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HELL YES!
I have to say, during my first assignment as an Officer
I did not have the ideal Marines under me (they whined like
little girls) and my perma-SSGT didn't fall in the "strong
leadership" category. As an officer, I was always hesitant
to get too much into their faces because I tried to work through
my SNCO. But I put out the word that things were going to change.
It all started when I implemented a duty section. I
told them someone would have to be on call over the weekend
and that it would rotate. This meant that someone had to be
available and it worked out to one weekend every two months.
When a car accident happened in the battalion, there was no
one to come in but me and I needed a clerk.
My SSGT voiced his displeasure over it but I told him
I had made my decision and it was not up for any more discussion.
He then went to the H&S First Sergeant and claims to have
only asked advice. The First Sergeant goes to the H&S CO
who calls me in, saying he is concerned. After I explained it
to him, he understood but told me to keep an eye on morale.
Next, the SGTMAJ goes to the XO, never coming to me,
and says that I should not be doing this. So then, I have to
go into the XO's office and explain it to him. He understood
and said he had no problem with it but to appease the SGTMAJ,
we got the SSGT a cell phone from Comm so he could go places
(something I never had a problem with as long as we could reach
him in a reasonable time).
By this time, I was boiling. I call the SSGT into my
office, closed the door, and ask him how in the Hell an internal
decision of mine came to the attention of the Company First
Sergeant, the Company Commander, the Battalion Sergeant Major,
and the Battalion Executive Officer? He tried to explain how
he was just asking advice. I called bullshit and told him he
had committed the cardinal sin of junior/senior trust.
"You, SSGT, went over my head without me knowing.
I can no longer trust you." I told him to explain his version
of the proper chain of command. To my amazement, this 17-year
Marine tries to tell me that if the troops have a problem with
something that is going on, they bring it to him, and I over-rule
it, he can go right to the First Sergeant..
I stood there amazed. It was the closest I came to
yelling but kept it down to a very loud command voice. "Goddamn
it, you work for ME! Make no mistakes, I write your fitrep.
The First Sergeant is not in your chain of command and if you
ever do an end around on me again, I will put you in the mail
room, permanently. If the troops have a bitch, field it. If
it is important and legitimate, and it better be, bring it to
me. At that point, if I order a course of action, agree or not,
you had goddamn better implement it as though it was your own
idea. If it is so outlandish that you cannot do that, you have
proper procedures to request mast. But it better be good and
you had better be sure because at that point, we are on opposite
sides of the boxing ring. This duty section is of little importance
at this point. I don't even care anymore. It is the way things
turned out that is the problem here. You do not even understand
the chain of command!"
"You might win this one and we will not have the
duty because I am sure the SGTMAJ will tell the CO and I have
no idea who he will back. Most likely, he will follow his senior
enlisted advisor. So if he tells me to canx the idea, so be
it. I am a Marine and I do what I am told, like it or not. Duty
section will be no more. You will have won. But at what cost?
How do you think things are going to be around here? I set working
hours. I schedule inspections. I lead PT. I write fit reps.
I assign pro/cons.
Am I threatening you? Will I take advantage of my position?
No. But as your leader, I am afforded a wide range of control
over you and the troops. I will not exceed that because I am
too professional for that. But you can guarantee that I will
turn the knob all the way to one end, without breaking a single
rule. And if you even think about taking this outside the office
again, stand by because then you are breaking the rule. That
will NEVER happen again!"
"Have a nice weekend and tell the troops that
when they come back, they will now be in the real Marine Corps."
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