Army fires former 5th SFAB commander following investigation

This is long past my time, but I served under officers who would have gotten those same descriptions from subordinates. There as a time when that sort of leadership was expected. That style of 'leadership' works for some commanders and with some subordinates. If the command is successful, the commander gets the credit; if the command isn't successful, he gets the blame. It may not be a perfect system, but generally you have to get pretty far off track to get relieved.

I only saw one O6 get relieved. The O8 caught him in a dumb lie which turned out to be the final straw, but what led up to it was that as a Bde Cdr he placed 100% faith in the professional judgement of his Bn Cdrs, completely ignoring his own Bde staff. That might have worked in a FORSCOM unit but this was in a TRADOC environment where that just didn't work. The Bn Crds undoubtedly meant well (most of the time) but never considered anything beyond their own Bn, resulting in frequent resource problems with other units. It had reached the point where post level inspectors were catching problems because they were tipped off by the Bde staff.

MSG Thomas Currie In my first year in the Army, our BDE had two commanders. The first was a martinet of a Colonel. I was on the phone in the guard shack at Travis Air Force Base (we were DRF 1 at the time) and the BDE CDR drove through...and stopped. His driver told me to get off the phone and salute the CDR. I was fresh from the Marines and thought it was pretty egotistical of the officer as I was working, but I stopped the conversation and went to salute. I was ripped a new one by the guy. He went on to be at least a BG. We all hated the man because it was ALL about him.

The next one was a Hamburger Hill veteran, who came in and told us he was going to teach us how to do everything. We had to do 'Cold Steel' PT once a week and he rotated through the companies every M, W, and F. He was a hard man and leader. He was nicknamed 'Darth Vader'. We feared that man. That was until 7th ID went into Panama. After that, we 'got' him. Now this COL, who was respected by his men was to have been a BG, retired when it was found out how he punished two officers and his promotion was being held up for 6 months.

The first, a 1LT, got his bar cut off for being caught violating general order no. 1. He called his congress critter.

The second, a MAJ and S3 air, didn't request air cover for a battalion movement via the PanAm highway while hostilities were still ongoing He got slapped by Darth. He also called his congress critter.

Don't fret about the slap, the MAJ became our XO. We all wished we could have been in on the slap after working with the guy. Is hitting wrong? In most cases yes, but what if that convoy had been ambushed?

So, two toxic leaders worthy of promotion? Or relief? I don't know as there were times as a leader we had missions to do and I was pretty toxic too. Yet all my missions were successful. Should I have been relieved as well? In today's Army, I probably would be relieved.

I was nearly court-martialed at USMA my second year on the faculty because I cussed out an insubordinate female plebe who complained to her Tac and the new Regt. Tac, the first female RTO, decided to go after me to make a statement.

I'll spare you the details, but suffice to say I was counseled NOT to accept an Art. 15 but rather to demand a court-martial. It was great advice. The USMA SJA got the Supe to back off and give me a "desk drawer" letter of reprimand that would not impact my promotion to O-4 or seat at CGSC (I was below the zone).

I was relieved of teaching duties for one semester and made course director for Honors Mil Art (1st semester) the next fall. I was also required to get psych counseling. After my first visit the shrink said there was nothing wrong with me and that I was no different from anyone else of my age and experience. I had to go through one more session to satisfy the Supe.

In the fall, the Supe came into my classroom to observe me teaching my lesson on the WWI Ludendorf "Peace Offensive" in March 1918. Instead of staying for a couple of minutes he stayed the whole hour. I got called into the Dept. Chair's office the next day and he told me the Supe said I had done the best job of teaching he'd seen since he was a cadet (Class of '56). Turns out he was a classmate of the female RTO's husband (a retired armor BG).

Subsequently, my case became a "how not to do it" lesson for new dept. instructors. Go figure. . . .

MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. Nice and nicely done!

As the article says "The term “loss of confidence” is a euphemism used by the military services to avoid giving the exact reasons why an officer or senior enlisted leader has been fired." It has become very very rare that the military clearly states why a commander has been relieved unless they also get a court martial (which almost never happens).

MSG Thomas Currie - I know that Brother Thomas, but I still don't like it. It's just the easy way out.