Posted on Sep 19, 2014
Active Duty Officer demanding civilian employee to shave and get a haircut
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So, there's an upcoming entertainment activity for everybody who lives in this particular military installation. The officer is the Department Director and the rest of the employees are civilians (reservists and retirees). In the meeting, the Captain addressed to an employee (active duty retiree) and told him: You better get a haircut and shave that beard. The employee replied: With all due respect Sir, my days for haircuts and shave were over couple years ago.
How would you react as an officer and/or civilian employee? Are you an officer in charge of civilian employees? Were you trained to deal with civilians? Are regulations for military personnel apply to civilian personnel in your department?
How would you react as an officer and/or civilian employee? Are you an officer in charge of civilian employees? Were you trained to deal with civilians? Are regulations for military personnel apply to civilian personnel in your department?
Civilians
Retirement
Human Resources
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 56
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SPC Lasey Lopez Santiago,
This is an interesting post and brings forth some interesting issues. As a Soldier, I was bound by AR 670-1 and AR 600-9 for appearance, unform standards, height, and weight. As a civilian and retiree (I work for US DHS not DoD) I am not.
I think your civilian remember that regardless of correctness, we apply the principle of loyal dissention. By relating he was no longer bound by the grroming standards of uniform personnel he delivered the appropriate message without demeaning the Captain's authority. Personally, I probably would have gone a step further and requested to discuss the matter privately with the Captain after the meeting and then been very frank about the issue and what was NOT going to happen.
The care and feeding of civilians in many ways is quite a bit more complicated than dealing with Soldiers and not as often taught, but there are classes for Soldiers supervising DoD civilians.
Great topic. Thank you for bringing this up.
SFC Joseph M. Finck USA (Ret)
This is an interesting post and brings forth some interesting issues. As a Soldier, I was bound by AR 670-1 and AR 600-9 for appearance, unform standards, height, and weight. As a civilian and retiree (I work for US DHS not DoD) I am not.
I think your civilian remember that regardless of correctness, we apply the principle of loyal dissention. By relating he was no longer bound by the grroming standards of uniform personnel he delivered the appropriate message without demeaning the Captain's authority. Personally, I probably would have gone a step further and requested to discuss the matter privately with the Captain after the meeting and then been very frank about the issue and what was NOT going to happen.
The care and feeding of civilians in many ways is quite a bit more complicated than dealing with Soldiers and not as often taught, but there are classes for Soldiers supervising DoD civilians.
Great topic. Thank you for bringing this up.
SFC Joseph M. Finck USA (Ret)
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Cpl Dennis F.
SFC Dr. Joseph Finck, BS, MA, DSS Very professional response. Exactly what I would expect from a HR specialist ;)
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SSG (Join to see)
Excellent point of view SFC Dr. Joseph Finck, BS, MA, DSS Thanks for your response.
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SSG Lonnie Silk
I've noticed that a lot officers think that the authority they over the soldiers under them, gives them authority over every one else. I hear about an Officer in NY who was being disrespectful and was trying to use his "authority" to a DOD civilian. He is no longer in NY, I'm not sure if he is still in the Army anymore.
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I would politely ask him to show me in my PD that describes such grooming standards. Now if certain civilian dressed like a slob and didn't attend to personal hygiene, that is one thing. But if it's just a matter of "making things look good" that CPT was way out of line.
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