Leadership can be toxic (catch all)

[oblong]

http://fayobserver.com/articles/2010...03278?sac=Home

Col. Drinkwine wrote in his sworn statement that he never let personal issues creep into his professional evaluations of soldiers.

But two battalion commanders - Lt. Col Frank Jenio and Lt. Col. David Oclander - told Spillman they believe disputes with Dr. Drinkwine were an unstated cause for professional retaliation.

Jenio, who was in charge of 800 troops operating just outside Kandahar, was relieved of command in Afghanistan along with his top enlisted adviser, Cmd. Sgt. Maj. Bert Puckett, on Jan. 13. They were sent home to Fort Bragg for "using poor judgment" that "fostered a command climate that was not consistent with our Army values," an 82nd Airborne Division spokesman said at the time.

The Observer later discovered that racially and sexually offensive PowerPoint slides shown during briefings led to their removal.

Jenio, who declined an interview request, paints a different picture in his sworn statement.

Dr. Drinkwine and Jenio's wife, Sherri, were often at odds, according to multiple statements

Frank Jenio said in his statement that during one heated phone conversation last year, Dr. Drinkwine threatened to have him fired.

Jenio said Col. Drinkwine failed to address the problems his wife was causing and stayed isolated from his subordinates. Dr. Drinkwine would often use the threat of "telling Brian" when she had a disagreement with a family member or soldier, he said, and Col. Drinkwine made matters worse by giving the impression that she had influence over him.

Jenio said in his statement that the need to deal with the FRG challenges nearly every other day took away valuable time he could have been using to focus on the war.

[Infanteer]

http://fayobserver.com/articles/2010...03278?sac=Home

I wonder what every soldier and their spouse between the ranks of Private and Major in that Brigade must be thinking as this unfolds.....

[Ken White]

on their comments and attitudes, mostly involving the Bde Cdr but they are not repeatable on a Family Board.

[Uboat509]

In my experience, FRG has always been a hit or miss thing. I have known some that were awesome and others that were nonfunctional or even counter-productive and the reason for either good or bad was always based on the personalities of the wives involved. There Army has created classes and lectures and killed a lot of trees to try to make FRGs into universally functional organizations but none of that matters if the right people are not involved or if the wrong people are. Expecting the commander's wife to always be the head of the FRG is a huge mistake that I have seen over and over. I have seen too many who thought that they wore their husband's rank or didn't have time to run the FRG because of their own career or family or simply just weren't cut out to lead any organization. I have also seen FRGs that had good leaders but were so poorly supported by the other spouses as to be useless. A well functioning FRG is an absolute asset to any unit but a dysfunctional one creates nothing but drama and more problems than it solves.

[Infanteer]

Judging from the above, your comment could be amended as follows:

There Army has created classes and lectures and killed a lot of trees to try to make Units into universally functional organizations but none of that matters if the right people are not involved or if the wrong people are.

[Cavguy]

In my experience, FRG has always been a hit or miss thing. I have known some that were awesome and others that were nonfunctional or even counter-productive and the reason for either good or bad was always based on the personalities of the wives involved. There Army has created classes and lectures and killed a lot of trees to try to make FRGs into universally functional organizations but none of that matters if the right people are not involved or if the wrong people are. Expecting the commander's wife to always be the head of the FRG is a huge mistake that I have seen over and over. I have seen too many who thought that they wore their husband's rank or didn't have time to run the FRG because of their own career or family or simply just weren't cut out to lead any organization. I have also seen FRGs that had good leaders but were so poorly supported by the other spouses as to be useless. A well functioning FRG is an absolute asset to any unit but a dysfunctional one creates nothing but drama and more problems than it solves.

Great points. However, there is a major cultural hurdle to overcome in the officer corps. There is huge informal pressure for the CO's wife to head the FRG. If she doesn't, it is often seen as a "ding" on her husband. You won't find that stated anywhere in print. But it is clearly expected in most cases. My wife refused to head the FRG in my company during its second deployment for several practical and personal reasons. Ultimately it didn't hurt me, but I felt the pressure, and so did she.

Funny thing is she got very involved at our next assignment in spouse activities, and even received TRADOC's highest spouse award. When the pressure wasn't on it was much more "fun".

Bottom line is that it is still "expected", especially as a field grade, that a spouse will head the local FRG. If she does not, the husband usually has to be outstanding in every other respect to compensate.

I think many bad FRGs stem from spouses who grudgingly accept the role, but their heart isn't in it. They do it out of duty/loyalty/guilt, and it reflects in their performance. Pure volunteerism by the "right" sort of people makes a difference.

[Uboat509]

Great points. However, there is a major cultural hurdle to overcome in the officer corps. There is huge informal pressure for the CO's wife to head the FRG. If she doesn't, it is often seen as a "ding" on her husband. You won't find that stated anywhere in print. But it is clearly expected in most cases. My wife refused to head the FRG in my company during its second deployment for several practical and personal reasons. Ultimately it didn't hurt me, but I felt the pressure, and so did she.

Funny thing is she got very involved at our next assignment in spouse activities, and even received TRADOC's highest spouse award. When the pressure wasn't on it was much more "fun".

Bottom line is that it is still "expected", especially as a field grade, that a spouse will head the local FRG. If she does not, the husband usually has to be outstanding in every other respect to compensate.

I think many bad FRGs stem from spouses who grudgingly accept the role, but their heart isn't in it. They do it out of duty/loyalty/guilt, and it reflects in their performance. Pure volunteerism by the "right" sort of people makes a difference.

I had a BC once who wasn't a bad BC as they go. He wasn't the most well liked but he did a lot of good things for the battalion but I doubt that a lot of that was remembered when it came to be OER time. You see, his wife, an Italian national, got nailed in a sting by CID buying alcohol for underage soldiers. She also was just about useless to the FRG. And so it goes...