Should I report unprofessional behavior through the Chain of Command or an IG complaint?

Berating is never a good way to solve a problem. I don't have the luxury of having all the facts; however, as an NCO, you always pull the troop off to the side and talk. You don't berate, you talk. You certainly don't go around afterwards and tell everyone what happened. The SFC probably has more time on leave than the CPT has in the Army. I'm normally not one to ask for one; but, she should have to issue an apology to the SFC and all those she bragged to should be there to bare witness.

This is not an IG issue. If the CPT is approachable, it would be perfectly OK to discuss it with that CPT, but the SFC should probably do so not in public and in the presence of the 1SG or CSM. Generally, the CSM will have a calming influence.

The SFC should exhaust CoC and NCO support channels before escalating. If the CPT is the SFC's CO, then the next recourse is Article 138. The SFC must use some discretion and should consult legal assistance prior to doing so. If there is no violation of the law, no pattern of cruelty, no basis for EEOC violation, no provocation (getting dressed down isn't provocation), etc. it will likely be dealt with informally. It's not against the law to be an asshole.

The SFC should go speak with her Commanding Officer. That is conduct unbecoming of an Officer. If she denied it, witnesses could be brought in. This should take care of the immediate problem. Secondly, If she is in charge of that NCO, he will need to moved.

Document and Report thru Chain of Command

Frag

My first and foremost issues is that its done in font of soldiers and junior NCO's. That def not needed and should be expressed in a private forum amongst peers. I don't need your opinions or thoughts affecting my soldiers view of there senior. At least not at that level. As Col Joseph Lenertz stated and I whole heartedly agree with him.

But disrespect is disrespect no matter what level. I wont degrade my soldiers, I might chew them a new one here or there but its in a refined setting mostly between just us and no others around.

Had a company commander that was one of the biggest PoS there was. It was always about him. If something did not go his way he acted like a 5 year old brat. Was forever cussing out the NCOs. It was hard to respect the rank when you could not respect the man wearing it. My CO and this one forget the basic rule about chewing out in private.

I have one question, was this Captain the Company Commander for the SFC? To answer your question definitely chain of command then if no satisfactory action is taken, go to the IG.

Was this in your CoC? If yes, take it up both the CoC and NCO support channel. Let your 1SG and CSM know what you witnessed. The will get with the SFC in question and get the CPT's Commander involved. If this doesn't work go to the IG. At a minimum you witnessed Conduct Unbecomming an Officer.

There is no excuse.

See how the Brass reacts, if the Command's atmosphere is non-reactive or praising this lack of qualified leadership, then the IG needs to be informed

Bring back wall to wall counseling. Or head to the combative ring!

It depends on the Chain of Command and who the individual trusts. The chain of command should always have the best interests of the Army on the forefront, but as a Veteran and as a Social Worker I have heard of many abuses by a service members chain of command. Is the immediate CoCa part of the solution or a part of the problem is the question

1SG Healy hit the nail on the head. This should have been the business of the 1SG to counsel the NCO one on one. If the CO wanted to add her two cents, the 1SG should've been present. Even if the NCO was a POS and the 1SG did nothing so the commander felt like she needed to step in, she should've first went to 1SG.
It would be a cold day in hell before I would let a CPT speak to me like that behind closed doors. If it wasn't behind closed doors, I would've halted the conversation and moved it behind closed doors so that the junior soldiers didn't have to witness it. Sad part is, you can't do this successfully if you are a POS, but you still don't have to take it. The minute my family was mentioned in a derogatory way, all bets are off. I would've left it up to a juror of my peers.

The SFC should have made an attempt to resolve the problems with this Captain first. The next step is to report this incident to the 1SG asap. If the problem is not rectified with the 1SG then the SFC needs to inform the Company XO and then later the Battalion CSM. I'm pretty sure it would be resolved or addressed at this level, but if not then proceed to the Battalion Commander. If the Brigade Commander and CSM have to resolve this problem at their level, its not going to look to good for the Battalion CDR, CSM, Company XO or 1SG. If this incident takes place a second time he should use the COC, but also file a formal administrative IG complaint and EO Complaint. I have seen this before, not the same incident, but leaders (Officer and Enlisted Senior NCO's) that abused their authority and they faced no type of disciplinary actions from their COC in a Garrison environment, but when they deployed and fell under a different COC and continued to abuse their authority, they were relieved of their Command or given bad evaluation reports. Don't know the entire story surrounding this incident, but if the CPT did truly chew his ass, which is not a problem if it was deserving, but in a private setting and also degrade his family members which is very wrong, it will catch up to the CPT eventually. if the CPT is truly abusing her authority it will be corrected by a good honorable field grade officer later on down the road.

Sounds like an invitation to the wood line, if genders match... other than that, listen to top... NCO support channel, then chain of command, IG last resort.

My first thought on this is that surely there is more to this than the information presented here. Not that I doubt this could and would happen, but I've never served with anyone who would carry on like this in front of others to this degree, and then boast about it to even more afterward. So, in my opinion, we have one of two things here, 1) The Captain's assessment is well-founded, but not likely because you don't get to be an E-7 if you're a complete basket case. Incompetence usually has a way of showing up in an NCOER, or it used to. And I would have to believe that IF said SFC was such an utter boob that there would have to be other supporting documentation which would be prohibitive to his being elevated to SFC. 2) The Captain is a thoughtless, mindless, cruel and insufferable idiot. Of course you would hope that such attributes as this would have found their way onto an OER or two, or maybe more. In the old days promotion from O-1 to O-2 was pretty much an automatic occurrence, and I think promotion to O-3 was a board action where performance reports would be scrutinized. I have no idea how the promotion system works anymore so I am basically unqualified to comment in that regard. In either case I feel strongly that the Captain's professionalism is definitely in question here. How to deal with it? FRAG her ass! LOL. Just kidding. I know, that was extremely unprofessional of me but I was NOT really serious. I am in complete agreement with utilizing the Chain of Command firstly before resorting to paying a visit to the IG's office. I have now been retired from service for longer than I served so there is most likely a whole lot which has changed since my time. So this makes this whole case so utterly unbelievable and unacceptable to me personally. It makes me question whether or not our military has gone into the dregs which also makes me doubt that I could serve in today's military. Very sad, actually, because I loved what I did and wouldn't take all of Donald Trump's billions for it.

Definitely, I'd report this behavior! This is completely wrong.

IG gets most action. Obviously, this is not the first such behavior of this FOR and the officer rank CoC has done nothing already. The IG not only addresses the CPT, but why the CoC has not acted. Also the Annual Soldier Sensing for Command Climate catches attention.

Where do I start? Yes that is highly unprofessional. Especially if done in front of others. That this CPT has bragged about it is also immature. An NCO who would find themselves in such a situation should use the chain of command to address the problem, even if just observed to have happened to another enlisted member or junior officer. If done once they will do it again, and word gets around. The more NCO's who complain about this individual the more credible the evidence becomes. I would think that with the officer in question bragging about it to their contemporaries someone would say something to them, and the chain of command as well. It's not just poor judgment on the CPT's part, but shows a lack of leadership skills and maturity; and it should reflect in their evals. Whenever this type of behavior is displayed you have to ask yourself "would I be comfortable going to combat with this individual on my team?" Keep in mind that humans are complex and inherently fallible creatures. There may be something going on in this CPT's life that is causing such behavior and it could be anything from a failing marriage, a recent death in the family, or even alcohol or drug abuse. On the other hand, while in the Navy I have seen the Air Boss rip new ones....but that is what an Air Boss does, and they do so because the mistake you made could have caused loss of life including yours, and the ass chewing is done to educate and motivate. Yet that is all together different situation.