Do you have to chapter a soldier out of the Army after failing to meet academic requirements in BLC (land nav)?

You had me, a little, up until your last sentence; a Soldier's failure is not necessarily a Leader's failure. To have that mentality is to excuse the Soldier entirely of any responsibility; subsequently making any and everything that they do entirely your fault. For example, despite receiving a good safety brief before a long weekend (hell, even if it's on a Tuesday) ,the Soldier gets apprehended for a DUI.....I take it that you as a Leader will be joining them in receiving the same consequences for their action (s)? Try as you may to think about inserting a "apples to oranges", but my example "is" relevant to the standpoint in which I'm referencing.

Many Leaders I sadly see forgetting that Soldiers are not babies or even little kids, but adults (so as our society deems them to be). They are fully capable of differentiating right from wrong; I'll give the Armed Forces the benefit of the doubt that those who truly did not wouldn't be admitted (or you can call me out for wishful thinking). Not everything needs to be spelled out; and if the adults don't have enough sense to ask if they do not know, then they foot the bill for the entire amount of responsibility.

I've mentored plenty of Soldiers who've moved on to more fulfilling assignments. I've but only a baby's handful of Soldiers in my career thus far have continuously made bad choices despite my unique, tailor-made guidance, and in my eyes, that's on them. All you can do is lead the horses to the water.

SSG Shade, if your soldier fails land nav, isn't it you they come to first? If he or she gets that dui, isn't it you taking them to the carpet?

If NCOs take credit for when they do well, i.e. on our ncoers, then we also share some of the blame when something goes wrong. Nobody is excusing the soldier, but some of the blame goes to the leader as well.

We go help when they need it. We do help to ensure they know what they need to know. But in the end, it is up to the Soldier to perform well and to let leaders know if something is amiss. If they do not do either, then they should assume 100% of the responsibility. As someone mentioned in a somewhat similar thread, we are the military, not a babysitters club (though it may feel that way sometimes).

SSG (Join to see) - You can't equate a DUI with a training failure. NCOs are responsible for training before during and after formal training. I can't tell you how many Saturdays and Sundays I spent doing RT&R with troops when I was a Drill Sgt. If one of my troops come down on levy for a service school I would test them to make sure they were ready. If they weren't then I would recommend that they not go. I agree with you that I can't be responsible for a troop getting a DUI, but that's a personal off duty choice they made. Training is my job. I always try to instill responsible citizenship and morals but that's up to a higher power than me to control.

SGT Patrcia Palmer - It says right in my profile how long I've been in. As a senior NCO and a 1SG currently, I understand Soldiers a *little* bit better than most. Sometimes it's a leadership failure, agreed. But sometimes, most times, it's the failure of Soldiers to be adults. We have a problem with coddling in the Army, treating everyone like children. IF you hold Soldiers accountable as adults, you get adult level decision making.

As for your board situation, I feel no sympathy. I was in another country on leave when I was told I was going to the SSG board in less than 5 days. I flew back, came off of leave, and passed the board. Why? Because I wanted to get promoted and because I'm an adult. Sure, leave is nice. A successful career is a lot nicer.

SFC Avery Bennett you missed the point about the board plus I was not looking for any sympathy from you or any one else. The point I was trying to make about the board was that I had to work my shift and part of the other shift that left me no time to study for the board because of senior NCOs who did not care about their soldiers don't get me wrong I went to the board and made 200 points on the board. If my NCOs care about their soldiers then I would not have to work a shift and a half I would have only worked my shift because we were not under staff. When you went to the SSG board I am guesting that you have been in the military for at least 6 or 7 years so you should have been ready opposed to a soldier that had been in the military for less than 3 years and was still learning the regulations. By the way I took my career in the military serious and I did put in all the work that was need to get to where I was.

The cuddling of soldiers is a Army problem that is where the Army is today because you cannot do corrective training and i have seen young soldiers coming from AIT has what was told to me was a stress card which I taught was a joke. I have seen where NCOs are afraid to correct soldiers on simple stuff like the proper way to wear the battle uniform. Like I said senior NCOs are the one that make those decision on policies that affects the current state that the Army is in.

Whoa, we just went from a coddling issue to a cuddling one... can I get back in?

I remember when I went up for SGT. We had a study packet that had been updated by every soldier that ever went to the board. I used the same packet for Soldier of the Month and Quarter. In my case my Squad leader would quiz me on something every time he saw me. I had squad members quizzing me. My 1SG would stop me in the hall and quiz me. I went home and I had my wife quiz me for hours. I never felt that I was just left to go flapping in the breeze by myself. That's what is called unit cohesion. I took what I learned as a PVT and SPC and continued to train troops in that same spirit the rest of my career. My job as an NCO was to train and lead troops. It was not to get promoted and sit on my but and collect a paycheck.