Bill lets commanders ask about troops' guns

[bwaites]

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…

Agreed 100%! I'm an Air Force brat, and saw my father have both kind of commanders. I watched him stand up as senior NCO and cost a full Colonel his star, when that Colonel issued an order that was detrimental to the Airmen under my dads care. That old NCO and that impetuous Colonel had it out, and the old NCO won. We thought that Colonel was going to force dads retirement, when in the end the Commanding General told him, "You screwed up, and you should have listened when that NCO came to you and advised you of that in a confidential manner."

I just don't know where we draw that line of responsibility. IF you have rapid access to mental health care, then you were lucky. I work in a rural area, and sometimes its weeks before I can get patients that kind of care. If I think they are suicidal/homicidal right NOW, I can get an evaluation, but if not.....well, it may be some time. I try my best to remove instruments of danger by having another family member help, but it doesn't always work that way, and I have nightmares of someone I saw going off the deep end when he is waiting for further evaluation.

It is indeed a slippery slope, and its greased on top of that!