Should an officer be allowed to continue to serve on Active Duty after being relieved from command?

It would depend on the reason for relief. Misconduct yes he should be put out. If someone in his charge screwed up and he was the scapegoat he should stay. Just my humble opinion.

This is way above my paygrade. Just give us leaders that we want to be like/follow and we trust. The reat will fall into place.

I was AF in the 80's and had a commander that was actually anti military member and pro dependent. no matter what happened the military member was always wrong. had a friend who's wife was a slush, one night she wanted another drink, her husband kept trying to get the waitress attention, and wife got mad it was taking so long and stabbed him in arm. there was 6 other people at the table, all their stories matched the husbands, but commander said obviously he did something for her to stab him. then my spouse(ex now thank god) they did not go with me to Italy, stayed in LA, I found out they were using coke so I went to legal and asked them, What is the minimum I have to send my spouse in dependent support? they said for my pay grade it was like $69.00 so next stop finance and decreased my allotment. few weeks later my commander pulls me in ask whats going on, so I explained that I found out they were on coke and I was not going to finance their drug usage. He goes off saying how 69 bucks isn't enough and then orders me to increase it. I told him, I respectfully must disobey that order since I talked to legal and this meets my legal obligation. OMG after that he was watching me with a micro scope, so bad that his own commanders offered to go after him at first I said no it's ok I'll deal with it ,, but eventually they had had enough and reassigned him to go fly propeller weather planes in Greenland(he was a jet pilot before making commander) and black marked him so he could never command a unit again. of course he quit after being in greenland for 4-5 months lol

I think it depends on the individual and why he or she was relieved. There are many cases where people may be relieved that don’t have anything to do with their ability to lead. It could have been an error caused by technical knowledge gaps, or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Before I got to my boat, the previous captain had been relieved after a collision with a freighter while we were coming to periscope depth. There wasn’t a single member of the crew who thought it was the skipper’s fault, but it’s his responsibility, so he got relieved. I heard nothing but wonderful things about him, and he’s now an Admiral. It wouldn’t have been right to force him out of the service for that. That being said, as soon as you start to treat each scenario differently, politics now have the ability to be played. If that bad leader has a friend in the right place, it can protect that poor leader from the appropriate action being taken. It’s a tough spot.

Depends if the good ole boys relieved them or if they were relieved for cause.

Depends on what you mean by “ousted”.......if he was relieved of command, no.
But in 31 years of active Army service, ( enlisted, warrant, commissioned) followed by 14 years as an Army DoD senior civilian, I have not seen an officer relieved of command promoted. A few shunted
( parked) to positions temporarily until their fate is determined. The Army is too small to have 1 trick ponies.....officers that failed at leadership. My experience, my opinion.

This is a TSA issue as well.

I was in the Corps and then worked for DOD after college. I saw often Officers who should have been flunked out early, or at least not given or keeping some of the important jobs they get, have.
But DOD seems to think all Officers and many NCOs have to be moved along and placed in such jobs they are not good at. Some ask not to be transferred, they know they are not ready or every will be, but DOD does not care. Why, one main reason is they are all "fodder" and so if they fail, so what. Then they can always be replaced with good or more fodder.
I remember one of the best Marines I ever met, he managed to stay in going for his 20, as a well Decorated Combat Vet. He said that's all he ever wanted, no NCO responsibilities, just wanted to stay at the basic PFC or no more than a Corporal level. Last I saw he was a Corporal (for about the 3rd time) and had only 2 or 3 years to go. I suspect he made it, he had that type of can do attitude.
So many get flunky promotions that do no one any good, and so some bad ones that could have been great PFCs or 1st Lts for 20 years get booted. LOL, This system is funny stupid.
People work in civilian jobs for 20, 30, 40 years without ever getting promoted and companies do great with them. They get basic raises don't want to be Foremen, leaders. in charge of anything but their basic job.
Oh well, this is the Military.

Find another command and a non leadership role. Sometimes you rise to the level of your incompetence, not the soldiers fault.

And, here I thought the discussion on this question (which I posted about a year ago) was done and over with! :) The recent attention paid to this topic by the RP community hints at the deep chords struck in fellow current and former service members with prior experiences similar to mine. Although I may not be as deeply involved in this round of discussions on this topic, I will check in and comment as time allows.
Thanks to the RP community for keeping this discussion interesting and civil!

Situational

No they shouldn't serve, once they do something to lose a command they should be kicked out. Give them the same treatment they give to lower enlisted.

I've always thought up or out was counterproductive. Some people are better for example E5 rather than E6 and up. Some don't want to be LPO or LCPO or CMC

It has never ceased to amaze me how many commissioned officers continually reveal their total lack of fitness to lead and command. Usually these folks are weeded out by the time they would be promoted to captain, but there are still a few field-grade officers who have squeaked through multiple bad OERs. The incompetent technical officer is an embarrassment. The incompetent commanding officer is dangerous. Both need to become civilians.

As for the original question, too complex to answer. Grant, Patton, Billy Mitchell and others have been relieved of command, but turned out to be some of our finest combat officers

My observation in the Army was that we needed to take a more British approach to service. There you can (could) retire as a corporal. Some people are great soldiers, seamen, airmen, highly competent but not leaders. The civilian world recognizes this, but the military does not. We used to have spec7 ranks and wider use of warrant officers. This would be appropriate to return to so that long time field experts can remain without the difficulty of leadership for those who are not good at it or disinclined to lead

That is very true, the officer shouldn't be put in a role if they cant lead or lack those skills. A couple of things they could do strengthen Officer Canidate School (OCS) when they first come in. Even though they have a degree, I've heard that it is kind of weak. Or a mix of both Non-Commissioners courses and Officer courses, to again strengthen leadership capacity. Then finally, if they do fail or fall short instread of forcing retirement, build specialized training program for officers for "That" general realtive area that they failed at, why they failed and overhaul of what to do to fix the problem. If it still is a problem, no more leadership positions and more filling the gaps of what the Army needs until retirement or descisions to get out.

Hard call as a officer I have worked for some great commanders and some real weasels. S pattern of good technical ability and ok leadership..... ok not a big picture person. What about a terrible technical person but a good motivator.....? Or terrible all the way around.????

If relieved from command because of incompetences. Then yes but, if allowed to stay, strip the commission from him, if the incompetence was reason for personnel failures.

As an example: I would rather see an E-4 mechanic stay as a professional soldier mechanic with increasing pay, stay as an E-4 if he/she is happy with that. Not every technician is leadership material. I had a friend ETS because the 1SG wanted him to go back to SGT Promotion Board. This soldier intentionally blew the board because didn’t want the responsibility. The Army lost an exceptional mechanic!

Ps: he operates a profitable garage with his wife and daughter doing the business end.

That's exactly why the ship repair and maintenance activities are such a shitshow right now. All these retired captains and admirals who fucked the Navy up through the 90s and 2000s retire and seem to be getting jobs running things having to do with fixing ships. Worse yet, they now are ruining the civilian workforce by trying to make it the way it was in the military and making it hard to fight back when they do it. Another 10 years when all of the technically competent people with experience either retire or get sick of it and move on, you will be left with just another expensive, rule laden bureaucracy that gets nothing done, but costs billions of dollars a year.

When I was promoted to E8 it was as a 63B50 not a 63Z50. This was fine with me because I wanted to stay in the maintenance, not a 1SGT. Worked out fine for the Army and myself. l.p.

In the marines, if an NCO or a officer lacks leadership skills, they’re gone

Nope

This is such a stupid question. If a commander is relieved for cause their career is over. No need to be removed or resign. That is their option though.

Depends on what they did to get relieved. Up and out policy has sent many a good Soldier home both enlisted and officer. Time to re-evualate......

Absolutely

No

I think that it depends on why he/she was relieved of command. If they were relieved because the are a weak/poor leader, I'm sure there are jobs out there that they are very good at. If they were relieved for endangering their command, dishonesty, abuse or other things that are illegal, immoral or unethical they should be put out to pasture.

Great points made. I don’t believe we will ever see an end to things like this. I also am in agreement that “Big Army” pushes and thus we get many NCOs and Officers who aren’t in the mold to lead or should have leadership positions.
I absolutely disagreed at least with one CSM who thought that you should be ready to step into a SSG role, when you were going to the SGT promotion board. I under the thinking behind it but to me you need to have time in your role going into. This is why we have classes and such and hopefully mentors that will help prepare you along the well.

I think it depends greatly on the circumstances. We accept that commanders are responsible...regardless of most circumstances, but in truth, there are many factors leading to failure, and not all constitute a lack of commitment, ethics or value to the service. On the other hand, some failures are due to intrinsic flaws of competency or character...some of which make one no longer compatible with service.

What I do disagree with, vehemently, is any "double standard" owing to seniority. If a new O-1 (let alone an enlisted person) makes a mistake, and is cashiered...while a senior officer is allowed to "get away" with measurably worse actions...that sends a message that we "weigh" these standards differently according to one's closeness to retirement.

In general, if someone can be redeemed...I say we do it.

You have to look at these reliefs on a case by case basis. If a commander is relieved for criminal behavior they need to be discharged. Even as a staff officer your still a leader.....

Negative, a real leader would put him in a position in which he shows competence. Then train and mentor him. Getting rid of home is easy, being a leader is not!
Ken SFC , USA Retired.

Should resign or be forced into a glorified paper pusher position. No command and no promotions whatsoever.

So long as enlisted men are expected to move up or move out officers should be held to the same standard. However I don't think that's the best thing for the Army. Plenty of officers are great at the Platoon level, but struggle with added responsibility same with junior enlisted/junior NCOs. The Army would benefit greatly with 5 year team leaders who are good with their position and just want to lead a few men.

Who has determined that he lacks Leadership ability? You , and if so are you his subordinate and just don't like his Leadership style.

We need to go back to the Specialists ranks. Great leaders are born the rest need to be technicians plain and simple. As someone who held the rank of Spec 5, I can tell you that if you’re destined to be an NCO, be all you can possibly be. If you’re comfortable doing a job not leading soldiers, excel in your field and remain a specialist, up to and including Spec 7.

Reminds me of the saying ‘All leaders can manage, but not all managers can lead’... This is one of many reasons that the branches need to implement Specialists ranks in the Enlisted Catagory (Spec-4 thru Spec-9) NCO ranks are awarded to those who show leadership traits for and are ready for those respective ranks.

As for the O-Side, I have some ideas such investing more in the WO Corps (including bringing it back to the USAF) making Os who are not ready for Leaderdhip positions yet have the skill necessary for their field an offer of going Warrant (WO1-3) or seperation. Another possibility could be implement a Technician rank system for the officer side O-1 thru O-5 (Tech-1 thru Tech-5) with only command/leadership ranks awarded for those ready for the positions. but, I can also see how an implementation as this could hurt egos or make some Os feel like they have been demoted or downgraded. But, it’s an idea.

Retire

This like most of these posts is situationally dependent. There arw some good officers who are reliieced for circumstances beyond their control and there are some who are great staff officers but should really never take command. Very rarely you will find those who probably should not have been commissioned but the screaning process is very extreme and getting promoted is not automatic so they have impressed someone or they wouldnt have made it to CPT in the first place. So in short No someone shouldn't be asked to resign their commission or retire just because they were relieved of command. It may be just the kick in the tail they need to become the next General Odierno.