Posted on Nov 1, 2014
SGT Kevin Smith
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There is a discussion on Rally Point about Respect, or the lack thereof. I wanted to take that one step further and ask the following question: At what point does Leadership from either Senior Enlisted or Officer cross the line and become bullying behavior? Anyone who has served probably heard the saying, " you don't have to respect the person, but you do have to respect the rank". When I was in I always respected my Superiors because that was my job. However in my final few years in, I have noticed that some of the Senior Enlisted within my units crossed the line and became "legal bullies" because they outranked the "victims" and they knew the Command teams would not stop them.
Posted in these groups: Leadership abstract 007 Leadership
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CW5 Desk Officer
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Edited 10 y ago
SGT Kevin Smith, I know you read "my story" in the other part of your post, and I read yours. We do have to respect the rank, no doubt. It's sad when a person uses his/her rank to bully a subordinate. In my experience, this often happens when the senior person is wrong about something and the subordinate knows the right answer. It's a tough situation. In my case, I made the mistake of stating my opinion, which set my boss off.

I think the only "answer" with bullies is to involve the chain of command - above the bully - and see if anything can be done. I did that with my situation, but it didn't help. It's a tough predicament. This happened to me after about 35 combined years of active duty and civilian service. You'd think I would know how to handle it, but it came out of left field, I was surprised and didn't know how to respond.
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CW5 Desk Officer
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My original "story" is posted under your continuation post:

https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/leaders-vs-bullies-continued
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SGT Kevin Smith
SGT Kevin Smith
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Thank you Sir, and yes I did read your story. And that was my problem. The E-7 in question knew full well that nobody would stop him because my Platoon Sergeant, my 1SG and him were buddies so I believe this was premeditated. Like I said, only my opinion.
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