What do you think this new soldier should do or feel with their certain circumstance?

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 14:06:54 -0500

A soldier arrived to a new unit and from day one this soldier has only recieved negative feedbacks back to back from the moment they arrive. Within their section everyone (civilians and soldiers) complained about the supervisors and how there is no justice. The new soldier found out that majority of the junior enlisted are either purposly failing their APFT when their previous ones were almost at 300 or their ETS-ing because they couldnt take it anymore. The civilians are purposly retiring or finding other jobs that would take them away from their section. Now the section that new soldier is in required at least 22 soldier are down to 4 soldiers and now on every shift in January and only gets 9 days off in that month. What do you think this soldier should do?

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 19 at 2013 2:08 PM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 14:08:02 -0500

A quiet mutiny at hand.. lol

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 19 at 2013 2:13 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 14:13:36 -0500

I would always remember that every unit commander has an open door policy. It is there for a reason. This would be a good reason. If that fails you can go to the IG but you must have tangible evidence of misconduct. If someone is just a bad leader they will not be able to address that but only make recommendations to the units leadership. You should have a 1SG that is there to help. If he is not there for you the CSM may need to get involved. At some point there should be someone that cares. I would recommend a sensing session for that unit in question.

Response by SFC Josh Watson made Dec 19 at 2013 2:14 PM

SFC Josh Watson — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 14:14:55 -0500

Sounds like an issue stemmed by toxic leadership. If all the Soldiers are compromising their integrity just to get away from the issue, and people are looking toward ETSing and not staying on the team because of this, maybe a Command Climate survey is in order. This may be a circumstance where the Inspector General's office should be involved. I don't know for sure, since I haven't witnessed the unit's performance or climate personally.

Response by SPC Christopher Morehouse made Dec 19 at 2013 2:27 PM

SPC Christopher Morehouse — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 14:27:22 -0500

Run? Call the IG? Slap someone with a shiny collar? If all this is true, there is some officer (or several) asleep at the wheel somewhere.

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Dec 19 at 2013 8:16 PM

SFC Michael Hasbun — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 20:16:20 -0500

I am so intrigued as to the unit... Perhaps a new reality show is at hand?

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 19 at 2013 8:27 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 20:27:21 -0500

I see a lot of people calling the IG. Keep in mind that the IG is there for a violation of policy or regulation. Not for poor leadership. If your leadership fails to do their job, i.e. throws away your promotion packet and fails to counsel you why you are not being promoted, then yes you can call the IG. If your leadership is horrible and makes foolish decisions that adversely impact the soldiers in the unit they can not do anything. IG will only make recommendations to the higher unit's leadership. They will only act if clear violations are taking place like a SHARP issue or inappropriate use of authority.

Response by SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 27 at 2013 8:49 PM

SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 27 Dec 2013 20:49:02 -0500

I was always taught that the army is what you make of it. In my opinion the soldier should do his best to make the unit something to be proud of. Nothing will ever change if there isn't high speed soldiers to fix it.

Response by SFC Timothy Dingman made Dec 23 at 2014 11:33 AM

SFC Timothy Dingman — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 11:33:38 -0500

As far as the section being short on manpower, that Soldiers just needs to Soldier up and do what the mission requires!!

As for unit/section approval and Soldiers failing their PT Test, that Soldier just needs to Soldier up!!

Those sorry Soldiers who are "purposely" failing, they think that the this is a democratic military and that they can picket/boycot to get their voices heard; because, maybe they got a sterling 1SG who's holding the line and holding Soldiers accountable and these Soldiers (the product of the babyboomer - no discipline generation) are butt hurt over having to now earn their taxpayer paychecks!!!!

Response by PO1 Glenn Boucher made Apr 2 at 2015 2:11 PM

PO1 Glenn Boucher — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 14:11:25 -0400

Sounds like poor leadership. What any military service member should do when faced with poor leadership is to keep doing the right thing regardless of what everyone else is doing.
If everyone jumped off a bridge, would that soldier follow? Probably not.
Sometimes you have to be the bigger person and do your duty to the best of your ability.
Always do your best and try to help along the way, but remember the old saying, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink".
Be true to yourself and never lower your standards because everyone else is behaving like a loser.

Response by Sgt John Ervin made Mar 22 at 2016 12:35 PM

Sgt John Ervin — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 12:35:58 -0400

I remember a certain cocky SGT that wanted to give me a 7 on an annual performance report. Upper management forced him to change it to an 8. Said SGT served 20 years, got out, went back in as an officer, and is still in to this day. 35 years in service.. Serves as a Captain, USAFE Chaplain in europe. To this day he still refuses to speak to me. He failed math two times in college classes and failed math on his asvab test. When I knew him, he could not manage his way out of a paper bag. But he was the only one that I know that did 35+ years in service. 56 years old and still a Captain...likely promoted due to time in service.