Posted on Feb 28, 2016
Leaders, what has worked for you in combating DUIs, drugs, and other Soldier crimes?
19.2K
97
66
7
7
0
Not looking for more safety briefs, stand-down days, etc-not to say they don't work but I'm looking for new techniques. Not quite a problem in my unit based on the low percentage, just looking ahead!
CSM
US Army Sergeants Major Academy (USASMA)
11Z: Infantry Senior Sergeant
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 37
22
22
0
When I took over my company, there were 5 hot UA's.. 3 DUI's, and some other miscellaneous stuff. I dealt with that for the first 4-6 months making sure it was a very PUBLIC affair for the company, for the next 3 1/2 years (1 year deployed) I had zero DUI's, zero hot UA's and the other garbage stopped as well, I don't claim it was me an me alone, but I made it clear to everyone that we live by the big boy rules, you work hard, you play hard, but just like in combat.... You have your buddies 6. My NCO's knew they were responsible for their Soldiers failures as I was responsible for theirs. It was NOT out of the norm nor fround upon for a Soldier to call a peer or one of his leaders for a ride, we had money for a cab at the CQ desk as well... I think what it boiled down to was everyone understood were a unit and a family 24/7 not just during the duty day, or while in the field/deployed. Once everyone understood that and took it to heart there were drastic changes all around. My company officers understood they were not exempt either, I even had a Squad Leader and above "get to know" each other event at my home, so wives could meet and girlfriends, children, but more importantly so that we could all see how we interacted with our own families, and the families could see how we interacted with each other. I challenged every Soldier in the company to get to know things about Soldiers in other platoons, like is the guy married, does he have kids, how old are they, what did he do before the military. I think it worked well everyone knew what was expected, and that there was no slack if you messed up, you were going to pay for it. When I left we had the highest weapons qual across the board, in the division, highest APFT in the brigade as a company and the second highest in the division, we had the most honor grads, in everything from sniper school, pathfinder, ranger, WLC, BNCOC.. I found out later (about 6 months) after I retired that there were 10 hot UA's 4 DUI's and 3 AWOLS not sure what changed, but I honestly think it can be done sometimes "old school" stuff works.... Anyway just my 2 cents.
(22)
(0)
SGT Richard H.
We did most of this stuff as well. The cab money at the CQ desk came out of our 1SG's pocket and he made it very clear that if you utilized that money you would be required to pay it back but, beyond that, there would be no repercussions whatsoever.
(1)
(0)
SGT Natallia Watson
THIS attitude is what is lacking for a majority of our Army these days! Old school NCO's and Officers who have the "work hard, play hard" mentality! But I think the most important thing you said 1SG is you held EVERYONE accountable and made it public! I think that makes the most difference!
(4)
(0)
8
8
0
CSM Charles Hayden
CSM Eric Olsen A friend, former ASA type, said his probem was not that his guys were users, they were the sellers.
A "Graduate", he was one of those few who wore greens to his SGM Academy graduation!
A "Graduate", he was one of those few who wore greens to his SGM Academy graduation!
(1)
(0)
(0)
(0)
CSM Eric Olsen
CSM Charles Hayden - new term for a "one upper", actually recognized by the Army and our new resilience strategy.
(1)
(0)
6
6
0
Camp Pendleton used to have the "Arrive Alive" Program. They worked with a local cab company and issued EVERY Marine/Sailor on base an "Arrive Alive Card" which had the phone # to the cab company on it. If you were out in town and couldn't drive for whatever reason, call the number and the company would return you "home" (barracks, housing, house). No Questions Asked.
They take the card which had your unit information on it. A couple days later your SACO would pay the bill and you would pay the SACO back. No Questions Asked. They'd then issue you a new card.
On top of that, everyone had their leaderships phone number. Need a ride, someone will come get you.
We may have had lots of issues but DUI wasn't one of them.
They take the card which had your unit information on it. A couple days later your SACO would pay the bill and you would pay the SACO back. No Questions Asked. They'd then issue you a new card.
On top of that, everyone had their leaderships phone number. Need a ride, someone will come get you.
We may have had lots of issues but DUI wasn't one of them.
(6)
(0)
SGT Jerrold Pesz
In Columbia, SC (Ft Jackson) the local police were real military friendly. They used to take most of the troops that they arrested to the station and put them in a holding cell for us to pick-up. A couple of times a night an army bus would load up all of the army drunks and take them to the base. If they were no belligerent they just got dropped off at their unit unless they had committed an actual crime other than drunk. If they were violent drunks they got taken to the stockade instead. At that time Ft Jackson had about 50,000 people on base so there were usually LOTS of drunks on the weekends.
(0)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google