Should Officer hold grudges

2014-01-22T10:39:53-05:00

I have seen first hand a Company Commander hold grudges on soldiers and NCO's alike to the point that a good NCOs career is on the line because of false accusations. The bad part is people know how this Commander was but did nothing about it or said anything. Is this fair and right that a good NCO gets crucified for doing their job well based on lies and made stories?

Response by CMC Robert Young made Jan 22 at 2014 10:42 AM

2014-01-22T10:42:45-05:00

It happens, but it SHOULDN'T!

Response by CMSgt James Nolan made Jun 23 at 2014 9:30 AM

2014-06-23T09:30:52-04:00

SSG Garcia. You are now in a position where potentially you could hold grudges. You have seen however that this behavior is counterproductive. Everyone makes mistakes, they should be allowed to move on from those mistakes. On-Purposes are different story.

If leadership holds grudges for mistakes, it will poison the work force, destroy motivation and ruin troops.

It sounds as if in this case, the behavior should be brought up through the chain and make a case for the NCO. My guess is that there may be a bigger picture at play (there are always three sides of a story-his, other and truth). Often times a Commander does not get the whole case and is left to base opinions/decisions on what they know. If the NCO is good, and a proper case presented, you may be able to dissuade the Commander on the issue.

Response by CMSgt Mark Schubert made Jun 23 at 2014 11:59 AM

2014-06-23T11:59:56-04:00

Hi SSG Garcia!
> Is this fair and right that a good NCO gets crucified for doing their job well based on lies and made stories?

Of course not - hard for me to believe you even asked this question! :-)

If you have evidence of wrongdoing (lying is definitely wrong), then you have an obligation to speak up. Don't be like the others you mention in the "The bad part is..." - not saying anything when you have relevant information (facts) is just as bad or even worse in some cases.

If you have the same opinion about this Commander but have no evidence or proof of wrongdoing, then the best thing to do is keep that to yourself as you may or may not have all the information to form that opinion.

Response by PO1 Glenn Boucher made Jun 23 at 2014 1:32 PM

2014-06-23T13:32:13-04:00

No it is neither fair nor right, but it happens and that's part of human nature. We all know that we should be fair and equal to all. True people make mistakes and sometimes there is fall out to the upper chain of command when mistakes are made and in theory we should accept the mistake, learn from it and move on, but in reality its usually the opposite, mistakes are made, people take it personally and then the fall out happens.
Sometimes you have to be the bigger person and take the heat for something that happened because of your junior troops. When it happens you have to learn from it and evaluate it to ensure that something you did was not the cause of people messing up and in essence making you look bad. Trust and respect is a two-way street.
And ultimately you cannot force someone to change their ways so sometimes you have to deal with it even if and when its unfair to you, you have to make the best of the situation and do what is right no matter what.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 29 at 2015 2:49 PM

2015-01-29T14:49:15-05:00

Well this seems like a loaded question. An NCO could do the same thing for a lower enlisted soldier. An NCO could lie about a PFC and damage his career just as an officer could do it for an NCO. If you could add some background it would be great.

This seems more like a statement than a question? In addition it is actions of that one officer. Not all officers hold grudges. We have bad officers out there. But don't hold the officer corps accountable as a whole. If the NCO was in the right he should go to the Battalion level and address the misconduct of the company commander. If the CO is lying I would report these actions.