Posted on Feb 20, 2014
Do you think it is OK to degrade or fellow service members for lesser accomplishments?
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We have all heard it or said it. When a service member is in a unit and has not done/accomplished what most of the unit has, there is a derogatory phrase associated with them.
We can say it is time-honored tradition or good-natured ribbing, but at the end of the day it is done for no other reason than to belittle and make the SM feel he/she is a lesser soldier.
Prime example: when I arrived at Fort Bragg in 1998, I had not completed Airborne training. Therefore, I was a "leg". My 1SG would drop me everytime he saw me, because I hadn't yet gone to Airborne school. "Drop Leg."
When I went to PLDC in '99, I was leading PT one morning, and we were on a run. I started clling a cadence and asked where all the legs were at. My SGL jumped all over me. I was informed that we were no longer allowed to refer to them as Legs. They were now to be referred to as non-airborne personnel.
I spent 2 1/2 years in that unit, and was consistently belittled by other members of the company because I didn't have my wings. 1SG actually walked away from a conversation he and I were having because "he couldn't hear me with no wings on my chest." And this was in a training meeting. I was the training NCO.
In another thread on RP, a soldier with a deployment referred to an NCO who hadn't as a "slick-sleeved" SGT. There was no respect in the statement or the story.
So, all that was said to say: How is Esprit De Corps built when we have "time-honored" traditions of belittling SM's who don't have the same tabs, patches or wings?
Posted in these groups: 
Team Building
Esprit de Corps
Team Building Esprit de Corps
Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 12
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Never okay to degrade!<div><br></div><div>Im not getting all soft now on you, but where's the gain in doing so?</div><div><br></div><div>Most men have not been able to accomplish things in their career because they were in a unit and did not have those oppertunities. Rarely do we see people avoiding deployments, saying no to PME, or training. </div>
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It never ok degrade a fellow service member or anyone for that matter for lesser accomplishments. It is unacceptable and shouldn't be tolerated anywhere.
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Ragging on Soldiers for doing or not doing something outside of their control isn't in the best of interest of the Command. A Soldier could have a legitimate reason as to why they were/aren't able to receive such awards/deployments/schools. In my honest opinion, someone who rags a Soldier for these types of things should grow up and mature a little. I say leave those training to folks who think they need them because they are insecure about themselves and they need something on their chest to fill important and worthwhile.
I for one have never received any training that you sew onto your uniform, however I made E-7 in 7 1/2 years by building a reputation that I can get anything done that is given to me.
As the Army and DoD begins to become more aware of things like this expect a message to be published address this. Similar to Soldiers not being allowed to smoke in the office now unlike in the past.
If I find out one of my Soldiers/NCOs is ragging on another Soldier for something outside of the Soldiers control then I deal with the offender and not the defender. It's not tolerated in my office and my Soldiers know this.
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