Is RallyPoint supposed to replace the chain of command and NCO support channel?

"The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership"...GEN Colin Powell. It could be this very issue. What would concern me more is when we see SNCO's on here asking questions that PV2 Jones knew coming out of basic.

If they trusted their chain of command, or felt that their questions would be taken seriously, they would go to their command. I don't like blaming junior enlisted for not trusting their command. That is the command's fault.

This is quite possibly because the're scared to go to the're command because they've seen what happened to other soldiers

No it does not replace the NCO support channel or COC. But if some leaders would do the research and also answer the questions, the lower enlisted would not use this as their outlet. There are a lot of NCO's out there that do not want to help out their Soldiers at all.

"Replace"...no..."enhance"...yes.

I do not disagree with your comments about the two types of posts you see here but I do not think it is limited to just lower enlisted. I think you can expand it to posts that are truly seeking information and posts that are just rants, or self-promoting or the "angry Veteran" type posts.

RallyPoint is unique in that people can come here and get several different views of a topic outside of their Chain of Command or NCO Support Channel. Does that mean Service Members should not seek answers from these sources? No, of course they should use these powerful tools but lets face it, as Leaders we do not always have the best answer. Sure, we can research and find out, but I think it speaks loudly for the leadership potential of younger service members to try and find the answers themselves and/or to seek secondary views to an issue. I also think it forces us as leaders to do a better job and to support younger service members because I am sure the last thing a leader wants to do is come on RallyPoint and see one of their Soldiers on here talking ill of their Chain of Command or NCO Support Channel.

I'll be honest here, when I was in, if I had a resources like RP, I would have had people I could of reached out to for advice on how to improve my situation and better myself, rather than being thrown under the bus as I had, and stonewalled by my chain of command.

Actually, I remember the days when all moaning and bitching was the purview of the chaplains. Weren't we supposed to take our problems to them to have our "TS" cards punched?

Soldiers in my opinion are getting promoted to quickly and soon our ranks will feel the effects. For instance these newly promoted E-6/E-7's who have only been in the military 6-10 years have not had the ability to mold themselves or allowed themselves to be mentored by a SNCO. This failure will only lead to poor decision making, poor leadership, poor moral and you will see a military force crumble under scrutiny and scandals.

The military has become a pomp and circumstance/showmanship competition, and what I mean by this is; Soldiers are required to complete online training (SSD, ETC. and fluff their way through it (cheat)) just to get to the next rank. They also don't earn awards like past Soldiers before them, they have become an entitled Force and think everything should be given to them, much like society has become with this younger generation. Soldiers have forgotten a lot of the time honored traditions that come with wearing the military uniform. It's not about the badges or how bad ass you look in your uniform or your Oakley sunglasses. It's a privilege and honor to wear this uniform that says " US ARMY" across your chest.

In my opinion rank, awards and recognition should be earned at all levels. Too many times I have witnessed Soldiers be given awards they didn't deserve or earn but their young leadership didn't want to put in the work to truly award the correct individuals. I have witnessed too many Soldiers receive coins of excellence for no such reason at all other than they showed up in a clean uniform. Today's force and leadership need to take a long hard look at everything we do and don't do as leaders.

Don't take my opinion with hostility or bitterness. I love putting the United States Army Uniform on everyday and believe me I am not a perfect Soldier but I strive to be a great leader and earn the respect of my leadership and peers daily by putting the needs of my Soldiers, Unit, State and the United States before my own. I don't do what I love for the awards, recognition or accolades. I do this job because I value, honor and respect the past Soldiers who wore this uniform before me and want to mentor and lead the Soldiers along side me that are serving today.

Maybe because our NCO's response is to Google it. As a junior enlisted I have been told to "just Google it and figure it out yourself" many a times. As opposed to when I get on RP and am given answers with actual help and links to do more research myself on the matter. Perhaps it is because, and I mean this in the most respectful way possible, NCO's are getting complacent with their junior enlisted.

Personally, I feel there is a twofold answer here. One, the youngsters are more accustomed to relations via social media than we older folks are. It could even be said that some are more comfortable in this kind of relationship than they are in a real face to face connection. Second, lets be honest, this is far easier than actually approaching their leadership. Real hard to get your feelings hurt in here... It's not real after all.