Posted on Dec 30, 2015
How do you handle a situation where a peer E-5 has failed in his duties?
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Here's my situation I had once and was wondering how others would have dealt with it.
On a Friday night receive a call from the Plt Sgt telling you to go to the barracks as he has been called by another Plt Sgt in your company stating that one of the soldiers in your platoon has an exceptionally dirty room and his roommate from the other platoon has finally gotten tire of cleaning up after him and called his leadership.
The reason the Plt Sgt has called you in you are the only NCO who lives on post and is the most reliable to answer his/her phone on a Friday night and willing to fix an issue right then and there.
You get to the barracks room to find the SPC from another platoon standing by waiting with his leadership, but the private in your platoon who created the mess has popped smoke and ran off into town as soon as he heard his roommate call his leadership.
The common area of the room is a complete mess with bags of trash from the PVT's room, and there is a horrible smell coming from the PVT's room. you open the PVT's door to his room and find dirty clothes and half empty food containers littering the room.
Take note the PVT's first line a SGT in your platoon had supposedly inspected the room earlier and had told the platoon sergeant that the room was clean.
What do you do and how do you proceed after taking photos of the situation for evidence?
On a Friday night receive a call from the Plt Sgt telling you to go to the barracks as he has been called by another Plt Sgt in your company stating that one of the soldiers in your platoon has an exceptionally dirty room and his roommate from the other platoon has finally gotten tire of cleaning up after him and called his leadership.
The reason the Plt Sgt has called you in you are the only NCO who lives on post and is the most reliable to answer his/her phone on a Friday night and willing to fix an issue right then and there.
You get to the barracks room to find the SPC from another platoon standing by waiting with his leadership, but the private in your platoon who created the mess has popped smoke and ran off into town as soon as he heard his roommate call his leadership.
The common area of the room is a complete mess with bags of trash from the PVT's room, and there is a horrible smell coming from the PVT's room. you open the PVT's door to his room and find dirty clothes and half empty food containers littering the room.
Take note the PVT's first line a SGT in your platoon had supposedly inspected the room earlier and had told the platoon sergeant that the room was clean.
What do you do and how do you proceed after taking photos of the situation for evidence?
Barracks
Inspections
Supervisor
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 45
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I think I would personally displace every article in the Private's room to the grass outside, and post the "inspecting" Sergeant to guard his stuff until the pigpen weasel tried to slink back into the barracks from wherever he is out carousing. At which point, there would be some reindeer games whilst I figure out WTF happened to standards, integrity, and downright decency.
Depending on the answers and how salty I got (more than likely in proportion to how long Private McNasty stayed out in town), there'd be more formal action in the morning.
Depending on the answers and how salty I got (more than likely in proportion to how long Private McNasty stayed out in town), there'd be more formal action in the morning.
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SGT Myles Taylor
No worries, that's a random picture I googled when looking for a room inspection picture.
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CPO Bill Penrod
I think we would have mandatory field days to teach the troops what clean is.. This would include brown baggers too......
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I would have them BOTH standing tall in front of me to explain themselves (if I were the squad leader of these 2).
1) Asking the PVT why he lives in such filth and think that this is okay?
2) Asking the SGT to explain how, when the room is in the state that it is in, how each "weekly" he performed resulted in "PASS" ratings?
3) Counsel them both, respectively, in the areas that they are CLEARLY deficient in.
4) Perform inspections, personally, with the PVT AND the SGT, 3 times a week until I am confident that standards will be maintained.
5) Have the local Preventive Medicine give the BOTH Soldiers a briefing on sanitation standards and cleanliness and the ramifications of not maintaining good sanitation.
If I were not the Squad Leader of these two, then these would be the recommendations I would give to their Squad Leader.
1) Asking the PVT why he lives in such filth and think that this is okay?
2) Asking the SGT to explain how, when the room is in the state that it is in, how each "weekly" he performed resulted in "PASS" ratings?
3) Counsel them both, respectively, in the areas that they are CLEARLY deficient in.
4) Perform inspections, personally, with the PVT AND the SGT, 3 times a week until I am confident that standards will be maintained.
5) Have the local Preventive Medicine give the BOTH Soldiers a briefing on sanitation standards and cleanliness and the ramifications of not maintaining good sanitation.
If I were not the Squad Leader of these two, then these would be the recommendations I would give to their Squad Leader.
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SGT Myles Taylor
MSgt Hal Weeden, MBA the only reason he got a year was he got a plea deal and pleaded out. others that had done sex offences in my brigade were getting 15-20 years.
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SGT Myles Taylor
MSG (Join to see) that plea deal pissed off our bde cdr, when we had a bde briefing at the base theater and the sex offense tracker came up, and showed the crimes and sentences, he was literally pissed when he talked about it and you could hear it in his voice.
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MSgt Hal Weeden, MBA
SGT Myles Taylor, the government must not have had a solid evidential case. It frustrates me, but sometimes it is better to offer a plea than to risk acquittal. Still, one year and a BCD plus life as a convicted felon is light compared to the death penalty. Capital punishment is what I remember being handed out in the civilian world when I was a kid and didn't yet understand what rape was. Now that I'm retired and in law enforcement, I see way too many sex offenses being committed. Castration seems like a good alternative.
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Wow. Sometimes discussions come up on FP and other such forums that smack me in the face with the realization that I might in fact be a COF (Confirmed Old Fart) who belongs in the past.
My first impression is that it is not only the "peer E-5" that has failed in his duties. Bear with me on the terms I will use being primarily USMC. I'll trust you can translate into other service structure.
Where is the unit Commanding Officer to start with? One of the responsibilities of command is proper care of facilities. Another is providing the best possible environment for those in the unit to work and live. Are the standards for care of living quarters not published in unit and base orders. Who is responsible for supervising the failing E-5? The E-5 is the first failed level, but the next person up the chain is responsible for the E-5's performance. Let's assume it's an E-6 who lives in married quarters. The fact he does not live in the barracks doesn't relieve him of his responsibility to the people in his platoon or section. If the E-6 doesn't know about the situation, shame on him. He has failed. If the unit SgtMaj doesn't make frequent visits to the barracks and make himself available to hear of the situation from other persons living in the barracks, he has failed. If the XO and CO don't know, shame on them. Maintaining an "informal" disciplinary system to ensure standards are maintained are the responsibility of NCOs and SNCOs, and if they can't do it, you move on to the section officers and finally to the CO level where you have nonjudicial punishment and ultimately Courts Martial to enforce regulations.
I could carry the idea further, but hopefully it would be redundant. The unit organization is not only to address operational situations; in fact, the majority of a unit commander's responsibility is not assaulting an objective. The unit commander takes care of his people to ensure they are able to concentrate on their billet responsibilities. If there are weak sisters in the organization, the commander is obligated to discover them and correct the situation; and that responsibility extends to every part of his peoples' lives, on base, or off.
How do you correct the original circumstance? You move up the chain until you reach the individual who takes his responsibility as an NCO, SNCO or commissioned officer seriously. As a peer of a non performer, you also have your own assigned responsibilities and, to ensure you can address those, the efforts and time you expend to correct the other E-5 should be minimal. That's what the chain is there to do.
My first impression is that it is not only the "peer E-5" that has failed in his duties. Bear with me on the terms I will use being primarily USMC. I'll trust you can translate into other service structure.
Where is the unit Commanding Officer to start with? One of the responsibilities of command is proper care of facilities. Another is providing the best possible environment for those in the unit to work and live. Are the standards for care of living quarters not published in unit and base orders. Who is responsible for supervising the failing E-5? The E-5 is the first failed level, but the next person up the chain is responsible for the E-5's performance. Let's assume it's an E-6 who lives in married quarters. The fact he does not live in the barracks doesn't relieve him of his responsibility to the people in his platoon or section. If the E-6 doesn't know about the situation, shame on him. He has failed. If the unit SgtMaj doesn't make frequent visits to the barracks and make himself available to hear of the situation from other persons living in the barracks, he has failed. If the XO and CO don't know, shame on them. Maintaining an "informal" disciplinary system to ensure standards are maintained are the responsibility of NCOs and SNCOs, and if they can't do it, you move on to the section officers and finally to the CO level where you have nonjudicial punishment and ultimately Courts Martial to enforce regulations.
I could carry the idea further, but hopefully it would be redundant. The unit organization is not only to address operational situations; in fact, the majority of a unit commander's responsibility is not assaulting an objective. The unit commander takes care of his people to ensure they are able to concentrate on their billet responsibilities. If there are weak sisters in the organization, the commander is obligated to discover them and correct the situation; and that responsibility extends to every part of his peoples' lives, on base, or off.
How do you correct the original circumstance? You move up the chain until you reach the individual who takes his responsibility as an NCO, SNCO or commissioned officer seriously. As a peer of a non performer, you also have your own assigned responsibilities and, to ensure you can address those, the efforts and time you expend to correct the other E-5 should be minimal. That's what the chain is there to do.
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SGT Myles Taylor
LtCol Robert Quinter no worries sir. I was in all essence really curious as to how others would have responded and handled the situation sir. All I'll say sir is the peer E-5 was eventually put out of the army on a BCD after and act he did to a new female PVT.
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