Guys Like Sgt. T

News
Had a long conversation with my son yesterday morning. Hadn’t heard from him in almost 2 weeks (not even on Mother’s Day), so we were especially glad to hear from him. Due to the situation there (i.e., up tic in operations and recent casualties), there had been a communications blackout. He told me that he and V had been in on a number of the big weapons finds recently (HOOAH!) and then told me not to worry if we didn’t hear from him for a while – there was a chance that they might move out to a different AO in support of ongoing operations. Of course, he wouldn’t say where, but if you watch any news program these days, you know exactly where they might be heading. To a mother, it’s classified in your head as “small-medium-large” amounts of bullets…. And the possibility of his moving from his current “medium” area to the “large” area ratchets up my anxiety…

Sgt T
During this telephone conversation with my son and in another IM chat with another "son" in his unit, talk turned to a recent run-in with Sgt. T. Just the most recent in a long series of incidents with any number of soldiers in the company. Our son (and the other guys) mostly brush these off with a "no big deal" attitude and just suck it up... although some incidents have boiled over to shouting matches and once it got physical. I know that the senior NCOs have dealt with Sgt T on a few occasions, but he's still there. I remind the guys that sometimes in the Army/Navy/Corps there is no right or wrong -- just rank. But V said, “That’s not true, mom… there is right and wrong and some of the stuff that happens... is wrong. and [soldier] isn't a bait eater... but the stuff he says... and stuff he does is just not right… he (soldier) holds up well through most of it, but sometimes that dam’s gotta break, mom. I was there and Sgt T is just asking for it… he’s provoking everyone… but especially [soldier]… it’s bad." The soldier in question is one of the smaller guys in the company but a good and dedicated soldier. He's a regular target of Sgt T... the guys think because he's the only guy smaller than the Sgt.

Everyone who has ever been in the military or worked at a job for longer than five days has worked for or with a Sgt. T. You know -- a bully with rank. As the guys tell it, Sgt T is regularly abusive and routinely oversteps the bounds. He can be mean to his soldiers and is a master at humiliating them for some imagined slight -- not because a soldier deserved it, but because Sgt T has the rank to do it.

Just to be clear, most of the soldiers here are good soldiers; they are not a bunch of whiney-asses. They have great respect for almost all of the other NCOs even if they're tough and demanding. I do not know the specifics of the most recent incident or incidents (soldiers don't tell). I don’t know who said what to whom about what, but the situation has gone on a long time and I can tell that morale is being affected. They tell me that 1SG and SFC are aware but that they don't care. No one is advocating a "touchy-feely" atmosphere... we're not naive to the military environment or the discipline or the sternness required to maintain order.

The whole Sgt T thing really troubles my husband because as an enlisted sailor he personally experienced the frustration of such a situation, and as an officer knows the effect the situation can have on the troops. He says any NCO or officer worth anything will find the way to teach, lead and support their men without such tactics because they get it back ten-fold in respect, loyalty and hard work… and you can’t lead if you can’t be respected (which he is clear to point out is different than being liked.) Currently he faults the senior enlisted for not dealing with an apparently immature NCO and for letting the situation continue as long as it has.

I learned early in my career and as a military wife that there are two types of people with power: those that wield it because they have to, and those that wield it simply because they can. The first are leaders, the others bullies. We know that there always have been guys in the military services like Sgt. T, but there should be no room in a professional Army for a bully with rank.

Copyright 2005. All rights reserved.