Motorcycle Mentorship Program?

SFC Timothy Riser — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 09:00:36 -0400

Scenario: You are the battalion motorcycle mentor, and one night you happen to see pictures on Facebook with a few NCO's from your battalion who are riders with short sleeve shirts, fingerless gloves, vans shoes, shorts and helmet on. You make a note and email the riders the next day with a copy of the post policy letter and links to the MMP regulations and informed him that he needs to wear all PPE When on his bike, you get no reply, you call his phone and no answer, so you ask his bury mentor to inform him of the rules and to not post the pics on Facebook since the post policy is punitive. <div><br></div><div>The issue I had was that his MMP Mentor was his CW3 and when his mentor found out he counseled him. I saw no issue with this but his peers, and his PLT SGT started harassing me to and from the parking lot ect and stating how worthless I was for sending their CW3 the pictures. Now I can handle this and I have but, how is it that We as NCO's have come to this? I mean a Senior NCO's harassing you because you did the right thing, our policy is to report all violations to our battery or battalion commands, I tried to keep it at the lowest level and now they act like a scolded child that needs to yell at someone for their mistake. I was just really disappointed in the Senior NCO, I used to respect the man not just his rank. I even explained what I have said here and he still cursed and yelled in a parking lot full of privates and other units. I was just dumbfounded at the actions. Well that was my vent, hope everyone has a great day and thanks for all the fish.</div>

Response by SFC Robert Trodahl made Apr 2 at 2014 1:35 PM

SFC Robert Trodahl — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 13:35:50 -0400

You did the right thing, and he was flat out wrong. Little comfort I know, but job well done!

Response by SFC Josh Watson made Apr 2 at 2014 5:01 PM

SFC Josh Watson — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 17:01:29 -0400

I agree with SFC Trodahl. After not getting a reply from the offender(s), you did the right thing by addressing the issue with his supervisor. This single action may have prevented an injury or death in the future. Good Job!

Response by CW5 Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 2 at 2014 7:18 PM

CW5 Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 19:18:43 -0400

SSG Riser it is never comfortable to be chastised for doing the wrong thing. I assume the SNCO knows he acted irresponsibly and is embarrassed by being called out. You did right by approaching him directly to give him an opportunity to make corrections. Perhaps his supervisor head to counsel him because this wasn't the first time he has violated regulations or policy. Your actions may very well save him or others in your unit from serious injuries down the road.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 15 at 2014 10:50 AM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 10:50:53 -0500

Job well done! You may have saved his life in the future.

Response by CW3 Kevin Storm made Oct 8 at 2015 1:45 PM

CW3 Kevin Storm — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 13:45:36 -0400

Wow, this a tough call, and I for one may have done things differently, not saying you were wrong. Being a leader means making the hard choices, sending an email and or phone call IMHO, does not by itself mean you did it correctly. Face to face is going to have more impact. In general we don't do counseling via phone or email, and this is a form of informal counseling. Being NG, my civilian career keeps me busy, an email from the NG may not get read for days. I have to be on my home computer with a CAC reader installed to gain access to it. I have asked my leadership if it is important send it to me at civilian email addresses.

As for your SNCO involvement, I would bring this to his supervisor or next senior NCO. Dressing down in front of the troops is inexcusable. Someday this person may be that BN CSM, and will condone this type of action by others if not nipped early enough.

Response by SFC Marcus Belt made Mar 12 at 2016 3:05 AM

SFC Marcus Belt — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 03:05:55 -0500

You did the right thing. And it will probably have no effect other than alerting the dude NOT to post pictures of himself on social media doing dumb [stuff].