What the major challenges to being an NCO in the current generation of the military? What are some unique solutions you have used?

The culture of the Army changes about every ten years. You'll hear people complaining about how "This generation of Soldiers...", but they themselves are a relatively new generation and have only been in around 10 years, which is still pretty new. A decade ago, we were at the height of the surge. If you joined, you knew you were deploying immediately and multiple times. People joined for two main reasons: combat and massive bonuses. The drive to serve was different than it is now. Ten years prior to that, when I first separated, we were under the "Be All You Can Be" Army, and people joined for different reasons. Back then, your average SSG had been in the Army ten years, had three kids, and base pay didn't cover enough so that 2/3rds of them were on Food Stamps. You served knowing it was a training Army and a foreign peace keeping Army with conflicts like Bosnia and Kosova.

Back then, people joined and stayed because they believed in a greater purpose. It was the "suck it up" Army. Serving in the most elite units meant something different then. It was about quiet professionalism.

Today with our kids growing up on social media it's the "look at me" generation. Where our parents shied away from airing dirty laundry, this generation shares everything. It's not good, it's not bad, it's just different.

The point is that their motivations are different. For many of them it's about quality of life, and they don't want to be treated like crap just because their team leader is having a bad day. People say they lack selfless service, but this is one of the most empathetic and selfless generations. It's the first generation to make it culturally unacceptable to bully people, or to not take others feelings into consideration. They are very selfless, they just no longer believe the politicians who lead them have their best interests in mind. So, why would they willingly suffer and sacrifice for some politician's third and fourth order effect? Here's an example: President decides he needs to move a unit as a show of force. One of the IRF units. That causes another unit to have to shift its deployment schedule. That leaves an unfilled NTC rotation. Now another brigade has to do two NTC rotations within six months of each other. If that IRF had been mobilized to fight ebola, like it was a few years ago, the Soldier can feel that they are part of the good fight. But what about when you're being mobilized to guard a border wall being constructed?

Point is, we have different motivations. The difficulty is that the most difficult thing is to understand others motivations. In any generation, you have to get people to "buy in" if you want their participation. What motivates us to buy in changes between generation and even as we age. This generation more than any other I've seen, genuinely wants to make the world a better place even if they have to give up their own money and creature comforts. This is the first time in a very long time we've heard people asking for more taxes. Not since the end of WW2 when the US was staggering from the economic brunt of almost going bankrupt from years of war. Back then, people came together too. This generation is one of the most connected and therfore most communal generations we've had. If you want to motivate them, as someone wise once said, "Always appeal to their nobler motives first" (I read that in Dale Carnegie's book, How to win friends and influence people). You just have to understand their noblest motive first.

Been out awhile but tried and true will never fail you. Be firm. Be fair. Treat all with dignity.

SGT Robert Wager Good Question. No I Don't have the Answer but I Would Like to Add "Perspective". I am a "Vietnam Era" (Entered Shortly After) Veteran. Drug Use and Abuse was Rampant in the Armed Forces (No Urinalysis that wouldn't become a Thing until 1980 or 81 or so). Sailors didn't have to do PT After Boot Camp until 1980 or 81 or so. We had a Lot of Doped Up and or Really Fat Sailors, So Any Hearkening back to the "Good Old Days" when We Were Tougher, More Strict Seems Utterly Ridiculous to Me.