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Visual Storyteller
Hi Fishes,
Is S&P planning to open offices?
Rising Star
Bowl Leader
Additional Posts in Veteran Bowl
How much do you put into TSP?
Community Builder
Pro
Any Navy Nukes in this bowl?
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I wonder if it's time to start putting together a paper trail and counseling him on the behavior and then escalating as needed. Given it sounds like you've got some doctor's notes which I imagine are dates, line those dates up with the training calendar and begin establishing the pattern. It might be that an "I see what you're doing" in writing is enough to get him to straighten up and fly right, but if not, you've taken the first steps towards further discipline as needed.
Yeah that's what I'm trying to figure out, I just don't know how to write this one up
I’m so glad I’m out
Pro
I would probably ask what the circumstances are that makes the soldier want to miss drill, illness or injury aside. How’s the culture at the unit? The leadership? Hows his life at home? Is he depressed? think it’s important to look at the context beforehand.
I’m specifically telling you I specifically said medical school in my post.
And a surgeon who has a history of yelling or shouting won’t be a surgeon for long. That’s called abusive and disruptive behavior. There might be isolated incidents, but that’s not what you’re advocating. In hospitals, “intimidating and disruptive behaviors” can lead to medical errors, increase health care costs, and harm patients, according to the Joint Commission, an independent organization that evaluates and accredits health care organizations.
Who’s saying to not try and pretend to be in the military? And what does wearing a uniform or saluting have to do with this topic? You wanted to bring yelling and shouting into the unit when you said “if you literally can’t take this kid out back and yell at him how are you going to give him orders in a stressful situation.”
Sham shield sounds fully operational 😂
E4 Mafia alive and well
Why do you think they’re malingering? They had a doctors note.
I think that a medical or hardship discharge of some sort would be very appropriate, but the soldier doesn't seem to want that so I'm not sure if that's an issue that can be forced.
Rising Star
Why not sit them down and ask if they want to be discharged? We did that with a guy in my old unit who had basically the same pattern, he ended up getting a general discharge and we washed our hands of each other.
We offered this and went through all the paperwork and everything, Commander was ready to sign it and then the soldier changed their mind at the last minute. Not really sure what their endgame is unless it's trying to milk a disability payment from the VA or something.
Mission? What do you do? It doesn't sound that serious tbh 😂
It's not that serious, we are just undermanned running a clinic and need all of our people to show up and do their jobs.
Good luck, my advice (repeating some above) having experienced this multiple times as a Plt Sgt
1. Find out what the soldier really wants
2. Keep your paperwork trail tight. Get leadership involved so you have the "right paperwork" with all the "right" stuff in it
3. Don't let the one soldier distract you from being an NCO to your other Soldiers.
Yeah, it's tough because it's not fair to the Soldiers who want to be there and want to train.
For correct paper work, that's going to be state/brigade dependent. I know our Jag was a real stickler on that, as it was almost impossible to kick anyone out, even if they missed 4 drills in a row without a reason. Had to have the different methods we tried to contact, when, etc.
Honestly it got to the point I'd do the bare minimum on paperwork because I wanted to focus on the Soldiers who did show up.
I’m navy reserve so ymmv with my answer.
There should be a force execution guidance that shows how much support is required per year. For the navy, it’s 40 of 48 drills favorably adjudicated, 12-14 days of annual training. For authorized absences, they allow 24 of 48 drills to be adjudicated as AA.
With the favorable adjudication, if he has a doctors note, you can mark as a reschedule, aa, or UA. If he is delinquent in any category (admin, medical, training requirements, etc.) you can do other things like require those to be completed. Authorized absences and reschedules are at the discretion of the commander and the governing instructions. Find the regulation that governs those and you can see exactly what you can do. For us, it’s in the bupersinst 1039 and also in the respersman.
Either way, flag it to leadership that it’s an area of concern.
Thank you, I hope we have some similar reg on how many authorized absences are permitted. I didn't think about this angle... Much appreciated
I want to start documenting these cases more effectively but I am not sure what recourse I have if they follow the correct protocols on getting the profiles, etc. I feel that this person should probably not be retained due to their unwillingness to perform and bad attitude overall, but without any documentation there is no case to prevent them from continuing this behavior. But, can I really write up counselings for ‘being sick too much’? What’s the play here?
I was not reserve, but I'm assuming an E-4 has some sort or eval (USMC called them pro/con). Shouldn't their absences be reflected in this? Just as they are playing the system, you can too....poor evals, no promotion, they'll eventually leave the service. Can't win them all - save your energy for your soldiers that give a damn.
Oddly enough there is no real evaluation system for a guard E4. I would have some input if the soldier were ever up for promotion, but because of the way the guard works with slots, this person is many many years away from even being considered for E5
has the unit turned up the heat any on the docs?
Asking multiple people in positions of authority the same question until you get the answer that most suits you and then going with that one
I was thinking maybe I could write up a counseling statement in the vein of "because of your many illnesses and injuries, I have concerns about how well you are taking care of yourself, and here are some steps that you should be taking to improve your wellness and safety" ... Not sure if that's a good approach. It is genuine because I am concerned about the soldier but it also serves as some documentation that the person's pattern of behavior is becoming a problem.