Schmed,
Was with you until this part. Can't disagree enough.
I've worked in two kinds of philosophies regarding HQ/HHC duty.
The first is that it's a dumping ground for NCOs and enlisted who can't cut it on the line. The second is that only the highest caliber NCOs and enlisted are selected for staff positions.
Without exception, the best battalions I have been in have worked on the latter rule. I say this as someone who was a company commander who sometimes lost his best soldiers to HHC. The reasons are several:
1) A screwed up HQs makes every subordinate unit miserable. From messed up support to messed up orders, it makes everyone work twice as hard.
2) If NCO/soldier snuffy isn't making grade, the answer isn't transferring him to someone else's problem. The answer is doing the right thing yourself - reduce him (I have reduced NCOs), counsel him, flag him, chapter him, etc. Not shift him to HQ.
3) What happens in HQ? There is less NCO and officer mentorship. Too busy. They neither have the time or ability to "reform" your problem child. So they get worse. And they make your life on the line miserable.
4) You solve the motivation problem by strictly time-limiting HQ time for NCOs and officers. No more than two years for NCOs, for enlisted, one year. This prevents the case (I received several) of a new PVT going to the S-3 shop and staying there an entire tour, making NCO grade. He then PCSs to his next unit, where he is your team or squad leader, and has no skills relevant to the job. I had an E-6 that spent his enlisted time in S3, went to recruiting, and came to me as a section leader who had never seen a tank. Smart guy set up to fail as a leader by us.
5) Your HQ officers perform better if they aren't having to babysit unsat NCOs dumped to them by the line. They need good people to do officer business.
6) Keeping a poor soldier in the line provides a lot more mentorship and supervision. An infantry platoon has how many NCOs? Compare that to the S4 shop, or S1. And again, if he can't be fixed, do the right thing and get rid of him.
Show me a unit where HQ contains the trash and I'll almost invariably show you a battalion with low morale and screwed up systems.
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