How do we explain to lower enlisted the different levels of participation in training between enlisted and officers?

1SG(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 12:50:17 -0400

Being in the Military for over 35 years and I must say blat en waist of federal money or our tax dollars is upsetting. I have been in the ORANG for 31 of those years. I know that when we are training, we all should be training that includes staff officers as well. I have no disrespect for my officers as well as my higher NCO's. But when my troops ask me why are the officers out playing volley ball in the sand, or taking a whole day off to go Golfing while we clean up all the equipment and training materials. I thought they were to be setting up follow on training and preparing battle staff training. I just want to be able to explain to the troops what they are asking.

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 5 at 2018 2:32 PM

LCDR Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 14:32:34 -0400

I can't speak for everyone, and I would be the first in line to admit that there are some senior 'leaders' no-doubt in all the services that couldn't 'lead' an alcoholic to a liquor store, but I'll try to give a few answers to your question...

One-- the leadership is getting out of the way of the middle management. You don't want the officers hanging around your evolution, they KNOW that, so they go away.

Another possibility: While your troops 'see' when the officers aren't at work, or when they are goofing off, etc., they DON'T see when the officers at work when they themselves aren't there-- which is pretty often. Believe it or not, officers do a LOT of work from places other than the office during hours that are not M-F, 9-5. The troops don't see the the work the officers do from home. They don't get sucked into the 'mandatory fun' events (like golf outings, fancy dinner parties, etc.) that are vital to building networks amongst the leaders of various units, but are really just sucks on your time when you would much rather be either at work (so you don't have to come in and catch up over the weekend) or at home. A mentor of mine-- O6 Navy Captain-- told me once that he had only 3 days legitimately 'off' in the preceeding 5 years. 3 days where he didn't have to answer and official phone call or don a uniform. Granted, with rank comes responsibility, but 3 days in 5 years? I couldn't hack that. No effing way.

A third possibility: They trust you. Of course you've heard the phrase 'trust but verify'... they leave because they don't feel the need to 'verify' because they know either their NCOs/ SNCOs have it covered, or they trust the troops to do the right thing. They are responsible for it whether they are there or not, so it is actually a testament to their confidence in YOUR ability absent their oversight. I had another Captian years ago who was geo-bacheloring in Norfolk (his family was in DC, so he would drive up on the weekends when he could). He would routinely take Friday's off and come in around noon on Mondays. He was the Captain of the ship, so has a lot of latitude to run his own show. He is also 'announced' over the loudspeader when he departs or arrives at the ship, so can't really 'sneak' off or on... A lot of the Sailors and JO's would b**** about how it must be nice to bag out of work the way he did... I would try to explain to them that the reason he COULD leave is that he entrusted HIS ship, HIS legacy, HIS reputation, HIS career-- to us. (I was also a JO at the time.) What they saw as a negative was actually a HUGE positive.

Anyway... Not sure how well any of this translates to Army, but hope it is at least a little bit helpful.

Response by SSgt Holden M. made Jul 5 at 2018 3:43 PM

SSgt Holden M. — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 15:43:50 -0400

I'm not quite sure how the Army is but when I was in the Air Force as a headquarters like when I was at AFCENT in South Carolina we didn't participate in the exercises because there was so much real world events going on that we couldn't be on lock down under our desks and have the mission impacted. But if you were outside the building for example at AAFES getting some food and there was an "attack" near there then you had to participate as in getting detoured around where the "attack" was happening or what not. So it might be similar unless it's the commander of your unit out with his staff playing around while you guys tear down. If that's the case when I was in a squadron/unit at the same base that participated in the exercise since I did admin stuff for the commander they/us were usually to busy working on debriefing type stuff while everybody else was taking things from exercise situation back to real world.

Response by SGT Matthew S. made Jul 6 at 2018 9:20 AM

SGT Matthew S. — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 09:20:36 -0400

I'll certainly admit that the situations you mentioned certainly don't look good to lower enlisted personnel and that "perception is reality". That being said, cleaning equipment & training materials isn't exactly "Officer work" - even buck Privates ought to know that different ranks means different ways and levels of participation in certain events.

On the other hand, even from my own personal experience, how often are the lower enlisted goofing off, already released for the day, etc, while the senior Enlisted & Officers are still working at something or another? Much of their duties take place outside what Squad Leaders - even Platoon Sergeants - and below commonly see.