How to recover from a serious incident within your unit...

MSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 10:57:59 -0500

With the seemingly constant slew of bad behavior that has been taking place across the Army (and other services); my question is how do you as leaders help your unit to recover after an incident has occurred? If your unit has a serious incident such as a Soldier putting something on social media (see the several recent incidents for reference), or a Soldier getting a DUI, or a Soldier accused of Sexual Assault, what steps do you take to recover? Is there a decrease in unit morale? If so, how do you regain it?

This question is also specifically aimed at recruiting professionals. When a Soldier within a recruiting unit makes an egregious error in judgment it often spills over to the civilian community. How then is damage control conducted, both restoring faith in the Army through your civilian communities, and also re-establishing the faith within the unit itself?

Response by SSG Robert Blum made Mar 4 at 2014 11:13 AM

SSG Robert Blum — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 11:13:50 -0500

I've been in several units where some of the misbehavior you have mentioned had occurred. DUIs are a recurring problem around the Army, and all misconduct can give the Unit a Black Eye so to speak. But its really up to the Leaders to get their Soldiers through the hard times. Your going to have your mandatory training and such following an incident, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about Leaders getting their Soldiers to see that yes whatever incident that occurred had a negative impact on the unit but now that's over and we have to focus on getting out of this hole. If Leaders cant recover then the Soldiers wont recover, and the unit will continue to fail. Be open and honest with them, Praise the good stuff, reprimand when needed, and set the Example for others to emulate, and eventually everything will fall back into place and the unit will continue on like the incident never happened, even tho they are more educated from the experience.

Personal Story, We had a Soldier, Take a dump at a semi professional Baseball game, on Military Night, while the Post commander was giving his speech thanking the city, and in front of a Senior NCOs wife and children. He was arrested, headlines were made. Yelling occurred, investigation was conducted, punishment was given, Classes were taken, Leaders got involved, Soldiers regained confidence and pride, Unit recovered, and was back doing great things and receiving accolades, within a month or two.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 4 at 2014 11:20 AM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 11:20:51 -0500

I honestly do not think that there is a whole lot we can do except let time run it's course. General public is going to think what they want to the think about the military no matter what we try and do to smooth things over. The people that want to hate on the military will just use negative incidents to keep adding fuel to their fire. When something happens negative to the teacher community or any normal civilian occupation, people don't blame that profession as a whole but if it's military then the haters label us all the same way and there is nothing that we can do about it because the public is not going to let us, because they want to try and keep driving the nail in the casket because that's what makes them feel good about themselves instead of realizing that we are people to, and while we are under the microscope, bad things happen no matter what profession you are in.

Response by SSG Mike Angelo made Mar 22 at 2014 1:29 AM

SSG Mike Angelo — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 01:29:32 -0400

This challenges the leader to become that change agent. Displaying bad behavior or bad form is one thing, but being seen by outside the chain can be dicey. If it is serious enough, best recourse is a transfer or resignation. If neither are possible, then the course of rebuilding trust will be the next challenge. Military and Civilian share a common human and social interest, and that is ethic-based. Doing the right thing, starting the conversation and follow through are just some of the ways leaders can rebuild trust in the community.