Barracks lawyers. If they had the right terminology, they could find the regulation and ask better questions. They ask for a "reg" and well intentioned people start citing Field Manuals...
3. They would rather ask random faceless people on the internet than have a one on one conversation with their unit leaders.
4. Junior first line leaders are hit or miss for solid, regulation based advice. I see it on here all the time. A Sergeant that doesn't know there is a pregnancy related chapter as an example.
Edit: sorry forgot to offer a solution:
1. Take bad news well. It does not mean giving a pass for substandard behavior, but you have to set conditions where people will not wince at the thought of coming to you for help. There was a long failure chain that preceded Saddam Hussein being pulled out of that spider hole in Tikrit looking like Ron Jeremy after a bender. It started with not taking bad news well, so generals and others didn't tell him.
2. Junior leaders need to be coached to research and elevate if they don't know how to proceed. You learn how by solving the problems and doing research.
3. Use the regulatory and doctrinal terminology and use it correctly.
4. The Army relies on systems, processes, and procedure to achieve central control and decentralized execution. GEN Milley and SMA Dailey don't weigh in on individual training and soldier issues in Automotive Section, 2d Platoon, Maintenance Troop, Support Squadron, 11th ACR. That is why they have a Section Sergeant. Platoon Sergeant, Platoon Leader et al up to the FORSCOM Command Group to use regulations, exisiting authorities, delegation, processes, forms, and disciplined initiative of leaders to solve problems.
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