01-16-2013, 10:12 PM
BWaites,
Agree with what you are saying. Having been a 'commander' a couple of times, I have had youngsters that I was worried about. How did I deal with it? I had them escorted to a qualified healthcare provider. I did not make the call…even though I consider myself a pretty fair judge of men. Of course, I was also a young troop long before I was a commander, and I remember being informed that the CO was going to inspect all of the off base personnel’s homes for ‘health and comfort’ reasons. Thought it was a crock then, think it’s a crock now. There is a fine line between good leadership and caring for your troops and what I call ‘invasive leadership’.
The problem I have with bill/law/order this is not all 'commanders' are created equal. There are those with an agenda that will use this to, as you say, confiscate firearms because of a hot tempered youngster (something I have been accused of being a time or two) or just to attract attention to what a ‘great’ commander they are. Don’t believe it? Look at the scandals over the last several months and the number of Commanding Officers that have been relieved.
We, in the military, forgo a lot of our civil rights based on our chosen profession. Many of us choose to live off base to avoid the additional jackassery that is often associated with overzealous commanders on base. This, to me, seems to be a further erosion of the few liberties that we have, and could lead the civilians to say ‘ well, the military does it, so maybe our police should forgo the 4th amendment for the civilian populous’.
Slippery slope…
Agree with what you are saying. Having been a 'commander' a couple of times, I have had youngsters that I was worried about. How did I deal with it? I had them escorted to a qualified healthcare provider. I did not make the call…even though I consider myself a pretty fair judge of men. Of course, I was also a young troop long before I was a commander, and I remember being informed that the CO was going to inspect all of the off base personnel’s homes for ‘health and comfort’ reasons. Thought it was a crock then, think it’s a crock now. There is a fine line between good leadership and caring for your troops and what I call ‘invasive leadership’.
The problem I have with bill/law/order this is not all 'commanders' are created equal. There are those with an agenda that will use this to, as you say, confiscate firearms because of a hot tempered youngster (something I have been accused of being a time or two) or just to attract attention to what a ‘great’ commander they are. Don’t believe it? Look at the scandals over the last several months and the number of Commanding Officers that have been relieved.
We, in the military, forgo a lot of our civil rights based on our chosen profession. Many of us choose to live off base to avoid the additional jackassery that is often associated with overzealous commanders on base. This, to me, seems to be a further erosion of the few liberties that we have, and could lead the civilians to say ‘ well, the military does it, so maybe our police should forgo the 4th amendment for the civilian populous’.
Slippery slope…