Posted on Oct 21, 2016
“I'm going to fail height-weight on purpose and get booted” – how would you handle this?
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This actually happened to me while I was a battery XO in Hawaii. My brigade had just gotten back from OIF and we were in that weird period of tons of people leaving the unit, and tons of new people coming in. I was in the motor pool like a good XO and one of the guys came up to me and asked to chat in private – he was a SPC (E-4) who was on soft shoe profile and had been for a few months. He was also on some PT profile, which many were skeptical of but that’s not the point. He was also quite overweight and in bad physical shape.
“I don’t want to be in the Army anymore,” he told me. “I’m just planning to keep failing height-weight over and over until I get booted out.” So I talked with him and we went back and forth about what’s really going on with him, etc. But he just stayed firm on: (1) wanting to get out of the Army ASAP; and (2) planning to put no effort into passing height-weight, to get booted.
Obviously I know what actions I took here but I don’t want to spoil it for everyone. How would you have responded in this situation?
“I don’t want to be in the Army anymore,” he told me. “I’m just planning to keep failing height-weight over and over until I get booted out.” So I talked with him and we went back and forth about what’s really going on with him, etc. But he just stayed firm on: (1) wanting to get out of the Army ASAP; and (2) planning to put no effort into passing height-weight, to get booted.
Obviously I know what actions I took here but I don’t want to spoil it for everyone. How would you have responded in this situation?
Height and Weight
Army Regulations
UCMJ
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 259
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That’s one way to get out. The height weight standards are important. I had trouble once due to my build. I wasn’t out of shape. Just my build. So the tape measure method saved me
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i always want to ask, what did you think was gonna happen? Basic training was full of cry babies “ I miss my wife, I miss this” what did you sign up for? You expect a cape and a handshake? G*ddamn people it’s honestly not that bad some bs from time to time but anyway joining the military shows who’s real and who’s not. Sorry not sorry “ oh man, I’m tough” couldn’t make through basic. Smh
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I’m a petty asshole so I would have kept him in till his enlistment was almost up then booted his ass
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Maybe shaming him? If you can handle the military, you can handle anything. Once he gets out he will talk about how he served in the military and will talk about that to get respect and then give some poor excuse as to why he got out so that he feels less ashamed
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Your post didn't say, so I'm asking, why did this soldier have to come to you on his own? Where were his NCOs? Were they involved. IF NOT there was a huge leadership failure.
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I would have pushed for a dishonerable discharge as he intended to do it that in my opinion is a slap in the face to people who were the uniform
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It’s difficult when you care about the person as an individual but also the cost to the unit and the military if he leaves. That being said, you can only lead a horse to water you can’t make them drink. Without knowing the individual or the situations that caused the distress how could I or any of us comment on what might have been done to motivate this person to pay their dues and to try to save them from what is likely a very severe depression and poor life decisions.
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I never understood why leadership didnt move faster on getting these folks out of the formation as fast as possible.
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He would have been doing mandated pt within his profile before, during, and after work
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