Am I being treated unequally? What should I do if I believe I am receiving unequal punishment compared to someone else in my unit?

2023-03-02T05:12:00-05:00

So I ets in December this year and I started SFL tap last week. I have appointments every day this week from 0900 to 1600. My company is out conducting squad live fires Monday- Friday and I am not because SFL tap and I have a back profile. My commander told everyone in the rear that they need to go out to the field and sleep out there and we go back in the morning for no apparent reason. I was supposed to show up after my tap class at the company to go out and I didn't and ended up getting an FTR counseling from the commander that night. Meanwhile someone else that only has 2 appointments at the same time this week isn't answering anyone's phone calls and hasn't come out at all. I'm just left speechless because they got on my case for not showing up but he hasnt reported to anyone this whole week and no one cares. And right now I'm pulling gate guard at 1 in the morning when I have SFL tap at 09

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 2 at 2023 5:59 AM

2023-03-02T05:59:24-05:00

Two sides to every story. Not much to go on. What does your profile say? As in....does your profile exclude you from doing live fires? Does it exclude you from sleeping in the field? If your profile doesn't exclude any of that, well.....then that FTR is valid. As for the other troop, you may not be seeing everything. Did you hear Leaders say they don't care?

Response by CSM Darieus ZaGara made Mar 2 at 2023 6:13 AM

2023-03-02T06:13:04-05:00

Nothing they are doing is incorrect based on what you shared regarding yourself. As for your peer, you have no idea what awaits him. The unit is not obligated to share what the issues are as it relates to them, and using what appears to be another Soldiers failures does not negate your own

Response by SFC Casey O'Mally made Mar 2 at 2023 7:32 AM

2023-03-02T07:32:43-05:00

Be happy you are being allowed to go to the SFLTAP appointments at all!

Yes, they have to let you go - on their schedule, not yours. A week-long field exercise sounds like the WRONG time for those appointments. And it also not a "go to every class you can find" thing. A few are mandatory, the rest are optional. Guess what makes the unit much more inclined to deny the optional ones?

Not only are they being reasonable, they are actually being more than reasonable.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 2 at 2023 9:34 AM

2023-03-02T09:34:02-05:00

There are a lot of factors that you have to consider. If you didn't sit down with your supervisor to plan your SFL-TAP appointments then you would be left out to the wind on this. There are some appointments that the commander can pull you away from. You are required to attend all Career Readiness Standard appoints outlined in AR 600-81. If you scheduled a appointment for something that is outside of the CRS then the command may state that you are required to support their mission. You do have the option for classes online at JKO. But to prevent this you should try to speak with your supervisor. Historically, some soldiers booked every appointment they could and would use this as an excuse to not be at work. When I had Soldiers separating I would require them to come it and they were excused for their appointment's but had to come back after. Additionally, if I had Soldiers that were being separated due to their actions they would only be afforded the online version on JKO to complete the federal requirement. But if your commander is pull you out of mandatory classes then you should speak with a supervisor there. I got a few calls when I had soldiers in this situation. I would try my best to find a solution.

Response by MAJ Ronnie Reams made Mar 2 at 2023 10:11 AM

2023-03-02T10:11:09-05:00

Old Man got a hold of you and told you what to do, you did not do it. Apparently he has not gotten hold of the other man you are talking about. Not your business anyhow.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 2 at 2023 10:24 AM

2023-03-02T10:24:04-05:00

First, what punishment? In what way have you been punished? Have you received UCMJ? No, you have not. Being counseled is not a punishment.

Second, you have 18 months to complete TAP. Nine months ago you could have started TAP and scheduled your appointments around any training. Instead, you are nine months from ETS and you want to blame your commander because they are not accommodating your schedule, when the fact is that you have been granted ample time by the Army to work on TAP.

You can't plan poorly and then act as if you are being treated unjustly because there is still a mission requirement to fulfill. You'll have the same response from bosses as a civilian.

Response by GySgt Kenneth Pepper made Mar 2 at 2023 11:47 AM

2023-03-02T11:47:28-05:00

It cannot be determined if you are being treated unequally because you or I have no idea what is really going on with the other schmuck. In most cases you will never really know because your Commander and his staff don't need to tell you. If they want you to know, they will tell you.
Please take heed to the following: Your time in the military is drawing to it's conclusion. If you simply comply with lawful orders it will be done before you blink an eye and you can move on. If not, you will be in for a hellish summer filled with all kinds of extra duty and silly games. Your choice Jake. Make a good one.

Response by SFC Kelly Fuerhoff made Mar 2 at 2023 12:11 PM

2023-03-02T12:11:37-05:00

You should probably worry about yourself and not other people...you did fail to report since you say in a response your profile only limits you from carrying or wearing gear and you didn't say that it excludes you from sleeping out in the field. So you did FTR...I mean it's stupid to have people who are on Rear D go out there for shits and giggles...and especially when you're ETSing.

If you truly think you have been discriminated against, go talk to your EOL or EOA.

Response by SSgt Christophe Murphy made Mar 2 at 2023 2:04 PM

2023-03-02T14:04:05-05:00

You can't navigate this worrying about what other troops are doing. You need to focus on you and getting your transitioning stuff taken care of. You should also follow up with your Primary Care Provider. If your medical issue could warrant a med board you should go the extra nine yards to get your medical stuff taken care of and documented.

If the Commander said all rear echelon folks were going you needed to either be prepped and ready to be in the field for rack ops or take the extra effort to communicate your issues with class and profile to get a pass so you could have stayed out of the field the right way. Getting busted for being a no show and your first reflex is to "what about that guy" is a bad luck and immediately makes you look bad regardless of what the other guy did or didn't do.

Response by MSG Thomas Currie made Mar 2 at 2023 4:03 PM

2023-03-02T16:03:31-05:00

YOU are being treated properly. Your complaint is that you think someone else is getting away with something you think is the same as what you got caught doing.

You have every right to discuss your impression with the chain of command. You might get some answers, but don't count on it, because the proper response from your chain of command should be "You worry about you, and let us worry about everyone else."

Response by SGM Bill Frazer made Mar 2 at 2023 4:35 PM

2023-03-02T16:35:33-05:00

Look if you are not on a Deadman profile. then you should have followed the orders, Now you screwed up and are in hot water. Units seldom invade folks' homes, but your clown's turn is coming when he does show up. An intelligent soldier would have queried his CoC and reminded them of the appointments, not decided he knew better than the CoC and not shown up. Count yourself lucky if they don't take a stripe and let you ETS as a PV2! Of course, ETSing as a PFC doesn't speak much for your valuable service in the past either.

Response by SPC James Neidig made Mar 3 at 2023 1:55 AM

2023-03-03T01:55:19-05:00

We Used To Have A Saying Back In My Day, Suck It Up And Drive On .
Schedule Your SFL-TAP Appointments Around Your Units Schedule Not Yours.
I Was On A Dead Man Profile Awaiting Med Board Decision, I Couldn’t Wear Any Equipment, Do Anything Tactical Or PT Due To A Spinal Cord Injury, But I Volunteered For Any Extra Duty I Could Do Within My Profile, For 2 Reasons One Was To Free Up Other Soldiers From Doing It, Two Was To Show I Could Still Contribute To My Unit In Some Capacity Until My Discharge

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 6 at 2023 6:40 AM

2023-03-06T06:40:15-05:00

SFL-TAP every day? Please tell me you didn't schedule that yourself? Going through that nonsensical droning, PowerPoint, and being on hold was infuriating. I'm rocking the sham shield and that isn't sham, that's torture.

So you've got 9 months until ETS, so the short answer is call/e-mail to reschedule your appointment due to needs of the unit training schedule since you have 9 months to chase it down.

Now were I in command would I take someone who's on a profile out to the field just to sleep? No, it's pointless. You're not going to get much out of it for a night, if it's each night for the whole week... Maybe. If you have physical limitations due to injury, I could see tossing you on RTO, maybe if they have a TOC setup have you be a scribe to observe and learn. You catch some sleep, unless your limitations say I can't put you in a turret or a hole to pull security for an hour, and then we bus you back up in the morning for chow, hygiene and your appointment, and then collect you for the next day.

Trans would be annoying for just one troop but I'm sure I could find an LT and a SPC who need some pogey bait that would happily collect you, or maybe give you some one on one drive time with Top. Good for troops to spend time with their SNCO's now and then, awkward as hell sometimes but you'll get over it.

All of my fun what would I do with you if I were in charge aside, you FTR'd my guy. You're in the wrong plain and simple. Now if you couldn't make the time hack because of ABC/XYZ then you need to let someone know not just not show up. I've seen some dumb FTR Article 15's before but this would be an easy one (so long as they documented it properly anyway).

As for being treated unequally. I would hold that for until after the Justice Report for your AO comes out. COC isn't big in airing dirty laundry to the formation, commanders think it makes them look bad and it's also unprofessional. So you know this guy is doing something wrong, ok, he's probably not going to get away with it. Is he doing something wrong enough worthy of you reporting it up the chain? Probably not, so I'd say stay in your lane and let him worry about the slap he's going to get later.

Pulling gate guard at zero dark is a less than fun detail, but hopefully you had coffee and maybe a buddy to chat up. If not, well that is the suck sometimes. At least you weren't lying in a mud hole or stuck in a steel turret in winter.

If there has been a break down in communication or you don't understand or feel something is wrong by all means sit down with your leadership and just be straight with them about it. Approach it respectfully and let them know you're just trying to understand the situation fully so you don't make any mistakes like this in the future.