What is the biggest issues that military leaders fail to address or admit exists?

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 21:11:48 -0500

As we move through the ranks many of us have seen military leaders fail to act or admit that a problem exists. What do you think the biggest issue is that leaders do not address or fail to admit exists?

How do we solve it?

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 23 at 2015 9:18 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 21:18:52 -0500

In the Army Reserve, I am going have go with junior leader development and mentorship. It gets a lot of lip service, but not a great deal of actual attention.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 23 at 2015 9:32 PM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 21:32:36 -0500

Well, LTC Private RallyPoint Member, we obviously can't talk about it without admitting it exists!

I agree with MAJ Private RallyPoint Member that junior leader (officers and NCOs) development is sorely lacking in the Army Reserve (although it may go further than that). I would add actual mission readiness. Readiness metrics are fine, but getting to the battlefield means very little if units don't know what to do when they get there.

I have been out of the mainstream Army Reserve for over a year now, so perhaps the focus on the more base readiness aspects has abated.

Response by SSgt Thomas L. made Feb 23 at 2015 9:34 PM

SSgt Thomas L. — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 21:34:13 -0500

I think John Q. Public sums it up pretty well here. There is excessive "dog and pony" type leadership, where a VIP will visit for a "look" at operations... but that visit is NEVER an accurate reflection of actual operations. It's actually very disruptive to operations, with man hours wasted "painting the grass green" (something I actually did at Beale!) and planting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of flowers (something they did at McGuire) to impress those VIP visitors. The whole ethic of gripes going up and orders coming down is stunted. Most gripes do not make it up. Each branch of the military is expected to do "more with less" but there is a natural conclusion to that. Eventually, they will be expected to do everything with nothing... and all the 4 star visits in the world won't save them. http://www.jqpublic-blog.com/look-were-involved-air-force-constellation-visits-minot/

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 23 at 2015 10:17 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 22:17:04 -0500

Most things EO related. Sex, race, and religion, are not supposed to be factors in military matters, but I think a blind eye is turned on trespasses in these areas.

Response by SSG Adam Reed made Feb 23 at 2015 10:21 PM

SSG Adam Reed — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 22:21:37 -0500

Honestly, I think the biggest issue within the military is that the military doesn't seem to think there are any big issues. Sure they pounce on the little issues like what to do for PT, Chow, Dress Codes and etc. But there are problems in the military that have been in place for years and never seem to get resolved. Here are my top 5.

1. Sexual harassment. It has been around ever since the inception of the military. It has only gotten worse in time with certain policies being approved.

2. Homosexuality. The military defines and redefines its policies on this issue so much that even the troops are unsure of what is allowed and what isn't. 'Do I ask, Do I tell'. Who knows!

3. Unfair treatment towards race. Executive Order 9981 abolished racial discrimination and segregation in the military in 1948, but this issue is still there. It just found a better way to camouflage itself.

4. Non-equal rights to females. They can hold a combat MOS. We just choose to not let them. We just keep hanging the carrot in front of them to keep em interested.

5. Last but not least. The care of soldiers after they leave the service. Its the VA's problem, not theirs.

So when the military sidesteps or totally ignores a problem, I believe that is the biggest issue.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 23 at 2015 10:40 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 22:40:23 -0500

Doing the right thing themselves

Response by LTC David S. Chang, ChFC®, CLU® made Feb 24 at 2015 2:00 PM

LTC David S. Chang, ChFC®, CLU® — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 14:00:07 -0500

I think overall we don't think as proactively as we should. We are very reactive to things, and in the long-run I think spent too much money.

Also I believe that like other things, personalities and egos get in the way for what is best for the country. This includes elected officials all the way down to the private at times.

We could really save on certain things but of course we don't want to save in the location where a senior Congressperson doesn't want to lose the jobs. So stuff like this I think in the long-run only hurts us.

Response by MSgt Michael Durkee made Feb 24 at 2015 3:40 PM

MSgt Michael Durkee — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 15:40:21 -0500

One word, Apathy. Okay, that was three now nine.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Jul 11 at 2015 4:02 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Sat, 11 Jul 2015 16:02:13 -0400

They should address why we are not better at COIN.