Experienced Sergeant

[1Cane]

My friend Steve had completed special forces training and received his green beret. He was taking a compass course with a cherry Lieutenant after wandering around for the appropriate time Steve realized that the Lieutenant was lost and tried to direct him to the rally point. The Lieutenant would have none of this and continued to flounder around. Steve said the heck with it left the Lieutenant and went to the rally point. When he got there the senior Sergeant wanted to know where the Lieutenant was Steve told him he was still lost out there in the woods. This was unsatisfactory and the Sergeant told Steve to go find the Lieutenant and bring him in. So off Steve goes into the woods wanders around and fines the Lieutenant and told him to follow him to the rally point. When they finally got to the rally point the Lieutenant was hopping mad and wanted Steve written up for insubordination. The senior Sergeant said that would be fine but at the hearing he would have to explain about being lost in the woods and Steve having to go back out and find him. So cooler heads prevailed  Steve wasn't given an article 15 and lived happily ever after.
 

[SlipKnt]

Hahaha!  A very similar thing happened to me.  After I left the Marines I took a year break then made the mistake of enlisting into the National Guard. 

We were on patrol and the 2nd Lt was sort of lost, off course, and putting us into terrain that was prime real estate for an ambush.

So I took his map and compass away from him, told him he was fired and that I would work with him on his land nav when we returned to the rear.  Keep in mind I was a senior Sgt and in the zone for SSG.

When we got back my company CO and 1st Sgt chewed my bellybutton and marched me to the BN SgtMaj.  Turned out the SgtMaj was in the Marines with me on all 3 deployments. 

I never got busted.  I never got promoted either.  And I was tasked with teaching a land nav course the very next drill.  The Lt hit most of his checkpoints. 

I decided to get out after that.  You can not convince me the Army NG produces good officers.  To be fair, I was an instructor in SOTG when I was a Marine and taught navigation for MEU(SOC) coxswains and over the horizon navigators so I was strict about basic land nav. 

🤘

[Maverick]

2nd Lt's are pretty much just like Pvts. Yeah they have been through  some training but unlike the Pvt they have been handed a ton of responsibility as well. It is up to a good Plt Sgt to really put the polish on the LT. The best ones take training the LT to be as serious a job as managing their squad leaders and Spc4's. A good LT recognizes they don't know anything and ask for the Sgt to teach them the REAL job as opposed to the book training.

I benefited by being raised by a WW2 Tech Sgt (E6) who taught me to respect the enlisted folks, especially the NCO's and why I should. In ROTC I had the benefit of being taught by a Green Beret E-7 to ask for training from my Plt Sgt. As a result I got along fine with all my NCO's and Enlisted folks. I had a harder time dealing with other Officers.

Got chewed out by my Bn CO one year because I sent every one of my LT's to AOBC (Armor Officer Basic Course). They were on a special early commissioning program that let them get their commission before graduating college. They hadn't had their school yet so I sent them away. The Bn Co was flabergasted that all I had was an XO and 3 Plt Sgts. I told him I was operating the Company as if the Lt's were casualties. We did just fine that AT which pissed of the Bn CO even more. I really didn't care much about that. His leadership style was to publicly berate his Officers in any Officer call meeting and to micro manage his enlisted staff because NCO's can't be trusted to do the job right. He gave me a way below average OER (Annual evaluation) which I successfully challenged and had dropped. I went to another unit. The CO got promoted and came to the new unit I was at so I went IRR. He eventually got a star. He was IMO a suck up and also a full time Army Civilian mgr.

[Puma44]

2nd Lt's are pretty much just like Pvts. Yeah they have been through  some training but unlike the Pvt they have been handed a ton of responsibility as well. It is up to a good Plt Sgt to really put the polish on the LT. The best ones take training the LT to be as serious a job as managing their squad leaders and Spc4's. A good LT recognizes they don't know anything and ask for the Sgt to teach them the REAL job as opposed to the book training.

^This^ exactly.  Seems those who complain about the shiny new Lts not knowing anything, forget that they themselves were once brand new, wet behind the ears, and didn’t know squat. 

Being approachable and teachable by those more experienced is priceless. 

[1Cane]

It really is a small world. Steve Spellman and I went to high school in Shingle Springs California. It's in the gold country just a little east of Sacramento. My oldest son grew up hearing stories about my best buddy who was in the green berets. Time goes by and my son is in Mosul Iraq for the surge. He was on QRF along with a green beret captain named Spellman so my son asked him where he was from and his answer was Shingle Springs CA. He was no relation to my friend but was aware of him since special forces is a small community.

[redcatcherb412]

Our 'old' guys used to eat butterbars when they got out in the field. They learned that sometimes the scruffiest looking grunt was the most experienced.

[Puma44]

Our 'old' guys used to eat butterbars when they got out in the field. They learned that sometimes the scruffiest looking grunt was the most experienced. (Image removed from quote.)

That’s how a butterbar succeeds, by listening, watching and respecting the well experienced “old guys”. 

[save]

I lost a full platoon with 4 tanks and 15 other men, and subsequently wrote a missing item including both men and hardware to the company Captain after my reunion with the company.

After coming back after a full night in the snow on skis, marking out the way to move without leaving the woods to an ambush point for my 4 tanks, i discovered they were all gone, tents, tanks, men and - no message where they did go.

Turned up the high-brass decided my company where in for a maintenance in-field repair shop somewhere, leaving me in the snow, on skis with a Swedish K sub and a small backpack, somewhere between nowhere and nothing (closest house in Lapland can be 20-40 clicks away).

Ended up well in the end, by chance I got a lift from a army helicopter to a HQ, finding my platoon 2 days later, well fed and warm in a schoolhouse, but I never ever trusted them brass again.