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

Well, when I was in, This was called conduct unbecoming of an officer (or an NCO) to go off like this on a lower rank. At the very least it would lead to a letter of reprimand for the senior individual in a one on one encounter and could be an article 15 in a situation where by the "chewing out" was done in from of Others.

At least a couple of Soldiers need to go see the Chaplain.

Disrespecting an NCO is inexcusable. I would utilize the NCO support channel and allow the CSM to advise the CoC. Then everyone needs to let it go and move on. dwelling on something said out of frustration and anger will cause negative results.

As a senior NCO, I would hope the troops supported him. Officers in good standing know who teaches the troops. If the troops agree with the "O", then they let it happen. If the troops support the SNSO, they should have stood behond him/her. If that was the case the SNCO would have no reason to file a complaint. I have had "O"s who hated the SNCO, but remained professional, just as an SNCO should back the "O" regardless of opinion. NCO' should not report in "O"' unless a career is in jeopardy.

Go to the CO, tell him/her what you witnessed and express your disappointment. I did the same as a Marine Corporal when on active duty, I got the results I expected, the Captain was hauled onto the carpet and I was never involved after seeing the CO.

If you stick around long enough, be prepared to call her Col some day.

Chain of Command first and if that didn't work, definitely be a legitimate IG complaint.

Both, immediately!

article 136,but damn sure have your ducks in a row

Marine corps way . School circle quarter deck and there would be an a$$ woopin. Problem solved

Always start with the chain of command. Do what your rank can afford. If all else fails and there is still a problem then IG, but they can only recommend a solution from what I understand

If you really want justice ...simply "out soldier" the officer in question. Begin by always leading by example ...a true leader doesn't make anyone do anything; (s)he inspires others to want to complete the job at hand. With regard to CoC vs IG, Managers do things the right way ...Leaders do the right thing.

Written report should go to the CPT chain of command and to the IG. This was unprofessional, and if done in public view of others - unwarranted. Conduct unbecoming in my opinion. Just because she is an officer, she is not right in this instance.

Short and sweet, leave family out and keep the argument private SFC /CPT don't make a show no matter who has the reason

There are several good responses and solutions below. Yes, even if the NCO had royally screwed up, the officer was totally out of line in what she did. I'll use my own father as a better way to handle it. He was a USAF CMSgt and 1 of his airmen told my sister, "I really screwed up and your dad had me into his office. He never raised his voice, he never cursed, and he never insulted me; but I knew I had been royally chewed out." He became a better airman for it and he still respected my dad as well.

This happens all to often with who are power hungry. The way I'd handle this is to get the individual alone and have a talk with them. A talk not an argument, because even senior NCO's don't win arguments with officers. A leader who leads through fear and intimidation is no leader. If the talk did not help or stop it then taking up the support chain would be the next step. The part about the family fortunately I never had to deal with, because I don't know how I would have handled it .

always thru chain of command

If it goes through the chain of command wouldn't have to go through the same commander also.

It works like this
Sir / Ma'am. it your prerogative to relieve me of my duties at your digression. Other wise this conversation will not take place here and now. We can make arraignments to have this conversation take place in-front of my senior NCO leadership and your Commander. You have a good day Sir/Ma'am.
Used it multiple times in my carrier. Usually had cooler heads prevailed end up with an apology and four friends that I count to this day with my back.

when an officer becomes belligerent and unprofessional, that certain officer loses the confidence of the troops, specially if the officer is in a leadership position. We have to think about the mental actitude of the officer. Is the officer frame of mind set to belittle all the NCO's ? or this officer feels that since the officer is not college educated(I imagine) , that will give her a sense of superiority over the troops that did not completed college. finally, if said officer lost her bearing as a leader, and lost the confidence of the NCO's then that officer should be remove from her leadership position.
P.D family should be sacred and should always be respected by anybody in the service regardless of rank.. I know of many officers as well as enlisted soldiers who got their ass kick for being disrespectful towards family of fellow soldiers.

Question is this CPT, in the CoC?

During my time in the Navy, a chief, senior chief, or master chief would've been wearing that particular officers skin as a coat. Not sure of the particulars of how it got started, but family members are off limits. Officer or not, I would've had to squash that out quickly.

Always through the chain of command first...then if you really honestly believe you have been treated un fairly then go to the IG's office.

Perhaps it was failure of the Officer's leadership and lack of respect for the SFC. Belittling a Soldier or any Family members is a NO GO. The CPT could have spoken to the SFC with respect, and in professional manner but this was not the case. The SFC should seek out the professional advice of the CSM and perhaps the CSM could correct the issue on the spot with the help of the XO, the BN or BDE CDR.

That Officer should be given the same punishment as any other soldiers. She's not only Unbecoming of a Soldier, unprofessional and a Horrible, Horrible supposed too be Leader. And she's still in a leadership position responsible for soldiers, mentally, physically and emotional well being too insure that her NCO. Continually to have a great mindset to take care and trained his Surbordinates. Without having to worry St the same time about his Family's Well Being. Its obvious that there's a problem in that Command, since this unnamed officer has not called forward to Stand on the Famous Red Carpet. I would have A Brigade or Battion Meeting or where ever this unprofessional incident took place. And administer Punishment and let all of the Young Officers know that you have no right to try too destroy a persons career. And start Chapter proceedings on this Nut Job. Just unfreaking believable.

Choke slam always works. Put the fear back into these damn soldiers

Time to talk to the First Sergeant who should talk to the Captain behind closed ( which the CPT should of had the leadership to do) the First Seegeant should tell the CPT the errors of her way.

I would push this up the chain of command first and if it doesn't get taken care of then ad only then would I go to IG about it.

Report to CoC and then IG would be my route.

Chain of command first then IG.

Highly in professional on the CPTs part. We have given and received ass chewings, but it was and should be related to the task that was failed. It should never be a personal attack. We all make mistakes and we all screw up, but that does not justify a public personal attack. CPT watch out the IG may want to talk to you.

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.

This officer has no Bussiness doing this in front of pepole. Time for IG because officers protect one another. The IG will investigate it will go in her record. May stop her from making Major. Career will be slowed at least.

I'm wondering if it would also be appropriate to retain Area Defense Counsel, just in case, as this is pursued up the Chain of Command, just to make sure that the SFC is in compliance with UCMJ, Army and DoD regulations and directives as well?

The first question any IG is going to ask, is did you use your Chain of Command to report the incident and what was the outcome? I absolutely support what COL Lenertz recommends. I will state for the record though that even though you perceive wrong doing and inappropriate behavior, the community is only seeing a portion of the situation - you may not see the outcome you expect.

This is why women don't belong in the military. If a male Capt did this in an Infantry unit the SFC wouldn't have just stood there.....

It's all on that SFC now. I know what my collar can afford, and would not have maintained bearing by choice at mention of family. My guess is this SFC know the CPT is a peice of shit and forgot about about it as soon as it was over.

Don't you wish you could say you piece of shit bag of ass you no more deserve a commission than the man in the moon.

Pretty pathetic, if I was that NCO in question at the moment I would have responded by saying, "No wonder I'm what you stated I have such great Leadership Examples being shown to me at the moment "!!!

The Captain could have justified anything she had to say when tearing into the SFC. Unfortunately for her, making the situation personal by talking at all about him s family became, conduct unbecoming and this is the time to show her the door.

Here we go again... Another case of toxic leadership. I don't know what that NCO could have done to deserve such treatment and frankly I don't care. Leadership is about the people you lead not you. Never mind the fact that she took matters into her own hands and left the 1SGT out of it. It is this nonsense right here that raises attrition rates and lowers re-enlistment rates. Ask yourself this question: how did she get that way? Has this behavior been fostered in some way? If so, then use of the CoC will be in vein. Use it anyway to cover your bases. Just know that you are probably heading into a dark and lonely forest.
Yours truly,
SGT Cynicism