What is the quality of today's young men and women?

MSgt Peter Castine — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 17:04:09 -0500

When I retired in '92, I began seeing an influx of young people lacking discipline and respect for authority. They seemed to have joined strictly for the benefits. Now don't get me wrong, there were many good people still coming in. I blame society and the upbringing of our kids for this. There is not much our boot camps can do to reverse their attitudes. What are you, the NCOs seeing and how do you deal with it?

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 24 at 2014 5:29 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 17:29:39 -0500

I retired in '13, and what I saw was a big time sporadic group of soldiers, the lack of discipline and respect was so relevant at times you would see it almost on a daily basis. Being the Company Supply Sergeant and then the BN S4 we had first hand view of every soldier that came in. What I will say is that these actions by the soldiers we had led to NCO's and leaders being forced to find creative methods of corrective training. Now on the other hand we had a few that followed the rules, and met and set standards for their peers to follow, which was very helpful.

Response by MSgt Peter Castine made Feb 25 at 2014 1:00 PM

MSgt Peter Castine — Tue, 25 Feb 2014 13:00:14 -0500

That was kind of what I was expecting to hear. Especially after seeing some of the posts on FB by Rallypoint concerning the young army lady hiding in her car to avoid saluting the flag and the honor guard in Wisconsin showing total disrespect to a fallen soldier. I think things were much easier for me as a senior NCO back in the late 80s and early 90s! My hat is off to the NCOS of todays military.

Response by CMC Robert Young made Feb 25 at 2014 1:25 PM

CMC Robert Young — Tue, 25 Feb 2014 13:25:14 -0500

Unfortunately, the trend continues unabated. I'm amazed at the difference between the quality of people who were serving when I entered in 1986, and the quality of those who enlist now. There is a significant lack of personal responsibility, work ethic, and commitment to anything other than themselves. I make no excuse for using all of the benefits that Uncle Sam has supplied, but I joined for an entirely different set of reasons that had to do with service to family, community, and country; and would like to think that I have earned my keep. Today's crowd has a very pronounced agenda that doesn't necessarily involve service to others.

I knew the end had come when an E4 asked me just prior to Morning Colors when liberty would be granted because he "had things to do" as his section leader walked by updating his Facebook status on a smart phone to reflect that he was "at work".

The only thing we can do is enforce the standard. Those who adhere will get to stay, and hopefully figure out that the military is a lifestyle, not a job. Those who don't, will either get out, or fall victim to the budget cuts. Either way, once they're gone, we're better off.

Response by CPO Jon Campbell made Feb 26 at 2014 4:58 PM

CPO Jon Campbell — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 16:58:54 -0500

When I first joined the reserve, it was populated with mostly older people who were at mid career in their civilian jobs and those jobs were skilled jobs that directly related to what they were doing in the service. Many wanted a weekend away from their wife and there were the stereotypical 'weekend warror' half-crazy guys who just wanted a thrill. The reserve changed a lot after 9/11 and the quality of enlisted people seemed to go up compared to the types we were used to seeing, but there were so many more people that the not so great ones stood out. One thing that struck me as I got into the senior enlisted ranks and had more contact with officers was how many unemployed, unemployable, SAHMs, and retirees suddenly filled the ranks. The priorities and life situations of these people are very different. Some things that I have seen are 1) People bringing their children to drill 2) New mothers bringing babies to drill to breast feed. 3) People spending a week doing a 2 day drill because they had nothing better to do. 4) People 'vacationing' on Title 10 orders because the workload was so tiny compared to the civilian jobs they once had. I think that the huge change in benefits for reservists has made it far more attractive for people to join, but has not necessarily attracted the people with the best skill sets.

Response by PO1 Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 21 at 2015 12:17 PM

PO1 Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 12:17:31 -0400

MSgt Peter Castine In regards to our junior troops I would offer the following. As the old saying goes, "Change starts from the Top down." There are too many issues in the way of professional growth and correction. Some examples are males are afraid to correct females; corrections are typically enforced by senior personnel; etc. The reality is there are far more junior than senior personnel in the military and without a sense of ownership/responsibility of self then these lessons have less impact. We all were there and some of us had a harder time growing up in the military than others but we all evolved into something better and greater than when we started out. The growing pains hurt but we always, eventually find our way.

Saw this today and I think this is what it is all about.

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