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Orders
Officer
Enlisted
Responses: 25
Yes, my first two company commanders as a young lieutenant. Both were very toxic leaders who thought grinding people down and demeaning them (which, in their opinion, was to "make them stronger") was "good leadership".
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CPT Lawrence Cable
I guess I was luck, only had one that really sucked. Like yours, he would tear people down in front of their troops, micro managed down to squad level and was generally in everyone's business all the time. That would have been bad enough, but too much of the time his "corrections" were wrong. He gave me my only bad OER, and I thank my Senior Rater for bailing me out on that one since he did know what was going on by then. I had never seen a leader piss so many levels of command off so completely. I think the every NCO in the unit went to the SMG about his actions, which is what lead to his being relieved. I'm pretty sure that my OER reflected his opinion that I went to the Bn Commander on him, which wasn't true, although I probably should have over a couple of incidents.
I sometimes think how he acted influenced the rest of my career since I was certain that he was the guy I didn't want to be or act like. I hope it made me a better officer.
I sometimes think how he acted influenced the rest of my career since I was certain that he was the guy I didn't want to be or act like. I hope it made me a better officer.
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CPT Lawrence Cable
CPT Lawrence Cable - Now I will admit that I did not discourage any of my NCO's from using the SMG's open door policy.
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I would suggest that you think about your question. Asking people to name their worst bosses, in an open forum, is probably not the best thing to do. I know that is not your intent, but always remember there are unintended consequences. Better question would be: What are some of the qualities that characterized your worse bosses?
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A SGT, Squad Leader, who I will not name in case he's dead and he has family on our site. He was the antithesis of the NCO creed, Army Values, Leadership traits and any other description of what rite looks like.
I damn near lost a finger on a table saw because of his antics and get to see the scars daily as a reminder of who I never wanted to be like when I got the chance to be a leader. To say I dislike him to this day is probably an understatement.
I damn near lost a finger on a table saw because of his antics and get to see the scars daily as a reminder of who I never wanted to be like when I got the chance to be a leader. To say I dislike him to this day is probably an understatement.
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SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth
The way he carried out his duties, acted like he was lost at times. Worst part was telling me how to do my job, I had been doing it longer than he had time in the service.
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In the Army, the worst I had was a PL--who had been a SSG prior to commissioning, and should have known better--who:
1. Micromanaged everything all the way down to squad level. Interfered with squad leaders, and left our PSG with nothing to do.
2. Was tactically scary. During training, he intentionally drove his vehicle by itself as others hung back without direction, into a notional ambush. Thank God it wasn't real combat!
3. Got one of those career retarding "nasty-grams" in his file for participating in a hazing incident that was recorded on a cell phone.
4. Tried to get the Joes in his platoon to "invest" in a videogame themed theme park he was building in Arizona by hustling these guys with the idea they were getting in on the ground floor for only $500, when the normal buy-in was $20,000!
What a gem that guy was!
*Understand this is not an exhaustive list, just some of his Greatest Hits!
1. Micromanaged everything all the way down to squad level. Interfered with squad leaders, and left our PSG with nothing to do.
2. Was tactically scary. During training, he intentionally drove his vehicle by itself as others hung back without direction, into a notional ambush. Thank God it wasn't real combat!
3. Got one of those career retarding "nasty-grams" in his file for participating in a hazing incident that was recorded on a cell phone.
4. Tried to get the Joes in his platoon to "invest" in a videogame themed theme park he was building in Arizona by hustling these guys with the idea they were getting in on the ground floor for only $500, when the normal buy-in was $20,000!
What a gem that guy was!
*Understand this is not an exhaustive list, just some of his Greatest Hits!
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XO aboard USS Petrel. He would tell me who he was going to torpedo next then ride him till the poor sailor imploded. The XO was early retired due to poor decisions.
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I have two, who I will call 1 and 1A. Both were battalion commanders.
1 was a bully and a blowhard who felt it was his constant state of affairs to belittle his Soldiers or talk behind their back. He had a penchant for fabricating tales of his time in Iraq - when anyone who had been there or was in the know knew damned well that he did nothing of the sort. His tale of stabbing an insurgent with a K-Bar was particularly laughable. Bar-none, the worst leader I have ever had the displeasure of working with. I have many, many anecdotes of just how lousy and toxic he was (and is, no doubt), but he is still serving so I will leave it at that.
1A was a cat I knew way back from his days as a company commander. He was damn near relieved while there for using his unit's equipment to fight local flooding without authorization. When he went to Afghanistan, he was generally viewed as a coward who would find any reason to not go out and operate. Later, as a BC he was more than a little bit paranoid and acted... strangely to say the least. He found himself in hot water several times for his outbursts of innuendo and non-sequiturs, but what really made him a crummy leader was his penchant for not taking any risk and being paranoid kept him from making decisions, even when what should be done was abundantly clear to anyone. His regime was marked by more incidents of indiscipline (including some doozys) than any other commander I have ever seen. Yet, when people behaved badly, his default was to sweep it under the rug so that it would not come to the attention of higher and (rightly) invite scrutiny of his leadership.
Up to then, 1A would have won the booby prize hand's down. But 1 was so god-awful, he takes the cake.
1 was a bully and a blowhard who felt it was his constant state of affairs to belittle his Soldiers or talk behind their back. He had a penchant for fabricating tales of his time in Iraq - when anyone who had been there or was in the know knew damned well that he did nothing of the sort. His tale of stabbing an insurgent with a K-Bar was particularly laughable. Bar-none, the worst leader I have ever had the displeasure of working with. I have many, many anecdotes of just how lousy and toxic he was (and is, no doubt), but he is still serving so I will leave it at that.
1A was a cat I knew way back from his days as a company commander. He was damn near relieved while there for using his unit's equipment to fight local flooding without authorization. When he went to Afghanistan, he was generally viewed as a coward who would find any reason to not go out and operate. Later, as a BC he was more than a little bit paranoid and acted... strangely to say the least. He found himself in hot water several times for his outbursts of innuendo and non-sequiturs, but what really made him a crummy leader was his penchant for not taking any risk and being paranoid kept him from making decisions, even when what should be done was abundantly clear to anyone. His regime was marked by more incidents of indiscipline (including some doozys) than any other commander I have ever seen. Yet, when people behaved badly, his default was to sweep it under the rug so that it would not come to the attention of higher and (rightly) invite scrutiny of his leadership.
Up to then, 1A would have won the booby prize hand's down. But 1 was so god-awful, he takes the cake.
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I will not name names.
__For a year, at every unit function, I was sent TAD and my wife was my wife was specifically NOT invited to unit functions. She is not the obnoxious make a scene type of woman. Always the same reasoning, there is not enough room. Even though every other spouse was there and quite often guest who were not part of the unit.
__At every opportunity to put bad paper, with the worst possible CO's endorsement's in my ORB, he did so. I have been ranked number 1 or 2 in every ranking of my peers in every command that I iun which I served. All of my Fitness reports were flat-lined at the lowest possible marks that could be given, that did not allow me to attach a response.
__Once I figured out he was unhappy with my performance, (less than a month into his command), I asked for performance counseling. I always received the same response. "Let me think about what I want to say to you." he never, in an entire year counseled me once.
__Even the obligatory counseling sessions that go with fitness reports consisted of "Just sign it. It is self-explanatory." It was not.
__Two weeks before a CG he did a pre-inspection of all officers' inspectable collateral duties. He found no errors or flaws in my areas of responsibility. I was sent TAD with a return date four days prior to the CG. My collateral duties had been re-assigned. Each of my new collateral duties was in horrible shape, and the assignment letters were post-dated five months. I worked 21 hour days and had message traffic that identified and covered every flaw in my new duties, Fortunately, the CG inspection team caught on questioned NCO's and reported the hijinks to the CG. It was the beginning of the end for the bad CO. He left the command in disgrace and the reviewing officer attached counter endorsements with explanation to all of my bad paper.
__For a year, at every unit function, I was sent TAD and my wife was my wife was specifically NOT invited to unit functions. She is not the obnoxious make a scene type of woman. Always the same reasoning, there is not enough room. Even though every other spouse was there and quite often guest who were not part of the unit.
__At every opportunity to put bad paper, with the worst possible CO's endorsement's in my ORB, he did so. I have been ranked number 1 or 2 in every ranking of my peers in every command that I iun which I served. All of my Fitness reports were flat-lined at the lowest possible marks that could be given, that did not allow me to attach a response.
__Once I figured out he was unhappy with my performance, (less than a month into his command), I asked for performance counseling. I always received the same response. "Let me think about what I want to say to you." he never, in an entire year counseled me once.
__Even the obligatory counseling sessions that go with fitness reports consisted of "Just sign it. It is self-explanatory." It was not.
__Two weeks before a CG he did a pre-inspection of all officers' inspectable collateral duties. He found no errors or flaws in my areas of responsibility. I was sent TAD with a return date four days prior to the CG. My collateral duties had been re-assigned. Each of my new collateral duties was in horrible shape, and the assignment letters were post-dated five months. I worked 21 hour days and had message traffic that identified and covered every flaw in my new duties, Fortunately, the CG inspection team caught on questioned NCO's and reported the hijinks to the CG. It was the beginning of the end for the bad CO. He left the command in disgrace and the reviewing officer attached counter endorsements with explanation to all of my bad paper.
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I have a problem calling anyone superior other that God Almighty but I have had a couple of bad bosses. One would sneak vodka in their V8 can and miss the can and you would go in their office and see vodka on the top of the can. An he would have a nap at 1030 because he was wasted. I never respected him he could not lead at all
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The Sergeant Major of my unit, right before I EAS'd, was absolutely the worst boss I have ever had. He was a huge factor in my decision to leave the Corps. He was crude, petty, vindictive, and took great pleasure in ruining the careers of young Marines with NJP's and page 11's over even the most inconsequential infractions. He "led" via fear and intimidation. Additionally, he was a liar and would not hesitate to berate or belittle anyone at any time, regardless of the setting. His ability to rise to, and maintain, the rank of E-9 made me question everything I thought I knew about the Corps and leadership in general. He was the opposite of everything Marines are taught about leadership. From that point forward, I made myself a solemn vow that I would never again work for an @$$hole. I had no choice at the time. But as a civilian, now I always have that choice and will not associate with the kind of trash which that man represents.
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