Why It Is Important to Not Be Late

Failure to Report-A Methodology for Dealing with Soldiers Who Are Late Written by Mark Gerecht Friday, 18 September 2009 Have you ever had a Soldier who is late? Have you ever been late for a formation and been chewed out without being able to explain yourself? Failure to Report is a serious offense and the military demands strict obedience with regard to dependability. The best method I have found is to deal with a Soldier in a professional and constructive manner. Being loud and demeaning only serves to harden a Soldier's position and builds resentment, frustration, and a sense of unfair treatment. This article explores TTP's for dealing with FTR before it happens and then walks you through a thought process so that if you have to make a hard decision like recommending UCMJ...it is done in professional manner, from a factual perspective. Setting the Tone Minimizing FTR’s begins with the reception and integration process. Soldiers arriving in a new unit or element should receive an initial counseling/orientation that emphasizes the duty and responsibility of being dependable. Requirements of dependability as it relates to FTR include: reporting for duty on time, in the proper uniform, and with the proper equipment. In my younger days an old CSM had a saying: “If you can’t be on time, be early”. Needless to say it stuck with me and I've used it throughout my career to drive the point home. While orientation is nice and helps set the tone; proper examples by unit leaders set the attitude and instill the standard. Leaders who are late need to have the same standard applied to them as is applied to their Soldiers. War story: As a 1SG I was late to a formation because I had car trouble one morning. I was only 5 minutes late and under normal circumstances a Soldier with no previous history of being late would have simply received a verbal counseling. However since I was the 1SG a simple verbal would not have resonated well with the Soldiers and NCO’s I had previously...