Have you ever been straight forward with your leadership regarding a bad idea or decision?

One day after having been roaming around Baghdad with the troops while they installed blocking positions all night the Commander ambushed me for an opinion on an upcoming operation in the conference room with everyone and their mother present,(we usually pitched developmental stuff with just the BC,XO and S3 and the conversations were brutally honest and frank) my arse was dragging and instead of constructive points I blurted out " that's the dumbest shit I ever heard sir " you could hear crickets chirping in texas and the BC looked like I kicked him in the nuts, I immediately felt like crap because the BC was an awesome leader.
Instead of getting pissed, the old man turned and said that's why he's the CSM, now where do you think it's assed up. Never skipped a beat, gave me an opportunity to snap out of drag ass mode and positively contribute to the plan.
That's just one of many instances, and the only one I ever felt bad about. NCOs owe it to their counter parts to be frank, honest and respectful about visits from the good idea fairy and dumb or risky plans, policies or TTPs.
Just remember they don't have to like, implement or incorporate your input and once the decision is made it's your job to aggressively implement what ever they come up with as if you owned it.

ENS (Join to see) In my civilian job, you did not bring problems up to management without presenting a solution. If you are going to point out a bad decision, it is better to present an alternative idea that is better than the original.

Yes, and as Sgt Theodore Hallock stated, it gains more ground with a solution too. I have received mixed results. Mostly based on who I am presenting it to. I have trouble sugaring something up. I tend to just be point blank about it. "This is what is wrong, this is why it is wrong, and this is my solution." However, some individuals let their feelings, pride, ego, or whatever the case may be get in the way of the words I am saying. They either get offended that an E4 is telling an E6 or higher that "I know you are new here, and I have been here for 2 years through many leaders but what you are wanting to do-we have done before and it failed." You would think I had just called them the crappiest NCO in the entire military. I have had other SNCOs who took what I said only listened to the words, gave me better guidance on how to present it to the next person (if it was something that I had to present), and backed me 100%.

If your post on here is to gain ideas on how to handle being told that your idea is wrong, then my advice would be this: as difficult as it can be at times, try not to take the news personally. It may not be a personal attack and I would venture to say that most of the time it won't be. If the person talking to you is a blunt person, or struggles with tact, just listen to the situation and the meaning of the words. On the flip side of this, be wary of those who constantly praise you for your work. Yeah we all do good things and occasionally we do a great thing, but no one is perfect and no one makes 100% good decisions. If you are getting only praise you should be asking yourself, what do these people want from me or what are they trying to slip past me.