Should NCO's play a larger role in Soldiers lives?

Of course they should! Knowing your Soldiers is always a good thing. You will better understand how they might react to situations down range as well as know if there is something going on that might require assistance from someone like drinking and driving. You still want to allow that Soldier to have space to do things but maintain a professional over-watch. I think if you do that, we would see a reduction in a lot more than DUIs.

yes, to a certain extent. there are some things that are family business, not NCO business.personally, I did not want my wife or any of my family in contact with my unit except for emergencies. my wife did not want to be a part of the FRG and I was completely fine with that. A lot of NCO's need to realize that even though a soldier is a soldier 24/7/365 that his or her family are not. I had multiple occasions where I was ordered to bring my wife to FRG functions and I refused. unless a soldier is doing something that negatively effects unit cohesion, after hours is after hours. A genuine concern is a good thing, and if your soldiers are willing or trusting enough to be open with you, that is great, but digging into someones perfectly legal, non military business is not necessary

Since this is such an obvious answer in going to share an experience. When I was a young airman, deployments consisted or working, eating, lifting and playing cards together. We played more euchre and spaded in a 6 month period than a person should in a lifetime. My last deployment consisted of all the same things except the cards. Airmen would head to their bunk, throw on headphones and watch movies by themselves. Didn't matter how many events we planned and leadership, there was zero interest. Same is happening at home station. NCO s and airmen sit side by side on their phones in their own individual lives. Until NCOs put their phones down and demand the same of their troops the trend of out of touch NCOs will continue and in a few years they will be out of touch SNCOs.

I am surprised this isn't happening more already. As a specialist, I knew all my fellow soldiers' wives and children's names as well as that of the superiors in my section. (We had a section of about 12 people.)

On the issue of DUIs, I think it more about openness. The old 1SG used to always say before anyone drank and drive that they should call him and he would pick them up. It was always taken as some sort of joke and quietly understood that the soldiers would more than likely call nobody before they called the 1SG. I think that had more to do with the company culture than the actual 1SG, but I could be wrong. Personally, I always extend a hand to my coworkers now, regardless of rank, that I am willing to pick them up if they are too drunk to drive. I would like to think they believe me also.

SFC (Join to see) I was a former NCO and I carried a book with me everywhere I went with all the information on my soldiers. I would fill in the pages every chance I got to speak with them. I use to call it "Hulka Time" just like the SFC Hulka in the movie "Stars and Stripes". You have to sit down and spend time with your soldiers to get to know them formally and informally. You have to be genuine in your approach and when they need your help you have to be there. If you can't help them or answer questions for them, then you let them know you will get the answers and you get back to them. Don't leave them hanging. You’re not a babysitting, but you are an NCO responsible for the welfare of your soldiers under your direct authority. There are some great NCOs currently serving with a lot more information and experience then me, hopefully they will provide you with more TTPs

One of the Princibles of leadership use to be Know your soldiers ad look out for thier well-being, im sure thiers still something like that, But yes i knew thier family IE wifes name, kids, girlfriends, where they grew up, parents. We kept that info in a book that was in my top left pocket. We also talked to them, find out what going on in thier lives, whats the big weekend plans, i knew thier likes and dislikes. I knew my soldiers, that had nothing to do with Fraternization, i wasnt out partying with them as i had my own life, but i knew thier life and once again i knew my soldiers.

NCO's used to help keep the junior troops in line but now they no longer have the power or the authority!

They should always play a larger role in soldiers lives. Depending on how many soldiers are under you should determine how in depth you should get in my opinion.

I believe too many senior leaders try to take the "No Fraternization" policy too far. I once had a PLT SGT who told the NCO's that they shouldn't hang out with the Joes or even smoke with them. How can you expect to "know your soldiers" if you are only allowed to handle them professionally? There are soldiers, and NCOs, out there that don't understand the difference between personal and professional but what is needed is training and instructions for those individuals not a mass policy to remove any non-professional contact. My section was one of the largest and we rarely got soldiers in that were of our MOS so our promotions generally came from within, it wasn't unusual for some one to arrive at the unit as a fresh out of training E-2 and leave a SGT or even SSG, so we would would always hang out outside of work as well but every single one of us understood that what happened professionally and what happened personally were two separate things. We may bitch about certain things our NCOs would make us do or getting smoked if we screwed up but there was no personal or long lasting dislikes, let alone hatreds, and each of us knew damn near everything about each other, both NCOs and soldiers.

Yes. Lead by example!