thedrifter
12-28-03, 07:19 AM
US Army Basic Training: The Weakest Link
Subject: Rules and Regulations!
Sir,
First off, I want to tell you that I love what I do as a Drill Sergeant and as a soldier. But recently, when I was basically "kicked in the teeth" by my own chain of command, it just utterly told me what the real deal is "its all about the numbers".
Recently, I was conducting a wallocker inspection on the soldiers of my platoon and I had discovered five soldiers that had contraband in there wallocker from candy to cell phones and compact disc players. We have rules and regulations laid out that these privates are to read and understand. We have even gone to the point now that they sign a roster saying they understand and have read these standards because in the past some private told the chain of command that he didnt know and they bought it.
After completing the inspection I notified my First Sergeant and Company Commander of the situation. They told me to counsel the soldiers on DA FM 4856E and bring them their packets for further disciplinary action. I did counsel the soldiers and brought the packets down to the First Sergeant, who then tells me that he is not going to recommend any punishment for the one soldier with candy because we are in week 12 and he said he left it in his pocket from an MRE. I wish you could have seen the look on my face! Then he tells me that he is going to recommend just a company grade article 15 for the soldiers with cell phones and CD players because its there first offense. Again the look!
So after the First Sergeant and Company Commander told me the punishment they brought the soldiers in and told them that they would go see a JAG officer (this is where it gets good) and get counsel and to be advised of the offenses and the maximum punshments.
The soldiers go to JAG and come back that day. That evening I walk down the command hallway and I see the five packets in my inbox. I am thinking "why are these in here?" So I asked my Senior Drill and he tells me we didnt read them their rights so they are not being punished. I immediately ran into the Company Commanders office and asked him to explain. He stated to me that I didnt read the soldiers their legal rights and nobody caught it until it went up to JAG. Even thought the whole chain of command up too Brigade level reviewed the packet and then it was sent to the JAG office.
Now, let me remind you sir that this is NON-JUDICIAL PUNISHMENT!! In the past I have never read a soldier his rights for an ART 15 offense! I tried to bring that up the chain and they told me that we have a new JAG officer and that whenever a new one comes in they seem to change the procedures. I was thinking to myself " why didnt this joker put out a policy letter or some kind of guidance instead of setting us up for failure". In the end I lost, lost alot of powerbase as a drill and alot of respect for my chain of command. They keep telling us that its not about the numbers, BULLCRAP! If we didnt graduate so many soldiers the chain of command would have alot of explaining to do to the higher up.
The moral of this story is that we have lost some of the foundation of becoming a soldier. We have clear rules and regulations! For a TRADOC enviroment its TRADOC REG 350-6. which clearly states that no IET soldier will have Cellphones until Phase V or Gold Phase and CD Players until Phase IV or Black Phase! We even have Cycle standards we read to the privates and post on their bulletin board for them to read if there is any doubt on the do's and dont's.
We need to get out of the "Politically Correct Army"and get back to training these men and women to be Warriors in BCT and AIT and when they screw up they pay so when it comes to these soldiers getting on the battlefield they will think with discipline and pride, react the right way in situations due to good, tough, realistic training. I have been a Drill Sergeant for 2 years and have been involuntarily extended for a third, and I have never seen so many changes in TRADOC REG 350-6, local regs and policy letters on any installation or at anytime in my 14 year career. I hope that some one up in the chain of command reads this and maybe a light bulb comes on and makes the right changes to make soldiers fight and win rather than fit to accomadate! Thank you!
A concerned Soldier and Drill Sergeant
http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=Special%20Reports.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=106&rnd=342.74147697282416
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
Subject: Rules and Regulations!
Sir,
First off, I want to tell you that I love what I do as a Drill Sergeant and as a soldier. But recently, when I was basically "kicked in the teeth" by my own chain of command, it just utterly told me what the real deal is "its all about the numbers".
Recently, I was conducting a wallocker inspection on the soldiers of my platoon and I had discovered five soldiers that had contraband in there wallocker from candy to cell phones and compact disc players. We have rules and regulations laid out that these privates are to read and understand. We have even gone to the point now that they sign a roster saying they understand and have read these standards because in the past some private told the chain of command that he didnt know and they bought it.
After completing the inspection I notified my First Sergeant and Company Commander of the situation. They told me to counsel the soldiers on DA FM 4856E and bring them their packets for further disciplinary action. I did counsel the soldiers and brought the packets down to the First Sergeant, who then tells me that he is not going to recommend any punishment for the one soldier with candy because we are in week 12 and he said he left it in his pocket from an MRE. I wish you could have seen the look on my face! Then he tells me that he is going to recommend just a company grade article 15 for the soldiers with cell phones and CD players because its there first offense. Again the look!
So after the First Sergeant and Company Commander told me the punishment they brought the soldiers in and told them that they would go see a JAG officer (this is where it gets good) and get counsel and to be advised of the offenses and the maximum punshments.
The soldiers go to JAG and come back that day. That evening I walk down the command hallway and I see the five packets in my inbox. I am thinking "why are these in here?" So I asked my Senior Drill and he tells me we didnt read them their rights so they are not being punished. I immediately ran into the Company Commanders office and asked him to explain. He stated to me that I didnt read the soldiers their legal rights and nobody caught it until it went up to JAG. Even thought the whole chain of command up too Brigade level reviewed the packet and then it was sent to the JAG office.
Now, let me remind you sir that this is NON-JUDICIAL PUNISHMENT!! In the past I have never read a soldier his rights for an ART 15 offense! I tried to bring that up the chain and they told me that we have a new JAG officer and that whenever a new one comes in they seem to change the procedures. I was thinking to myself " why didnt this joker put out a policy letter or some kind of guidance instead of setting us up for failure". In the end I lost, lost alot of powerbase as a drill and alot of respect for my chain of command. They keep telling us that its not about the numbers, BULLCRAP! If we didnt graduate so many soldiers the chain of command would have alot of explaining to do to the higher up.
The moral of this story is that we have lost some of the foundation of becoming a soldier. We have clear rules and regulations! For a TRADOC enviroment its TRADOC REG 350-6. which clearly states that no IET soldier will have Cellphones until Phase V or Gold Phase and CD Players until Phase IV or Black Phase! We even have Cycle standards we read to the privates and post on their bulletin board for them to read if there is any doubt on the do's and dont's.
We need to get out of the "Politically Correct Army"and get back to training these men and women to be Warriors in BCT and AIT and when they screw up they pay so when it comes to these soldiers getting on the battlefield they will think with discipline and pride, react the right way in situations due to good, tough, realistic training. I have been a Drill Sergeant for 2 years and have been involuntarily extended for a third, and I have never seen so many changes in TRADOC REG 350-6, local regs and policy letters on any installation or at anytime in my 14 year career. I hope that some one up in the chain of command reads this and maybe a light bulb comes on and makes the right changes to make soldiers fight and win rather than fit to accomadate! Thank you!
A concerned Soldier and Drill Sergeant
http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=Special%20Reports.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=106&rnd=342.74147697282416
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: