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Brigade Commander at Ft Hood Under Investigation

tomahawk6

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FJAG

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The way I read it, it has gone on for some while and his temporary removal is for medical reasons. So far I see nothing that says his senior leadership is doing anything other than investigating.

I'll wait for the outcome to see if his toxic behaviour is truly "no longer tolerated".

🍻
 

tomahawk6

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If your leadership style is abusive then he would be in good company. I have known of a few officers who instilled fear in their subordinates because they modeled their leadership style that way. Like FJAG says not judging but lets see how it plays out.
 

daftandbarmy

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'Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.' Oscar Wilde

Sounds like the classic 'abrasive leader':

Winners who become losers: Abrasive Leaders

“Abrasive” is defined as harsh or rough in manner, and describes the
characteristic interpersonal style of abrasive leaders. Simply put, they rub
their coworkers the wrong way. Their behaviors, characterized by
aggression, damage work relationships to the point of disrupting
organizational functioning. Aggressive behaviors can range from mild
offense to open attack. The words and actions of these individuals create
interpersonal friction that grates on subordinates, peers, and/or superiors,
grinding away at trust and motivation and ultimately disrupting the
smooth flow of work. Abrasive leaders can inflict deep wounds and intense
suffering in employees, who unwillingly find themselves in the ranks of
the working wounded.

The pain of actually engaging in work (resulting from weak wages,
bleak benefits, bad schedules, or tedious tasks) is not the pain I am
addressing here, neither am I talking about the pain caused by leaders who
cut programs, pay, or people based on business need. I’m talking about the
pain suffered from direct contact with an abrasive leader—the emotional
wounds sustained from their interpersonal aggression."

 

FJAG

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After reading this article by the Colonel concerning salad and field exercises :)


Oh! Mah! Gawd!

This reminds me of a time when my battery was running a base camp in the middle of the summer supporting a big firefighting effort in NW Manitoba. Every day we fed them a nutritious breakfast and supper in camp but basically sent some 450 firefighters out to the line with a box lunch with four sandwiches, a half dozen donuts and a six pack of Coke plus numerous jerry cans of water. Our Dept of Natural Resources advisors--who did this all the time--made it clear that anything less than this and they'd be losing people like crazy. These guys were paid casual labour but basically volunteers and not employees. One of my biggest jobs was sourcing soft drinks and donuts at zero dark thirty every morning from the few small grocery stores and donut shops in the region who pretty much baked all night to have them ready so that we could distribute them at breakfast.

About half way through the tour we were visited by the food services officer from our home base (who also happened to be the wife of our CO) who advised me quite seriously that we needed to find a way to incorporate salads into the box lunches, replace the soft drinks with 1% milk and cut the donuts down to one. Since I had no intention of changing anything (and I pretty much figured the CO didn't want me to either) I didn't even bother asking how we were supposed to get fresh salad and cold milk out to the fire line in the middle of the forest.

I can just see this good idea fairy wandering the halls of his brigade and unit lines sprinkling them with his wonderous thoughts and hammering anyone who doesn't jump on board with alacrity.

🍻
 

lenaitch

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Oh! Mah! Gawd!

This reminds me of a time when my battery was running a base camp in the middle of the summer supporting a big firefighting effort in NW Manitoba. Every day we fed them a nutritious breakfast and supper in camp but basically sent some 450 firefighters out to the line with a box lunch with four sandwiches, a half dozen donuts and a six pack of Coke plus numerous jerry cans of water. Our Dept of Natural Resources advisors--who did this all the time--made it clear that anything less than this and they'd be losing people like crazy. These guys were paid casual labour but basically volunteers and not employees. One of my biggest jobs was sourcing soft drinks and donuts at zero dark thirty every morning from the few small grocery stores and donut shops in the region who pretty much baked all night to have them ready so that we could distribute them at breakfast.

About half way through the tour we were visited by the food services officer from our home base (who also happened to be the wife of our CO) who advised me quite seriously that we needed to find a way to incorporate salads into the box lunches, replace the soft drinks with 1% milk and cut the donuts down to one. Since I had no intention of changing anything (and I pretty much figured the CO didn't want me to either) I didn't even bother asking how we were supposed to get fresh salad and cold milk out to the fire line in the middle of the forest.

I can just see this good idea fairy wandering the halls of his brigade and unit lines sprinkling them with his wonderous thoughts and hammering anyone who doesn't jump on board with alacrity.

🍻

Salads and milk - you would have had zero crews to feed on day two. In addition to sourcing, the meals you provided also needed no utensils. Salad as a finger food gets messy.
 

FJAG

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Salads and milk - you would have had zero crews to feed on day two. In addition to sourcing, the meals you provided also needed no utensils. Salad as a finger food gets messy.

The one regret I always had about that was that the garbage bags coming back with the crews were significantly smaller than they should have been bringing back the all of the empty Coke cans. The lunch boxes would have quickly degraded but my guess is that a significant number of aluminum cans still litter the depths of a provincial forest.

?
 

daftandbarmy

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Oh! Mah! Gawd!

This reminds me of a time when my battery was running a base camp in the middle of the summer supporting a big firefighting effort in NW Manitoba. Every day we fed them a nutritious breakfast and supper in camp but basically sent some 450 firefighters out to the line with a box lunch with four sandwiches, a half dozen donuts and a six pack of Coke plus numerous jerry cans of water. Our Dept of Natural Resources advisors--who did this all the time--made it clear that anything less than this and they'd be losing people like crazy. These guys were paid casual labour but basically volunteers and not employees. One of my biggest jobs was sourcing soft drinks and donuts at zero dark thirty every morning from the few small grocery stores and donut shops in the region who pretty much baked all night to have them ready so that we could distribute them at breakfast.

About half way through the tour we were visited by the food services officer from our home base (who also happened to be the wife of our CO) who advised me quite seriously that we needed to find a way to incorporate salads into the box lunches, replace the soft drinks with 1% milk and cut the donuts down to one. Since I had no intention of changing anything (and I pretty much figured the CO didn't want me to either) I didn't even bother asking how we were supposed to get fresh salad and cold milk out to the fire line in the middle of the forest.

I can just see this good idea fairy wandering the halls of his brigade and unit lines sprinkling them with his wonderous thoughts and hammering anyone who doesn't jump on board with alacrity.

🍻

I dimly recall salad trying to be served out of hayboxes in Gagetown, into messtins, in summer time.

At least it added some texture to the coffee :)
 

Loachman

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It took me a while to stop chortling.
 

Colin Parkinson

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Oh! Mah! Gawd!

This reminds me of a time when my battery was running a base camp in the middle of the summer supporting a big firefighting effort in NW Manitoba. Every day we fed them a nutritious breakfast and supper in camp but basically sent some 450 firefighters out to the line with a box lunch with four sandwiches, a half dozen donuts and a six pack of Coke plus numerous jerry cans of water. Our Dept of Natural Resources advisors--who did this all the time--made it clear that anything less than this and they'd be losing people like crazy. These guys were paid casual labour but basically volunteers and not employees. One of my biggest jobs was sourcing soft drinks and donuts at zero dark thirty every morning from the few small grocery stores and donut shops in the region who pretty much baked all night to have them ready so that we could distribute them at breakfast.

About half way through the tour we were visited by the food services officer from our home base (who also happened to be the wife of our CO) who advised me quite seriously that we needed to find a way to incorporate salads into the box lunches, replace the soft drinks with 1% milk and cut the donuts down to one. Since I had no intention of changing anything (and I pretty much figured the CO didn't want me to either) I didn't even bother asking how we were supposed to get fresh salad and cold milk out to the fire line in the middle of the forest.

I can just see this good idea fairy wandering the halls of his brigade and unit lines sprinkling them with his wonderous thoughts and hammering anyone who doesn't jump on board with alacrity.

🍻
A couple of years ago, the big fires in BC, threatened my cousins area, the men all went onto the fireline and the women went to the community hall and ran a kitchen 24/7 to feed the fireline and emergency services in the area including the BC Hydro linecrews. I have heard from various sources how much a place to rest, grab a coffee, eat and clean up was appreciated. None of it was planned that way and much of the food came out of peoples pockets/ranches.
 

Scott

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Yeah, fire camps/lines love things like salmonella turning effectiveness into mush.

I have not once ever even seen salads on a fireline. Water, salted drinks/mixes, coffee, sandwiches, sweets, and some stuff you can throw into your pack like protein bars.

Bulkier meals were for gathering areas - pizzas being pretty easy and popular.
 

FJAG

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Yeah, fire camps/lines love things like salmonella turning effectiveness into mush.

I have not once ever even seen salads on a fireline. Water, salted drinks/mixes, coffee, sandwiches, sweets, and some stuff you can throw into your pack like protein bars.

Bulkier meals were for gathering areas - pizzas being pretty easy and popular.

That was our setup. The crews came back to the base camp every night to sleep where we had field kitchens turning out breakfast and a fairly late and long supper hour. The lunches were put together by a night shift that had them ready for distribution at breakfast.

🍻
 
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