When in on a "TRADOC" installation can you correct Trainee privates?

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 18 May 2014 14:55:55 -0400

I was an AIT Platoon Sergeant at Fort Lee. During my time there many of my battles came to Fort Lee to attend school (ALC,SLC Etc.) Many of them were told "Don't even look or talk to the Trainees.

Why would a school that is supposed to teach us how to be professional NCO's, propagate this fear of getting into trouble for correcting Trainees? They would be fine as long as they knew the battle buddy rules and treat them with dignity and respect. Do they have more power than us?

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made May 18 at 2014 3:03 PM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 18 May 2014 15:03:34 -0400

It's a cover your butt thing. Every time I go to Jackson for school we are told to find the nearest DS report the infraction and move on. I'm sure it has to do with someone somewhere abused a PVT in some fashion...excessive smoking or otherwise. I've also been told it "confuses" trainees if someone other than their instructor/DS corrects them.
Not sure what's confusing when you do it the right way. Seemingly trainees have the perception if power that will only set them up for failure when they leave the safety net of training.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made May 18 at 2014 3:45 PM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 18 May 2014 15:45:48 -0400

I get that, this is my problem with it though. It's not CYA it's turning the other cheek. Walking past a deficiency and letting it go, creating a new standard. In my opinion, an example of CYA is giving your soldier an in depth initial counseling so that they can not say they didn't know if they screw up.

If we educate our NCO's on the proper way to conduct themselves when dealing with all soldiers(not just IET)it would be more beneficial. One can just as easily get a complaint filed on them from dealing with a non IET Soldiers if they are not acting professionally.

And by the way, I do not disagree with sending anything to the Soldiers leadership, always a good way to make sure the soldier is held accountable.

Response by CPT Brandon Christensen made May 19 at 2014 11:31 AM

CPT Brandon Christensen — Mon, 19 May 2014 11:31:01 -0400

I am right there with you SFC. When I was at BOLC at Ft. Lee, they told us to ignore and not to make corrections to any IET soldier. Just to stay away from them period.

Not intentionally, came across a few IET's on the weekend at the PX and noticed a few errors and the old SGT in me wanted to make the correction. So I did. Respectfully told the Soldier what he was doing and it was against the regulation and should fix it. Once it was fixed, I said carry on (he rendered hand salute; as we were outside in the parking lot) and we both departed our ways. No harm, no foul.

I honestly don't see anything wrong with making the spot correction as long as we don't degrade them or punish them in any way, shape, or form. Just make the correction, and drive on.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 17 at 2014 4:29 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 16:29:23 -0400

I had that same problem when I was at Fort Gordon about a year or so ago. We were instructed while in class we could correct the MOS-I's but were given a VERY short lease to which to work with. Alot of the NCO's felt that their hands were tied behinf their backs while the soldiers ran amuck. The sad part was that the soldiers knew we couldnt really do anything and it seemed as if they maximized on it.

Response by SSG Bruce Sorge made Jun 18 at 2014 3:39 PM

SSG Bruce Sorge — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 15:39:23 -0400

I'll add my two cents worth. I am currently at Fort Benning, working as cadre on a range at Sand Hill. I see IET soldiers almost every day. When I first reported to my BN CSM, his parting words before I left his office were, "You do not punish or force corrective training on a Private. You are not a Drill Sergeant". He said nothing about not making an on the spot correction. Later on, I attended CTC (Cadre Training Course), which is a week long class that tells us cadre what we can and can't do with or around privates. For instance,I can't have a casual "hey, how are you? Where are you from? Why did you join the Army? What made you decide to become an 11B, etc.." type conversation with a trainee(s). It's considered an inappropriate relationship between a trainee and cadre (I wouldn't do that anyway). However, we are allowed to make on the spot corrections on SOME things. For instance, if private snuffy is walking or standing around with his hands in his pockets, I can tell them to take their hands out of their pockets. I can't tell him to beat his face though. That's a no-go. If I see a private walking around Columbus or on post during family day, and they are jacked up, it's my duty and responsibility as an NCO to correct that private, and I have. Drill Sergeants can't be everywhere all the time. I have yelled at privates more than once on my range for doing dumb things and the drills have no issues with it, but again, I can't do any corrective training. If I see a safety violation on my range, the most I can do is kick them off of the lane they are on, and let a DS know what happened, and then they deal with it. So in a nut shell, here at Benning, we can make certain on the spot corrections, but we can't make them do push ups or anything like that.

Response by 1SG Russell Carey made Jun 18 at 2014 4:09 PM

1SG Russell Carey — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 16:09:17 -0400

I work at ACS and I constantly do on the spot corrections on trainees. What I find irritating is the lack of respect these trainees show both civilian employees and NCOs. Have we become so afraid to correct these young Soldiers that we are validating their inappropriate behaviors?

Response by SGT Keith Boettcher made Jun 19 at 2014 12:25 PM

SGT Keith Boettcher — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 12:25:15 -0400

Answer to your question is: "Yes!" Since the end of the Vietnam Era a Veterans like me and many others and with the All New Volunteer Military where dependents can cuss and chew out the Cmd Chain because they do not enough quality time with their service-member and a very toxic Command Structure throughout all military branches of service. "Yes!" Those within the Cmd ignore basic leadership values and ethos !

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 19 at 2014 12:28 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 12:28:36 -0400

I am a AIT PSG and was told the same thing when I went to SLC @ Huachuca, in my opinion is preposterous to tell an NCO not to correct deficiencies as he or she finds them, but I had to follow the rules since I did not want to stand in front of the man for something like that