In an earlier post about this topic someone made a link to the comments this NCO made trying to defend his Soldier for her Actions in regards to the Honor Detail. I use the term NCO very loosely here. I clicked the link and read it. He was very disrespectful in some of the comments he was posting about the situation. I say we throw the book at all involved. I do have a couple questions though. Would love for some other reservists and National Guard members to weigh in.
From my experience, not trying to offend anyone here, I have noticed a lot(not all) of reservists and National Guard troops don't take a lot of situations near as serious as we active duty personnel do. Does anyone have any experience with this as well? Attitude reflects leadership so it makes me wonder about the leadership of some of these National Guard and reserve units out there.
If you are National Guard or reserves, have you witnessed anything similar with Soldiers/NCOs in your unit? Do you feel all of the guard and reserves catch a bad rap for the actions of a few? Or does something like this affect all members of all branches?
Like I said, i'm not trying to offend anyone. I have quite a few good friends who are guard or reserves and they do a great job and still have the same pride and commitment many of us active duty personnel have. Very interested to see how people respond to this.
Here is the link to the NCO being suspended:
http://www.armyreenlistment.com/news-military-funeral-scandal.html
Reserves
I am not pin pointing you as you said you are not being offensive. However, on the flip side of this whole controversy this whole thing ticks me off. It has put a tarnish on the National Guard when we were already climbing an uphill battle. As a member of the Tennessee National Guard, and also as a full time ADOS personnel for the Tennessee National Guard Honor Guard, I can tell you that we would have taken a situation like this seriously.
From day 1 training of a new soldier in the Honor Guard we hammer into them the importance of professionalism, honor, and respect each veteran deserves when we perform a funeral. I personally am of the belief, and tell each soldier the same, that as members of the Honor Guard we make contact with more civilians than any other aspect of the armed forces. Every single day we place ourselves in front of civilians and their opinions of us can waver in a moment if we don't hold ourselves in the highest regard.
I have been performing Military Funerals for four years now and have personally done 1,500 or more funerals and have never seen a soldier of mine act anywhere close to the actions that happened recently.
Now, on the active side, I will say this. I have seen active duty soldiers show up to perform funeral honors with us and have seen some inappropriate actions. I've on more than one occasion had active duty soldiers show up drunk or hungover from a night of drinking at their hotel. I've also seen soldiers show up to perform honors that had no idea how to fold a flag and completely embarrassed themselves in the process.
I do think actions such of these are a lack of leadership but I do not think it is a National Guard vs Active Duty situation. There are quality leaders in both and also poor leaders in both.
SSG Slover,
I agree with you whole heartedly. Active duty has many of the same issues with leadership and discipline. I wasn't trying to make this seem like an active duty verse national guard debate and I apologize if you took it as such. Was just trying to get others opinions on the matters. I think lack of quality leadership is the largest issue here and I would expect any and all NCOs to do the same as you when it comes to instilling that pride and discipline into Soldiers that have been selected or tasked for Honor Guard.
No, I didn't really take your comments as such. However, if you read the Wisconsin National Guard Facebook and other similar sites you will see a lot of disrespect towards the National Guard being tossed around. It is as if a few bad apples can tarnish the reputation of thousands of soldiers. I know that is life but it definitely stinks to those of whose are trying to overcome the National Guard stigma.
Setbacks like these are inexcusable.
I agree. It does stink. I am stationed in Okinawa, Japan and any branch has one small incident and the entire Island is outraged at all of us regardless of what branch the offender was in.
One thing that I have learned over the course of my 6 years in the Guard is that leadership isn't about the method you use to get the desired results (so long as those methods are still moral and within the limits of the law), it's about getting the desired results regardless of the methods you use ( see preceding note in parenthesis).
I've seen a quote floating around over the years that says something to the effect of "It's impossible to train to fight against American doctrine because the American's don't follow their own doctrine." That's true of the military in general (in my experience), but it's especially true of the National Guard.
I loved my time on AD. I loved the Cav. I loved the 7th. But I'd go to war anytime, anywhere with the folks that I've served with in my time in the Guard.
Just like anywhere else in the military, there are going to be bad apples. Most of those bad apples generally tend to come from one of two groups: 1) People who served on AD that didn't like the AD lifestyle but wanted to mooch what they could from the government while they skate by and 2) People who never served a day in their life on AD that really have no clue what they've gotten themselves into and do it because they think they'll look cool. Neither of those groups have any respect for anything, including themselves, and they only care about what it can do for them. Oh, that reminded me of another group... those "college first" folks that sign up and, from what I understand of it, get it written into their contract that if they're enrolled full-time in school their military commitment takes a backseat.
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