Former Sergeant-Major of the Army

[Pete]

A former Sergeant-Major of the Army recently got himself in trouble in the DC area. Click here. (http://www.wtop.com/?nid=&sid=2101220)

[Starbuck]

I didn't need to click on the article, I already knew who it was.

Long story short, yet another incident in a long string of questionable behavior. The Army was right to give him the boot.

[Ken White]

It had potential to do good -- and much needed -- things but it got overtaken by the 'system' and totally bureaucratized to the point where many recent incumbents have been virtual laughing stocks to a great many NCOs in the Army. That isn't helpful. :rolleyes:

The first SMA, William O. Woolridge got relieved from the job due to Club shenanigans -- then quite prevalent and well known throughout the Army and involving Officers Clubs as well as NCO Clubs. That was known when he was appointed but was ignored -- until an enterprising reporter surfaced it and the opposition party in Congress jumped on it just to embarass the Army and the Administration. As it tends to do, the Army then turned on him and fired him. His replacement, George Dunaway was not a politician, was a great trainer and was not a 'yes man' but he was terribly constrained by the impacts of the Woolridge fiasco and his ability to help was thus limited. Later appointees were equally constrained and ran the gamut from very good to dangerous with a strong trend toward the latter.

Like Starbuck, I was pretty sure who it would be -- though I also came up with suspects 'B' and 'C'... :wry:

McKinney was but one of a parade of political animals who do not believe that an NCO's job is to train troops and keep his Officer Boss out of trouble but rather to sluff training (it's hard work...) and emphasize appearance for appearance sake and do anything that Boss wants, no matter how abysmally stupid -- all while trying to look like a recruiting poster.

The Army is trying and has been for 30 years to remake the NCO Corps in the image of the Officer Corps and it is suffering for that mistake. :mad:

[Pete]

They should have made Ken the Army CSM. He would have dropped a battalion of the 82nd in PERSCOM's rear but being as he is a student of Sun Zu, he would have left the enemy a "Golden Bridge" through which to escape. When they began leaving through that last resort he would have opened up with tracers from M60s firing eight feet over their heads. Then when they were in the kill zone the .50 cals would have opened up with knee-high grazing fire. Then he would have called up the artillery for the prearranged HE and VT concentration on the target.

[AdamG]

... left the enemy a "Golden Bridge" through which to escape.

Just make sure the target doesn't limp away short one foot or the blowback can be nasty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamil_Basayev)

[Ken White]

Plus, the possibility surfaced by AdamG's comment exists and is not desirable. Add the complex is in an urban area and collateral damage is never a good idea.

I'd go for Earmuff charges on the building, one for each of the fifteen floors... :cool:

However, even that seems a bit extreme -- why doesn't someone in charge just force them to reform? Shy Meyer tried, he really did -- but Congress stalled him (can't have civilian jobs cut...) and PersCom just waited him out and reverted to business as usual. It will take a phased plan and perhaps ten years to implement. Sadly, that is not the American way... :mad:

[Bill Moore]

Posted by Ken,


McKinney was but one of a parade of political animals who do not believe that an NCO's job is to train troops and keep his Officer Boss out of trouble but rather to sluff training (it's hard work...) and emphasize appearance for appearance sake and do anything that Boss wants, no matter how abysmally stupid -- all while trying to look like a recruiting poster.

We still have a lot of NCOs who embrace training troops and mentoring their officers, but sadly this behavior is rarely rewarded, and the result is our best NCOs rarely get elevated to the top positions (nor do they want to be caught up in the political crap, but we need good muddy boots senior NCOs to so to help fix our professional culture again). We have a system that rewards the wrong type of behavior. Those who care more about themselves than selfless service will pursue the path that serves their ego rather than the army.

[Pete]

Click here (http://www.wtop.com/?nid=41&sid=2665966) for the rest of the story.

[Anthony Hoh]

I agree its all about making young Soldiers good leaders, and giving the boss plausible deniability in case ya take it too far;)

Havent been on in a while, good to see you out and about on the threads Ken.

[Ken White]

Amazingly enough I'm still here -- slower but still here...:D

Good to see you back. Strange location you gots there...:wry: