Do you credit the quality of Soldiers to Recruiting, or to the leaders who train, and mentor the Soldiers in IET?

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 13:33:09 -0400

Response by SCPO David Lockwood made Oct 6 at 2015 1:35 PM

SCPO David Lockwood — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 13:35:29 -0400

I would have to credit all the above. I believe there's not on single thing that makes a good Soldier, Sailor, Airmen or Marine but multiple influences from numerous places that make a quality Soldier, Sailor, Airmen or Marine.

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Oct 6 at 2015 1:44 PM

CAPT Kevin B. — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 13:44:41 -0400

SCPO David Lockwood nailed it. My add is we all have responsibility for bringing the kids along through their entire career. And when they get promoted above you, hold them accountable for their effectiveness. Good ones won't let you down.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 6 at 2015 1:46 PM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 13:46:22 -0400

Some credit goes to the recruiters but more would go to the leaders. At least, that is how I think.

Response by 1stSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 6 at 2015 1:48 PM

1stSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 13:48:47 -0400

I believe it the job of all service recruiters to find and enlist the top candidates that meet the minimum requirements for each service. It is the job of the DI, DS or what ever the other services call them, to train them to be basically trained and instilled with the ethos of each individual service. It is the responsibility of the NCO in charge of the individual to further train and grow the individual into a fully competent Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine. In short, it is(was) all of our responsibility.

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 6 at 2015 2:09 PM

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 14:09:31 -0400

SSG Dedrick Botley, As one who served in Recruiting during the height of the troop surge under Gen. David Petraeus, I can tell you first hand (Disclaimer: this is not official DoD or DA policy, but my personal opinion on the matter only and as a matter of conversation) that some of the blame is on the recruiting standards at the time. There were a lot of future Soldiers (FS) that should never have been recruited in the first place. However, we were under pressure to put more FS in to the Army in order to meet the increase in the Army’s end strength. Now, that being said, I'm not excusing the Basic or AIT programs either, but I'm sure they could tell you the same thing, that their standards were reduced to meet demand at the time.

In addition, after reviewing 1stSgt Jim S.'s comments I would concur that all share blame.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 6 at 2015 2:15 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 14:15:49 -0400

The initial quality of the soldiers... the training and leadership in IET. The sustained quality... the NCO corps at their permanent duty station.

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Oct 6 at 2015 2:19 PM

Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 14:19:39 -0400

It's a funnel.

The mouth of the funnel is at the recruiting station. It gets progressively narrower the deeper we go down the "training pipeline." Sometimes someone isn't going to clear the funnel and they have to be yanked out. But it takes the entire funnel to make that happen.

We don't a new CMC or Chief of Staff without first having a recruiter or a DS or some light Bird mentoring him. Each person along the funnel is "incrementally" important on the career path.

Response by 1SG Michael Blount made Oct 6 at 2015 3:21 PM

1SG Michael Blount — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 15:21:04 -0400

There's a saying -- you don't get a second chance at a first impression. i strongly believe from the minute IET Soldiers set foot in BCT-land until they graduate AIT, their Drill Sergeants and instructors have the biggest impact on whether that Soldier is going to be a success or not. Admittedly, some slip through by doing the absolute minimum. For the most part, however, the Drill Sergeant and AIT instructors are responsible (or the blame) for the quality of Soldiers being produced today.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 6 at 2015 7:45 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 19:45:11 -0400

Everything begins in IET. Recruitment is based on eligibility only. Cannot turn someone away who is fully qualified for recruitment. It's the leaders in IET who really begin to mold these young Soldiers, and they're the best for it.

Response by SGM Steve Wettstein made Oct 7 at 2015 9:04 AM

SGM Steve Wettstein — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 09:04:27 -0400

SFC Private RallyPoint Member IMO it is both and the pressure that they get to graduate Soldiers. When I was a PSG, I would get Soldiers that couldn't pass the APFT. MY 1SG would give me shit because I had a PT failure when I would only have them for a few weeks. There's more to it than PT but that is an easy example.

Response by SrA Joshua Hagler made Oct 8 at 2015 9:41 PM

SrA Joshua Hagler — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 21:41:48 -0400

It's always leadership, if leadership fails at giving NCOs the tools to train or backs them up in that training, even good recruits will become bad troops. From an air force stand point we had our NCO corps striped of manning and power and now we have NCOs who were barely airmen and have no idea what they are doing. Also the good troops often times get out when this happens, it happened in horrible epic wave when i came in 2007.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Oct 15 at 2015 6:28 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 18:28:52 -0400

The key is what kind of soldiers will they become at the units.