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who do i complain to if it involves an officer?

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draftdodger
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who do i complain to if it involves an officer?

Post by draftdodger »

hi guys,

i'm a ta lance jack and i'm really pissed off with my adj (regular). i put in for a tour over three months ago and have just been told i applied too late (6 months before deployment!). what actually happened is my old adj was leaving and didnt bother his arse, he went on holiday for 3 wks and i was told to just wait till he got back (not his fault but i'd expect someone to do his job if he's away for the best part of a month!). point is he had this for over two and a half months and did nothing.

my new adj picked it up and got me answers within 3 days. i've already told my job i need time off and subsequently didnt put in for a promotion at work. i'm raging about this. i want to complain as nothing was done about this but dont know where to start.


ask for an oc interview?
anglo-saxon
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Re: who do i complain to if it involves an officer?

Post by anglo-saxon »

draftdodger wrote:hi guys,

i'm a ta lance jack and i'm really pissed off with my adj (regular). i put in for a tour over three months ago and have just been told i applied too late (6 months before deployment!). what actually happened is my old adj was leaving and didnt bother his arse, he went on holiday for 3 wks and i was told to just wait till he got back (not his fault but i'd expect someone to do his job if he's away for the best part of a month!). point is he had this for over two and a half months and did nothing.

my new adj picked it up and got me answers within 3 days. i've already told my job i need time off and subsequently didnt put in for a promotion at work. i'm raging about this. i want to complain as nothing was done about this but dont know where to start.


ask for an oc interview?
This one of theose situations where you will gain very little at best by pursuing such a complaint. Firstly, because of the time lapse, there is obviously nothing you can do about your situation ref going overseas (at least not for this tour). Secondly, for the same reason (among others), you are unlikely to have any joy by going after your old Adjt. If you do, you may appear vindictive and draw unnecesary negative attention to yourself. Don't forget, the Army is a small world. People know people. Having said that, if you appraoch the situation maturely and properly, there are intangible benefits to indicating (gently) that perhaps your last application may not have been handled quite as expediently as it should have been. You will never actually see those benefits, because they are likely to be simply a less-than-stellar impression of the man being formed in the minds of fellow officers, for instance. `What kind of Adjt could he be to slide a troop`s paperwork to one side` sort of thing.

That is not to say you should do virtually nothing. Your chain of command should be your first approach. If you haven't already pursued this through your chain of comd previously, my question would be "why not?". Surely you didn't leave it for over two months without making enquiries about what the status of your request was? A simple question to your pl comd would have gone through the Coy 2i/c to the Adjt and could have been addressed back then, with foll-up available if an unsatisfactory response was receive at the company level from Bn HQ.

If indeed your application was supported by your OC (who would likely have had to sign off on it if he was in favour of your going), then your OC should be very interested in action items with his signature on them not being processed in a timely manner by Bn HQ staff.

In the bigger picture, if your application was supported and it was mishandled by the Adjt (or other person), then it may be an indication of a broader problem that should have been looked into. Perhaps he was just not a particularly efficient Adjt? It happens. I've had more than a couple of closed-door "chats without coffee" with such types over the years, many of whom are actually labouring under the impression that thay are doing stellar work and are quite surprised to hear that they are in fact useless dickwhads! Bless 'em! Thankfully, theu have been few and far between.

I would say that, at this point, your best bet is to reapply for a tour (if you are still so inclined) and mentioning that your last application did not go through. Try not to be seen as bitter or looking for retribution as that can be very off-putting and you might just be told politely to pi$$ off and wind your neck in. Approach this in a mature manner and you will likely see the benefits eventually.

It`s a shame that happened. It also sheds very poor light on the TA in the eyes of civi employers who have to make arrangements for replacements for TA soldiers going overseas and such. Is there such a thing as an employer liaison rep in your unitÉ If so, it might be worth asking for a chat with them to get things figured out.

Best of luck.
draftdodger
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Post by draftdodger »

yeah, did chase it up through my chain of command at least 3 times a wk (then every day) by going through my PSI (regular) but after that it kind of broke down. my OC and CSM are both ta and just told me to go through the PSI who would go to the adj. the PSI (CSgt) didnt like to harry a captain and (i think) didnt want to go to the only other person who could deal with it who was there all the time (the training major (regular)) as he would then be going outwith the chain of command.

in the end i only got an answer by calling the company office clerk (a civvi).
anglo-saxon
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Post by anglo-saxon »

draftdodger wrote:yeah, did chase it up through my chain of command at least 3 times a wk (then every day) by going through my PSI (regular) but after that it kind of broke down. my OC and CSM are both ta and just told me to go through the PSI who would go to the adj. the PSI (CSgt) didnt like to harry a captain and (i think) didnt want to go to the only other person who could deal with it who was there all the time (the training major (regular)) as he would then be going outwith the chain of command.

in the end i only got an answer by calling the company office clerk (a civvi).
Well, if that's the extent of their abilities, you're probably in the wrong outfit! Leaning on the PSI like that is a total cop-out! That's too bad. The troops deserve far better leadership/welfare than that.
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TA_Padre
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Post by TA_Padre »

Sad to see that the suggestion to have a quick chat with the Padre wasn't on the menu anywhere! Amazing how we can help in situations like this :-)


Still - we often get forgotten (but not in November of course when everyone seems to wants us at a different place at the same time!)
anglo-saxon
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Post by anglo-saxon »

Padres are considered outside the chain of command and are therefore well-placed to handle troop welfare issues as well as spiritual matters.

Having said that, I don't think this case is one where the padre could assist, except in a capacity of moral support. There's no doubt that he could have a word in the right office on the soldier's behalf, but human nature being what it is, if a troop went to the Padre to get this sorted, he'd probably be tagged as a whiner and cold-shouldered anyway.
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