Should NCOs inspect barracks during the weekend?

If duty is on the weekend or if it's corrective action. Other than that HELL NO!!. The military is not a 9 to 5 job. I know we are soldiers 24/7. But we all need our own space and time. The barracks and he weekend just happen to be that space and time. For instance,. You go to a ladership course. You work the weekend you are in a training environment. Your area is inspectable at all times. Most soldiers areas are kept clean and neat a majority of the time. With the exception of a few,. There are really isn't a worry about this.

As a first sergeant at Ft Sam and later in Germany as a detachment commander I tried to walk through living quarter at least once during weekends and holidays not as an inspection more than to be there for and with men. I didn’t care if beds were unmade or guys setting around in shorts.

I usually brought in my wives cookies, etc. or some soft drinks. I might shoot a game pool, I wasn’t very good at it, or play a game cards if I was I invited. Sometime I would my young son, early elementary school, with me. The men enjoyed having him around and would play games with him and he loved being with them.

Often, one or two of the men would just want to talk. Sometimes it was serious other times they just wanted to talk or unload on me. Nothing was off limits.

The MPs in Kitzingen never cut anyone any slack. With knowledge, not them with his permission, of the DISCOM commander I allow the men to drink in to drink in thier in the barracks under the condition I never saw alcohol bottles or cans. But, I assured them I would NEVER tast or smell anything in soft drink cans.

About a year after I started the the policy, I got a call from 3 ID CG, MG Robert Taber's aid he said the General would be in Kitzingen for lunch in the mess hall and wanted me to join him,

He asked me who gave approval on my drinking in the barracks policy.
I told him no one. But, we had three drinking DRs my first month in Kitzingen. And I knew I had to stop the DR bleeding and so I thought I had a solution. He then asked COL Murphy (DISCOM Commander) had given his OK. I said, I would never ask my superiors for approval to violate any policy. General Tabor then said that COL Murphy had told about it a couple of months ago. He said, "I would give you permission, but if anyone has a problem with it, tell them to see me."

Had a 1stSgt do this in Germany. He came in unannounced at 10am on a Saturday. Threw a fit because my ashtray was full and there were multiple beer cans and bottles scattered around. Chewed is out because the room was trashed. Made us get out of bed and clean then had the CQ inspect our room after he left.
It was Saturday morning. Yes the room was dirty we had a barracks party Friday night to pre game the pub crawl. That does not mean it was going to stay that way all day, plus we had room inspections everyday during the week. Which we never failed!

Used to be NCO conducted 1st call before PT and the last thing we did before we left was check the troops in the barracks. We had way less suicides......

Necessary evil. Preparation is the mother of success, repetition is the daddy.

Back in the day we had an NCO check our barracks every day except Saturday and Sunday. Oh and Friday that was when an officer inspected it after Thursday night fielddays.

Make certain that if you have weekend barracks checks, you do it at a previously published time, check in with local leaders, and always treat your Soldiers with dignity and respect.

Daily checks (which were required when I was in ('87-'93) too aren't IG level inspectiobs, they're just walk-thoughs done by the CQ (when I was in). Sounds like they are requiring senior leadeship yo do tgem now.

We had alot of the same issues in the late 80s into the 90s. Someone, somewhere came up with the BOSS program (better opportunities for single soldiers). We actually had some big changes in the barracks. "Community" kitchens, changes in the ways we lived, better facilities, hell, I heard some barracks even had renovations done... like adding carpeting !

Aaaaaaaaaand this is why retention rates are incredibly low. It's also why all of these E-1s through E-4s are going out and marrying strippers. The double standard placed on the Joes living in the barracks is ridiculous. Sure, there are ones and twos that live like rats, but most of the barracks residents are responsible adults. Doing weekend checks doesn't "show leadership cares". It shows that they're looking for reasons to destroy morale and disrupt the recovery time that the weekend brings.

When I read some of the comments by those in the higher leadership are leaving that weekend checks are needed, it shows how out of touch they are with those under their command and how oblivious they are to the underlying problems of WHY some of those things may be happening. It's only going to foster lower morale across the units and distrust and hatred towards the chain of command.