Posted on Nov 21, 2022
1LT Chaplain Candidate
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Disrespect is on the list of things not tolerated in our military. When it happens, corrective training is immediate, or the corrective action is nearly as fast. There's good reason for this. However, are there some leadership positions that cannot or should not correct disrespect in the standard fashion that we expect?

For example, a Chaplain. Perhaps a Chaplain should never correct disrespect, but that others should do it for them (CSM,SGM,1SG,PSG, etc.)? Consider that a Chaplain has rank and authority, but never command authority. What about our physician assistants? General Dentists? Journalists? Postal clerks? Etc.
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Responses: 15
COL Randall C.
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Edited >1 y ago
Everyone of our leaders has a responsibility to correct disrespect as it happens. HOW that correction goes about may vary from person to person.

- You have a crusty NCO that corrects it and it will probably be an "old school" correction.
- You have a senior officer correcting the conduct and it will likely be more "formal".
- You have a chaplain doing the correcting and you'll probably get a good LONG fatherly/motherly discussion about being good to our fellow Soldiers, how disrespect can be bad for the discipline within a unit and ultimately lead to the ruination of our society and how they haven't seen you in church lately and when are you going to be present at the volunteer event this weekend...
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1LT Chaplain Candidate
1LT (Join to see)
>1 y
Would you say correction involves consequence? For example, I recall one of the Soldiers I had on a task disrespect a MAJ, a man I knew well and thought highly of. The MAJ called me as the S3 and told me what happened. The MAJ had addressed the Soldier's behavior on the spot, but now he wanted the CSM to correct it. I think of it the same way as disciplining my children. When you yell at your mother, you're not going to just get a talking to that instructs you on the proper behavior, you will get a timeout as well, at minimum. There will be a punishment for the behavior. Disrespect isn't tolerated and will be corrected.
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COL Randall C.
COL Randall C.
>1 y
Like most things in life and the service, it depends.

Consequences in one situation could be an admonishment and in another situation it involves NJP. Depends entirely on the Soldier involved, degree of infraction and the situation it occurred in.
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SSgt Forensic Meteorological Consultant
SSgt (Join to see)
>1 y
Exactly!
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SFC Casey O'Mally
SFC Casey O'Mally
>1 y
1LT (Join to see) Sir, correction is exactly that.

If it fixes the problem (i.e. corrects it), then correction has occurred. Negative consequences are not necessarily required.

There is a reason why we differentiate between correction and punishment.
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MSG Intermediate Care Technician
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Woe to the person that disrespects a Chaplain. If I ever see that, the person that did it would NEVER forget the corrective training I'd administer.
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Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth
Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth
>1 y
What we used to call "wall to wall" counseling or blast fence smoke session.
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CPT Larry Hudson
CPT Larry Hudson
>1 y
Now that is what I call "TACT" telling a person to go to hell and look forward to the trip.
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Maj John Bell
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Edited >1 y ago
Any NCO who witnesses an incidence of disrespect by someone of lesser rank towards an officer or SNCO, should be the first line of correction. In cases where an NCO failed to step up, I would address the NCO's failure to be the standard bearer, first. Used to be, in the Marines, officers didn't get involved with punishment unless it was going in the record book. Doesn't mean a Marine officer was above telling someone out of line to "knock that $#!* off."

Of course, chaplains should deal with disrespect. Ever gotten out of line with a Catholic priest, a Baptist minister, or God help you, A NUN. Penguins are mean. I'm not Catholic, but I'm pretty sure my right ear is about 1/4" longer after swearing in front of a nun when I was about 5.
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Maj John Bell
Maj John Bell
>1 y
SSgt Marty Deming - 82-93. My experience may have been different based on the nature of my billets. With the exception of professional school commands, every non-FMF billet I served in Marines were on post with magazines inserted and weapons on safe. And it was going to be more difficult to explain why someone got to some place they weren't allowed than to explain why the intruder wasn't dead. All of my senior SNCO's and were combat veterans.
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SSgt Marty Deming
SSgt Marty Deming
>1 y
well I was AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL NAVAGATIONAL AIDS TECHNICIAN with a top secret responsible for multimillion dollar pieces of equip and what I was getting at is there were times when I had a junior troop that had a hiccup that could have been a good old fashioned ass chewing with maybe a little extra crappy work detail or office hours that would end his career... I was the first SNCO under a new wing CG to get a dui in 1990 2NDMAW..came home from deployment to find out my active duty spouse had be screwing almost everything stationed on Lejune and even some driving my truck while I was deployed, got way more drunk that i should have, and he ended my career after letting me extend 2 times once for 6 months and once for a year, no problems... he held up my re enlistment package till the day i got out and tried to give me a RE4 code, as I'm leaving cherry point my message came in approved, Bitter you ask? yes especially as I was told not to request mast I'd be sorry, My SGT MAJ at the time had a BCD
hanging on his wall from his first enlistment
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Maj John Bell
Maj John Bell
>1 y
SSgt Marty Deming - I wasn't throwing any rocks. I was just saying that in billets I served we may have been a little more insulated from changing attitudes. We took pride in our rough and tumble culture. Tomorrow someone might shoot at us, or we might shoot at them. When that's the case "hiccups" aren't very important. Nobody thought twice about 2 Lts having a fist fight behind the O-Club, as long as it didn't happen in front of the Marines. I was shocked when I got to AWS and some pencil neck pogue was keeping track of how much we ate, drank and cursed at a command mixer.
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SSgt Marty Deming
SSgt Marty Deming
>1 y
ah ok I guess i didn't quite get your meaning sounds like we are on the same page
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