Brother I was in the Army for 20 years. I served in Grenada, Panama and Desert Storm and I retired as a 1SG. Your %100 correct about the CSM. In all of my time i only met 2 who were worth a damn. The others literally sucked the lifeblood and moral out of a unit. I despise all of them and as far as I am concerned every service would be so much better without that useless trash. I could go on for days telling you of my personal experiences with these legends in their own mind. Every one of them can go to hell.
Hey how can a fat NCO with or without a p3 profile pass the hgt/wgt standard, apft, nco board with a da photo? I could never understand that!!! Most are black NCO?
I had the same experience with CSMs. Wasted position and completely pointless for the most part. The good ones are rare, but they keep a finger on the pulse of the unit, call the BC out on his bullshit, and pass on their wealth of knowledge to the enlisted. Unfortunately, most of them are a complete waste of a uniform and a constant 'yes man'. I retired in late 2022, from a frocked 1SG slot in an HHC armor battalion (which is akin to hell for an infantryman). Had 12 years of deployments, 57 months of it in actual combat zones to include the initial invasion of Iraq. Number one reason I retired? Because of the senior command teams (think battalion and above). Always knew that the 2008 drawdown would come back to bite us in the butt, kicking out all the leaders who asked the hard questions or pushed back against stupidity. What we have now is a bunch of weak willed 'parrots' for the most part as CSMs and Battalion/Brigade commanders. They've been so micromanaged they can't function without regurgitating whatever someone higher tells them. Which is dangerous because they don't know the regulations and standards and have no inclination to learn them. I originally wanted to do 24 years, one more tour, maybe off the line and back in an instructor spot (my first one ended around the two year mark because HRC needed PSGs for line companies again, my third). But when I walked in an caught the BC, CSM, and XO forging T&EOs because they cancelled training so they could have a two week PowerPoint presentation on how diversity was our strength and didn't want to lose their NTC rotation I was done. Dropped my retirement paperwork two days later and then fought them as they tried to stall and delay it for almost six months. Even got to the point where I had to file a congressional just to get my paperwork sent to HRC because they didn't want to do their job and violated due process.
Legendary comment lol! Hell drop a rank or two and u see a lot of turds who never deployed but went to every school slot they could weasel into; the guard and reserves are the worst for that shit
@brentamerud2413 Yeah, I am the result of that environment. I was 11B in the guard and constantly passed over for schools and even screwed over for promotion while I was deployed. The state said "woopsie, looks like we accidentally promoted all the folks back home". I gave the middle finger after my voluntold deployment and never looked back.
Not only that also a CAB and they never went out the wire or even saw combat during deployment. We the lower enlisted saw it all and never got a single award or medal CAB . Our DD-214 stayed the same. Them pencil pushers went overseas for a vacation.
one in follow on training, the base E-9 said to us on a friday "allright guys, don't get too drunk out there in town this weekend". The E-6s training us were good men, and they filed a formal complaint. No senior sergeant should have ever said that to 19 year olds. Lots of "wat trash" become E-9s
The proliferation of promotions to senior ranks played a major role in the demoralization and disillusionment of warriors in House Corrino's _Imperial Sardaukar._ If you can't believe in the exclusive purity and untouchable experience of your superiors, they become no different from athletes given participation trophies and the elected politicians appointed by the Elite out of pure nepotism. You have to KNOW, in your bones, that they fought and clawed their way to the top because they're the BEST...not the most convenient for civie bureaucrats and their dogs.
@@andrewyoung8550 young dudes are gonna drink, and some will get in trouble. Been there done that. But senior enlisted leadership should never joke or seem to condone it. the guy was trying to be cool around younger people but it was like a priest saying "hey good luck on getting pussy tonight".
As a retired senior officer, I think your video is spot on. In my entire time in the service, there was only one CSM that I encountered who was a real Soldier’s Soldier.
I'm going to ask this throughout the comment section, and this will be a long comment, but as I'm seeing the same thing pop up, 'too many E-9's' and many of you are former military yourselves (I am not as I did not pass basic) how many would agree that maybe E-9's should be taken from the ranks and....essentially turned into a 'farewell' rank. I've heard these arguments myself as my father was Air Force and grandfather was Navy, lived in Millington, TN for many year and have always heard something like this....also....heard many service personnel complain about the ASVAB, 'It needs revamping or removing' sort of thing, that only 'NOW' top brass is taking seriously for the same reasons the lower to mid enlisted and commissioned said would happen, "it'll cost us valuable people" that (not word for word) "a low score on a similar civilian test can get you to be a nuclear physicist, but the same score on the ASVAB can only get you a job as a floor sweeper in the military" again, not 'word for word' but it seems that the powers that be in the military are only 'NOW' taking it seriously after decades of being warned- Anyways, back on the topic and the point I was trying to make. Basically, reaching E-9 should be made into a 'farewell rank' or a 'transitional' one where the individual signs a contract to be E-9, divided up into three phases for the three different versions, and is basically a course onto either warrant or commissioned....or is simply told, "thank you for your time, you are now a Master (sergeant or Chef whatever branch the person is in, you've mastered all that is to being enlisted....now leave" and is given wither W-1 or O-1 as a 'reward.' I've listened to many military, former and current, and it seems that, though these are multiple conversations spread out, one of the complaints is all the same, CSM's and the other E-9 variants stay a little bit longer then they should. Perhaps having ranks as....I suppose you could call them 'phases' become the contracts instead, E-1 through, lets say, E-5 is your first contract, and when it is up, you agree to be an 'apprentice' of sorts for the next rank phase. There is a reason for this. Many people and even nations are investing heavily into longevity and age reversal research, someday, someone, somewhere is going to have a breakthrough, we can't have someone stay biologically in their 20's and stay an E-7 or even CSM for one hundred fucking years. I got this idea as I'm an author of a short book with other projects in the works, two of my projects I'm working on actually deals with this subject, while listening to all those current and former military people I began to formed this idea for a story where there was a breakthrough and the military was forced to make this system, because again, you can't have someone stay biologically in their 20's, physically lets say '200' years of age, and stay an E-7 or even CSM that I realized that in the real world, longevity in both life and youth would be devastating for the military and not just civilian life. And even though the Army has, as one commenter has pointed out, "the Army alone has 42 four star generals" and another mentioned, "the military is too top heavy" these are people who are in positions that would be able to afford longevity research and procedures in its early beginnings, stay far too long, and force people who can't to leave, and my fear is that we'll be stuck with those people, who may be 'physically' and 'biologically' young....uh, 'again' to fight when war happens, but are in the positions where they don't want to, we can't have that. So, I've thought of this 'phase' initiative, I'm still developing this idea, but need as much feed back as possible, as all research dealing with longevity has not had that break through, I think we're in a good spot where we can still experiment with how to deal with the possibility of, each rank section is it's own contract, for example E-1 through E-3 is one phase, where basically it's extended training, and could be all guard or reserves instead of that 'four years then two years reserves or guard' that I've also heard complaints about and how it should be in reverse, but anyways then E-4 through E-6 is the second and each variant, like E-7 having 'two' different versions, is now their own individual ranks instead, and each 'phase officer' is the replacement for warrant officer (even though the Air Force got rid of theirs, but 'semantics') and the last 'phase' are the E-9's and it is a transition into the commissioned ranks, or a 'farewell' rank and more 'honorary' title then anything, and even if those who keep signing don't want to be commissioned....well, biologically speaking in this hypothetical....they still have the other branches. As for top heavy when it comes to Admirals and Generals....again, one day there will be a breakthrough in all thing longevity research, and this is still a developing idea, I failed basic, so....I don't have any suggestions on that as of right now....I mean, it would be possible to serve one or more hundred years in this hypothetical but either way I'm just looking for different opinions of this 'phase officer' idea.
@@Routetherapy10 As far as I can tell, this is more or less true. I've been told that in USMC, Sgts Major of subordinate commands have to come to Parade Rest to speak to a Sgt Major of their superior command. For men of the same rank, this is a bizarre practice to me. So far as anybody can tell, this is entirely an E-9 cultural thing that just kinda happens? Shout out to Sgt Major Downing, a Marine's Marine.
I was a scouter in the 80s and treated my scouts more like men than I was treated in the service. I made sure the patrol leaders and Senior patrol leader knew what they were doing, and had those two positions doing most of the teaching. The idea was "Never do for a boy what he can do for himself." That included the tasks leadership should take on.
@@JCLoud-ix9jjthere logic also makes no sense. Just because something was a certaint way in the past doesn't mean it has to stay tht way. Women couldn't vote, we had slaves. We changed that. Just because something is doesn't mean it should stay.
I was forced into being a E5 even though I was leaving the army in less than 3 months. I ended up using those 3 months as an E5 to help train some E4s to be a good NCO as well as making my top's job a living hell by going out of the way to make sure my joes where well cared for and actually given the mental and physical appointments they needed
Sounds like cap. Nobody forces you into a promotion and your only option in that scenario would be to reenlist if you wanted to go to PLDC (don't know what they call it now) if you're already E-4P. They can't just give you E-5. It would have been more believable (but still not) if they forced you to Corporal. Less than 3 months and forcing you to E-5 to train non-NCOs to be good NCOs? Come on bro. Maybe in Bizarro's Army, not in the US Army. 🤣
Right isn't that just being a team lead tell the privates where to be when be there and what to have squad leader makes sure it's done to standard and platoon sgt tells the squad leader the commander and first sgt's intent and how their platoon will implement the plan.
@@Murderface666 Depends on the time and circumstances. My squad leader back in 2012 told me I was going to the board and gave me the NCO board book. Since I was coo with him and was getting out, I threw it back and was like naw. They made a bunch of other dudes go to the Board and they all got promoted. I had about ehh maybe like 5 month left in. You needed no WLC or SSD 1 to get promoted and the points were literally like 10 or some crazy number. all those dudes in my company who got promoted ended up doing the crap work since they were the lowest e5s and my unit went to Kuwait literally less than a year and a half after we came back from Afghanistan. They also held my old team leader over so he had to ETS from Kuwait and do all of his Taps stuff there. We literally took our 30 day leave after Afghanistan and then went on a year long training like 3-4 weeks on, 3-4 weeks off, Field problems, gunnery, NTC etc. They cant physically force you but they can sure as hell persuade you...or at least they used to. It wasnt like people were gonna go to IG or legal then because nobody was gonna help their case much. Tho I do with I went to the board, cause I came back in the reserves and everything was mess up and I needed all that stuff, WLC and SSD and it was jacked because I basically let it expire. lol Ass for training them to good NCOs in three months, you never know. If it was like our training that would of literally been like 2 Months in the field with the guys for sure, he could of went to the board right before.
@Murderface666 this hapened around 2014-2015. Alot of E4s were forced into being an E5 then sent to WLC because the Army wasnt promoting enough people. If you had points you were now an E5
@@kenwes6560 Really? That problem was supposed to be resolved in 2001 when I was in when they said "if you can't find a reason to NOT send an E-4 to the E-5 Board, you can't deny them," because prior to that we had a lot of discrimination and favoritism, which in turn stagnated career progression as E-4s were beginning to out number the lower ranks. Then there was the "E-4 Lifer" who wanted to act like a leader, but didn't want the responsibility that came with the rank. Had a guy in my platoon who had 12 years of service as an E-4. He was a whiny punk cheese d**k, always brown nosing.
I'm using my wife's tablet. I have found that rank affects hearing. The more rank they get they get, the less they listen. When I was in Saudi Arabia for Desert Shield, we in the line for chow. A CSM showed up and started yelling at us. I guess we were to close together and he had us spread out. We were a couple of hundred meters spread out. When everyone was through eating, the same CSM called everyone together, in one big formation, and proceeded to yell at us. After 5 minutes I gave listening to him. He kept us there about 30 minutes. I guess if you are in a chow line, the enemy can shoot you, but they can't shoot you if you are in a formation.
See, when you go to real war, it will be too dangerous for this garbage. In the kunar, there was no brass. And if there were, they'd have gotten fu ked up trying to correct some boots.
I don't want to get into the details, but two toxic commands caused me to attempt to commit blah blah blah back in 2009, just 6 months after my deployment. The Army seems unwilling to admit that the conduct of their NCOs can cause PTSD. The infantry is a cult. Infantrymen have a completely different experience from POGs.
@@warcat2469 We cant answer evil in the world if we become the evil in the world. The Army should always strive to create men and women of high moral character. I cant see how that can be accomplished if we dont take some time to recognize and address policy. We cant treat people like crap until they reach their utter breaking points.
The Army uses phrases like "mission readiness," and "good order and discipline" to get away with some atrocious "smoke sessions" which wouldn't be tolerated in any other job in the entire United States. Smoke sessions are a form of government sanctioned torture. To be clear, I do make a distinction between "corrective action" which are designed to teach junior soldiers right from wrong, and are measured and appropriate for the given infraction, but "smoke sessions" can be truly sadistic, humiliating, not restorative in nature, not educational in nature, and not measured, sometimes lasting in excess of 2 hours for minor infractions.
Did you flash your stress card? Did you write your congressman? I know what the real problem is. You signed up for the Infantry. Of course its going to be different from POGs. They aren't required nor expected to be face to face against a force that wants you dead. The problem is, you were pampered by your parents, getting you way all the time and not getting yelled at when you messed up. You had one of those new-age parents that spared the rod when you acted out. So what's really happening is you couldn't take being held accountable for your actions. When I was in, I was chewed out plenty of times. But I took it with a grain of salt, corrected what needed correction and kept it pushing. Your type on the otherhand wants to be coddled and read bedtime stories. You didn't notice that the Infantry is full of southern boys? Physical discipline is alive and well, which is why they can handle stress better than suburbanites. And it's the Infantry! The job is a stressor in of itself!
Im not in the military but demoting someone for messing up in a field mission? Isn't that the bloody point of practicing is so you don't mess it up for real
now now, here you go using the most unlawful thing in the military - logic. cant be doing that now can we, that would be most... logical ;) tbh mmost field trainings isnt fieldtrainings. It is a show, a spectacle for brownnosing leaders to show off how perfect they are, so no one can go and do things like, mistakes to learn from. Or trial and error with constructive feedback. Forget all that, its just a scripted show. The most famous example is how well Russia did their big training events, everything went perfect. Bc it was scripted like that, no one dared to deviate from the manuscript. and thus they didnt learn what their weaknesses were.
No Field exercises are just a wank fest for the officers and the brass. You learn next to nothing that couldn't be taught in a few hours vs a few weeks
depends...how bad did you fuck up? were you in charge of a team and you made a fucking retarded call that ended up with a real world casualty? did you ND a round? when in units with certain SOPs having one in the chamber can cause issues at the wrong time, if you were supposed to be locked and cleared.
In the Navy, we had a lot of Army veterans. When pushing boots, Army veterans would answer the question on their record "Reason for joining the Navy" With "To get the fu&k out of the Army!" Every time we Sailors bitched at the BS we had in the Navy, Army veterans would respond "Hold my beer! You haven't seen fu$ked up until you have been in the Army!"
@@zesc1996 I would say less bad. Like I said, we complain and Army vets say we ha experienced how bad it can be. One Army veteran, in response to us rolling our eyes responded "I know you guys here in the Navy have a hard time believing bushings can be worse! Trust me! It can and it does!"
I was thinking about how no one I know who had been in the navy, never talked about their training experiences. It’s almost like navy basic is big boy school.
@@robbentodd6824 Navy Basic is now the softest. It used to be the Air Force but during the GWOT, the Air Force realized they not only needed to train their people to fix planes by day but also prevent the bad guys from breaking them by night so Air Force Basic has become more Army like
@@robbentodd6824 I was an RCC (Navy version of DI / DS) I ended up getting relieved of duty for being too tough on my recruits. Nothing out of the ordinary"Full metal jacket" Just ran my Recruit Company's like Navy Diver training and the Recruits appeared to eat it like candy
We had to deal with two (2) different toxic CSM's. One asked a new E-3 to our Troop if the PFC knew what CSM stood for, PFC replied " Well, Major Winston told us it means Cant Say Much." CSM's faced turned red and left, we all had a great laugh. The second toxic CSM , like too many very Senior NCO's not only thought he had Command but also thought he was CSM Plumley ( from We Were Soldiers) but ran up against a Captain that was a former enlisted man ( O3-E). The Captain was giving a safety talk to the Troop when Division CSM runs up screaming " Get inside the building right now! Right now, you a**holes are late! Get inside now!" Two PFC's started to bolt when O3-E orders them to stop & return, the Privates say " But Sir, its the Sergeant Major!" The 03-E says " I dont care, a Captain ooutranks a CSM any day of the week and twice on Sunday,! Stay put till I release you, this is MY Troop, not his, do you understand?" The whole Troop replied " YES, SIR!" That CSM, in front of the whole Troop then proceeds to ORDER our Captain to take is into the Range, Cap says " Sergeant Major, Command is just your rank title, you have no command authority over me nor my troops your just the senior enlisted advisor to Division, now that you have interrupted me I will start my safety talk again." Ignored this CSZm and continued with safety briefing! Afterwards the CSM was caught in a lie, he told the Division Commander (a two star jerk himself) that the 03-E had cussed him out & for no reason and appeared drunk on duty! I will say this, the entire Troop , during the investigation stood up for The Captain! We found out later that the CSM had to apologize to him but ya know what...NOTHING happened to the CSM for lying. Even though found innocent, it hurt our Captain in Promotion and being on his record it followed him. Good guy our Captain was, he always took care of The Troop!
Great video! Former Sergeant here from the U.S.M.C. infantry. One of the greatest shocks to me when I arrived in the FMF was the rapid degradation of my perception of senior enlisted personnel, mostly First Sergeants and Sergeants Major. They just seemed silly to me after a while due to their constant, overbearing focus on matters that seemed mostly insignificant. A Regimental Sergeant Major would take a microphone after a presentation by the command and harp about a little bit of trash or whatnot in the parking lot or somewhere. Most of these guys were former drill instructors, and it seems like their brains could never leave Parris Island or San Diego, treating us like recruits all over again. And most, but not all to be fair, were some of the stupidest people you ever met. By the end of your enlistment, you figured out that these people just kept reenlisting because they really didn't have a lot of prospects outside of the military, and, like a labor union, they automatically get promoted and receive privileges if they stay in long enough. I could write a book about the dumb things these guys said. The absolute worst ones were the non-infantry First Sergeants and Sergeants Major who crossed over into the infantry, probably for some career advancement opportunities. These guys didn't have a clue when it came to tactics and would do the dumbest things during field training, but the battle hardened squad leader couldn't say a thing to correct the situation without fear of getting a Page 11 or NJP. It was honestly dangerous to put these guys here. With all of this topic in mind, you should consider doing a video on the antiquated rank structure that the U.S. keeps dragging along which continues to segregate our social classes. Officers and enlisted is just another way of separating those of privilege from the working class and poor, and it's time for a reformation. It's hard to believe that this doesn't come up in all the discussions about equality and inclusion, because officers come from families who can afford college or from daddies who have connections to get them into West Point or the Naval Academy. Middle and poor class folks have to start at the bottom-most rung of the ladder, but can't easily rise to command. I've known some smart enlisted guys who left because they couldn't take the garbage the senior enlisted were force feeding them, nor would they want to come back years later after having attending college. The excuse to keep this rank structure is that the enlisted are the technical experts and the officers are the strategists. But why can't more of the "technical experts" have a more direct path to command when there's real potential and some of the command be placed down in the technical positions when there's not so much potential? Modern businesses don't work this way, which may be one of the reasons young adults are less interested in the military today. There's a better path to success in the private sector than in the military. It's time to talk about restructuring this.
Yes, we share the similar thoughts. I'm a former Corporal in USMC infantry back in 80s, and they should do away with enlisted and officer rank system, it's an old British class system that's way out dated. Most ridiculous thing, when you walk pass an officer, you'll have to stop besides him, salute, and say, "by your leave, sir", then he'll salute back and say, granted. I don't know if it's practiced today, but that was a total BS, haha
In all of my army time I could never figure out why we except having a person with no knowledge be in charge of a dangerous task. I was an Infantry SFC with 18 years when I went to OCS after 911. I come back from Armor Officer basic and suddenly I am perceived as a wet behind the ears 2LT that needs help finding the center of a map. It is the culture and it should be changed.
I'm going to ask this throughout the comment section, and this will be a long comment, but as I'm seeing the same thing pop up, 'too many E-9's' and many of you are former military yourselves (I am not as I did not pass basic) how many would agree that maybe E-9's should be taken from the ranks and....essentially turned into a 'farewell' rank. I've heard these arguments myself as my father was Air Force and grandfather was Navy, lived in Millington, TN for many year and have always heard something like this....also....heard many service personnel complain about the ASVAB, 'It needs revamping or removing' sort of thing, that only 'NOW' top brass is taking seriously for the same reasons the lower to mid enlisted and commissioned said would happen, "it'll cost us valuable people" that (not word for word) "a low score on a similar civilian test can get you to be a nuclear physicist, but the same score on the ASVAB can only get you a job as a floor sweeper in the military" again, not 'word for word' but it seems that the powers that be in the military are only 'NOW' taking it seriously after decades of being warned- Anyways, back on the topic and the point I was trying to make. Basically, reaching E-9 should be made into a 'farewell rank' or a 'transitional' one where the individual signs a contract to be E-9, divided up into three phases for the three different versions, and is basically a course onto either warrant or commissioned....or is simply told, "thank you for your time, you are now a Master (sergeant or Chef whatever branch the person is in, you've mastered all that is to being enlisted....now leave" and is given wither W-1 or O-1 as a 'reward.' I've listened to many military, former and current, and it seems that, though these are multiple conversations spread out, one of the complaints is all the same, CSM's and the other E-9 variants stay a little bit longer then they should. Perhaps having ranks as....I suppose you could call them 'phases' become the contracts instead, E-1 through, lets say, E-5 is your first contract, and when it is up, you agree to be an 'apprentice' of sorts for the next rank phase. There is a reason for this. Many people and even nations are investing heavily into longevity and age reversal research, someday, someone, somewhere is going to have a breakthrough, we can't have someone stay biologically in their 20's and stay an E-7 or even CSM for one hundred fucking years. I got this idea as I'm an author of a short book with other projects in the works, two of my projects I'm working on actually deals with this subject, while listening to all those current and former military people I began to formed this idea for a story where there was a breakthrough and the military was forced to make this system, because again, you can't have someone stay biologically in their 20's, physically lets say '200' years of age, and stay an E-7 or even CSM that I realized that in the real world, longevity in both life and youth would be devastating for the military and not just civilian life. And even though the Army has, as one commenter has pointed out, "the Army alone has 42 four star generals" and another mentioned, "the military is too top heavy" these are people who are in positions that would be able to afford longevity research and procedures in its early beginnings, stay far too long, and force people who can't to leave, and my fear is that we'll be stuck with those people, who may be 'physically' and 'biologically' young....uh, 'again' to fight when war happens, but are in the positions where they don't want to, we can't have that. So, I've thought of this 'phase' initiative, I'm still developing this idea, but need as much feed back as possible, as all research dealing with longevity has not had that break through, I think we're in a good spot where we can still experiment with how to deal with the possibility of, each rank section is it's own contract, for example E-1 through E-3 is one phase, where basically it's extended training, and could be all guard or reserves instead of that 'four years then two years reserves or guard' that I've also heard complaints about and how it should be in reverse, but anyways then E-4 through E-6 is the second and each variant, like E-7 having 'two' different versions, is now their own individual ranks instead, and each 'phase officer' is the replacement for warrant officer (even though the Air Force got rid of theirs, but 'semantics') and the last 'phase' are the E-9's and it is a transition into the commissioned ranks, or a 'farewell' rank and more 'honorary' title then anything, and even if those who keep signing don't want to be commissioned....well, biologically speaking in this hypothetical....they still have the other branches. As for top heavy when it comes to Admirals and Generals....again, one day there will be a breakthrough in all thing longevity research, and this is still a developing idea, I failed basic, so....I don't have any suggestions on that as of right now....I mean, it would be possible to serve one or more hundred years in this hypothetical but either way I'm just looking for different opinions of this 'phase officer' idea.
I watched a platoon sergeant do an inspection, and smoke his platoon the day after one of our guys died in a training accident. The GWOT conditioned these people into sociopathy after fighting a war that meant absolutely nothing. Mental illness is the cause and cancer of this. It's not normal to get upset over a hat or some grass.
Bro when I went to Wales with 10th Mtn to train with 1 Rifles, it was so wild to see them walking around, kinda wearing their uniforms however they wanted, hat or no hat, no big deal, talking to each other (to NCOs and officers) like they were real human beings and not little bitches. I was like, oh, you can be a good soldier and still a real person 😅
@@jacobpitts6846 Marine here, I had a similar experience. I was in Australia for almost a year on MRF-D, and the moral and quality of life difference between them and us was just... night and day. I remember when I 'belted up' I spray painted my old mcmap belt some stupid color as a joke. Didn't wear it or anything. It's like a 2 dollar made in China web belt I bought from the px. I was berated for an hour, blasted, and written up with a negative counseling for 'destruction of government property.' When I told the Aussies this they were lost for words. They wore their uniforms basically however they wanted, their officers were the boss, but still a person that put on his pants the same way as everyone else. Their barracks were more like apartments, and they were pretty much allowed to stay in the military as long as they wanted at any given rank without being forced to promote. Hell, one of their corporals I worked with had been that rank for 10 years. Our PT was death runs almost every day at 5 in the morning. We were the only ones up on Robertson Barracks. They didn't PT until 0730, which is the time we went to the shop. They were very focused on smart recovery and preventing injury. There was no stigma around going to physical therapy or getting time off PT to recover. They sometimes asked us what our PT was like back stateside. Death runs up and down the ridges at Camp Pendleton, that's it. That's literally all we ever did.
@@raymoncism bro exactly my experience working with every other nation. I worked with Poles, Germans, Brits, Aussies, French, Afghans, you name it, and all the other western nations just didn’t have themselves all wrapped up in some bullshit culture like we did. They were still (aside from the afghans for obvious reasons) were all outstanding soldiers and a delight to learn from, especially the Brits. And it’s weird because when you have that culture of respectful professionalism, you can actually do some stuff the American army can’t do anymore because we took it too far. Hard to explain, but the Brits described to me “giving someone the bullocks” where if a soldier was being a problem his NCO might take him out in the woodblock and beat his ass a little. But it was only for serious offenses, wasn’t serious or deprived, and every other hour of the day they were allowed to behave as grown men. The American army (and I’m assuming marines) couldn’t let it stop there, hazing was so bad in the early war on terror and the 90s that they had to go full clean sweep and purge it from the army because people were getting tortured, forced alcohol poisoning, raped, etc and it was costing the force hundreds of troops. The culture is just so fucking broken and our “discipline” is based on disrespecting people as human beings and acting absolutely shitty and deprived to your subordinates.
What would you have rather him done? Let you sit around and cry so you could feel sorry for yourselves? People die. It's what people do. A leader has to keep guys moving and busy. Your PSG was not getting upset over grass or a hat. He was mad because of loss of focus, and lack of attention to detail which might well have been the thing that contributed to the death of one of his people.
@@The2ndFirst Time and place, that wasn’t the time, nor the place. There’s a difference between smoking someone that’s completely jacked up, and being unconventionally cruel for no reason. Especially in garrison at the motor pool. Anyone from the outside looking in sees it for what it is. They’re conditioned, mentally ill sociopaths. Visibly unwell. Seek therapy or talk to your battle, brother.
“They have blood on their hands, and it’s not the enemies” The most powerful and profound line in this video. I wonder how many soldier suicide would be avoided, if the things in this video were implemented?
This exchanged happened at Ft Rucker in 2008, outside the PX and was when my 2nd LT brain realized the Warrent officer was CSM kryptonite... CW4 walks out of PX, carrying a box, without his cover on. CSM: Hey chief! Where is ur cover?! CW4: in my pocket sarge. CSM: why aint it on ur head chief!?!?!?! CW4: because i cant fit my head in my pocket sgt major. CW4 calmly walks by the baffled and furious CSM. Me and my other 2lt bud walkwd quickly to our car to avoid being put in the middle. We laughed our asses off the entire way home. When i was deployed, most CSMs HATED aviators and worked to make our lives as impractical as possible.
Maybe I got the only practical senior NCOs in the Army but I never got chewed out for not having my cover on if my hands were occupied by a box as long as it went on as soon as we put the box down.
The real Kryptonite to all senior enlisted were National Guard Warrant Aviators..... almost untouchable on deployments. Zero shits to give, no career or retirement to threaten and can honestly claim ignorance in most situations.
@@KGSpradleyAuthor you ain't wrong. I truly belive a good chunk of CSMs have blood on their hands from driving lower enlisted to un-aliving themselves. If the Army wants to fix recruitment, fix the CSM problem. Generation Kill got the CSM issue spot on, btw. That show nailed it.
I love hearing stories from smaller military creators. It feels a lot more down to earth when it isn't some guy with 1 or 2 million subscribers. Keep up the good work.
“Dont forget where you came from” is the biggest take from this if anything else and it goes both ways remember we all started getting yelled at by a drill sergeant…
It been over 50 years since I was an E-5 but I see nothing has really changed. Keeping your locker squared away and making sure your uniform didn’t have a loose thread is what was going to save my life. Instead of believing your troops will do the right thing the CSM treats you like you’re an idiot and you will always be an idiot. All the classes, all that PT, all the right assignments will not make you a LEADER. Too bad Army leadership never watches these videos. Times have changed but the CSMs never will change-they love TRADITION.
Ngl when I was in AIT I got treated nicely by my drills and respected more than my own parents. I personally never seen any shit leadership with my time in, I just shut up, did what I was told and didn’t complain. Was actually good friends with my DS and talk about sports and I got privileges in TRADOC that many of the DS didn’t worry about cause I wasn’t a shit bag, IE, battle buddy system and food in my barracks. (Was in fort Greg adams ordinance island. It was nice.
Part of the problem of senior leaders treating everyone like idiots is unchecked selection bias. They have to deal disproportionately with idiots and if they don't have the ability to control for that bias in their thoughts they will treat everyone like idiots.
Most CSM the greatest garrison commando, on base. talking about going to war! when you go over there, most they go, will never leave the FOB . It’s easy to talk tuff . wear itis safe at home station or no one to try to take your life . they stress about crap like grass. when you get over there, you never see them. they get the bronze have an infantry badge or combat action back
Article 15. The authority to impose non-judicial punishment under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) is reserved for commissioned officers, specifically those in command positions.
The only thing and NCO can do is "write you up." A decent CO will not be happy with an NCO that writes up their juniors for things that just waste time for the CO. What is being demonstrated is the SGM has little to do and is trying to make himself look indispensable. If the CO is watching, as he should be, he will clip the wings of the CSM when his behavior is counterproductive. While the SGM is playing the game, the real problem is the company grade officers that are blowing things off.
The real problem is we don't provide timely and appropriate feedback and regular counselling, not paperwork mind you, just good old fashioned guidance and direction. Instead, leadership lets problems fester, hoping they'll just 'resolve themselves,' and then, when the "non-issue" becomes apparent and unavoidable, they feel compelled to cast blame, because /s/ in no way was it _leadership_ 's fault for failing to resolve the issue _before_ it came to a head. It can _only_ _ever_ be the failure of those under them who were ultimately affected. /s/ In a lot of instances, subordinates have even elevated potential issues in advance, only to be struck down by their superiors, then punished later when the issue manifests. Similarly, most units are led with a culture that deters innovation and free thought. You're punished for tying to improve the unit/make it function more efficiently. If you do that, you make it that much more challenging for those above you to "stay busy." They don't care about national defense, it's all one big game of middle-management for them. They just need to bide their time and check boxes, to hell with the mission!
@@redslate Alas, I can't disagree. You see the same problems in the civilian world. Professional management come to the military and it works as well in the military as it does in the business world.
When I was OOD (officer of the day) at Naval Station Adak, Alaska, I had a run-in with a Master Chief (E-9). Our primary mission was support of a forward deployed anti-submaine warfare P-3 squadron. At several Friday morning all officer meetings, our command executive officer (no. 2 behind our commanding officer) repeately reminded us that support of the squadron was our no. 1 job. So one evening when I was on watch as OOD, I got a call from the squadron watch officer. An ASW aircraft from a sister squadron had arrived late that evening after a very long mission. They were assigned quarters in enlisted barracks but they had no pillows, blankets or sheets, only bare mattrasses. Th😂e Master Chief had refused to oprn the store room so they could be issued. His "policy" (how I HATE that word!) was, no bedding issued after 1800, period. So I phoned the Master Chief, ordered him to issue the bedding and he flat out refused. So I drove over to enlisted barracks and confroned him in person and still he refused. Nothing I said would make him budge. I tried to locate the Comnand Duty Officer but couldn't find him. So I called the XO in quarters and related my problem to him. He took it from there. Needless to say, bedding was issued to those enlisted air crewmen. Every other senior enlisted I dealt with was fine, but that E-9 was a 24 karat gold a**hole.
It took me 14 years to figure out that most of the senior enlisted are the guys who stayed in because they had no other aspirations. They're the ones who went all in because they didn't have anything else to shoot for and they continued to fail upwards
I never made Chief in the Navy because I never mastered the art of having a massive temper tantrum over uniform infractions, dull brightwork, unwaxed decks. And dust floating on the water of a toilet
My experience is of a junior officer from the Army was a long time ago but seems similar to today’s Army. I was commissioned in 1979 and had only one positive experience with a SGM/CSM and that was SGM Glenn Morrell before he went to Ranger School and then the 75th Rangers. He was our ROTC CSM. SGM Morrell was has hard as woodpecker lips but he was a damn good trainer and mentor for us ROTC cadets. I thought all senior NCOs were like him but they are not. After I was commissioned I was assigned to the 1st Armored Division in Germany and my platoon sergeant was a Vietnam vet who took seriously his obligation to make me a better officer. SSG Donn Duke was my platoon sergeant and I was extremely fortunate to serve with him. But our CSM, I rarely saw him in my three years in the unit. When I was a company commander I had two First Sergeants. One was adequate in garrison and not helpful in the field where we often had a “field first sergeant” because the Battalion and Brigade Sergeant Majors had different priorities, which were administrative, and those drove the First Sergeant’s priorities. My second First Sergeant was not helpful in either in garrison or the field and was foisted on me by the CSM. But I think us commissioned officers contribute to the problems of CSM/SGM/1SG because we generally have only one opportunity to lead a platoon, command a company or a battalion and we can not afford any mistakes so we take on roles that rightfully belong to the NCOs just because we can’t fail. Thus we create our own problems. I saw this vividly as a Company Commander while on field training when our Division Commander came to our company. He found crew served weapons which had not been cleaned. Of course I said would take care of the issue and his reply was: no you won’t Captain! That is a NCO responsibility and then proceeded to chew out the Platoon Sergeant and the Squad Leader. I left the Army after 12 years as a Major but took these lessons with me into the corporate world where I have tried to be more like SSG Duke and SGM Morrell.
Retired infantry officer here. In every unit I served, the CSM was an embarrassment to the unit. 1SGs have a role for sure, but battalion commanders with a staff don’t need a sidekick of questionable utility.
Retired enlisted Air Force. Questionable utility? I felt the same way about most Chief Master Sergeants. I met a few decent ones, but there were a whole lot more E-9's I crossed paths with. I knew a few before they got promoted. It's like they thought they were superheroes once they made E-9.
I would suggest reading “About Face” by Col David Hackworth. The Army Officer Corp above colonel is nothing but politicians and the same can be said about the senior enlisted corps. They’ve all long forgotten their roles as mentors, leaders and care givers of the junior troops. They care about themselves and themselves alone. I was in for 4 years in the early 90’s and was smart enough to figure that then. I can’t even imagine how bad it is now.
The late Richard NMI Marcinko US Navy O-5 ret spoke of this a few years ago. How the US Navy WW2 had around 40 admirals; total. In the late 1980s 1990s? 300!
I most strongly second your suggestion of reading “About Face” Colonel David Hackworth’s book. Commander Marcinko often addressed these problems too as you say in his books. AKC, USN (RET).
I was in for 9 years active in now I'm in the Guard. My short time in the Guard has been much more of a fun and productive that I had in the last 4 years active. Main things is that the focus is training and not caring about things that don't matter. In our company we have police, firefighters, our medics are EMTs, nurses and doctors. And the leadership respects that because they know that experience and knowledge matters. We just got done with our annual training and all we did was train and shoot without extreme overreach and focus on things that didn't happen. For example, we shot slick 90 percent of the time and then only in kit when we had to so that we can focus on building our fundamentals. We had the guys who are in Law inforcement teach us how to use pistols. Now did these guys go to an Army pistol course...no but clearly they know more than anyone else. That's just one example of how thr leadership respect the subject matter experts and let them teach. Also there was no people getting mad about language or jokes. A HUGE problem the modern military has os,the fact that everyone is afraid of getting reported and losing trust in everyone around you. If you want to do an interview with me I gladly will because my Guard Company has given me so much support and good training that it's insane.
@@wilsonle61 The best guys I ever served with was a group of National Guard officers in Afghanistan. They were hard working, intelligent, mentally and emotionally sane and stable adult men. Normal human beings. A lot of active duty Army officers range from being high strung to outright psychopaths. Not all, but a lot of them.
The Guard is where the combat arms are. So depending on MOS, it may be your only choice. And, the Guard is just a different animal than the USAR. I prefer it, but your mileage may vary. Hooaa!
If you refuse to address and fix problems, you’re part of the problem. Vicious cycle of “you should suffer because I suffered and I turned out fine” If you relish in the idea of someone suffering unnecessarily- you are definitely *NOT* fine. This isn’t just the army, I’ve experienced this in the trade- old guys that are being left behind and need to feel useful or important started beating down on the changes, they can’t compute that their time is up or things change. “You only drive two hours to and from work after working 10, five days a week? I had to do that all the time and I’m fine!” No tf you’re not- if they don’t hate their wives, they’re divorced or never got married.
E-9s can ruin a unit in a heartbeat. All it takes is one E-9 in a unit talking smack and that unit is done for or the unit commander is the real target because the E-9 is jealous or insecure. People are so frightened of these people. A backstabbing E-9 can bad mouth an officer on bas (illegal as hell) and get away with it because no one will believe he or she would do that and basically create an insurrection in the unit. Egos are a huge issue when only one per cent of the entire enlisted force occupies that rank. I was in a unit like that and was I ever glad to leave. I lost all respect for that guy and senior enlisted in general. I spoke up but was told I was lying. Keep right on talking and forget what you are supposed to do.
I relieved a fired Dept Head and, in my letter to the CO detailing the status of the Dept, included a 1.0 eval for the E-9. CO signed it and the E-9 lost his follow-on orders and had to retire early.
As you said there are good senior NCOs but they are so few its sad. I spent 32 yrs In the infantry. I have had some really crappy leaders from E6 up. But I spent most of my brain power trying to ignore the hardass wonder kids. I tried to learn from good NCOs I have had one good CSM in 32 yrs. And what is wrong with the bad ones is they are taught to be assholes while they are coming up through the ranks by their NCOs. It's a repeating cycle I was told by my worst CSM I was never going to see E8 because I was to attached to my platoon soldiers I cared to much for them. Can you believe it? I did make E8 though so piss on him
Thank you for the insight! It sucks hearing that, because as Senior NCO's their basic sole responsibility is to motivate and mentor, but instead bring you down - Case in point, "You will never be an E8," Glad you proved them wrong!!
@@wyatt4790 The wonder kids were always the NCO trying to prove something or impress someone. Instead of just doing their jobs. They were always looking for something to smoke a soldier for. I was raised up by good professionals who taught me "Mission First, Men Always"
@@gregkelly8014 ah ok. Yea I’m new to the infantry (PFC) but I’ve seen that there seems to always be a good mix of great leaders, then a mix of really bad ones. I’m sure it’s unit dependent though. Thanks for responding👍
I am a very recently retired MSG and you are not wrong in any way. My last assignment I was on DIV staff and every year I got to sit in when my DIV CSM met with the BDE and BDE CSMs. When thinking about the morale of the Division, it was clear as day why it was so bad. As a Senior NCO myself, it was disappointing, disgusting, and disheartening to hear the conversations from this group. It mirrored everything you are saying.
As a Senior Enlisted OLD Head I can't be more proud of what you have done. You have voiced the concerns even I fought until I became a senior NCO. Then I showed them all what good leadership looked like. My whole 28 year career was vbased on this simple phrase, "I TEACH WHAT RIGHT LOOKS LIKE". Because I know they can't stay under my leadership for ever. As they more forward with thier career in the military. I keep in touch now that I am retired. I see them progress. I am so proud I cry. Because I know what they have to face. They now know it's not the rank you hold it is the person you are. Good leadership can not be taught. It has to be inside you. Unfortunitly to many are destroying the corps pride of our military.
Yes, toxic leaders with low IQ’s will always use fear and intimidation tactics when they lack the ability to mentor men in their charge. I’m a retired 11H/11B and was raised by good NCO’s in the 80’s-90’s and it was when I went on recruiting duty that I saw the worst leaders in my life! How those people functioned before USAREC is beyond me! They’d send threats via email and would have us on the phone at 2200 nightly for no reason other than to waste time. Oddly enough, every crappy leader I’ve come across in my 26 years on Active Duty were non-Infantry/non-Combat Arms MOS holders. Every female Officer was usually a lesbian and seriously screwed in the head and seems to hate men and sadly, the 1SG just encouraged her abusive behavior that did a lot of damage and a couple NCO’s in the unit killed themselves as a direct result of constant threats and belittling. I did my best to shield the men (and one female Soldier at times) from this horrible leadership and they all knew the command was off the rails. In the Infantry we would pull aside an abusive/aggressive NCO that was needlessly grinding his men and always being hostile and have a chat with him as to why he’s doing this. When a bad leader is allowed to behave poorly it causes the So.diers to hate the Army and most will not re-enlist and then one of my men will have to fill a slot making our platoon or section work harder with less. Obviously it wasn’t for that reason alone, we were taught to get knee to knee with the Soldier during monthly counseling and ask the tough questions and make sure nothing is causing him anguish in his personal life. As NCO’s we have to consider that the young Soldier is basically alone now and he doesn’t have his support network he grew up with so he needs people he can trust to ask important questions with. We would also be there for each other if attacked or taken advantage of by someone or some civilian off base, I have some great stories on things we did while at Ft. Campbell. I’ve seen NCO’s who always wrote their own NCOER’s and did whatever they could to gain the next promotion and do as little work as possible which always amazed me at how childish people could be. And that’s before I get into ethnic “cliques” and how destructive they’ve been to the moral of a unit! For those Soldiers who were harassed and abused by shithead NCO’s, I apologize to you and I wish I could deal with that retard for you like an NCO should’ve done for you. Most POG Senior NCO’s are worthless when it comes to being a good NCO, they prefer to kiss ass to any Officer in their food chain and only rarely have a met a decent one. If our Army is going to continue down this road of ass kissing first and Soldiering second then we’re going to have something akin to the Democratic Party leadership.
i spent 4 years in the infantry as a 11c. i deployed to afghanistan and got hit by idf and had a pretty bad tbi. i had some other accidents that caused 3 minor tbi's as well. even after the rehabilitation unit i couldnt think clearly for the last two years i was in. i felt like i was trying to force thought through a thick haze. my ability to think didnt clear up until after i got out and was able to get rest. in your "the infantry is broken" video you suggested giving lower enlisted a way to recover from the high tempo life style. if i had been given that i wouldnt have had to medboard and could have stayed in as i did like my job even tho i hated most of my senior leaders. with all that said in highsight almost every e7 and above i knew acted as if they had unhealed tbi's. because alot of their behavior seemed like something i would do when i wasnt able to think clearly. thats obviously not the only problem as a disturbing amount of them seemed to be in it just to feed their egos or knew they wouldnt be successful in a civi job. and i think the motivations for staying in that long more often then not are negative. because most of the rewards for long enlisted service are titles, awards and bragging rights. this filtering out all the soldiers who would stay in for patriotic reasons because they would have to work with mostly narcissists. i also have a theory that the nature of the infantry causes brain damage even if your never deployed or in some sort of accident. because of lack of sleep, alcoholism, training with explosives, jumping out of planes, being bumped around in armored vehicles, all the rolling and just general rough shit you do daily give you constant small hits to the brain. theres also a culture against getting any kind of medical or mental help. and you never get rest so your brain doesnt heal until your out or after that long it just doesnt. i think the mix of what seems to be institutionalized brain damage without anyway to address it and usually bad motivations to stay in has created a class of senior leaders that i wasnt motivated to go into the field with, much less combat. there was a running joke i kept hearing in my unit that all the intelligence was in the lower ranks. i think that was true as the senior enlisted ranks are made up of old broken men who have lost their minds.
Recent research suggests that the blast waves from explosives and even some small arms can contribute to cumulative traumatic brain injury. While there are some limits on the use of heavy weapons such as recoilless rifles like the Gustav, this really should be extended to lighter weapons, and those exposed should be given adequate rest and time to recover.
"Why is no one enlisting?" Because there has been over 20 years of documented toxic work culture and work environment. The damage is too severe, and even if they started holding people accountable they won't be able to undo this trend. Heaven help them if they decide to do a draft too, because those draftees WON'T be silent and WON'T let the incompetent corruption be covered up.
@@Dread_Pirate_Homesteader Endless wars? The overwhelming majority of US military personnel did not take part in any of those endless wars. The US lost seven thousand personnel in twenty years of the War on Terror. U.S. KIA in six months of the Guadalcanal Campaign of 1942-1943 was approximately the same.
There are three basic responsibilities of a 1SG or CSM. 1. Advise the commander on matters related to enlisted soldiers. 2. Provide positive leadership to enlisted soldiers to motivate them to remain in the Army and seek higher levels of responsibility and to ensure they are given opportunities to develop their skills either by schooling or by their duty assignments. 3. Enforce standards to improve safety and discipline. Some Senior Enlisted Leaders focus on minor things because they dont have enough big things to worry about or they like throwing their weight around. Thats why many become toxic leaders instaed of insprational ones.
As a retired SGM/ CSM, and after 30 years I never forgot who I worked for, the Commander and the Soldiers, in that order. 99.9% of what I spent my time doing was to do my best to ensure that the Commander, our boss, understood how his decisions effected the troops. Doing my best to monitor how he and his officers decisions affected safety, mission and morale of the troops. It is unfortunate that many times troopers have little to no ideas what an effective CSM does behind the scenes. At Battalion level we’re talking about 800 Soldiers and I only wish I had the time to provide more mentoring. My job was to ensure that troops had the best 1SG’s, support staff and senior NCO’s available. Monitoring troop feedback to ensure they were getting the best leaders and attention available. I am sorry that so many of you had negative experiences with your SGM’s. What we are taught and always reminded of from our leaders and in the SGM’s Academy is we’re only an effective fighting force if we understand our roles to complete the mission and support each other to the best of our abilities.
All in all pretty good video. I think you struck a good balance acknowledging that there’s good and bad leaders. This is true at every rank, and at every level. Your most spot on point is taking the title of Command out of Command Sergeant Majors’. You’re not the first to say that.
Damn, you got this exactly right. I was in the Army National Guard in MN for 10 years and got out as a Staff Sergeant. I never met a CSM that ever meant a damn. They were always full of themselves and offered mind-numbing speeches and foolish threats. They were some of the worst NCOs I encountered. Fyi...I served under ACTING CSM Tim Walz and he was the worst CSM ever. When our unit was activated in the early 2000's and sent to Vincenza Italy, he was intoxicated every night and hungover every day. This was so much so that other senior NCOs had to do his job. And now he might end up as our VP. It will be very bad for the country if he does!
I retired 10 years ago. But even then E-9s tended to act like royalty - pompous as any field grade or general officer. From what I’ve heard it’s only gotten worse. While some were quite good leaders others were shit. Better to not even have a SGM or CSM. When I was enlisted in the 80’s many were still grounded in the realities of what the lower enlisted needed and made sure they got it. They would talk tough and were hard assed but they gave value for that. The pay, the mail, and the food was always on time and soldiers didn’t waste as much time eating cheese for some dumb ass officer.
One thing I learned from my 3 years in the Army (1968 - 1971) is that senior NCOs are expert at destroying morale. We called them 'lifers' and 'lifers' they were. They made my life miserable!
Maybe it's generational, but I remember our CSMs as being advocates for us, intervening when someone is being shafted, mentoring younger NCOs. I remember ONE crap CSM--who was relieved and transfered. Served 79-90 (medical retired)
I put a lot of the crap I experienced out of my head at this point. However, I will say this much, the level of professionalism I experienced as a kid in military school from the staff there is unmatched to this day. We had WW2,Korea, and Vietnam era officers and senior enlisted mentoring us. The way they spoke and carried themselves was unparalleled compared to what I experienced since in the real Army with few exceptions. Even though we were just boys, they treated us in a way that inspired us to become men...As well as Soldiers for some of us.
Former 14J here (1995-98 active duty) Dude you nailed it. My last CSM was just this! He at one point had to be told to leave our Battery area by the Battery commander as he was always harassing the NCOs etc.
I was in a Brigade that had decent morale. Got a new CSM who hated smoking and soldiers who smoked. Two weeks later all smoking areas and butt cans in the whole brigade area are gone. Smokers have nowhere to put their butts so they chuck em on the ground or worse, in a storm drain where non-smokers are forced to pick up smokers butts every week during police call. CSM convinces commander to change leave/pass policy. New policy is more restrictive. This is a TRADOC unit. We don't deploy, no reason to have a 50 mile pass requirement. Two seemingly small changes drove at least one soldier to alcoholism, dumb ass kid got drunk and stole another soldier's car and rammed it into a light pole in the parking lot. Why? His girlfriend lives around 70 miles from post, and he can't go see her on weekends so he's depressed and earlier that day he had to clean the storm drain of all the disgusting smelling cigarette refuse with his bare hands and he don't even smoke. Damn thing smelled like a dip spit bottle that was left out in the sun. I think that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I ended up his new team leader and all I did despite pressure from my PSG was fast track his chapter paperwork as best I could so he could go back home to his girl. PSG wanted to know why I wasn't scuffing him up. I told him that it would serve no purpose other than to damage the reputation of the United States Army and the 16th Cavalry Regiment. He looks at me like I'm a space alien and says as a leader you have to maintain discipline. I ask him "isn't that what the Article 15 and chapter is for?" He says "yeah but that won't teach him anything". I say "we're kicking him out of the Army, whether or not he learns anything is not our problem anymore". He didn't have an answer to that. My three months as a team leader at the tail end of my contract were the best time I had in the Army. I was the guy in charge of the about to ETS and medboard section. There wasn't anything he could really do to any of us except make us a more persistent pain in his ass and he knew it so I got away with applying logic for three whole months. On top of that I went force on force against him in CCTT (tank simulator) training with a crippled gunner we had to help into the Gunner's seat and two privates who'd never done a gunnery before and knocked his tank out in a maneuver exercise. Meanwhile he'd forgotten how to correctly use his commander's independent thermal viewer. Another platoon needed a fourth crew to fill out their bravo section so I volunteered us since we were extras anyway. Great way to cap off my time in the Army since I went on terminal leave two weeks later.
16th CAV E Troop here. I was with them a while ago but probably the best unit I was in. Lots of family time and down time. Proves your point, a CSM can make all the difference in the experience.
I was in the Army 1972-1978 and only met one CSM and 1st Sgt that was worth a damn. The others were in the business of making life hard for us. Anytime they say, it's about taking care of the men ...lookout you are about to get screwed! As an E5 squad leader I was being deployed to Germany, I ask my platoon SGT for a 4-day pass so I could move my wife and belongings to SoCal. Refused was the reply, only answer was you are not going to get a 3 or 4-day pass. My mind changed right then regarding a career in the Army. I refused the E6 board 3 times after I arrived in Germany and got out, best decision I ever made.
Holy crap. I'm only 8 minutes into your video and this is, by far, the most truthful video about this aspect of the Army I have ever seen. All of this is true. I spent 21 years in the Regular Army and National Guard. I've watched senior leaders do horrible things. I personally never met an E-9 who gave a crap about any Soldier. I taught PLDC, WLC, BCNOC, ACNOC, ALC, and SLC. In ALL of those classes, the Army teaches you to take care of Soldiers. It's all in the regulations, over and over and over again. I have no idea why E-9s are the worst. But they are. I think it's because the good Soldiers all get out early. I spoke up too much and talked crap to all my leadership when they acted like idiots. The National Guard only has so many promotion slots for Active Duty. So I retired at only a SFC. You have to kiss a lot of butt or be related to someone to get the higher ranks in the Guard. Thank you for the videos. They are spot on.
An eye-opening video. In an age when the military cannot meet its recruitment goals, it is insane to have senior NCOs running off mid-range NCO or soldiers. But I am not surprised, in my 8 years as an officer in the Army and Army Reserve, I came to realize that once most officers got a star on their shoulder it started, they forgot about being a soldier and became a politician. Thus I am not surprised that apparently the same thing happens on the NCO side. Also, I do not remember there being that many E-9s, especially CSMs and one ever interfering in a platoon or company activity was unheard of, maybe the urgency of the time killed a lot of BS. I think that politicians using the military as a cultural experiment is ruining the military. All this CRT, DEI etc. has no place in the military, the military is there to simply defend the nation and kill our enemies when required, not worrying about proper pronouns, social promotion, etc. Based on my current knowledge what needs to happen is the pay needs to increase, no soldier's family should ever have to take food stamps to get by, soldiers need to be respected for the skill levels they have achieved, adequate on base barracks / housing in good condition should be mandatory for all soldiers, etc. But I am also old schools, 12 weeks of maternity leave is unheard of in my life, even after leaving the army and working the oilfield as a drilling engineer, a few days or maybe a week was max. In my experience when you get perks it is generally a way around avoiding increasing your pay. Respect and responsibility is a must in the military and civilian life. In the Reserves as combat engineers, I can never remember having troops do task for the sake of killing time. They were responsible to make sure that their equipment was ready to roll and most of our equipment was older than the men operating it. The average age of the soldiers was probably mid 40s, so constant repairs was the order of the day. But if they got it done and their area squared away, the Seargent's gave them a break till evening formation.
If it makes you feel better, he made a polar plunge mandatory for all of 1-11, and told the dudes on undermanned details that they would do it either before or after their shifts. Word on the block is he proceeded to go into shock upon immersion and had to be pulled out like a little baby.
I'm a cook in the civilian world. Worked a decade in some of the best kitchens in this country. Don't have much ground to walk on but for what it's worth I run into and make fiends with a lot of vets. More than I can count. I think it has something to do with GI Bill and culinary school but I get ahead of myself. One thing I get a lot on smoke breaks between service is how some sous chefs got it out for us "I damn quit the army cause of shit like this" It was hard to put two and two together but wow, this sheds a light on it. Luckily, in the civilian world, especially in culinary, if you're good, you walk out find another kitchen before the day ends. At the end of the day though, we're just cooks. I hope the military figures this one out. Can't imagine deploying with leaders that actively work against you when your lives are on the line. Respect to yall. Thanks for ur service and all that shit. Haha
Rant: 'Being a former E-4 offered the dark side was one of the greatest jokes god played on "holier than thou First Sergeants". Also, a great sense of relief to every Soldier I've had since. Not in long enough to turn into a dick, but also in short enough to keep that naïve yet bold "I can do it better than you " mentality. Having to read so much regulation only to vouch so I can vouch for my guys its burdensome and time consuming more so when so many senior leaders always fall back on "don't question senior NCOs, they know best". However the look in a senior NCOs eyes when an officer pulls regulations to defend junior enlisted is right up there with a nice cold beer on a Friday night. Now being in the middle grades I can say the best advice I got from my senior NCO trainer at OCS from was: Don't forget you have as much as experience as any one of us working outside the military, use that. You had careers, some of you are business owners , some of you left to make it on your own and build something before coming back. Whatever the reason, you had to interview, you chose to be here, and you aren't some ***** straight out of highschool or college (my class was overwhelmingly older). Choose your hill and when you do, read the regs so you can stand your ground. Most importantly be humble and learn your shops, the more experience the leader the more valuable they are to you. However, the more experience the leader the more he knows what he can get away with since few can or are willing to question what they say. Best thing I learned to do was to be my own paralegal for the sake of the the Soldiers that fall under me.
“GET OFF MY GRASS!” That was my first significant emotional event as a specialist. Years later at the Sergeants Major Academy they were warning us to stop being that toxic leader worrying about the hq lawn.
Always wondered why we worried about the little shit rather than training to be lethal. “Hey you shave this morning soldier!?!?” As I thought to myself in my mind (Russia and China are training in trench warfare but here we are doing open ranks inspection.) I get it it has a time and place. But I never understood the dumb questions or the dumb regulations. What does the CQ desk have to do with how well I’m gonna shoot ? Or how well the company can ruck ? We focus so much on dumb stuff. Glad I’m out.
Had to add more after reading the war college article. Training distractor is huge! Don't know how many times I had training scheduled and here comes a tasking from the CSM for 5 soldiers for some menial work. 🤬 Awards were another big thing. I would write one, submit it and the CSM would kick it back for a rewrite or downgrade. He shouldn't even be looking at them. The war college article is spot on.
This is also why civilians don’t respect the military. We see everyone not in SF community as a knuckle dragging idiot who is only there for free college. Not bc they love to serve
I was a navy reserve officer from 2007 to 2012. The Chief's mess was the most unprofessional bunch of assholes I have ever seen, anywhere. Sounds like the Army is worse, but I didn't see that, firsthand. My Army experience was from the 1980s.
Facts. I worked for the Navy as a civilian for 7 years. I've seen more toxic chiefs than I could count. In those 7 years, I had 1, maybe 2 CMCs/SELs who were worth a damn. The others were terrible, and one who could have been good was beaten down by a toxic commander. So beaten down that the skipper looked at him and said "Maybe you need to call your detailer." It was bad, but I digress. Seen the same with SCPOs and CPOs. They make E-7 or E-8 and they have not a clue, and the good ones just get discouraged because the bad ones are the only ones getting noticed and rewarded for bad performance.
As a retired CSM, this video hits close to home. I learned how not to behave from the many toxic/counter-productive CSMs I encountered throughout my career. I was also fortunate that I was not a SGM/CSM in the "Conventional Army" where most of the previously described madness occurs. And for those who think its learned at the Academy; not! Most of those CSMs have been like that for years before achieving the rank. It usually starts when they achieve SFC and if it goes unchecked, by the time they reach CSM, they're in "blackout drive mode" Its an easy fix... hold them accountable like everyone else and let the chips fall where they must.
I've got army members on my mother's side and I've known a lot of former and current army service members to a point that I wanted to do and did JROTC for my high school years. I enjoyed JROTC cause it was essentially military Lite given the instructors we had which were a 1st SGT, CWO 4 and a LTCOL respectively. These 3 men were the best teachers I ever had throughout my entire schooling cause they all played specific roles in addressing the students, but also knew how to be flexible as well when and if the situation needed it. 1st SGT was always a ball buster, but knew how to make it come off as a joke or light hearted despite the tone or initial delivery. The CWO 4 was the quiet but direct, knew how to joke but he left that to the LTCOL and 1st SGT unless it was his raiders team. Then finally there was the LTCOL who functioned a lot like a father figure, quiet, fun, but knew how to be direct when need be, the old "firm but fair" approach essentially. When I went through that program they made me want to join the military, but as I came across more and more service members and even being told their experiences and a lot of the more nuances I found it was a lot more trouble then genuinely worth. Yes joining the military takes commitment and selflessness, however being yelled at potentially day in and day out over miniscule things or just cause is a recipe for burn out and i've already had that happen doing normal work that I could leave. But rambling aside its no wonder the US military is suffering from a recruitment shortage, cause who would genuinely want to go through that as a nice section of their life when they can just live peacefully as possible or if they come across that in civi life, they can at least just leave if they want.
I think we should bring back Brevet ranks. There are too many E-9s and General Officers whose jobs could be handily done (and better done) by more junior personnel. If you absolutely need a rank because you are dealing with NATO or some other rank-heavy organization. You get a Brevet promotion good for the duration of your posting and revert to your permanent rank after the tour! Why do I feel big Army, Navy, etc. is never going to go for this?
I did four years as a 0311 in the USMC and can confirm we have the same issue with Sgt. Majors over there as well. Old dudes, completely out of touch with the troops that bring stress and frustration wherever they go. NJPs and article 15s over minor infractions. What is with these dudes? Why are they at the barracks at 10 PM on Saturday bitching at marines drinking beer with their buddies in sandals? One of the most egregious things was the great couch purge. Marines having couches in their barracks room? Unacceptable, that’s not issued furniture, clear them all out by Friday and we will have an inspection. Violators will be subject to paperwork. Even worse, most weren’t even 03’s and had no idea how the infantry even operated. This video is spot on.
I had a couple Navy guys asks me what SGMs did in the Army. I didn't know what to tell them except yell at people about hands in pockets or stay off the grass or whatever.
The problem is really very simple. The military incentivizes the most intelligent, capable and motivated people to either leave entirely for civilian opportunities and benefits, or to move into the Officer or Warrant Officer career tracks as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the servicemembers who make it into Senior Enlisted positions are often the ones who ended up there out of a lack of upwards or lateral mobility. Even worse, in the era of "modernization" and the steady unlearning of every piece of actionable experience from COIN, those same servicemembers' real value is being chucked out the window in favor of using them to police up increasingly disinterested young recruits to meet arbitrary readiness/grooming/motivation standards. I also agree with the assessment of Command Sergeants Major being redundant and inflated. If there's one place a Sergeant Major belongs, it's in the 3-shop holding together the many enlisted involved in managing the Commander's warfighting functions. Operations Sergeants Major can be invaluable, but there is no purpose behind Command Sergeants Major besides rank redundancy.
Sounds like my old retail job or a lot of other jobs that don't pay enough for the work. Smart people leave for better opportunities elsewhere and the people who stay are either people who can't, are too lazy to do something else or are bitter jerks who know one some level that people wouldn't put up with their crap.
I had a PSG call me on leave wanting me to negatively counsel an individual for failing EIB. He wanted it by the EOD. When I informed him I will not be doing that over leave because I was out in the middle of camping I was the one received a negative counseling as well as my solider.
12 year Marine here. Was a platoon sergeant my last 3 years. 1st Sgt’s and CO policies attitude and “command climate” can absolutely build up and strengthen or destroy all morale and discipline of your troops. When they LIE, hide things, don’t engage, only care about petty shit (def true in the Marines), don’t welcome any challenges or opinions….we GET OUT! We cannot handle toxic leadership. Even if they are only there for a few years, many resent the new ones stepping in if it’s just more or worsening of the status quo. Also, I loved checking on my guys and being in the trenches more than being behind any desk or in fcking meeting most of the time. And I HATED when I was questioned or told “don’t be around the juniors”, bro, I’ll fcking check on my guys however TF I need too! More of this for sure. I’m out now, thank God. But yeah, Fck toxic leadership and woke politics crap. It has no place in our uniformed services. Fire those decision makers that failed the Afghan withdrawal and put them on a court martial!
Hello sir, I'm a prospective Marine officer (currently a midshipmen in NROTC) and I was curious in asking what you meant by officers and SNCO's caring too much about the "petty things". What about the hiding of information? What are things officers can do to A) avoid doing this themselves and B) approach SNCO's who are abusive? I just finished 3 weeks of intro-level basic naval training at the Great Lakes Training Facility, and while the education we received was top notch, it obviously couldn't cover everything given the timeframe. Just assume I'm greener than grass lol. Anyways thanks for your time!
@@petloh1882it’s little petty bs crap. The uniform code says marines can have hands in pockets while standing. NCOs and officers will yell at dudes for standing in cold weather with their hands in their pockets. “Because it looks unprofessional”. Very common for just dump sh*t to be blown out of proportion. But the mindset is infectious. If your a jr Sgt and a SSgt tells you to go reprimand a group of marines for having hands in pockets, you typically do what you’re told. Making issues about things pits you against the staff group and lower enlisted can’t do anything for you. So it’s better to go along and try to not stand out as “on the lower enlisted side” or life becomes hell. I fought back and suffered for it.
@@petloh1882 do not look away as company commander as captain i a superior abuses his authority stop him right here and there your troops have a right that you care for them and you will loose trust and respect if you do not and look away and another thing to remember, you change between staff and troops the enlisted do not, you may push the pedal for a year for them every year another Lt comes and try to pushes the pedal to max
I was 4 and out. Made it to the NCO Board and NCO Academy with 15 months. Unfortunately, there was a flood of E-4s with 5, 10, 15 years and not on the promotion list. Thanks to CSM Nelson and 1st Sergeant Basden, i achieved all expected of my service.
I was in from 1983-1987 in SIGINT. Pretty cool units, too: 2nd ID, 18th Airborne Corps and 5th Special Forces Group. Back then, maybe I was just lucky, but my CSMs were awesome. They basically acted as a buffer between us and the senior officer leadership. They had no real authority, but they were there to help morale, etc. I had nothing but respect for these guys. They were the ones who picked you up after some idiot officer had basically just destroyed your morale for no reason. I was stunned to find out that during the GWOT, CSMs turned out to be the biggest buddy f***ers in the Army. It was 180 degrees from what I had seen in the 80s.
I served for 36 years and personally the senior enlisted lost themselves between E8 and E9. In my entire time I never met an E9 CSM that was worth anything other than creating a toxic hostile work environment and then getting themselves relieved because of the nonsense they caused.
My favorite thing on the internet is to watch cold war 80's warriors that never saw a day in combat, point at the GWOT generation and some of them have 2-3+ deployments and multiple engagements under their belt and call them "soft". Since I got in on the tail end of GWOT and still have a slick sleeve its hilariously ironic to see.
It’s not just senior enlisted, it’s the whole system. They treat you as if they do not want you to reenlist. Oh well ain’t my problem anymore. Good luck military on recruitment and any future drafts as you’re going to need it.
Meh, if they needed people they would have implemented a draft. There's only so many people they can get through an all volunteer Army. Benefits, marketing, arm twisting. At some point they cross the line. The government can also make the economy so bad that people have but no choice but to join, but that would come at a cost.
Danny If I may, I’m not a young man and I’m old enough to know that our military was at one time pre UCMJ, and pre E8-E9. Which all came about in years after WW2. I come from the Navy/USMC side. My mentors were At Nuremberg, some served under Patton, one under Chesty. The 50’s is where the seeds for this madness was planted. Before all this started the enlisted evaluations had boxes for maturity and moral code. The next step into this madness you’re describing is the mid 80’s under high year tenure. This was done to put away the old school SGTMJ’s that were the real deal. The caliber of E9 that all junior enlisted would want. This chipping away at senior leadership was planned decades ago and that’s precisely why you have to make these videos. Much of what you’re describing is what we called “unwritten rules “. I love your channel. Great work. And by the way I served alongside the Army as much I did the USMC. So I get it.
All the units I have been to I have never seen the BSM around except up in battalion, we avoided him at all costs. The main problem for us was our 1SG and CO. There was a 50/50 chance of a good unit anywhere you go in the Army. I had 2 good experiences with 2 units. One BSM was SM Irwin, he was an old SF Vietnam Veteran, this guy had so many Purple Hearts and Bronze Stars with Valor, the good thing was he was a slow runner but he could road march like hell. Next was SM Madsen who was also a 173rd Airborne Vietnam Veteran who was born in Sweden and had an accent. We called him Big Swede in my Airborne Battalion. He would show up during weapons qualification helping guys qualify and crack jokes, and jump with every company and help out with the company jump masters. This was back in the mid to late 80s when these guys were around. SM Irwin was very interesting because he lead Vietnamese troops in combat and recon teams. I was BN CQ runner a couple times and I had to clean his office which wasn't much but I read all his citations and awards is like reading an action novel, same with SM Madsen. Both were not bombastic but had an aura of power around them when they looked at you and you can feel it. The company 1SGs feared them.
i’m still in, I was in a great company with great leadership and got moved to another company cause I was hurt and lost mind in the company due to the poor leadership, to the point i was taken to ER as psyche and the leadership made fun of me for it, would yell at me for getting my medication when i was on a safety plan. And all i can say is what my uncle told me “bad leadership gets soldiers killed either in combat or by suicide” the leadership that caused me my sanity got their ass chewed out.
LT in the Marine Corps here. It's interesting that the Army has similar issues with leadership. SgtMaj can be dicks to Lts too but it's very indirect since we technically outrank them. I was briefing my CO on major concerns with maintenance, and then I get interrupted by SgtMaj because of a slide. "sir, you need to fix that slide." I'm like really man? You can't wait and tell me after the meeting. Out of all concerns, you're fussing about a slide?! He immediately burn that bridge with me and he has reached out to me for things so I'll remember next time.
The issue is that we got too many yes men these days. It's even worse with officers. Look at the whole GWOT Era. There were lower echelon leaders voicing real issues. The next leaders up ignored all the bad and only pushed up the good. All so they could please those above them. I'm a SFC filling a SGM billet and get ignored when I bring issues up to CSM. Then they're Pikachu faced when things aren't working out. They'll gaslight you to hell and back and it almost makes you wanna say fuck it. Nobody is listening anyway, so I might as well flip the table and fuck everybody's day up. The most I can do is protect the dudes below me, and at least I can do that well. There's a lot of junior leaders that I see that are lazy as fuck though. When I was a SSG the other SSG were not actually doing their jobs. They would rather sit in the A/C while their dudes were sweating outside working. Then they'd have the gall to ask me to help their squad out. Nah fucker you're a damn SSG. Get the fuck out there with your dudes and supervise if you want it done. It's what you're paid to do. I'm not gonna carry you, knowing damn well you're fuckin off.
I agree, and don’t get me started on this shit. The aforementioned shitbags asking for the help are sitting in that air conditioned office studying for waste of time, useless fucking vanity boards so they look good on paper because they’re useless in real life.
What no one has considered--and that likely is an important point here--is that behind the scenes the CSM is just as pissed off as you were. Why? Most of them get told to be this way by BN or BDE Commanders who want to be liked so they make the CSM act this way. Ever wonder why the CO never worries about any issues like barracks, motor pool, etc? He has his hatchet man deal with it. Working on Division and Corps staff was eye opening. The CSMs were forced by their bosses to be assholes and the SGMs were laughing at them.
Man I will never forget we went on a 5 Day Op. Air insertion with a night time resupply every other night. Raid houses by day, take over a new house at night to setup as a 24 hour patrol based. We dropped so many dude, getting praises from everyone. 1ST Cav 1 star gave us the most praise. Our CSM came up when we got back to base and we thought the congratulations train would continue. He chewed our ass because he saw a photo of a grunt with his kneepads on his ankles and one guy with a shemagh around his neck. Didn’t even ask about our 2 medivac Purple Heart recipients 🤦🏾♂️
I'm using my wife's tablet. I stayed 2 extra years for that extra 5%. In those last 2 years, I didn't give a ****. When ever I saw someone screwing over a solider I would step in and intervene. I had a battery commander say he was going to come inspect the housing of everyone living off base. He didn't like it when I asked if he had a search warrant. When found out that he needed one, he cancelled the inspection.
Joined in 2015, "tripe deuce" and it was a bit taxing, but I was younger, cond. released to the guard after a while then got out. Came back in 2023 and the amount of spineless cowards in leadership roles was night and day. 2015 was not that long ago, I came back as an E4 (reduction of rank and pay). I loved the 11b mos in NY, but since day 1 in the new unit I figured that I wasn't going far so I played dumb, I could smell the bullshit not from the joes; the NCOs themselves (not all but a lot) lied constantly just so their instructions made sense ,And that one NCO who never made ranger and takes it out on enlisted (glad to see the tradition still alive). Funny but depressing at the same time.
Reminds me of our former sgt major threatening our forward observers and FMT that if they didn't get parts for a Bradley on time he would keep them in the motorpool until 2300 on the 4th of July
Reminds me of my dad. A lifer in the Navy reserves who never saw any combat trying to tell my friends who just got back from doing a couple tours, "the reason" we went to Iraq and Afghanistan. And no matter how much they tried to tell him the cold, hard, truth, he just wouldn't accept it. His generation (the baby booms) are so hard headed.
I was a young and naive Marine but I quickly figured out that alot of the senior enlisted didnt have a very flexible mindset. Alot of marines also hated airwingers until they needed ground support
I retired with a little over 27 years in the Army. I was an 11B the whole time. In all those years I served under some really greats CSMs and some I wouldn’t cross the street to piss on if they were on fire. The great ones were the ones that everyone, Pvt to CPT, welcomed when he came around and wanted to talk with. The others were generally referred to as mobile harassment units and their arrival prompted as many as possible to head to the wood line just to get away from them. Unfortunately, most fell somewhere closer to the latter than the former. They can be an outstanding asset to a command, but most are not.
I had a great BN CSM during my first deployment my second BN CSM wasn't quite as good but he did look out for me and make sure I had everything I needed as I was put on advanced party prior to my second deployment. The bigger problem I had were certain E5,6 ,7s and two specific first sergeants who made it their personal mission to crush and ruin the morale and motivation of everybody under their command.
Agree 100%, Navy was the same way. We had a few good senior enlisted leaders, but most were just out to screw over their guys and try to look good for their officers. Several times it was the officers who had to step in and look out for us and not the senior enlisted who were actively trying to screw all their men over.
Great comments, Danny. I tried to be the antithesis of what you described. I would try to set the bar by not asking my guys to do what I wouldn't do. I knew every Soldier and their families. I had many disagreements with my CDRs but I never let Joe see that. That said I have seen MANY that did as you described. Could I have done better? Sure. Thanks and I'm subscribing!
Brother, a lot of what you're saying is why I didn't stay in to become a CSM. When I took over as first sergeant I wanted to get my company ready for combat I wanted to do tough realistic training and intense battle Focus PT and ensure all my soldiers and their families were ready. Instead I got caught up in being the senior admin specialist for the company and I detested it. They were hardly any csms that I looked up to. They were irrelevant and had their priorities out of whack. Just for reference I was selected twice for the sergeants Major Academy and was offered a nominative position in DC by my branch manager and I still said no. There were too many uncertainties and it wasn't the path I wanted to take
What about the abuse and use of Mass punishment? Back in the Guard. My entire company was ass chewed because a squad didn’t showed up to drill. As it turns out, there was lack of communications between the squad and the rest of the COC, the Squad leader has a bad history of. It showing up to drill and not relay communications.
It’s interesting you mention stuck in the early 2000s. I have this theory with the older guys. They deployed in an era before social media. You couldn’t just go online and learn about the military experience. It was also post 9/11 and there was a culture of military worship. What do these lead to? A group of senior troops who think that not only do they have magical insight into things, but that they can’t be wrong either.
A good friend of mine (a CSM) once told me that there are two kinds of people who attend the Sergeants Major Academy (SMA). Those who thought it was a complete waste of time, and those who thought the SMA was the pinnacle of their careers. The later being completely useless but validated in their minds by having made the rank of CSM. I later got to witness this by working for a CSM who thought the SMA was the pinnacle of his career, but was also completely useless. He really didn't have a job.
Brother I was in the Army for 20 years. I served in Grenada, Panama and Desert Storm and I retired as a 1SG. Your %100 correct about the CSM. In all of my time i only met 2 who were worth a damn. The others literally sucked the lifeblood and moral out of a unit. I despise all of them and as far as I am concerned every service would be so much better without that useless trash. I could go on for days telling you of my personal experiences with these legends in their own mind. Every one of them can go to hell.
Hey how can a fat NCO with or without a p3 profile pass the hgt/wgt standard, apft, nco board with a da photo? I could never understand that!!! Most are black NCO?
Amen,Top. Their job was the training and welfare of the troops and could do neither.
Lead us 1SG
I had the same experience with CSMs. Wasted position and completely pointless for the most part. The good ones are rare, but they keep a finger on the pulse of the unit, call the BC out on his bullshit, and pass on their wealth of knowledge to the enlisted. Unfortunately, most of them are a complete waste of a uniform and a constant 'yes man'. I retired in late 2022, from a frocked 1SG slot in an HHC armor battalion (which is akin to hell for an infantryman). Had 12 years of deployments, 57 months of it in actual combat zones to include the initial invasion of Iraq.
Number one reason I retired? Because of the senior command teams (think battalion and above). Always knew that the 2008 drawdown would come back to bite us in the butt, kicking out all the leaders who asked the hard questions or pushed back against stupidity. What we have now is a bunch of weak willed 'parrots' for the most part as CSMs and Battalion/Brigade commanders.
They've been so micromanaged they can't function without regurgitating whatever someone higher tells them. Which is dangerous because they don't know the regulations and standards and have no inclination to learn them. I originally wanted to do 24 years, one more tour, maybe off the line and back in an instructor spot (my first one ended around the two year mark because HRC needed PSGs for line companies again, my third). But when I walked in an caught the BC, CSM, and XO forging T&EOs because they cancelled training so they could have a two week PowerPoint presentation on how diversity was our strength and didn't want to lose their NTC rotation I was done.
Dropped my retirement paperwork two days later and then fought them as they tried to stall and delay it for almost six months. Even got to the point where I had to file a congressional just to get my paperwork sent to HRC because they didn't want to do their job and violated due process.
Those who berate and demotivate instead of building are letting their personal insecurities take charge.
"You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the CSM"
Sooooooooooo true! (Good one!).
😂
I actually laughed out loud, which is rare. 🤣
Legendary comment lol! Hell drop a rank or two and u see a lot of turds who never deployed but went to every school slot they could weasel into; the guard and reserves are the worst for that shit
@brentamerud2413 Yeah, I am the result of that environment. I was 11B in the guard and constantly passed over for schools and even screwed over for promotion while I was deployed. The state said "woopsie, looks like we accidentally promoted all the folks back home". I gave the middle finger after my voluntold deployment and never looked back.
These a-holes got Bronze Stars in Iraq just for stopping soldiers at the dfac for not wearing their p.t. belt 🙄
THIS IS VERY TRUE.
Not only that also a CAB and they never went out the wire or even saw combat during deployment. We the lower enlisted saw it all and never got a single award or medal CAB . Our DD-214 stayed the same. Them pencil pushers went overseas for a vacation.
@@springof-wf8vyDamn.
@@springof-wf8vy you got that right.
@@handsomeheathen4739 OTOH, they didn't have to worry about cutting themselves on a C-rat can anymore.
Too many E-9’s in the Army. Half the jobs done by CSM’s used to be done by E-8 Master Sergeants. An actual E-9 used to be a unicorn.
one in follow on training, the base E-9 said to us on a friday "allright guys, don't get too drunk out there in town this weekend". The E-6s training us were good men, and they filed a formal complaint. No senior sergeant should have ever said that to 19 year olds. Lots of "wat trash" become E-9s
The proliferation of promotions to senior ranks played a major role in the demoralization and disillusionment of warriors in House Corrino's _Imperial Sardaukar._ If you can't believe in the exclusive purity and untouchable experience of your superiors, they become no different from athletes given participation trophies and the elected politicians appointed by the Elite out of pure nepotism. You have to KNOW, in your bones, that they fought and clawed their way to the top because they're the BEST...not the most convenient for civie bureaucrats and their dogs.
@@decimated550
The problem is?
@@decimated550 Bruh you gotta be a troll lol
@@andrewyoung8550 young dudes are gonna drink, and some will get in trouble. Been there done that. But senior enlisted leadership should never joke or seem to condone it. the guy was trying to be cool around younger people but it was like a priest saying "hey good luck on getting pussy tonight".
As a retired senior officer, I think your video is spot on. In my entire time in the service, there was only one CSM that I encountered who was a real Soldier’s Soldier.
Maybe all the bad one's clique up and politic the good ones out of position
I'm going to ask this throughout the comment section, and this will be a long comment, but as I'm seeing the same thing pop up, 'too many E-9's' and many of you are former military yourselves (I am not as I did not pass basic) how many would agree that maybe E-9's should be taken from the ranks and....essentially turned into a 'farewell' rank.
I've heard these arguments myself as my father was Air Force and grandfather was Navy, lived in Millington, TN for many year and have always heard something like this....also....heard many service personnel complain about the ASVAB, 'It needs revamping or removing' sort of thing, that only 'NOW' top brass is taking seriously for the same reasons the lower to mid enlisted and commissioned said would happen, "it'll cost us valuable people" that (not word for word) "a low score on a similar civilian test can get you to be a nuclear physicist, but the same score on the ASVAB can only get you a job as a floor sweeper in the military" again, not 'word for word' but it seems that the powers that be in the military are only 'NOW' taking it seriously after decades of being warned- Anyways, back on the topic and the point I was trying to make.
Basically, reaching E-9 should be made into a 'farewell rank' or a 'transitional' one where the individual signs a contract to be E-9, divided up into three phases for the three different versions, and is basically a course onto either warrant or commissioned....or is simply told, "thank you for your time, you are now a Master (sergeant or Chef whatever branch the person is in, you've mastered all that is to being enlisted....now leave" and is given wither W-1 or O-1 as a 'reward.'
I've listened to many military, former and current, and it seems that, though these are multiple conversations spread out, one of the complaints is all the same, CSM's and the other E-9 variants stay a little bit longer then they should. Perhaps having ranks as....I suppose you could call them 'phases' become the contracts instead, E-1 through, lets say, E-5 is your first contract, and when it is up, you agree to be an 'apprentice' of sorts for the next rank phase. There is a reason for this.
Many people and even nations are investing heavily into longevity and age reversal research, someday, someone, somewhere is going to have a breakthrough, we can't have someone stay biologically in their 20's and stay an E-7 or even CSM for one hundred fucking years.
I got this idea as I'm an author of a short book with other projects in the works, two of my projects I'm working on actually deals with this subject, while listening to all those current and former military people I began to formed this idea for a story where there was a breakthrough and the military was forced to make this system, because again, you can't have someone stay biologically in their 20's, physically lets say '200' years of age, and stay an E-7 or even CSM that I realized that in the real world, longevity in both life and youth would be devastating for the military and not just civilian life.
And even though the Army has, as one commenter has pointed out, "the Army alone has 42 four star generals" and another mentioned, "the military is too top heavy" these are people who are in positions that would be able to afford longevity research and procedures in its early beginnings, stay far too long, and force people who can't to leave, and my fear is that we'll be stuck with those people, who may be 'physically' and 'biologically' young....uh, 'again' to fight when war happens, but are in the positions where they don't want to, we can't have that.
So, I've thought of this 'phase' initiative, I'm still developing this idea, but need as much feed back as possible, as all research dealing with longevity has not had that break through, I think we're in a good spot where we can still experiment with how to deal with the possibility of, each rank section is it's own contract, for example E-1 through E-3 is one phase, where basically it's extended training, and could be all guard or reserves instead of that 'four years then two years reserves or guard' that I've also heard complaints about and how it should be in reverse, but anyways then E-4 through E-6 is the second and each variant, like E-7 having 'two' different versions, is now their own individual ranks instead, and each 'phase officer' is the replacement for warrant officer (even though the Air Force got rid of theirs, but 'semantics') and the last 'phase' are the E-9's and it is a transition into the commissioned ranks, or a 'farewell' rank and more 'honorary' title then anything, and even if those who keep signing don't want to be commissioned....well, biologically speaking in this hypothetical....they still have the other branches.
As for top heavy when it comes to Admirals and Generals....again, one day there will be a breakthrough in all thing longevity research, and this is still a developing idea, I failed basic, so....I don't have any suggestions on that as of right now....I mean, it would be possible to serve one or more hundred years in this hypothetical but either way I'm just looking for different opinions of this 'phase officer' idea.
@@Routetherapy10 As far as I can tell, this is more or less true. I've been told that in USMC, Sgts Major of subordinate commands have to come to Parade Rest to speak to a Sgt Major of their superior command. For men of the same rank, this is a bizarre practice to me. So far as anybody can tell, this is entirely an E-9 cultural thing that just kinda happens?
Shout out to Sgt Major Downing, a Marine's Marine.
We joined the Infantry to be soldiers warroirs men, and what we got was being treated like Boy Scouts.
Nah I was a boy scout. Yall get treated waaaay worse 😂
Yeah was both a Boy Scout and currently in the infantry Boy Scouts get treated better
Good one. Reminds me of a joke from back in the day about the difference between being in the Army and being in the scouts.
I was a scouter in the 80s and treated my scouts more like men than I was treated in the service. I made sure the patrol leaders and Senior patrol leader knew what they were doing, and had those two positions doing most of the teaching. The idea was "Never do for a boy what he can do for himself." That included the tasks leadership should take on.
Boy scouts on a good day, More like junior highers in a juvenile detention center.
I can almost guarantee you that the types saying "boohoo in the 80s we sucked it up" were also the 1-2 year contractors
The military is an 8 year commitment regardless of how it's broken down.
They think the Army is still the same as it was back then. It aint!
@@JCLoud-ix9jjthere logic also makes no sense. Just because something was a certaint way in the past doesn't mean it has to stay tht way. Women couldn't vote, we had slaves. We changed that. Just because something is doesn't mean it should stay.
@ramonarudisuli9172 to be fair, certain things shouldn't have changed
@@TheHaydena76 yeah, i can admit that. But this should.
I was forced into being a E5 even though I was leaving the army in less than 3 months. I ended up using those 3 months as an E5 to help train some E4s to be a good NCO as well as making my top's job a living hell by going out of the way to make sure my joes where well cared for and actually given the mental and physical appointments they needed
Sounds like cap. Nobody forces you into a promotion and your only option in that scenario would be to reenlist if you wanted to go to PLDC (don't know what they call it now) if you're already E-4P. They can't just give you E-5. It would have been more believable (but still not) if they forced you to Corporal. Less than 3 months and forcing you to E-5 to train non-NCOs to be good NCOs? Come on bro. Maybe in Bizarro's Army, not in the US Army. 🤣
Right isn't that just being a team lead tell the privates where to be when be there and what to have squad leader makes sure it's done to standard and platoon sgt tells the squad leader the commander and first sgt's intent and how their platoon will implement the plan.
@@Murderface666 Depends on the time and circumstances. My squad leader back in 2012 told me I was going to the board and gave me the NCO board book. Since I was coo with him and was getting out, I threw it back and was like naw. They made a bunch of other dudes go to the Board and they all got promoted. I had about ehh maybe like 5 month left in. You needed no WLC or SSD 1 to get promoted and the points were literally like 10 or some crazy number. all those dudes in my company who got promoted ended up doing the crap work since they were the lowest e5s and my unit went to Kuwait literally less than a year and a half after we came back from Afghanistan. They also held my old team leader over so he had to ETS from Kuwait and do all of his Taps stuff there. We literally took our 30 day leave after Afghanistan and then went on a year long training like 3-4 weeks on, 3-4 weeks off, Field problems, gunnery, NTC etc. They cant physically force you but they can sure as hell persuade you...or at least they used to. It wasnt like people were gonna go to IG or legal then because nobody was gonna help their case much. Tho I do with I went to the board, cause I came back in the reserves and everything was mess up and I needed all that stuff, WLC and SSD and it was jacked because I basically let it expire. lol Ass for training them to good NCOs in three months, you never know. If it was like our training that would of literally been like 2 Months in the field with the guys for sure, he could of went to the board right before.
@Murderface666 this hapened around 2014-2015. Alot of E4s were forced into being an E5 then sent to WLC because the Army wasnt promoting enough people. If you had points you were now an E5
@@kenwes6560 Really? That problem was supposed to be resolved in 2001 when I was in when they said "if you can't find a reason to NOT send an E-4 to the E-5 Board, you can't deny them," because prior to that we had a lot of discrimination and favoritism, which in turn stagnated career progression as E-4s were beginning to out number the lower ranks. Then there was the "E-4 Lifer" who wanted to act like a leader, but didn't want the responsibility that came with the rank. Had a guy in my platoon who had 12 years of service as an E-4. He was a whiny punk cheese d**k, always brown nosing.
"They don't make them like they used to"
Well, if you have chevrons, you're the one who's responsible for making them.
Exactly
I'm using my wife's tablet. I have found that rank affects hearing. The more rank they get they get, the less they listen.
When I was in Saudi Arabia for Desert Shield, we in the line for chow. A CSM showed up and started yelling at us. I guess we were to close together and he had us spread out. We were a couple of hundred meters spread out. When everyone was through eating, the same CSM called everyone together, in one big formation, and proceeded to yell at us. After 5 minutes I gave listening to him. He kept us there about 30 minutes. I guess if you are in a chow line, the enemy can shoot you, but they can't shoot you if you are in a formation.
See, when you go to real war, it will be too dangerous for this garbage.
In the kunar, there was no brass.
And if there were, they'd have gotten fu ked up trying to correct some boots.
Article 15?
CSM...I demand a Court Martial.
It got me out of a BS ART 15. Bitches all of them; retired 1SG 😂
I don't want to get into the details, but two toxic commands caused me to attempt to commit blah blah blah back in 2009, just 6 months after my deployment. The Army seems unwilling to admit that the conduct of their NCOs can cause PTSD. The infantry is a cult. Infantrymen have a completely different experience from POGs.
I relate on that man, glad you came out of it on the other end - and continue to prosper!!
If they admitted it, our enemies would use that against us..at least, I think so
@@warcat2469 We cant answer evil in the world if we become the evil in the world. The Army should always strive to create men and women of high moral character. I cant see how that can be accomplished if we dont take some time to recognize and address policy. We cant treat people like crap until they reach their utter breaking points.
The Army uses phrases like "mission readiness," and "good order and discipline" to get away with some atrocious "smoke sessions" which wouldn't be tolerated in any other job in the entire United States. Smoke sessions are a form of government sanctioned torture. To be clear, I do make a distinction between "corrective action" which are designed to teach junior soldiers right from wrong, and are measured and appropriate for the given infraction, but "smoke sessions" can be truly sadistic, humiliating, not restorative in nature, not educational in nature, and not measured, sometimes lasting in excess of 2 hours for minor infractions.
Did you flash your stress card? Did you write your congressman? I know what the real problem is. You signed up for the Infantry. Of course its going to be different from POGs. They aren't required nor expected to be face to face against a force that wants you dead. The problem is, you were pampered by your parents, getting you way all the time and not getting yelled at when you messed up. You had one of those new-age parents that spared the rod when you acted out. So what's really happening is you couldn't take being held accountable for your actions. When I was in, I was chewed out plenty of times. But I took it with a grain of salt, corrected what needed correction and kept it pushing. Your type on the otherhand wants to be coddled and read bedtime stories. You didn't notice that the Infantry is full of southern boys? Physical discipline is alive and well, which is why they can handle stress better than suburbanites. And it's the Infantry! The job is a stressor in of itself!
Im not in the military but demoting someone for messing up in a field mission? Isn't that the bloody point of practicing is so you don't mess it up for real
now now, here you go using the most unlawful thing in the military - logic. cant be doing that now can we, that would be most... logical ;) tbh mmost field trainings isnt fieldtrainings. It is a show, a spectacle for brownnosing leaders to show off how perfect they are, so no one can go and do things like, mistakes to learn from. Or trial and error with constructive feedback. Forget all that, its just a scripted show. The most famous example is how well Russia did their big training events, everything went perfect. Bc it was scripted like that, no one dared to deviate from the manuscript. and thus they didnt learn what their weaknesses were.
No Field exercises are just a wank fest for the officers and the brass. You learn next to nothing that couldn't be taught in a few hours vs a few weeks
You’re speaking too much sense
Too much logic, that's illegal in Army
depends...how bad did you fuck up? were you in charge of a team and you made a fucking retarded call that ended up with a real world casualty? did you ND a round? when in units with certain SOPs having one in the chamber can cause issues at the wrong time, if you were supposed to be locked and cleared.
In the Navy, we had a lot of Army veterans. When pushing boots, Army veterans would answer the question on their record "Reason for joining the Navy" With "To get the fu&k out of the Army!" Every time we Sailors bitched at the BS we had in the Navy, Army veterans would respond "Hold my beer! You haven't seen fu$ked up until you have been in the Army!"
Oh lord, I didn’t know the navy was better 😂. Good to know
@@zesc1996 I would say less bad. Like I said, we complain and Army vets say we ha experienced how bad it can be. One Army veteran, in response to us rolling our eyes responded "I know you guys here in the Navy have a hard time believing bushings can be worse! Trust me! It can and it does!"
I was thinking about how no one I know who had been in the navy, never talked about their training experiences. It’s almost like navy basic is big boy school.
@@robbentodd6824 Navy Basic is now the softest. It used to be the Air Force but during the GWOT, the Air Force realized they not only needed to train their people to fix planes by day but also prevent the bad guys from breaking them by night so Air Force Basic has become more Army like
@@robbentodd6824 I was an RCC (Navy version of DI / DS) I ended up getting relieved of duty for being too tough on my recruits. Nothing out of the ordinary"Full metal jacket" Just ran my Recruit Company's like Navy Diver training and the Recruits appeared to eat it like candy
We had to deal with two (2) different toxic CSM's. One asked a new E-3 to our Troop if the PFC knew what CSM stood for, PFC replied " Well, Major Winston told us it means Cant Say Much." CSM's faced turned red and left, we all had a great laugh.
The second toxic CSM , like too many very Senior NCO's not only thought he had Command but also thought he was CSM Plumley ( from We Were Soldiers) but ran up against a Captain that was a former enlisted man ( O3-E). The Captain was giving a safety talk to the Troop when Division CSM runs up screaming " Get inside the building right now! Right now, you a**holes are late! Get inside now!" Two PFC's started to bolt when O3-E orders them to stop & return, the Privates say " But Sir, its the Sergeant Major!" The 03-E says " I dont care, a Captain ooutranks a CSM any day of the week and twice on Sunday,! Stay put till I release you, this is MY Troop, not his, do you understand?" The whole Troop replied " YES, SIR!" That CSM, in front of the whole Troop then proceeds to ORDER our Captain to take is into the Range, Cap says " Sergeant Major, Command is just your rank title, you have no command authority over me nor my troops your just the senior enlisted advisor to Division, now that you have interrupted me I will start my safety talk again." Ignored this CSZm and continued with safety briefing! Afterwards the CSM was caught in a lie, he told the Division Commander (a two star jerk himself) that the 03-E had cussed him out & for no reason and appeared drunk on duty! I will say this, the entire Troop , during the investigation stood up for The Captain! We found out later that the CSM had to apologize to him but ya know what...NOTHING happened to the CSM for lying. Even though found innocent, it hurt our Captain in Promotion and being on his record it followed him. Good guy our Captain was, he always took care of The Troop!
Lmaoo mustangs always got balls compared to regular officers, props to that capt
I hate army investigations kills whole career on false allegations. I've seen to many.
Great video! Former Sergeant here from the U.S.M.C. infantry. One of the greatest shocks to me when I arrived in the FMF was the rapid degradation of my perception of senior enlisted personnel, mostly First Sergeants and Sergeants Major. They just seemed silly to me after a while due to their constant, overbearing focus on matters that seemed mostly insignificant. A Regimental Sergeant Major would take a microphone after a presentation by the command and harp about a little bit of trash or whatnot in the parking lot or somewhere. Most of these guys were former drill instructors, and it seems like their brains could never leave Parris Island or San Diego, treating us like recruits all over again. And most, but not all to be fair, were some of the stupidest people you ever met. By the end of your enlistment, you figured out that these people just kept reenlisting because they really didn't have a lot of prospects outside of the military, and, like a labor union, they automatically get promoted and receive privileges if they stay in long enough. I could write a book about the dumb things these guys said. The absolute worst ones were the non-infantry First Sergeants and Sergeants Major who crossed over into the infantry, probably for some career advancement opportunities. These guys didn't have a clue when it came to tactics and would do the dumbest things during field training, but the battle hardened squad leader couldn't say a thing to correct the situation without fear of getting a Page 11 or NJP. It was honestly dangerous to put these guys here.
With all of this topic in mind, you should consider doing a video on the antiquated rank structure that the U.S. keeps dragging along which continues to segregate our social classes. Officers and enlisted is just another way of separating those of privilege from the working class and poor, and it's time for a reformation. It's hard to believe that this doesn't come up in all the discussions about equality and inclusion, because officers come from families who can afford college or from daddies who have connections to get them into West Point or the Naval Academy. Middle and poor class folks have to start at the bottom-most rung of the ladder, but can't easily rise to command. I've known some smart enlisted guys who left because they couldn't take the garbage the senior enlisted were force feeding them, nor would they want to come back years later after having attending college. The excuse to keep this rank structure is that the enlisted are the technical experts and the officers are the strategists. But why can't more of the "technical experts" have a more direct path to command when there's real potential and some of the command be placed down in the technical positions when there's not so much potential? Modern businesses don't work this way, which may be one of the reasons young adults are less interested in the military today. There's a better path to success in the private sector than in the military. It's time to talk about restructuring this.
Yes, we share the similar thoughts. I'm a former Corporal in USMC infantry back in 80s, and they should do away with enlisted and officer rank system, it's an old British class system that's way out dated. Most ridiculous thing, when you walk pass an officer, you'll have to stop besides him, salute, and say, "by your leave, sir", then he'll salute back and say, granted. I don't know if it's practiced today, but that was a total BS, haha
In all of my army time I could never figure out why we except having a person with no knowledge be in charge of a dangerous task. I was an Infantry SFC with 18 years when I went to OCS after 911. I come back from Armor Officer basic and suddenly I am perceived as a wet behind the ears 2LT that needs help finding the center of a map. It is the culture and it should be changed.
I'm going to ask this throughout the comment section, and this will be a long comment, but as I'm seeing the same thing pop up, 'too many E-9's' and many of you are former military yourselves (I am not as I did not pass basic) how many would agree that maybe E-9's should be taken from the ranks and....essentially turned into a 'farewell' rank.
I've heard these arguments myself as my father was Air Force and grandfather was Navy, lived in Millington, TN for many year and have always heard something like this....also....heard many service personnel complain about the ASVAB, 'It needs revamping or removing' sort of thing, that only 'NOW' top brass is taking seriously for the same reasons the lower to mid enlisted and commissioned said would happen, "it'll cost us valuable people" that (not word for word) "a low score on a similar civilian test can get you to be a nuclear physicist, but the same score on the ASVAB can only get you a job as a floor sweeper in the military" again, not 'word for word' but it seems that the powers that be in the military are only 'NOW' taking it seriously after decades of being warned- Anyways, back on the topic and the point I was trying to make.
Basically, reaching E-9 should be made into a 'farewell rank' or a 'transitional' one where the individual signs a contract to be E-9, divided up into three phases for the three different versions, and is basically a course onto either warrant or commissioned....or is simply told, "thank you for your time, you are now a Master (sergeant or Chef whatever branch the person is in, you've mastered all that is to being enlisted....now leave" and is given wither W-1 or O-1 as a 'reward.'
I've listened to many military, former and current, and it seems that, though these are multiple conversations spread out, one of the complaints is all the same, CSM's and the other E-9 variants stay a little bit longer then they should. Perhaps having ranks as....I suppose you could call them 'phases' become the contracts instead, E-1 through, lets say, E-5 is your first contract, and when it is up, you agree to be an 'apprentice' of sorts for the next rank phase. There is a reason for this.
Many people and even nations are investing heavily into longevity and age reversal research, someday, someone, somewhere is going to have a breakthrough, we can't have someone stay biologically in their 20's and stay an E-7 or even CSM for one hundred fucking years.
I got this idea as I'm an author of a short book with other projects in the works, two of my projects I'm working on actually deals with this subject, while listening to all those current and former military people I began to formed this idea for a story where there was a breakthrough and the military was forced to make this system, because again, you can't have someone stay biologically in their 20's, physically lets say '200' years of age, and stay an E-7 or even CSM that I realized that in the real world, longevity in both life and youth would be devastating for the military and not just civilian life.
And even though the Army has, as one commenter has pointed out, "the Army alone has 42 four star generals" and another mentioned, "the military is too top heavy" these are people who are in positions that would be able to afford longevity research and procedures in its early beginnings, stay far too long, and force people who can't to leave, and my fear is that we'll be stuck with those people, who may be 'physically' and 'biologically' young....uh, 'again' to fight when war happens, but are in the positions where they don't want to, we can't have that.
So, I've thought of this 'phase' initiative, I'm still developing this idea, but need as much feed back as possible, as all research dealing with longevity has not had that break through, I think we're in a good spot where we can still experiment with how to deal with the possibility of, each rank section is it's own contract, for example E-1 through E-3 is one phase, where basically it's extended training, and could be all guard or reserves instead of that 'four years then two years reserves or guard' that I've also heard complaints about and how it should be in reverse, but anyways then E-4 through E-6 is the second and each variant, like E-7 having 'two' different versions, is now their own individual ranks instead, and each 'phase officer' is the replacement for warrant officer (even though the Air Force got rid of theirs, but 'semantics') and the last 'phase' are the E-9's and it is a transition into the commissioned ranks, or a 'farewell' rank and more 'honorary' title then anything, and even if those who keep signing don't want to be commissioned....well, biologically speaking in this hypothetical....they still have the other branches.
As for top heavy when it comes to Admirals and Generals....again, one day there will be a breakthrough in all thing longevity research, and this is still a developing idea, I failed basic, so....I don't have any suggestions on that as of right now....I mean, it would be possible to serve one or more hundred years in this hypothetical but either way I'm just looking for different opinions of this 'phase officer' idea.
I watched a platoon sergeant do an inspection, and smoke his platoon the day after one of our guys died in a training accident. The GWOT conditioned these people into sociopathy after fighting a war that meant absolutely nothing. Mental illness is the cause and cancer of this. It's not normal to get upset over a hat or some grass.
Bro when I went to Wales with 10th Mtn to train with 1 Rifles, it was so wild to see them walking around, kinda wearing their uniforms however they wanted, hat or no hat, no big deal, talking to each other (to NCOs and officers) like they were real human beings and not little bitches. I was like, oh, you can be a good soldier and still a real person 😅
@@jacobpitts6846 Marine here, I had a similar experience. I was in Australia for almost a year on MRF-D, and the moral and quality of life difference between them and us was just... night and day. I remember when I 'belted up' I spray painted my old mcmap belt some stupid color as a joke. Didn't wear it or anything. It's like a 2 dollar made in China web belt I bought from the px. I was berated for an hour, blasted, and written up with a negative counseling for 'destruction of government property.' When I told the Aussies this they were lost for words.
They wore their uniforms basically however they wanted, their officers were the boss, but still a person that put on his pants the same way as everyone else. Their barracks were more like apartments, and they were pretty much allowed to stay in the military as long as they wanted at any given rank without being forced to promote. Hell, one of their corporals I worked with had been that rank for 10 years.
Our PT was death runs almost every day at 5 in the morning. We were the only ones up on Robertson Barracks. They didn't PT until 0730, which is the time we went to the shop. They were very focused on smart recovery and preventing injury. There was no stigma around going to physical therapy or getting time off PT to recover. They sometimes asked us what our PT was like back stateside. Death runs up and down the ridges at Camp Pendleton, that's it. That's literally all we ever did.
@@raymoncism bro exactly my experience working with every other nation. I worked with Poles, Germans, Brits, Aussies, French, Afghans, you name it, and all the other western nations just didn’t have themselves all wrapped up in some bullshit culture like we did. They were still (aside from the afghans for obvious reasons) were all outstanding soldiers and a delight to learn from, especially the Brits.
And it’s weird because when you have that culture of respectful professionalism, you can actually do some stuff the American army can’t do anymore because we took it too far. Hard to explain, but the Brits described to me “giving someone the bullocks” where if a soldier was being a problem his NCO might take him out in the woodblock and beat his ass a little. But it was only for serious offenses, wasn’t serious or deprived, and every other hour of the day they were allowed to behave as grown men.
The American army (and I’m assuming marines) couldn’t let it stop there, hazing was so bad in the early war on terror and the 90s that they had to go full clean sweep and purge it from the army because people were getting tortured, forced alcohol poisoning, raped, etc and it was costing the force hundreds of troops. The culture is just so fucking broken and our “discipline” is based on disrespecting people as human beings and acting absolutely shitty and deprived to your subordinates.
What would you have rather him done? Let you sit around and cry so you could feel sorry for yourselves? People die. It's what people do. A leader has to keep guys moving and busy. Your PSG was not getting upset over grass or a hat. He was mad because of loss of focus, and lack of attention to detail which might well have been the thing that contributed to the death of one of his people.
@@The2ndFirst Time and place, that wasn’t the time, nor the place. There’s a difference between smoking someone that’s completely jacked up, and being unconventionally cruel for no reason. Especially in garrison at the motor pool. Anyone from the outside looking in sees it for what it is. They’re conditioned, mentally ill sociopaths. Visibly unwell. Seek therapy or talk to your battle, brother.
“They have blood on their hands, and it’s not the enemies”
The most powerful and profound line in this video. I wonder how many soldier suicide would be avoided, if the things in this video were implemented?
This exchanged happened at Ft Rucker in 2008, outside the PX and was when my 2nd LT brain realized the Warrent officer was CSM kryptonite...
CW4 walks out of PX, carrying a box, without his cover on.
CSM: Hey chief! Where is ur cover?!
CW4: in my pocket sarge.
CSM: why aint it on ur head chief!?!?!?!
CW4: because i cant fit my head in my pocket sgt major.
CW4 calmly walks by the baffled and furious CSM.
Me and my other 2lt bud walkwd quickly to our car to avoid being put in the middle. We laughed our asses off the entire way home.
When i was deployed, most CSMs HATED aviators and worked to make our lives as impractical as possible.
Okay that cracked me up lmao! If only I could've used that one
Maybe I got the only practical senior NCOs in the Army but I never got chewed out for not having my cover on if my hands were occupied by a box as long as it went on as soon as we put the box down.
The real Kryptonite to all senior enlisted were National Guard Warrant Aviators..... almost untouchable on deployments. Zero shits to give, no career or retirement to threaten and can honestly claim ignorance in most situations.
I’ve always hated SGMs. PT belt police. Nothing more, nothing less.
@@KGSpradleyAuthor you ain't wrong. I truly belive a good chunk of CSMs have blood on their hands from driving lower enlisted to un-aliving themselves. If the Army wants to fix recruitment, fix the CSM problem.
Generation Kill got the CSM issue spot on, btw. That show nailed it.
Young LT here, thanks for these videos they genuinely help me get a good understanding of my junior enlisted solders.
Exactly, a college degree actually means nothing in the military for him or her or to be an officer. Doesn't deserve respect, etc.
I love hearing stories from smaller military creators. It feels a lot more down to earth when it isn't some guy with 1 or 2 million subscribers. Keep up the good work.
Everyone with a brain either leaves within 10 years or gets a cooler/cushier job as far away from the normal army experience as possible.
That’s right
“Dont forget where you came from” is the biggest take from this if anything else and it goes both ways remember we all started getting yelled at by a drill sergeant…
It been over 50 years since I was an E-5 but I see nothing has really changed. Keeping your locker squared away and making sure your uniform didn’t have a loose thread is what was going to save my life. Instead of believing your troops will do the right thing the CSM treats you like you’re an idiot and you will always be an idiot. All the classes, all that PT, all the right assignments will not make you a LEADER. Too bad Army leadership never watches these videos. Times have changed but the CSMs never will change-they love TRADITION.
Ngl when I was in AIT I got treated nicely by my drills and respected more than my own parents. I personally never seen any shit leadership with my time in, I just shut up, did what I was told and didn’t complain. Was actually good friends with my DS and talk about sports and I got privileges in TRADOC that many of the DS didn’t worry about cause I wasn’t a shit bag, IE, battle buddy system and food in my barracks. (Was in fort Greg adams ordinance island. It was nice.
The commissioned leadership is no better these days.
@@Richard-e5m You’re very right too many officers allow the junior enlisted to be abused and then hide under - “it’s NCO business “.
Part of the problem of senior leaders treating everyone like idiots is unchecked selection bias. They have to deal disproportionately with idiots and if they don't have the ability to control for that bias in their thoughts they will treat everyone like idiots.
Most CSM the greatest garrison commando, on base. talking about going to war! when you go over there, most they go, will never leave the FOB . It’s easy to talk tuff . wear itis safe at home station or no one to try to take your life . they stress about crap like grass. when you get over there, you never see them. they get the bronze have an infantry badge or combat action back
Article 15. The authority to impose non-judicial punishment under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) is reserved for commissioned officers, specifically those in command positions.
The only thing and NCO can do is "write you up." A decent CO will not be happy with an NCO that writes up their juniors for things that just waste time for the CO. What is being demonstrated is the SGM has little to do and is trying to make himself look indispensable. If the CO is watching, as he should be, he will clip the wings of the CSM when his behavior is counterproductive. While the SGM is playing the game, the real problem is the company grade officers that are blowing things off.
The real problem is we don't provide timely and appropriate feedback and regular counselling, not paperwork mind you, just good old fashioned guidance and direction. Instead, leadership lets problems fester, hoping they'll just 'resolve themselves,' and then, when the "non-issue" becomes apparent and unavoidable, they feel compelled to cast blame, because
/s/ in no way was it _leadership_ 's fault for failing to resolve the issue _before_ it came to a head. It can _only_ _ever_ be the failure of those under them who were ultimately affected. /s/
In a lot of instances, subordinates have even elevated potential issues in advance, only to be struck down by their superiors, then punished later when the issue manifests. Similarly, most units are led with a culture that deters innovation and free thought. You're punished for tying to improve the unit/make it function more efficiently. If you do that, you make it that much more challenging for those above you to "stay busy." They don't care about national defense, it's all one big game of middle-management for them. They just need to bide their time and check boxes, to hell with the mission!
@@redslate Alas, I can't disagree. You see the same problems in the civilian world. Professional management come to the military and it works as well in the military as it does in the business world.
When I was OOD (officer of the day) at Naval Station Adak, Alaska, I had a run-in with a Master Chief (E-9). Our primary mission was support of a forward deployed anti-submaine warfare P-3 squadron. At several Friday morning all officer meetings, our command executive officer (no. 2 behind our commanding officer) repeately reminded us that support of the squadron was our no. 1 job. So one evening when I was on watch as OOD, I got a call from the squadron watch officer. An ASW aircraft from a sister squadron had arrived late that evening after a very long mission. They were assigned quarters in enlisted barracks but they had no pillows, blankets or sheets, only bare mattrasses. Th😂e Master Chief had refused to oprn the store room so they could be issued. His "policy" (how I HATE that word!) was, no bedding issued after 1800, period. So I phoned the Master Chief, ordered him to issue the bedding and he flat out refused. So I drove over to enlisted barracks and confroned him in person and still he refused. Nothing I said would make him budge. I tried to locate the Comnand Duty Officer but couldn't find him. So I called the XO in quarters and related my problem to him. He took it from there. Needless to say, bedding was issued to those enlisted air crewmen. Every other senior enlisted I dealt with was fine, but that E-9 was a 24 karat gold a**hole.
It took me 14 years to figure out that most of the senior enlisted are the guys who stayed in because they had no other aspirations. They're the ones who went all in because they didn't have anything else to shoot for and they continued to fail upwards
I never made Chief in the Navy because I never mastered the art of having a massive temper tantrum over uniform infractions, dull brightwork, unwaxed decks. And dust floating on the water of a toilet
exactly why i never made e-7 in the army.
Navy Chiefs are the highest paid obese wastes of space in the armed forces.
My experience is of a junior officer from the Army was a long time ago but seems similar to today’s Army. I was commissioned in 1979 and had only one positive experience with a SGM/CSM and that was SGM Glenn Morrell before he went to Ranger School and then the 75th Rangers. He was our ROTC CSM. SGM Morrell was has hard as woodpecker lips but he was a damn good trainer and mentor for us ROTC cadets. I thought all senior NCOs were like him but they are not.
After I was commissioned I was assigned to the 1st Armored Division in Germany and my platoon sergeant was a Vietnam vet who took seriously his obligation to make me a better officer. SSG Donn Duke was my platoon sergeant and I was extremely fortunate to serve with him. But our CSM, I rarely saw him in my three years in the unit.
When I was a company commander I had two First Sergeants. One was adequate in garrison and not helpful in the field where we often had a “field first sergeant” because the Battalion and Brigade Sergeant Majors had different priorities, which were administrative, and those drove the First Sergeant’s priorities. My second First Sergeant was not helpful in either in garrison or the field and was foisted on me by the CSM.
But I think us commissioned officers contribute to the problems of CSM/SGM/1SG because we generally have only one opportunity to lead a platoon, command a company or a battalion and we can not afford any mistakes so we take on roles that rightfully belong to the NCOs just because we can’t fail. Thus we create our own problems. I saw this vividly as a Company Commander while on field training when our Division Commander came to our company. He found crew served weapons which had not been cleaned. Of course I said would take care of the issue and his reply was: no you won’t Captain! That is a NCO responsibility and then proceeded to chew out the Platoon Sergeant and the Squad Leader.
I left the Army after 12 years as a Major but took these lessons with me into the corporate world where I have tried to be more like SSG Duke and SGM Morrell.
Retired infantry officer here. In every unit I served, the CSM was an embarrassment to the unit. 1SGs have a role for sure, but battalion commanders with a staff don’t need a sidekick of questionable utility.
Retired enlisted Air Force. Questionable utility? I felt the same way about most Chief Master Sergeants. I met a few decent ones, but there were a whole lot more E-9's I crossed paths with. I knew a few before they got promoted. It's like they thought they were superheroes once they made E-9.
I would suggest reading “About Face” by Col David Hackworth. The Army Officer Corp above colonel is nothing but politicians and the same can be said about the senior enlisted corps. They’ve all long forgotten their roles as mentors, leaders and care givers of the junior troops. They care about themselves and themselves alone. I was in for 4 years in the early 90’s and was smart enough to figure that then. I can’t even imagine how bad it is now.
The late Richard NMI Marcinko US Navy O-5 ret spoke of this a few years ago. How the US Navy WW2 had around 40 admirals; total. In the late 1980s 1990s? 300!
I most strongly second your suggestion of reading “About Face” Colonel David Hackworth’s book. Commander Marcinko often addressed these problems too as you say in his books. AKC, USN (RET).
I was in for 9 years active in now I'm in the Guard. My short time in the Guard has been much more of a fun and productive that I had in the last 4 years active. Main things is that the focus is training and not caring about things that don't matter. In our company we have police, firefighters, our medics are EMTs, nurses and doctors. And the leadership respects that because they know that experience and knowledge matters.
We just got done with our annual training and all we did was train and shoot without extreme overreach and focus on things that didn't happen. For example, we shot slick 90 percent of the time and then only in kit when we had to so that we can focus on building our fundamentals. We had the guys who are in Law inforcement teach us how to use pistols. Now did these guys go to an Army pistol course...no but clearly they know more than anyone else. That's just one example of how thr leadership respect the subject matter experts and let them teach.
Also there was no people getting mad about language or jokes. A HUGE problem the modern military has os,the fact that everyone is afraid of getting reported and losing trust in everyone around you.
If you want to do an interview with me I gladly will because my Guard Company has given me so much support and good training that it's insane.
@@roythousand13 nah just spellcheck fucking me over lol
I retired from the Guard. I would far rather go to war with my Guard Infantry Battalion then any Active Duty Army unit.
@@wilsonle61 The best guys I ever served with was a group of National Guard officers in Afghanistan. They were hard working, intelligent, mentally and emotionally sane and stable adult men. Normal human beings. A lot of active duty Army officers range from being high strung to outright psychopaths. Not all, but a lot of them.
Army Reserve…best of both worlds!
The Guard is where the combat arms are. So depending on MOS, it may be your only choice. And, the Guard is just a different animal than the USAR. I prefer it, but your mileage may vary. Hooaa!
If you refuse to address and fix problems, you’re part of the problem.
Vicious cycle of “you should suffer because I suffered and I turned out fine”
If you relish in the idea of someone suffering unnecessarily- you are definitely *NOT* fine.
This isn’t just the army, I’ve experienced this in the trade- old guys that are being left behind and need to feel useful or important started beating down on the changes, they can’t compute that their time is up or things change.
“You only drive two hours to and from work after working 10, five days a week? I had to do that all the time and I’m fine!” No tf you’re not- if they don’t hate their wives, they’re divorced or never got married.
E-9s can ruin a unit in a heartbeat. All it takes is one E-9 in a unit talking smack and that unit is done for or the unit commander is the real target because the E-9 is jealous or insecure. People are so frightened of these people. A backstabbing E-9 can bad mouth an officer on bas (illegal as hell) and get away with it because no one will believe he or she would do that and basically create an insurrection in the unit. Egos are a huge issue when only one per cent of the entire enlisted force occupies that rank. I was in a unit like that and was I ever glad to leave. I lost all respect for that guy and senior enlisted in general. I spoke up but was told I was lying. Keep right on talking and forget what you are supposed to do.
I relieved a fired Dept Head and, in my letter to the CO detailing the status of the Dept, included a 1.0 eval for the E-9.
CO signed it and the E-9 lost his follow-on orders and had to retire early.
Backstabbing Senior NCOs can undermine even the best 1SGs and CSMs/SGMs and cause more havoc than a unit can survive
As you said there are good senior NCOs but they are so few its sad. I spent 32 yrs In the infantry. I have had some really crappy leaders from E6 up. But I spent most of my brain power trying to ignore the hardass wonder kids. I tried to learn from good NCOs I have had one good CSM in 32 yrs. And what is wrong with the bad ones is they are taught to be assholes while they are coming up through the ranks by their NCOs. It's a repeating cycle I was told by my worst CSM I was never going to see E8 because I was to attached to my platoon soldiers I cared to much for them. Can you believe it? I did make E8 though so piss on him
Thank you for the insight!
It sucks hearing that, because as Senior NCO's their basic sole responsibility is to motivate and mentor, but instead bring you down -
Case in point, "You will never be an E8," Glad you proved them wrong!!
What do you mean by hardass wonder kids?
@@wyatt4790 The wonder kids were always the NCO trying to prove something or impress someone. Instead of just doing their jobs. They were always looking for something to smoke a soldier for. I was raised up by good professionals who taught me "Mission First, Men Always"
@@gregkelly8014 ah ok. Yea I’m new to the infantry (PFC) but I’ve seen that there seems to always be a good mix of great leaders, then a mix of really bad ones. I’m sure it’s unit dependent though. Thanks for responding👍
I am a very recently retired MSG and you are not wrong in any way. My last assignment I was on DIV staff and every year I got to sit in when my DIV CSM met with the BDE and BDE CSMs. When thinking about the morale of the Division, it was clear as day why it was so bad. As a Senior NCO myself, it was disappointing, disgusting, and disheartening to hear the conversations from this group. It mirrored everything you are saying.
The late Col. Hackworth referred to them as "EPP's" Enlisted Perfumed Princes"
As a Senior Enlisted OLD Head I can't be more proud of what you have done. You have voiced the concerns even I fought until I became a senior NCO. Then I showed them all what good leadership looked like. My whole 28 year career was vbased on this simple phrase, "I TEACH WHAT RIGHT LOOKS LIKE". Because I know they can't stay under my leadership for ever. As they more forward with thier career in the military. I keep in touch now that I am retired. I see them progress. I am so proud I cry. Because I know what they have to face. They now know it's not the rank you hold it is the person you are. Good leadership can not be taught. It has to be inside you. Unfortunitly to many are destroying the corps pride of our military.
Yes, toxic leaders with low IQ’s will always use fear and intimidation tactics when they lack the ability to mentor men in their charge. I’m a retired 11H/11B and was raised by good NCO’s in the 80’s-90’s and it was when I went on recruiting duty that I saw the worst leaders in my life! How those people functioned before USAREC is beyond me! They’d send threats via email and would have us on the phone at 2200 nightly for no reason other than to waste time. Oddly enough, every crappy leader I’ve come across in my 26 years on Active Duty were non-Infantry/non-Combat Arms MOS holders. Every female Officer was usually a lesbian and seriously screwed in the head and seems to hate men and sadly, the 1SG just encouraged her abusive behavior that did a lot of damage and a couple NCO’s in the unit killed themselves as a direct result of constant threats and belittling. I did my best to shield the men (and one female Soldier at times) from this horrible leadership and they all knew the command was off the rails. In the Infantry we would pull aside an abusive/aggressive NCO that was needlessly grinding his men and always being hostile and have a chat with him as to why he’s doing this. When a bad leader is allowed to behave poorly it causes the So.diers to hate the Army and most will not re-enlist and then one of my men will have to fill a slot making our platoon or section work harder with less. Obviously it wasn’t for that reason alone, we were taught to get knee to knee with the Soldier during monthly counseling and ask the tough questions and make sure nothing is causing him anguish in his personal life. As NCO’s we have to consider that the young Soldier is basically alone now and he doesn’t have his support network he grew up with so he needs people he can trust to ask important questions with. We would also be there for each other if attacked or taken advantage of by someone or some civilian off base, I have some great stories on things we did while at Ft. Campbell. I’ve seen NCO’s who always wrote their own NCOER’s and did whatever they could to gain the next promotion and do as little work as possible which always amazed me at how childish people could be. And that’s before I get into ethnic “cliques” and how destructive they’ve been to the moral of a unit! For those Soldiers who were harassed and abused by shithead NCO’s, I apologize to you and I wish I could deal with that retard for you like an NCO should’ve done for you. Most POG Senior NCO’s are worthless when it comes to being a good NCO, they prefer to kiss ass to any Officer in their food chain and only rarely have a met a decent one. If our Army is going to continue down this road of ass kissing first and Soldiering second then we’re going to have something akin to the Democratic Party leadership.
i spent 4 years in the infantry as a 11c. i deployed to afghanistan and got hit by idf and had a pretty bad tbi. i had some other accidents that caused 3 minor tbi's as well. even after the rehabilitation unit i couldnt think clearly for the last two years i was in. i felt like i was trying to force thought through a thick haze. my ability to think didnt clear up until after i got out and was able to get rest. in your "the infantry is broken" video you suggested giving lower enlisted a way to recover from the high tempo life style. if i had been given that i wouldnt have had to medboard and could have stayed in as i did like my job even tho i hated most of my senior leaders.
with all that said in highsight almost every e7 and above i knew acted as if they had unhealed tbi's. because alot of their behavior seemed like something i would do when i wasnt able to think clearly. thats obviously not the only problem as a disturbing amount of them seemed to be in it just to feed their egos or knew they wouldnt be successful in a civi job. and i think the motivations for staying in that long more often then not are negative. because most of the rewards for long enlisted service are titles, awards and bragging rights. this filtering out all the soldiers who would stay in for patriotic reasons because they would have to work with mostly narcissists.
i also have a theory that the nature of the infantry causes brain damage even if your never deployed or in some sort of accident. because of lack of sleep, alcoholism, training with explosives, jumping out of planes, being bumped around in armored vehicles, all the rolling and just general rough shit you do daily give you constant small hits to the brain. theres also a culture against getting any kind of medical or mental help. and you never get rest so your brain doesnt heal until your out or after that long it just doesnt.
i think the mix of what seems to be institutionalized brain damage without anyway to address it and usually bad motivations to stay in has created a class of senior leaders that i wasnt motivated to go into the field with, much less combat.
there was a running joke i kept hearing in my unit that all the intelligence was in the lower ranks. i think that was true as the senior enlisted ranks are made up of old broken men who have lost their minds.
Recent research suggests that the blast waves from explosives and even some small arms can contribute to cumulative traumatic brain injury. While there are some limits on the use of heavy weapons such as recoilless rifles like the Gustav, this really should be extended to lighter weapons, and those exposed should be given adequate rest and time to recover.
@@RagingAura that makes sense. kinda like how football players get brain damage after enough small hits.
high angle hell baby! hope youre doing well fellow chuck
"Why is no one enlisting?"
Because there has been over 20 years of documented toxic work culture and work environment. The damage is too severe, and even if they started holding people accountable they won't be able to undo this trend. Heaven help them if they decide to do a draft too, because those draftees WON'T be silent and WON'T let the incompetent corruption be covered up.
I disagree it's the endless wars that have no purpose and all we do is lose.
@@Dread_Pirate_Homesteader Endless wars? The overwhelming majority of US military personnel did not take part in any of those endless wars. The US lost seven thousand personnel in twenty years of the War on Terror. U.S. KIA in six months of the Guadalcanal Campaign of 1942-1943 was approximately the same.
@@petebondurant58 yeah ....we been at war for 70 years
@@Dread_Pirate_Homesteader Again, the overwhelming majority of military personnel weren't anywhere near combat.
@petebondurant58 what does that have to do with America losing wars
There are three basic responsibilities of a 1SG or CSM. 1. Advise the commander on matters related to enlisted soldiers. 2. Provide positive leadership to enlisted soldiers to motivate them to remain in the Army and seek higher levels of responsibility and to ensure they are given opportunities to develop their skills either by schooling or by their duty assignments. 3. Enforce standards to improve safety and discipline. Some Senior Enlisted Leaders focus on minor things because they dont have enough big things to worry about or they like throwing their weight around. Thats why many become toxic leaders instaed of insprational ones.
4 resolve NCO problems, if they stray out of course help them back
As a retired SGM/ CSM, and after 30 years I never forgot who I worked for, the Commander and the Soldiers, in that order.
99.9% of what I spent my time doing was to do my best to ensure that the Commander, our boss, understood how his decisions effected the troops. Doing my best to monitor how he and his officers decisions affected safety, mission and morale of the troops.
It is unfortunate that many times troopers have little to no ideas what an effective CSM does behind the scenes. At Battalion level we’re talking about 800 Soldiers and I only wish I had the time to provide more mentoring. My job was to ensure that troops had the best 1SG’s, support staff and senior NCO’s available. Monitoring troop feedback to ensure they were getting the best leaders and attention available.
I am sorry that so many of you had negative experiences with your SGM’s. What we are taught and always reminded of from our leaders and in the SGM’s Academy is we’re only an effective fighting force if we understand our roles to complete the mission and support each other to the best of our abilities.
Beards...
All in all pretty good video. I think you struck a good balance acknowledging that there’s good and bad leaders. This is true at every rank, and at every level. Your most spot on point is taking the title of Command out of Command Sergeant Majors’. You’re not the first to say that.
Damn, you got this exactly right. I was in the Army National Guard in MN for 10 years and got out as a Staff Sergeant. I never met a CSM that ever meant a damn. They were always full of themselves and offered mind-numbing speeches and foolish threats. They were some of the worst NCOs I encountered. Fyi...I served under ACTING CSM Tim Walz and he was the worst CSM ever. When our unit was activated in the early 2000's and sent to Vincenza Italy, he was intoxicated every night and hungover every day. This was so much so that other senior NCOs had to do his job. And now he might end up as our VP. It will be very bad for the country if he does!
I retired 10 years ago. But even then E-9s tended to act like royalty - pompous as any field grade or general officer. From what I’ve heard it’s only gotten worse. While some were quite good leaders others were shit. Better to not even have a SGM or CSM. When I was enlisted in the 80’s many were still grounded in the realities of what the lower enlisted needed and made sure they got it. They would talk tough and were hard assed but they gave value for that. The pay, the mail, and the food was always on time and soldiers didn’t waste as much time eating cheese for some dumb ass officer.
One thing I learned from my 3 years in the Army (1968 - 1971) is that senior NCOs are expert at destroying morale.
We called them 'lifers' and 'lifers' they were.
They made my life miserable!
Maybe it's generational, but I remember our CSMs as being advocates for us, intervening when someone is being shafted, mentoring younger NCOs. I remember ONE crap CSM--who was relieved and transfered. Served 79-90 (medical retired)
that's what I remember.
I put a lot of the crap I experienced out of my head at this point.
However, I will say this much, the level of professionalism I experienced as a kid in military school from the staff there is unmatched to this day. We had WW2,Korea, and Vietnam era officers and senior enlisted mentoring us. The way they spoke and carried themselves was unparalleled compared to what I experienced since in the real Army with few exceptions. Even though we were just boys, they treated us in a way that inspired us to become men...As well as Soldiers for some of us.
Former 14J here (1995-98 active duty) Dude you nailed it. My last CSM was just this! He at one point had to be told to leave our Battery area by the Battery commander as he was always harassing the NCOs etc.
I was in a Brigade that had decent morale. Got a new CSM who hated smoking and soldiers who smoked. Two weeks later all smoking areas and butt cans in the whole brigade area are gone. Smokers have nowhere to put their butts so they chuck em on the ground or worse, in a storm drain where non-smokers are forced to pick up smokers butts every week during police call. CSM convinces commander to change leave/pass policy. New policy is more restrictive. This is a TRADOC unit. We don't deploy, no reason to have a 50 mile pass requirement. Two seemingly small changes drove at least one soldier to alcoholism, dumb ass kid got drunk and stole another soldier's car and rammed it into a light pole in the parking lot. Why? His girlfriend lives around 70 miles from post, and he can't go see her on weekends so he's depressed and earlier that day he had to clean the storm drain of all the disgusting smelling cigarette refuse with his bare hands and he don't even smoke. Damn thing smelled like a dip spit bottle that was left out in the sun. I think that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I ended up his new team leader and all I did despite pressure from my PSG was fast track his chapter paperwork as best I could so he could go back home to his girl. PSG wanted to know why I wasn't scuffing him up. I told him that it would serve no purpose other than to damage the reputation of the United States Army and the 16th Cavalry Regiment. He looks at me like I'm a space alien and says as a leader you have to maintain discipline. I ask him "isn't that what the Article 15 and chapter is for?" He says "yeah but that won't teach him anything". I say "we're kicking him out of the Army, whether or not he learns anything is not our problem anymore". He didn't have an answer to that. My three months as a team leader at the tail end of my contract were the best time I had in the Army. I was the guy in charge of the about to ETS and medboard section. There wasn't anything he could really do to any of us except make us a more persistent pain in his ass and he knew it so I got away with applying logic for three whole months. On top of that I went force on force against him in CCTT (tank simulator) training with a crippled gunner we had to help into the Gunner's seat and two privates who'd never done a gunnery before and knocked his tank out in a maneuver exercise. Meanwhile he'd forgotten how to correctly use his commander's independent thermal viewer. Another platoon needed a fourth crew to fill out their bravo section so I volunteered us since we were extras anyway. Great way to cap off my time in the Army since I went on terminal leave two weeks later.
16th CAV E Troop here. I was with them a while ago but probably the best unit I was in. Lots of family time and down time. Proves your point, a CSM can make all the difference in the experience.
I was in the Army 1972-1978 and only met one CSM and 1st Sgt that was worth a damn. The others were in the business of making life hard for us. Anytime they say, it's about taking care of the men ...lookout you are about to get screwed! As an E5 squad leader I was being deployed to Germany, I ask my platoon SGT for a 4-day pass so I could move my wife and belongings to SoCal. Refused was the reply, only answer was you are not going to get a 3 or 4-day pass. My mind changed right then regarding a career in the Army. I refused the E6 board 3 times after I arrived in Germany and got out, best decision I ever made.
Holy crap. I'm only 8 minutes into your video and this is, by far, the most truthful video about this aspect of the Army I have ever seen. All of this is true. I spent 21 years in the Regular Army and National Guard. I've watched senior leaders do horrible things. I personally never met an E-9 who gave a crap about any Soldier. I taught PLDC, WLC, BCNOC, ACNOC, ALC, and SLC. In ALL of those classes, the Army teaches you to take care of Soldiers. It's all in the regulations, over and over and over again. I have no idea why E-9s are the worst. But they are. I think it's because the good Soldiers all get out early. I spoke up too much and talked crap to all my leadership when they acted like idiots. The National Guard only has so many promotion slots for Active Duty. So I retired at only a SFC. You have to kiss a lot of butt or be related to someone to get the higher ranks in the Guard. Thank you for the videos. They are spot on.
Three videos in you have earned my sub and my full duration view attention.
An eye-opening video. In an age when the military cannot meet its recruitment goals, it is insane to have senior NCOs running off mid-range NCO or soldiers. But I am not surprised, in my 8 years as an officer in the Army and Army Reserve, I came to realize that once most officers got a star on their shoulder it started, they forgot about being a soldier and became a politician. Thus I am not surprised that apparently the same thing happens on the NCO side.
Also, I do not remember there being that many E-9s, especially CSMs and one ever interfering in a platoon or company activity was unheard of, maybe the urgency of the time killed a lot of BS.
I think that politicians using the military as a cultural experiment is ruining the military. All this CRT, DEI etc. has no place in the military, the military is there to simply defend the nation and kill our enemies when required, not worrying about proper pronouns, social promotion, etc. Based on my current knowledge what needs to happen is the pay needs to increase, no soldier's family should ever have to take food stamps to get by, soldiers need to be respected for the skill levels they have achieved, adequate on base barracks / housing in good condition should be mandatory for all soldiers, etc.
But I am also old schools, 12 weeks of maternity leave is unheard of in my life, even after leaving the army and working the oilfield as a drilling engineer, a few days or maybe a week was max. In my experience when you get perks it is generally a way around avoiding increasing your pay.
Respect and responsibility is a must in the military and civilian life. In the Reserves as combat engineers, I can never remember having troops do task for the sake of killing time. They were responsible to make sure that their equipment was ready to roll and most of our equipment was older than the men operating it. The average age of the soldiers was probably mid 40s, so constant repairs was the order of the day. But if they got it done and their area squared away, the Seargent's gave them a break till evening formation.
Lmfao seeing sergeant major gaskin gave me a cold shiver down my spine that man made our lives hell at carson😂😭
shit the 1-11 boys couldn’t say goodbye to him quicker
"Standards & Discipline"
Sgt Majors at Carson have a long history of making their lives Hell 😂
@@amadotoledo4559thank god he’s finally gone
If it makes you feel better, he made a polar plunge mandatory for all of 1-11, and told the dudes on undermanned details that they would do it either before or after their shifts. Word on the block is he proceeded to go into shock upon immersion and had to be pulled out like a little baby.
I'm a cook in the civilian world. Worked a decade in some of the best kitchens in this country. Don't have much ground to walk on but for what it's worth I run into and make fiends with a lot of vets. More than I can count. I think it has something to do with GI Bill and culinary school but I get ahead of myself. One thing I get a lot on smoke breaks between service is how some sous chefs got it out for us "I damn quit the army cause of shit like this" It was hard to put two and two together but wow, this sheds a light on it. Luckily, in the civilian world, especially in culinary, if you're good, you walk out find another kitchen before the day ends. At the end of the day though, we're just cooks. I hope the military figures this one out. Can't imagine deploying with leaders that actively work against you when your lives are on the line. Respect to yall. Thanks for ur service and all that shit. Haha
Rant:
'Being a former E-4 offered the dark side was one of the greatest jokes god played on "holier than thou First Sergeants". Also, a great sense of relief to every Soldier I've had since. Not in long enough to turn into a dick, but also in short enough to keep that naïve yet bold "I can do it better than you " mentality.
Having to read so much regulation only to vouch so I can vouch for my guys its burdensome and time consuming more so when so many senior leaders always fall back on "don't question senior NCOs, they know best".
However the look in a senior NCOs eyes when an officer pulls regulations to defend junior enlisted is right up there with a nice cold beer on a Friday night.
Now being in the middle grades I can say the best advice I got from my senior NCO trainer at OCS from was:
Don't forget you have as much as experience as any one of us working outside the military, use that. You had careers, some of you are business owners , some of you left to make it on your own and build something before coming back. Whatever the reason, you had to interview, you chose to be here, and you aren't some ***** straight out of highschool or college (my class was overwhelmingly older). Choose your hill and when you do, read the regs so you can stand your ground. Most importantly be humble and learn your shops, the more experience the leader the more valuable they are to you. However, the more experience the leader the more he knows what he can get away with since few can or are willing to question what they say.
Best thing I learned to do was to be my own paralegal for the sake of the the Soldiers that fall under me.
“GET OFF MY GRASS!” That was my first significant emotional event as a specialist. Years later at the Sergeants Major Academy they were warning us to stop being that toxic leader worrying about the hq lawn.
Another truth 💣 thank you for the content man
Always wondered why we worried about the little shit rather than training to be lethal. “Hey you shave this morning soldier!?!?”
As I thought to myself in my mind (Russia and China are training in trench warfare but here we are doing open ranks inspection.) I get it it has a time and place. But I never understood the dumb questions or the dumb regulations. What does the CQ desk have to do with how well I’m gonna shoot ? Or how well the company can ruck ? We focus so much on dumb stuff. Glad I’m out.
Had to add more after reading the war college article. Training distractor is huge! Don't know how many times I had training scheduled and here comes a tasking from the CSM for 5 soldiers for some menial work. 🤬 Awards were another big thing. I would write one, submit it and the CSM would kick it back for a rewrite or downgrade. He shouldn't even be looking at them. The war college article is spot on.
This is also why civilians don’t respect the military. We see everyone not in SF community as a knuckle dragging idiot who is only there for free college. Not bc they love to serve
Chief's mess had the same problems. It has become a cult and needs to be purged.
I was a navy reserve officer from 2007 to 2012. The Chief's mess was the most unprofessional bunch of assholes I have ever seen, anywhere. Sounds like the Army is worse, but I didn't see that, firsthand. My Army experience was from the 1980s.
Facts. I worked for the Navy as a civilian for 7 years. I've seen more toxic chiefs than I could count. In those 7 years, I had 1, maybe 2 CMCs/SELs who were worth a damn. The others were terrible, and one who could have been good was beaten down by a toxic commander. So beaten down that the skipper looked at him and said "Maybe you need to call your detailer." It was bad, but I digress.
Seen the same with SCPOs and CPOs. They make E-7 or E-8 and they have not a clue, and the good ones just get discouraged because the bad ones are the only ones getting noticed and rewarded for bad performance.
Thanks for getting this out there. You tube and the internet are fantastic resources.
Keep up the great work brother!
As a retired CSM, this video hits close to home. I learned how not to behave from the many toxic/counter-productive CSMs I encountered throughout my career. I was also fortunate that I was not a SGM/CSM in the "Conventional Army" where most of the previously described madness occurs. And for those who think its learned at the Academy; not! Most of those CSMs have been like that for years before achieving the rank. It usually starts when they achieve SFC and if it goes unchecked, by the time they reach CSM, they're in "blackout drive mode" Its an easy fix... hold them accountable like everyone else and let the chips fall where they must.
I've got army members on my mother's side and I've known a lot of former and current army service members to a point that I wanted to do and did JROTC for my high school years.
I enjoyed JROTC cause it was essentially military Lite given the instructors we had which were a 1st SGT, CWO 4 and a LTCOL respectively.
These 3 men were the best teachers I ever had throughout my entire schooling cause they all played specific roles in addressing the students, but also knew how to be flexible as well when and if the situation needed it.
1st SGT was always a ball buster, but knew how to make it come off as a joke or light hearted despite the tone or initial delivery.
The CWO 4 was the quiet but direct, knew how to joke but he left that to the LTCOL and 1st SGT unless it was his raiders team.
Then finally there was the LTCOL who functioned a lot like a father figure, quiet, fun, but knew how to be direct when need be, the old "firm but fair" approach essentially.
When I went through that program they made me want to join the military, but as I came across more and more service members and even being told their experiences and a lot of the more nuances I found it was a lot more trouble then genuinely worth.
Yes joining the military takes commitment and selflessness, however being yelled at potentially day in and day out over miniscule things or just cause is a recipe for burn out and i've already had that happen doing normal work that I could leave.
But rambling aside its no wonder the US military is suffering from a recruitment shortage, cause who would genuinely want to go through that as a nice section of their life when they can just live peacefully as possible or if they come across that in civi life, they can at least just leave if they want.
I think we should bring back Brevet ranks. There are too many E-9s and General Officers whose jobs could be handily done (and better done) by more junior personnel. If you absolutely need a rank because you are dealing with NATO or some other rank-heavy organization. You get a Brevet promotion good for the duration of your posting and revert to your permanent rank after the tour! Why do I feel big Army, Navy, etc. is never going to go for this?
We have more Admirals than warships… which are usually commanded by a full Commander or a Captain.
I did four years as a 0311 in the USMC and can confirm we have the same issue with Sgt. Majors over there as well.
Old dudes, completely out of touch with the troops that bring stress and frustration wherever they go. NJPs and article 15s over minor infractions.
What is with these dudes? Why are they at the barracks at 10 PM on Saturday bitching at marines drinking beer with their buddies in sandals? One of the most egregious things was the great couch purge. Marines having couches in their barracks room? Unacceptable, that’s not issued furniture, clear them all out by Friday and we will have an inspection. Violators will be subject to paperwork.
Even worse, most weren’t even 03’s and had no idea how the infantry even operated. This video is spot on.
I had a couple Navy guys asks me what SGMs did in the Army. I didn't know what to tell them except yell at people about hands in pockets or stay off the grass or whatever.
The problem is really very simple. The military incentivizes the most intelligent, capable and motivated people to either leave entirely for civilian opportunities and benefits, or to move into the Officer or Warrant Officer career tracks as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the servicemembers who make it into Senior Enlisted positions are often the ones who ended up there out of a lack of upwards or lateral mobility. Even worse, in the era of "modernization" and the steady unlearning of every piece of actionable experience from COIN, those same servicemembers' real value is being chucked out the window in favor of using them to police up increasingly disinterested young recruits to meet arbitrary readiness/grooming/motivation standards.
I also agree with the assessment of Command Sergeants Major being redundant and inflated. If there's one place a Sergeant Major belongs, it's in the 3-shop holding together the many enlisted involved in managing the Commander's warfighting functions. Operations Sergeants Major can be invaluable, but there is no purpose behind Command Sergeants Major besides rank redundancy.
Sounds like my old retail job or a lot of other jobs that don't pay enough for the work. Smart people leave for better opportunities elsewhere and the people who stay are either people who can't, are too lazy to do something else or are bitter jerks who know one some level that people wouldn't put up with their crap.
I had a PSG call me on leave wanting me to negatively counsel an individual for failing EIB. He wanted it by the EOD. When I informed him I will not be doing that over leave because I was out in the middle of camping I was the one received a negative counseling as well as my solider.
12 year Marine here. Was a platoon sergeant my last 3 years.
1st Sgt’s and CO policies attitude and “command climate” can absolutely build up and strengthen or destroy all morale and discipline of your troops.
When they LIE, hide things, don’t engage, only care about petty shit (def true in the Marines), don’t welcome any challenges or opinions….we GET OUT! We cannot handle toxic leadership. Even if they are only there for a few years, many resent the new ones stepping in if it’s just more or worsening of the status quo.
Also, I loved checking on my guys and being in the trenches more than being behind any desk or in fcking meeting most of the time. And I HATED when I was questioned or told “don’t be around the juniors”, bro, I’ll fcking check on my guys however TF I need too!
More of this for sure. I’m out now, thank God. But yeah, Fck toxic leadership and woke politics crap. It has no place in our uniformed services.
Fire those decision makers that failed the Afghan withdrawal and put them on a court martial!
Hello sir, I'm a prospective Marine officer (currently a midshipmen in NROTC) and I was curious in asking what you meant by officers and SNCO's caring too much about the "petty things".
What about the hiding of information? What are things officers can do to A) avoid doing this themselves and B) approach SNCO's who are abusive?
I just finished 3 weeks of intro-level basic naval training at the Great Lakes Training Facility, and while the education we received was top notch, it obviously couldn't cover everything given the timeframe. Just assume I'm greener than grass lol. Anyways thanks for your time!
Aman
@@petloh1882it’s little petty bs crap.
The uniform code says marines can have hands in pockets while standing.
NCOs and officers will yell at dudes for standing in cold weather with their hands in their pockets.
“Because it looks unprofessional”.
Very common for just dump sh*t to be blown out of proportion.
But the mindset is infectious.
If your a jr Sgt and a SSgt tells you to go reprimand a group of marines for having hands in pockets, you typically do what you’re told.
Making issues about things pits you against the staff group and lower enlisted can’t do anything for you.
So it’s better to go along and try to not stand out as “on the lower enlisted side” or life becomes hell.
I fought back and suffered for it.
from one who served in another force a long time ago
i can handle demeaning treatment, but i will not accept it
@@petloh1882
do not look away as company commander as captain
i a superior abuses his authority stop him right here and there
your troops have a right that you care for them
and you will loose trust and respect if you do not and look away
and another thing to remember, you change between staff and troops
the enlisted do not, you may push the pedal for a year for them every year another Lt comes and try to pushes the pedal to max
I was 4 and out. Made it to the NCO Board and NCO Academy with 15 months. Unfortunately, there was a flood of E-4s with 5, 10, 15 years and not on the promotion list. Thanks to CSM Nelson and 1st Sergeant Basden, i achieved all expected of my service.
I was in from 1983-1987 in SIGINT. Pretty cool units, too: 2nd ID, 18th Airborne Corps and 5th Special Forces Group. Back then, maybe I was just lucky, but my CSMs were awesome. They basically acted as a buffer between us and the senior officer leadership. They had no real authority, but they were there to help morale, etc. I had nothing but respect for these guys. They were the ones who picked you up after some idiot officer had basically just destroyed your morale for no reason.
I was stunned to find out that during the GWOT, CSMs turned out to be the biggest buddy f***ers in the Army. It was 180 degrees from what I had seen in the 80s.
I served for 36 years and personally the senior enlisted lost themselves between E8 and E9. In my entire time I never met an E9 CSM that was worth anything other than creating a toxic hostile work environment and then getting themselves relieved because of the nonsense they caused.
My favorite thing on the internet is to watch cold war 80's warriors that never saw a day in combat, point at the GWOT generation and some of them have 2-3+ deployments and multiple engagements under their belt and call them "soft". Since I got in on the tail end of GWOT and still have a slick sleeve its hilariously ironic to see.
Also remember CSM will only think your a good leader if you run fast and not how well you do your job lol
It’s not just senior enlisted, it’s the whole system. They treat you as if they do not want you to reenlist. Oh well ain’t my problem anymore. Good luck military on recruitment and any future drafts as you’re going to need it.
Meh, if they needed people they would have implemented a draft. There's only so many people they can get through an all volunteer Army. Benefits, marketing, arm twisting. At some point they cross the line. The government can also make the economy so bad that people have but no choice but to join, but that would come at a cost.
Danny
If I may, I’m not a young man and I’m old enough to know that our military was at one time pre UCMJ, and pre E8-E9. Which all came about in years after WW2. I come from the Navy/USMC side. My mentors were At Nuremberg, some served under Patton, one under Chesty. The 50’s is where the seeds for this madness was planted. Before all this started the enlisted evaluations had boxes for maturity and moral code. The next step into this madness you’re describing is the mid 80’s under high year tenure. This was done to put away the old school SGTMJ’s that were the real deal. The caliber of E9 that all junior enlisted would want. This chipping away at senior leadership was planned decades ago and that’s precisely why you have to make these videos. Much of what you’re describing is what we called “unwritten rules “. I love your channel. Great work. And by the way I served alongside the Army as much I did the USMC. So I get it.
All the units I have been to I have never seen the BSM around except up in battalion, we avoided him at all costs. The main problem for us was our 1SG and CO. There was a 50/50 chance of a good unit anywhere you go in the Army. I had 2 good experiences with 2 units. One BSM was SM Irwin, he was an old SF Vietnam Veteran, this guy had so many Purple Hearts and Bronze Stars with Valor, the good thing was he was a slow runner but he could road march like hell. Next was SM Madsen who was also a 173rd Airborne Vietnam Veteran who was born in Sweden and had an accent. We called him Big Swede in my Airborne Battalion. He would show up during weapons qualification helping guys qualify and crack jokes, and jump with every company and help out with the company jump masters. This was back in the mid to late 80s when these guys were around. SM Irwin was very interesting because he lead Vietnamese troops in combat and recon teams. I was BN CQ runner a couple times and I had to clean his office which wasn't much but I read all his citations and awards is like reading an action novel, same with SM Madsen. Both were not bombastic but had an aura of power around them when they looked at you and you can feel it. The company 1SGs feared them.
CSM Madsen was an awesome leader, as was CSM Beard. 1/508 was a great place to start a career!
i’m still in, I was in a great company with great leadership and got moved to another company cause I was hurt and lost mind in the company due to the poor leadership, to the point i was taken to ER as psyche and the leadership made fun of me for it, would yell at me for getting my medication when i was on a safety plan. And all i can say is what my uncle told me “bad leadership gets soldiers killed either in combat or by suicide” the leadership that caused me my sanity got their ass chewed out.
LT in the Marine Corps here. It's interesting that the Army has similar issues with leadership. SgtMaj can be dicks to Lts too but it's very indirect since we technically outrank them. I was briefing my CO on major concerns with maintenance, and then I get interrupted by SgtMaj because of a slide. "sir, you need to fix that slide." I'm like really man? You can't wait and tell me after the meeting. Out of all concerns, you're fussing about a slide?! He immediately burn that bridge with me and he has reached out to me for things so I'll remember next time.
The issue is that we got too many yes men these days. It's even worse with officers. Look at the whole GWOT Era. There were lower echelon leaders voicing real issues. The next leaders up ignored all the bad and only pushed up the good. All so they could please those above them. I'm a SFC filling a SGM billet and get ignored when I bring issues up to CSM. Then they're Pikachu faced when things aren't working out. They'll gaslight you to hell and back and it almost makes you wanna say fuck it. Nobody is listening anyway, so I might as well flip the table and fuck everybody's day up. The most I can do is protect the dudes below me, and at least I can do that well.
There's a lot of junior leaders that I see that are lazy as fuck though. When I was a SSG the other SSG were not actually doing their jobs. They would rather sit in the A/C while their dudes were sweating outside working. Then they'd have the gall to ask me to help their squad out. Nah fucker you're a damn SSG. Get the fuck out there with your dudes and supervise if you want it done. It's what you're paid to do. I'm not gonna carry you, knowing damn well you're fuckin off.
I agree, and don’t get me started on this shit. The aforementioned shitbags asking for the help are sitting in that air conditioned office studying for waste of time, useless fucking vanity boards so they look good on paper because they’re useless in real life.
Im an e-5 in the navy, just hit 7 years. Lot of similarities to our chiefs mess and command master chief.. nice video
Spot on video! In 22 years I've had many great 1SGs but only 1 decent CSM. Something happens to them when they got the academy.
What no one has considered--and that likely is an important point here--is that behind the scenes the CSM is just as pissed off as you were. Why? Most of them get told to be this way by BN or BDE Commanders who want to be liked so they make the CSM act this way.
Ever wonder why the CO never worries about any issues like barracks, motor pool, etc? He has his hatchet man deal with it.
Working on Division and Corps staff was eye opening. The CSMs were forced by their bosses to be assholes and the SGMs were laughing at them.
Man I will never forget we went on a 5 Day Op. Air insertion with a night time resupply every other night. Raid houses by day, take over a new house at night to setup as a 24 hour patrol based. We dropped so many dude, getting praises from everyone. 1ST Cav 1 star gave us the most praise. Our CSM came up when we got back to base and we thought the congratulations train would continue. He chewed our ass because he saw a photo of a grunt with his kneepads on his ankles and one guy with a shemagh around his neck. Didn’t even ask about our 2 medivac Purple Heart recipients 🤦🏾♂️
Got out as 20yr e8. No reason to go beyond for paperwork lackey. Use the time and gibill at your 20yr mark and find a new career.
I'm using my wife's tablet. I stayed 2 extra years for that extra 5%. In those last 2 years, I didn't give a ****. When ever I saw someone screwing over a solider I would step in and intervene. I had a battery commander say he was going to come inspect the housing of everyone living off base. He didn't like it when I asked if he had a search warrant. When found out that he needed one, he cancelled the inspection.
This makes me grateful for my current CSM
Joined in 2015, "tripe deuce" and it was a bit taxing, but I was younger, cond. released to the guard after a while then got out. Came back in 2023 and the amount of spineless cowards in leadership roles was night and day. 2015 was not that long ago, I came back as an E4 (reduction of rank and pay). I loved the 11b mos in NY, but since day 1 in the new unit I figured that I wasn't going far so I played dumb, I could smell the bullshit not from the joes; the NCOs themselves (not all but a lot) lied constantly just so their instructions made sense ,And that one NCO who never made ranger and takes it out on enlisted (glad to see the tradition still alive). Funny but depressing at the same time.
Reminds me of our former sgt major threatening our forward observers and FMT that if they didn't get parts for a Bradley on time he would keep them in the motorpool until 2300 on the 4th of July
Reminds me of my dad. A lifer in the Navy reserves who never saw any combat trying to tell my friends who just got back from doing a couple tours, "the reason" we went to Iraq and Afghanistan. And no matter how much they tried to tell him the cold, hard, truth, he just wouldn't accept it. His generation (the baby booms) are so hard headed.
I was a young and naive Marine but I quickly figured out that alot of the senior enlisted didnt have a very flexible mindset. Alot of marines also hated airwingers until they needed ground support
I retired with a little over 27 years in the Army. I was an 11B the whole time. In all those years I served under some really greats CSMs and some I wouldn’t cross the street to piss on if they were on fire. The great ones were the ones that everyone, Pvt to CPT, welcomed when he came around and wanted to talk with. The others were generally referred to as mobile harassment units and their arrival prompted as many as possible to head to the wood line just to get away from them. Unfortunately, most fell somewhere closer to the latter than the former. They can be an outstanding asset to a command, but most are not.
I had a great BN CSM during my first deployment my second BN CSM wasn't quite as good but he did look out for me and make sure I had everything I needed as I was put on advanced party prior to my second deployment. The bigger problem I had were certain E5,6 ,7s and two specific first sergeants who made it their personal mission to crush and ruin the morale and motivation of everybody under their command.
Agree 100%, Navy was the same way. We had a few good senior enlisted leaders, but most were just out to screw over their guys and try to look good for their officers. Several times it was the officers who had to step in and look out for us and not the senior enlisted who were actively trying to screw all their men over.
Great comments, Danny. I tried to be the antithesis of what you described. I would try to set the bar by not asking my guys to do what I wouldn't do. I knew every Soldier and their families. I had many disagreements with my CDRs but I never let Joe see that. That said I have seen MANY that did as you described. Could I have done better? Sure. Thanks and I'm subscribing!
Brother, a lot of what you're saying is why I didn't stay in to become a CSM. When I took over as first sergeant I wanted to get my company ready for combat I wanted to do tough realistic training and intense battle Focus PT and ensure all my soldiers and their families were ready. Instead I got caught up in being the senior admin specialist for the company and I detested it. They were hardly any csms that I looked up to. They were irrelevant and had their priorities out of whack. Just for reference I was selected twice for the sergeants Major Academy and was offered a nominative position in DC by my branch manager and I still said no. There were too many uncertainties and it wasn't the path I wanted to take
What about the abuse and use of Mass punishment?
Back in the Guard.
My entire company was ass chewed because a squad didn’t showed up to drill.
As it turns out, there was lack of communications between the squad and the rest of the COC, the Squad leader has a bad history of. It showing up to drill and not relay communications.
It’s interesting you mention stuck in the early 2000s.
I have this theory with the older guys. They deployed in an era before social media. You couldn’t just go online and learn about the military experience. It was also post 9/11 and there was a culture of military worship.
What do these lead to? A group of senior troops who think that not only do they have magical insight into things, but that they can’t be wrong either.
A good friend of mine (a CSM) once told me that there are two kinds of people who attend the Sergeants Major Academy (SMA). Those who thought it was a complete waste of time, and those who thought the SMA was the pinnacle of their careers. The later being completely useless but validated in their minds by having made the rank of CSM. I later got to witness this by working for a CSM who thought the SMA was the pinnacle of his career, but was also completely useless. He really didn't have a job.