Has the Army "downsizing" caused an unintended "zero-defect" mentalilty to perpetuate in our formations? How does this affect morale?

2015-09-18T13:38:37-04:00

Response by LTC Jason Strickland made Sep 18 at 2015 1:41 PM

2015-09-18T13:41:39-04:00

There may be a "zero-defect" mentality; however, good leadership can overcome this trend. Despite the size of our force (whether troops, ships, or planes), our training is superior in all aspects and we must stress across the force that aspect.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 18 at 2015 2:02 PM

2015-09-18T14:02:05-04:00

An NCOs core responsibility is to provide purpose and motivation. The conflict is over so our main purpose is area beutification. Sending out QMP/QSP notification to the majority or senior NCOs is very demotivating. So as the notification trickle down from HRC a lack of morale applies to all facets of the enlisted ranks. The personnel not selected will most likely Med board or ETS on their own. Great job HRC!!!!!

Response by SFC Steven Steingiesser made Sep 18 at 2015 2:45 PM

2015-09-18T14:45:08-04:00

I think the "zero defect" mentality has damaged the Army across the board. It runs counter intuitive to what the Army is pushing with the MRT program. The military has spent millions of dollars teaching us how to recover from making a mistake, or when things don't work out; however when you actually make a mistake, your career is done with. Actions speak louder than words and the Army has shown when you make a mistake, your career is over. This leads to those in command or authority not willing to put themselves in position to fail. No action is taken as it has become preferable to the wrong action and that is a travesty.

Response by COL Jean (John) F. B. made Sep 18 at 2015 3:27 PM

2015-09-18T15:27:55-04:00

MSG Private RallyPoint Member - The Army has been through several of these drawdowns and, each time, has perpetuated the zero-defect mentality to decisions concerning who stays and who goes. While I realize there must be criteria to differentiate individuals, there should be realistic cut-off dates in applying them.

I have seen real travesties occur as a result of this culling of our personnel. For example, QMPing an SFC whose only derogatory comment was a DUI as a PFC, many years before. While I certainly do not condone a DUI, it should not have been the determining factor in the decision to put this outstanding NCO out of the Army many years later, when everything else he had done since then was near perfect. (Although I won't relate the story now -- I did in a similar post many months ago - I was unsuccessful in my fight to get the decision reversed, but was successful in keeping him in the Army by unorthodox and regulation-bending "slight of hand"... and he was picked up for promotion to MSG/E-8 the following year and retired as a SGM).

People need to have the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them. A zero-defect mentality, in my opinion, simply perpetuates an environment of people being afraid to take risks or do anything for fear of being criticized or cited for it if they screw up or not live up to somebody's expectations of how things should have gone. I subscribe to the fact that the only people who have never screwed up are people who have done nothing. There is a reason there are erasers on pencils... It is not a crime to use them and we need to stop pretending that there is.

Response by Capt Mark Strobl made Sep 18 at 2015 4:46 PM

2015-09-18T16:46:43-04:00

Saw this in the Navy-Marine Corps team circa 1990's. The bad news: Prepare to lose some amazing leadership. The good news: A lot of sh**birds will be weeded out as well. Down-sizing is politically cyclic. We'll see it again... and again.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 19 at 2015 2:56 AM

2015-09-19T02:56:59-04:00

Simply put yes
It along with the talk of slashing benefits, the disposing of combat vets because they are no longer useful or needed has decimated moral.

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 19 at 2015 12:55 PM

2015-09-19T12:55:40-04:00

To a certain extent yes. Every time any of the services downsize, those with any blemish at all are potentially at risk. Sometimes that line is more clear, sometimes a lot less so.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Sep 19 at 2015 4:01 PM

2015-09-19T16:01:23-04:00

It intensifies the stress level of doing business in the Army.

Response by SSG Adrian Ducker made Sep 26 at 2015 4:50 PM

2015-09-26T16:50:07-04:00

One effect of it may be that some commanders may be afraid to document incidents that leaders in their command should otherwise receive a written reprimand or an Article 15 for.

Several years ago, an NCO may get a company grade Article 15 or a memo of reprimand put in their restricted file for a one time incident that they rightfully deserve it for, but at the same time, the command didn't believe that the incident warrants demoting the NCO or separating them. However, that same NCO may now be getting looked at for QMP and could potentially be kicked out when that wasn't the commander's original intent.

As a result of that, commanders may just verbally counsel people for incidents that warrant further punishment, because they are afraid that going any further than a verbal punishment could result in that NCO being kicked out several years down the line. I'm sure that some leaders that gave out what their thought were minor punishments several years ago are now regretting it because someone that they thought was a great NCO that had a minor lapse in judgement could be looking at being discharged over it.

It would be interesting to see what the current statistics are on UCMJ against senior NCOs for the last year as a result of the QMP and QSP boards versus what it was when we was trying to keep our ranks much higher due to mission requirements.