Should not answering a phone call be subject to UCMJ?

SGT (Join to see) I concur with a lot of other people here. But I have reservations about its implementation.

First, apparently there is a problem. Who is leaving their Leadership on "read" or ignoring their calls? It sounds like there are other failures going on here.

Second, I don't agree with the solution. There is no way this would hold up to UCMJ scrutiny, but I wouldn't use that as an excuse to "fight it". Junior leaders should find a better way to stay connected with their leadership and their subordinates so it doesn't have to resort to this. No one wants to have 4 formations every day, and leaders don't want to have to track down Soldiers every time they have something that needs to get done.

Personally, perhaps because of my rank, position, or relationship with my subordinates, I have never had an issue with getting responses. But in a tactical or operational environment, I went to them unless I needed the information or work done immediately then I used the radio. I dislike carrying wireless phones on duty, personal or otherwise. It detracts from maintaining communication skills with our tactical communications equipment. However, I see the benefits.

Everyone should be accountable. Everyone should consider themselves on call and ready to go. And everyone can maintain contact with leadership.
Having said that…
Those calls or messages are going to get missed occasionally. I don’t answer my phone in the car. Plenty of times my phone rings and I don’t hear it from my back pocket. When that call is returned, it might be outside of that 15-minute window.
You’re a critical asset to your unit, and you need to be available. But unless your unit is deploying right after lunch or you’re the one carrying the nuclear football, your unit should have better contingency plans in place than UCMJ action.

This is an OK idea, poorly executed.

If the problem is people not answering texts, why would you send this in a text?

Also, whatever happened to leader accountability? SGT Snuffy is supposed to know where PVT Schmedlap is. SSG Jones is supposed to know where SGT Snuffy is. SFC Smith is supposed to know where SSG Jones is. Etc. This concept of "you had better answer, or else" is basically admitting that we don't want to hold NCOs accountable for informing their troops or for knowing where they are at and what they are doing.

Hey, if 1SG calls, answer the damned phone!
Understandable and understood. Threatening with "you better call back, or else!" is just poor leadership, IMHO.

It's during the duty hours, there's no reason someone shouldn't be reachable. Before we had cell phones we just sat around the company area waiting for taskings, I think being available for phone calls is not an unreasonable request if you don't want to sit around the PSG waiting for a tasking.

OK, judging from your question you have never been in a unit subject 1 hr or less recall. This is a way of life for units in the entire XVIII Abn Corps- all 130k of them. You have 18 hours or less to be wheels up for deployment anywhere in the world.

There are all sorts of issues related to answering personal phones if the unit does not prohibit you from answering personal calls you most certainly have to answer organizational calls. Why would you not want the latest information associated with your daily mission. So either comply or deal with the consequences. I assure you that your unit would have to be I’ll advised if they haven’t converted this with legal. Cell phones have been around a long time and unit personnel have had standing orders related to responding to alerts and messages if you fail to follow an order you are subject to UCMJ. as for phones misplaced not charged etc., you appear to be looking for excuses.

Fall in line then check with legal, not the other way around.

Not Everyone Has Their Phone Glued To Them.
Maintenance Personnel Who Are Working On A Vehicle Would Probably Not Have Their Phone On Them.
And Yes Cell Phone Reception Is Not Good On Some Of The Larger Posts , Or Inside Some Buildings .
I Could See Off Duty, Because Your Always Subject To Recall , But On Duty No It Could Be Dangerous To You Or Your Phone

"What if the phone dies or there is poor reception"?
That's covered in the part where the Soldier explains it.
Surely you understand the reason this was put out was because the unit has problems beyond the legitimate albeit very infrequent dead phone or occasional poor reception.

If a Soldier is working in a facility away from the company area, and a leader came over from that company area to talk to the Soldier, he would stop what he's doing and talk to the leader immediately.
The same is expected for a phone call from that leader, rather than seeing the call or text, and deciding to get to it when it's more convenient for the Soldier, like we typically do with calls or texts outside of work.
And it's disappointing that leadership actually had to explain that concept.

Short of holding three formations a day to ensure everyone hears everything they need to know, (and three formations a day means everyone has to work that much later to get the same amount of work done) how do you think this should have been handled?

Hell yes. If you don’t the reason for the call may have been time sensitive. In that case that’s dereliction of Duty, abandoning your post. And i don’t care if your girlfriend/ boyfriend / significant other was having cellphone sex with you. You are there for a reason . And you are in the military. Not a security guard at a motel/ resort.

You have to look at the big picture. The 1st Sgt is crackdown because accountability is not being done. An incident occurred in some way and he is forcing change. out a mass nasty gram does a few things. It is a scare tactic for sure but it also forces NCOs to actually be leaders and maintain accountability of their people better. Will this policy be enforced forever? Not at all. I would recommend you while the dust settles. It probably wasn't you or your people that caused this but you just need to let it it's course and not get worked up over it.