I used to tell my Soldiers that, as a leader, my job was to act as a lightning rod. When the command team started throwing thunderbolts down from up on high they would flow through me and I would redirect the “charge” as necessary. If they really screwed up they’d get the full blast, if it was an over charge I would send it elsewhere. My leadership style was, if it goes good, you all did it. If it goes so/so, we all did it. If it goes poorly, I did it. Now don’t get me wrong, I’d punish them, but it would be me and not someone else. I rarely yelled (preferring the more effective “stern talking to” approach, disappointment is more powerful than anger) and only threat ever required was me pulling out my Mont Blanc saying, “gentlemen, the pen is mightier than the sword. You don’t want me to start writing.” In 22 years my pen sent countless troops to the board, wrote tons of recommendations and awards, but only 2 Article 15’s.

As a retired 1SG, this is true leadership. If you don't slam the little things, you have no right to slam the big things. An ounce of prevention saves a gallon of blood. And a chewing out saves lives.

As a young marine I had the opportunity to sit next to my Gunnery Sgt. on a 12 hr flight and have a frank conversation about “ What makes a good Marine” . Integrity, efficiency,effort, organization, ownership, passion, perseverance….., it was a long list. Over time, I became an NCO, Topping out at E-7. The best piece of advice he gave me was “ As a SNCO, you’re the filter from the top down and the bottom up. Support and guide those you are responsible for, even if requires a boot to the bottom, or a caring hand to pick them up, and keep the nonsense from reaching those above you. If it doesn’t affect the mission or readiness, it’s not their problem “

I retired as a 1st Sergeant of a cav troop and one of my main jobs was to maintain order and discipline in the troop and the biggest job at times was to filter the BS from the chain of command from top to bottom and at times make the CO look like the good cop because every trooper knew i was the bad cop but I loved them like my own children.

There's the Chain of Command and "The Chain of Command". I was enlisted infantry and an Armored Cav Officer. The best 1st Sgt. story I have is when, as an Officer, our XO got PO'd about something and went storming into the 1st Sgt's Officer. Had him standing behind his desk in the position of attention and reading him the riot act. I just shook my head, knowing what was coming next. The XO left Top's Officer, the 1st Sgt calmly went into the CO's Officer, and a short time later, the XO was in front of the CO's desk, at the position of attention, with the riot act being read to him. Lt's DON'T chew out 1st Sgt's. Captains DON'T chew out Sgt. Majors, etc.....

This is how I did it during my career. Handle everything at the lowest level possible. Hold everyone accountable to the standards. Help them when needed, even if they hate your guts, they'll be glad you did later. If you are actively involved in the lives of your shipmates, and they know you care, they'll bring problems to you and it can be handled before it becomes serious. Semper Paratus

As a retired USAF SNCO, I can attest to this 💯. Tough love is LOVE. Consider yourself lucky if a SNCO took the time to give you “guidance” because if you were a POS, the SNCO could have easily went the route of “Sir (or Ma’am) I need to brief you about one of your troops so YOU can advise how you want this handled.” THAT NEVER turns out good for the troop… ‘nuff said…

I was on a Tiger Cruise on the USS Stenis in '16. My son was deployed on the Stenis, the Navy hosts family members on these types of events. We sailed from Pearl to San Diego. On the last day before port. My son and I were walking through a p-way. You could hear a Chief ripping some sailor a new you know what in his compartment. Now I have no idea what the offending sailor had done, but it sounded BAD! I happened to be approaching a young LtJg coming the opposite direction. We could both hear the "conversation" as it were. We made eye contact and I said "Wow, someone is having a bad day." To which the Jg replied with genuine fear in his eyes, "Yeah, it is best to just keep going." :)

In my last line platoon in Germany (88-91) the company commander made absolutely sure nothing whatsoever happened in the company unless HE approved it and it was done his way. HE would determine whether someone was brought up for NJP, what that punishment would be, and why. He also tended to throw weapons grade temper tantrums when things didn't work out the way he wanted, The E-7 he had as a 1SG was useless as humanly possible, and never took that young ring knocker O-3 aside to educate him about leadership and the probable dire results of his ways. Over a short time I had managed to save a couple of troops from this martinet's wrath, and even had the company's problem children assigned to my platoon. To a man, they turned out to be prime grade soldiers, and when the CO wanted someone for his tank crew or some special project he always picked them from my platoon. Needless to say, we butted heads on a daily basis. One day he decided to get me out of his hair and arranged for me to go to some loser hole somewhere else on the kaserne. The entire company - to include every officer, with the exception of his 1SG - revolted. The battalion commander came to take a look, and got an earful. It was made known (in a round about way) that if the company ever engaged in a firefight, this company commander would not survive. The battalion commander locked young Captain Hotspur's heels and told him two things: 1. If there came the slightest hint of anything else like this from this company, someone's command time would be cut very short, and 2I wasn't going anywhere. Did Captain Hotspur learn anything from the incident? Don't know, but he never screwed with me or any other NCO again. Officers, you have your place and specialities. Day to day operation of your command isn't one of them, it's sergeants' business.

I turned 27 (twenty seven) in Basic Training as an E1 in 1993. I thought the army crazily inefficient in many ways but over time I started to understand the why they did the things they did. I still think about the tactics and theory of soldiering. In 96' our 1SG made us learn the Macarena for PT (in Bosnia)...one by one we (Everyone) had to get up in front of the Company and 'test out'. The painful humiliation was priceless. I thought about that morning for YEARS

I always remember the wish words of one of my first sgt’s “ the troops are happy when there bitching”

Thank you for this explanation. It is often assumed in the Marine Corps that the Sgt Major or Company Gunnery Sgt (Gunnery Sgts E-7 make the Marine Corps operate) ripping your b*lls off because they’re *-holes and sit in their offices with nothing better to do than drink coffee and rip new ones (in some cases they may be the truth but who really knows). But the NCO or Staff NCO (E-6 or higher in USMC) may be acting as a buffer to tone down or eliminate the problems from rising any further than they have to. As a former Corporal in the USMC , I’ve found a good leadership principle is to keep the issue as low as possible in the chain of command. This serves in both the disciplinary and supply aspects.

As a retired 1SG myself, I 100% concur, sir. I explained things to my Soldiers, not only as a 1SG, but even back when I was a platoon sergeant, that my job involved a lot of "running interference" for Soldiers and subordinate leaders. I would take the "hits" so they could run with the ball. However, when someone made a less than perfect decision, committed a minor infraction, or something along those lines, I would be that "angry 1SG", read that individual or individuals the riot act, and move on. That way, others didn't have to take a lot of valuable time dealing with something relatively minor, while making that Soldier realize they had screwed up, that their behavior was unacceptable, and they needed to fix themselves. One other point is being self-aware and not appear to be holding a grudge with those individuals. Administer the butt chewing and that's it, but make sure they understand that the next time this happens, it going to be "put on paper" and the repercussions will likely be more severe.

My 1st Sergeant had been in WW2 , Korean War, was on his 2nd tour in Vietnam when I was in his combat engineer company. Man was a bit crispy.

Top has a unique place in the military hierarchy. He’s a middleman between echelons above reality field grade officers, inexperienced/under experienced junior officers, mid life crisis suffering senior NCOs, inexperienced/under experienced mid level NCOs, and troops barely out of high school. He has to be a steady hand capable of transitioning from a calm, wise counselor to PTSD fueled rage machine and back - sometimes within an hour.

As a former 1SG, I made it a point that nothing happening in the company ever became so problematic that it had to go to the Company Commander; if a soldier ended up on the rug before the Commander, then I as a Senior NCO have failed not just the soldier, but the Commander. There were of course some knuckleheads that truly screwed the pooch so badly there was no option but to go to the Commander, but the Commander should never have to deal with an NCO's responsibility if it can be avoided.

I was stationed at the "grunt farm" Berlin in 1990, on a detail cleaning out a storage room in the basement of our quarters. It was filthy. It was hot. I took an arm full of cardboard to the dumpster just outside the door. The dumpster was overflowing and I crawled inside of it to stomp the trash and compact it down to make more room for yet more trash. The CSM of the Berlin Brigade, a Vietnam Veteran, broke ranks from a Class A's inspection across the quad and marched over. He locked me up as I stood inside the dumpster because I wasn't wearing my cover and I was wearing just my T shirt without my BDU blouse. He didn't really get loud. I think he just wanted to seize the opportunity to lock somebody up in a dumpster. I had to report to his office the following day. He just made small talk and made me sit and polish a 105 howitzer casing with Brasso while we talked. I sat there, front row center, and I got to watch him chew on ass that afternoon. Then later he'd ask my opinion in private. He was human. He made me follow him around for a while. Like a "pet" or something, to the chow hall, on a run. He was actually pretty cool to hang out with for that short time; but, of course, I knew enough to never mention it to anyone and I maintained my military discipline during and after. I might be forever known as the guy that got locked up at Parade Rest by the CSM of Berlin Brigade wearing his Dress Greens while I was standing in a dumpster; but, I'd have followed him through the "Gates" of Hell.

Very insightful. I recently read the memoir of a Marine officer. A major, junior to him, was about to lead a deployment of part of their squadron. That junior major and the squadron CO went up to see the Wing commander for a briefing over that deployment. During that meeting the Wing commander "fired" the junior major, and the senior major (the author) had to take over command of that section for the deployment. The squadron CO could have prevented that from happening, and I am sure that came back to haunt him in the eyes of the Wing CO. There should have been someone in-between the junior major and the Squadron CO to protect all concerned and made sure that the briefing was better prepared.

Thank You! As a lead petty officer I was once told I over reacted. One morning the crew looked terrible, unshaven shoes hair uniforms. Our CO would do random inspections in the morning. One day our XO said our guys were the best but our division officer was horrible. We were excused from the next inspection but our division officer was ordered to attend. Never had any problems again!

Understanding the difference between officer and NCO business was drummed into me from my ROTC NCOs, first light infantry platoon sergeant, who took care of me just as you describe, and all the way to my own brigade CSM those 26 years later. Deserved ass chewings in private were few and far between both for me and given by me...growing leaders to both succeed and be prepared to take over the job of the person above them was always my goal. Thanks...just an old retired grunt.

You were an Army bureaucrat. Makes sense now. In my 18.5 years of service as an 11 Bravo, the best "Tops" I had (especially in combat) never lost their cool.

Spot on! Having been both an officer and Enlisted the "Angry 1SG" is an invaluable tool in the leadership kit bag! Keep it and resolve it at the lowest level...only advise the uppers if it is something that can circle back...awareness in some cases, but don't bother or disrupt other leader processes unless directed. Let NCOs take care of NCO business as they say...

That was a good 1SG. Further, you were a good officer for learning and extrapolating this experience into the O world. A good and directed butt chewing is quite effective if done correctly and for cause. I was in this exact situation more than once.

If your 1st Sgt is in a good mood, duck and take cover... "Top's in a bad mood". "Situation normal. Cool".

I know when I was a teacher, the parents reaction to their child’s misbehavior would affect mine. If the parent was severely punishing the child, I wouldn’t - figuring what the parents did was enough. OTOH if the parents didn’t seem to care, then the responsibility of correcting the child’s behavior was my responsibility.

I don't know about ALL First Sergeants...but all of the First Shirts I served with as a 1SG used this method...but what is really behind the method? Idiot Company Commanders who were either too slow to use nonjudicial punishment, too fast to use it, or could not grasp what to use it for. After a few weeks as an NCO you learn that in general, officers do not understand "good order and discipline" and never will. They are either tyrants or doting mothers...almost never in between. This is what led to the First Sergeant becoming the "Father of the Company" and not the Commander. I had 3 companies as a 1SG and not one of them was actually run by the Commander at the day to day level. It is just too important to trust to someone who shows up for a couple hours a day.

I was an Air Force staff sergeant, so basically for all practical purposes a noncombatant, but I just watched your video and it brought back many proud memories. It may sound as if I am sucking up, but your video completely explained the way I operated with my airmen and my boss, for precisely the same reasons. Very well done, Sir.

To a much, much, MUCH lesser extent I used to always tell the E-2s and 3s that when an E-4 tells them to do something or to stop doing something “That’s a courtesy”. Because any higher than that’s when actual trouble comes.

Well done Sir. Sure hope today's Warriors are seeing your videos of wisdom. We previous generations have to help the newer ones like the ones who came before us helped us. Keep up the great work.

As a Retired PSG - I used to have the soldier(s) who messed up perform extra duty at the Plt. Level. This kept them from the possibility of restriction, fines, loss of rank which could happen at the Company level (AR-15). Normally this worked.

I'm not a vet but l'm surrounded by vets at work. The most interesting thing l have learned is that SNCO's run the service. The first lesson taught at any OCS or service academy should be this: When you take your commision and go to your first duty station, the first thing you do is call in your NCOIC. Say, " Gunney, Top, Chief, (as the case may be) I'm not here. You're not here. This conversation never happened. Do not let me screw up. Dismissed."

At Dad's Funeral, his dearest friend from the Army told me. When he first met my Father. He thought he was the worst loud mouth SOB of his career to that point. Eddy and Chuck had been at Walter Reid convalescing on semi active duty 1951. He admitted he had fouled up at out meeting. Told how Dad had invited him and Chuck to Thanksgiving Dinner a few days later, kept them out of trouble over the holiday. GOD I miss those men.

Some of the best advice I got as a buck sergeant from 1SG. "When you walk,you inspect. When you stop, you teach." "If you look good, you probably are good." And my favorite, " Sergeant Ballard, if they ain't bitchin they ain't breathing."

I was a Marine Infantryman in Desert Storm. Never did I have an officer or NCO try to protect me. They were all pieces of shit.

Great analogy Sir!

Tough love. As a Dad or as an NCO. It's all the same.

This is how it was when I was a Marine Corps infantry officer in the 1960s. It worked well, and I always appreciated those tough, committed, professional Staff NCOs.

A great deal of leadership is clear communication, in different forms and at different volumes. One of the great honors of serving in the military is learning from people, up and down the chain of command.

This really doesn't fly in today's military. I was calmly reprimanded by my CO, not my 1sg, for disciplining my guys for being fuckups. I was told I was being too hard on them. The thing is, I only just did what was done to me when I screwed up as a private, and it was nothing that severe, it was a bit of PT. Push-ups, sit-ups, front-back-go's, and the like. They should to be thankful that they didn't have to go through public humiliation that I did whenever I screwed up (e.g., mowing grass with hair trimmers, carrying shoe shine kit everywhere to polish everyone's boots, walk around with a large alarm clock around my neck and tell people the time).

I only spent 3 yrs. 9 month in The Corps after Vietnam had just ended (early out for Marines accepted to College in '79...Georgia Tech, class of '83 Computer Engineering), but had been a very good athlete in H.S., running cross country and playing both baseball and football and the swim team, plus I was a pretty fair surfer and had grown up with firearms and hunting and scouting and tracking. I made it through the initial weekend Recon screening just out of ITR, and though I was still a PFC, I had qualified Expert at the Rifle Range (top score in my boot series) and had maxed the PFT, so my 1st in Seargeant waived the Lance Corporal requirement and sent me up the Recon pipeline of Indoc, then BRC. My BRC class lost 2/3rds of the class on Day 1 of the pool tests. i could run like a deer and swim like a fish and didn't mind heavy pack humps all day and night and scouting/reconnaissance came naturally so I fairly breezed thru BRC. When I got to 2nd Recon Battalion, I met the hardest Marine I ever met, our Battalion C.O. was an old grizzled up mountain of a man who had been at Chosin Reservoir in Korea with the Marines. Even our toughest scariest Sr. NCO's were scared of him, he led by example and by intimidation. We were in a 7 man recon team and were out on a very long (probably 35+ miles I would estimate) plus hump across LeJeune, from the beaches to hills in the west of the base with full expedition packs. We had been going since about 2 am the previous day and it was sun up the next day so approximately 28 hours. We were all in near Olympic athlete physical shape but a couple of the team were still having some feet problems so we stopped for a small breakfast break and to tend to the blisters and bloody feet. Just after wolfing down some comrats when we are taking our boots off our Battalion CO emerges from the deep underbrush about 30 yards away and starts yelling; Put your boots back on and continue to march...just let them bleed, to stop means to die!!!! And off he went at full route march speed, not exactly stealthy but we got the point so off we went. He marched with us the last several hours with the same pack we had, encouraging us to stretch those legs and keep up with him. Of course we knew he hadn't marched all night like we had but as a pretty damn old Marine and battalion CO to even find us in the middle of fucking bum fuck Egypt and to lead us those last excruciating hours meant a lot to us...Semper Fi kids

As a retired 1st Sgt I can honestly say, been there, done that.

No one chewed out Top. He might have been " counseled " by the CO.

As a former Marine, every experience I had with an E8 and above was either a fantastic experience or a miserable one. Unlike dealing with Platoon Sergeants, there was no middle ground. They were either the coolest people on the planet or you had dreams of fragging them.

I am retired Air Force Reserve E-7 I had a young SSgt in my office as I am ripping him apart for some minor infraction when a 2nd Lt. walks in my office. I am giving a young SSgt (E-5) the full monty of a mad senior NCO. the 2nd Lt. never says a peep just goes and sits in a chair in the back side of the office. After the young SSgt leaves the 2nd Lt. says what the heck was that a$$chewing about and I say oh just a minor infraction and it was completely handled by my rage. I always handled issues at the lowest level possible and as a section chief it was my way to protect the young NCOs and Airman from the upper levels. I had to only do that once in a great while but I also learned these motivational mad Sgt. from other senior NCo's over the years. I may have not been liked but at least they respected me when I retired.

It is normal NCO business… from the early days of PNOC, it was constantly being taught that NCO’s were the backbone of the Army. Squad leaders took care of the junior soldiers/team leaders, Platoon Sergeant took care of the squad leaders, the First Shirt took care of the Platoon Sergeants and the other staff level NCO’s. I went from E-1 to E-7 in 11 1/2 years, then went to WOC School. Those years as an NCO and the lessons learned were invaluable when I became a Warrant Officer. The Army went through a change as once we made CW2, we were Commissioned, had to accept RA and Vol-Indef status as the rules changed so that Chief Warrant Officers could be Detachment/Company Commanders, with full command authority as other RA Commissioned Officers had. I enjoyed my days as an NCO. I recall of the many First Shirts I served with, there was one who held NCO Professional Development at 1900, on the last Thursday of the month. He called this NCOPD session “Night Court”. All the unit NCO’s gathered in the conference room and we Jr. NCO’s received motivational kudos or corrective training for things the First Shirt and the other Senior NCO’s observed during the month. We were never degraded or made to feel inferior during these sessions. It was purely done to help us Jr. NCO’s grow, and to teach us to look out after each other so the small details don’t get missed and we could become a tighter cohesive unit by learning each other’s strengths and weaknesses. The session allowed us to explain why we did or did not do something, thereby instilling confidence in ourselves to own a decision we made and defend our decision making process, without fear of being chastised too harshly. The senior NCO’s would be the jury panel, the First Shirt was the judge, and as I stated earlier, we were not chastised harshly, although the jury panel would provide guidance on how a particular subject could be handled differently that was either more effective or less resource intensive. Often times, the Senior NCO’s felt a decision we made was good to go, after hearing the logic that lead to the action made. I loved every one of those sessions, even when I was in the hot seat, I learned more about what it took to become a great leader in that two years with that unit, then I did as a Jr. NCO in any other unit.

2:31 Us 'junior people' as someone who served in 2006 to 2010 as a Specialist E4, yes we do know the yelling and screaming is there to protect us. We prefer getting chewed out by NCOs over getting paperwork by officers. One is an ass chewing that lasts a few seconds, the other is a half a months pay docked for 2 months, 15-45 days of extra duty, and loss of rank and privilege. We don't need to go to college to know the difference I assure.

As an AF 1Sgt, my job was to take care of my Airmen. Make sure they were fed, make sure they had somewhere to lay their heads at night and made sure that they were held to the standard. They knew what the standard was! I didn't yell, holler or scream because that is counter-productive. I spoke in even tones and volume and when I was done, they knew that what they had done was a no go and what the penalty for doing it again would be. I took care of them like they were my kids (most were young enough to be). When billeting was in short supply, even had one of them on my couch in my personal house. If they know that you have their back and their best interest at heart, they work and perform so much better.

AS a retired Marine Officer from back in the Vietnam Era, and a former enlisted Marine, I can assure you that it is the wise officer who allows his NCO's and, especially, his senior staff NCO's, to handle the vast majority of the infractions and disciplinary actions at their level....without involving the Company Commander or Battalion Commander. The NCO's truly do run the Marine Corps....and all the other services as well. Not only do the NCO's have a better finger on the pulse of the unit and the troops, but they know the troops better and have much wider latitude in corrective measures that they can take without making the problem "official". Officers are terribly constrained in what they can and cannot do with regard to punishment and corrective action....and the majority of their options are, in fact, "official". And official involvement usually follows the trooper or Marine for the rest of his or her enlistment and career. The rapport between the company commander and his first sergeant and company gunnery sergeant (in the Marines) is one that transcends the differences in rank. Good NCO's will always keep their skipper's best interests in mind and it is the NCO's that make the unit and the CO look good. An officer who does not use and respect the professionalism and experience of his NCO's is doomed to eventual failure as a troop leader.

Do that in a public school, and your principal will put you on an improvement plan for being disrespectful.

we had the opposite, I had the senior NCOs -always- advocating for their subordinates. Much of that is great. Except when we had an out-of-regs corpsman who did not want to get his quali done for field medic (due to weight/fitness). He was mid-level enlisted leadership and because of his fat, resigned his post. Then they came to me to write him up for an end-of-tour award. I was like, "for quitting, or not wanting to get fit?". Anyway, they went to the top and I started getting hammered and wrote that bastard an award. If I didn't I'd have had the entire BN enlisted leadership against me, and that won't work.

As a retired 1SG, this is spot on.

Good job impressed and I like it 12 years Combat medic and 2 tours

Interesting video.

Nothing like wearing that diamond and taking care of soldiers 🪖

Duh. Thanks for the video. If you aren't a combat arms veteran than you might not realize that getting crucified by your peers is far better than attracting the attention of you superiors. I had a Top Kick once ask me "Sweat or paper?" I took the smoke sesh. I was a competent and fair NCO but it took a lot of mentoring to get to that point.

He wasn’t a 1SG(First Sergeant) he was a SGM(Sergeant Major), or sometimes called Staff Sergeant Major because they are the Senior NCO in a staff position at the General Officer level G1,2,3,4. At this in the Army they didn’t have Command Sergeants Major(CSM) when the Army founded the need for CSM’s he was appointed as a CSM. CSM’s are the senior enlisted advisors at the Battalion(BN), Brigade/Group(BDE/GRP), Division(DIV) levels. There is a Sergeant Major of the Army(SMA). All three (SGM/CSM, SMA) are E9’s. The SGM/CSM are addressed as Sergeant Major, some do address the Command Sergeant Major as C-S-M. However the SMA you address him as Sergeant Major of the Army.

On top of that, When you get reamed out by the 1SG, PSG for something minor, the major shit tends not to happen. Call it pro active leadership. Take care of the minor shit is minor and the major shit takes care of itself. If the young SGT or lower enlisted refuses to learn after that the Officers know they are not just dealing with minor BS, but something that really needs to be addressed.

He was a CSM. Though, 1SG's could appear angry and loud by design. 1SG Lawrence H O'keefe was one. 1SG, later CSM Dale Carter was another. Leaders of Men, Warriors.

I kinda learned that as a Corporal from my Gunnies in The Corps. After my 4 years, I left and got a job and just started acting like a Gunnery Sargeant. It helped me move up!

Worked with 3 Drill Sargents and 1 Gunny at a cabinet company. They were reired I ran the Finish Department . Two of them were retired Marines and the other two Army . We got a new hire . He was retired Army also . When Lee walked in everyone if those guys shit themselves ! They all had been trained in extreme weather and conditions by this guy with a " Cut Here " line tattoo around his neck . Lee was the funniest fucker ever ! But seeing the other 4 guys look of " He laughed!" Was priceless !

As first shirt I learned: 1. Truth matters, liars will cover up things that can affect efficiency. Find the truth and solve problems. 2. If you have power and don't use it you don't have it. Use power to correct behavior fairly. 3. Punish in private and praise in public. 4. Ensuring dependants are cared for at home ensures troops are focused in combat. 5. And most important, never lie. Commanders and subordinates must believe you are honest and fair.

Yup, would you, junior soldier, rather spend an hour or five in the wood line doing goofy exercises; or get denied that professional school you need to make E7 because you got a counseling for losing your helmet 15 years ago?

Arguably, it is better to be chewed out at the lowest level with the least amount of paperwork than being chewed out at the highest level with paperwork. Depending on the "problem" with that team leader...it never should have left the platoon level. And in this instance, having the 1SG being the "bad" guy and the CO being the "good" guy is best. A butt chewing is the highest form of "love" and concern that enlisted have.

They say s**t rolls down hill. I say it can back up like a toilet overflow!😄

My father was a Command Sergeant Major. I was a Sergeant before attending OCS. My opinion is that you were a damn fine CO and that my fire breathing old man would have agreed.

I loved being in the Marines, but my last captain screamed all the damned time..... I just left after my enlistment. Cheers

When serving in the British Army as a junior and senior NCO if, any of my guys had some sort of transgression, the whole troop got an extra dose of PT either, an extra few miles on a run or a beasting in the gym. Those that weren't to keen on extra PT soon sorted the miscreant out and squared them away! That way it didn't even get as far as our Sergeant Major.

if you let the little things go, you'll start running into big things.

Example of protecting, and training your subordinates, to do your job.

No paperwork! Good Junior NCOs don’t need their careers ruined by the CO.

We call that ‘First Sergeant’ justice. Rule of thumb is to keep things simple and at the lowest level of involvement needed for discipline, and guidance. Gruffness is but a part of caring. You will find how effective that is when those troopers are in a tight spot and look at you for leadership.

My 1SG saved my butt a couple of times!

If I remember correctly plumbly was a sergeant major not a first sergeant

Im standing nervous just thinking bout 1st Sgt

Guess our motor seargent saved my arse repeatedly.

"Do you want to work for me or the CO" (This used to be a normal thing.)

I get the need for firm NonComm leadership in the combat arms MOS's. The infantry especially needs firm NCO authority. However, the Army should go back to the Specialist ranks in the technical services with Spec4, Spec5, Spec6 and Spec7. Many people in the technical services are bookworms, video strategy game geeks, chess enthusiasts or really intellectual types capable of college level reading and research. No one is talking about "coddling" soldiers. Soldiers have a duty to get assigned work tasks accomplished. However, screaming and yelling at intelligent people doesn't bring out their potential. I had a college degree but almost never talked about it. I looked at what officers did and really didn't care for it. The Army was really cutting back on officers in the 1990's too. So I retired an E-7 after 20 years. It was important to me to do my techniocal signals analysis MOS. The best approach for dealing with smart soldiers is a collaborative type approach to work. You tell them what has to be accomplished at the beginning of the day. You get your other Sergeants together getting their input on how things should be done making a quick rough general plan together agreeing on how to get things done. This approach works best for smart soldiers because they own the plan and wantit to succeed. Our work got done better and in less time this way. Plus, I hardly ever had to yell at anyone. I always worked directly with the troops too. I helped unload the trucks, greased the vehicles or cleaned weapons after the range right beside the privates and Spec4's. I was in the intelligence branch with linguists, analysts and computer junkies. I think the best type of supervision is to work right beside your soldiers doing the same jobs they are doing whenever possible. I always have been a voracious reader and a quiet loner type. I just wanted to go home to my wife and kid thankful to get through another day. The stressful high operations tempo in undermanned units with too many tasks to perform under strict deadlines really burned you out after 9-11 attacks. Some weeks during 2002, my unit was working 18 hour days six days in a row, one day off the six more days of 18 sometime 20 hour days month after month.

Yes First Sargent!! 🇺🇸

While doing my AIT at First Dix during the Viet Nam war we had a High ranking first sergeant who we were his last class as he was about to retire. He served 2 or 3 tours in Nam had at least two purple hearts and by this point did not take crap from anybody. We had a gung hoe lutenient that this sargeant had ripped him a new ass hole in front of the company. When he complained about that to our Captain he told him to stay far away from him because he was going to be discharged very soon. Best thing the top told the young lutenient was " I spent more f*** ing time in Chow lines then you spent in the Army. We liked him so much for getting our sorry spoiled asses ready for Viet Nam we took up a collection for him.

In the Marine Corps I started out thinking the gunnery sergeant was scary…until I encountered the battalion sergeant major.

As a former 9 star General of the Amphibious Corps during the Revolution....it blows my mind how many vets with long drawn out stories can't spell the word "Sergeant" correctly...

As a platoon sergeant it was privilege and honor to wield Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde leadership styles.😂

Everytime 1SG would be looking for volunteers my Sgt or Cpl with smoke us and curse out for random reasons. Never had to volunteer for anything then later went to play cards with SGT or CPL. worked every time 😏

It would also open the door on getting the subordinates to like whoever is immediately over the first sergeant.

Former 11bravo Army Infantryman here. I used to avoid my Battalion SGT Major Untill he recognized that I was trying to avoid him Then he was on my ass every time I came across him. Point of the story never look like your trying to avoid your SGT Major

Our 1SG at Fort Hood was a total a hole

Sergeant Major!

The reason you deal harshly with minor infractions, is because you need soldiers who get the little things right, and thereby avoid big problems later. My favorite example was always shaving every day...troop was completely correct in that whether he shaved or not wouldn't affect his mission readiness, but his willingness to disobey a direct, lawful order IS a mission readiness issue. If you can't be relied upon to consistently follow this order, how can I in good conscience put you in a position where your decision to obey or not obey a lawful order could very well be the difference between life and death for another soldier?

Not always.....

Be a good officer and keep your nose out of it. Let the NCOs handle it.

Thought Sam Eliot was Sgt. Maj?

That team leader if he has been in club long enough should know that the ass chewing over minor shit is just part of the mission and not take personally but professionally. At the same time getting needled constantly you've got to bite back sometimes to claim back space to do the job.

The TOP is always in tge know and usually always deciminates information to the younger troops! Always best to take an ass chewing from the 1st SGT than it going up the chain of command!

This is why the E4 mafia runs the way it does. Don't let Sarge Get yelled at, don't let Captain know what went wrong and dear gawd don't gain the attention of TOP. Ye been in Long enough to know what to do, and you make that Happen.

Wisdom....

I think he was a command sergeant major, no?

Today’s men wear crocs, you can’t tell them anything. “He yelled at me 😅,” I’ve been yelled at that wasn’t yelling.

You do realize that's a Sgt. Major.

*salute*

With that being said. Join the Air Force because in the Air Force we acknowledge everyone by their first name from E1thru E7.