Running head: IMPROVING MILITARY DISCIPLINE WITHIN THE CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD Improving Military Discipline within the California National Guard
Quintravius Miller
UMUC 1 IMPROVING MILITARY DISCIPLINE WITHIN THE CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD 2 Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
A New Generation of Soldiers.........................................................................................................4
Weekend Warriors............................................................................................................................5
Punishment, it’s good for you, it’s good for me..............................................................................6
The light at the end of the tunnel.....................................................................................................6
It’s finally over.................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8 IMPROVING MILITARY DISCIPLINE WITHIN THE CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD 3 Introduction
After serving on active duty for eight years, I plan to serve my country in a different
capacity by joining the California National Guard. I have always heard the negative stigmas,
throughout my career, which can be associated with the reserve components of the Army.
However, I never imagined them to be true. We all belong to the same team, and we are all
bound to abide by the same rules and regulations, which are governed by the United States Army.
Last year, I had the honor of serving with the 31st Engineer Vertical Construction
Company (EN VCC) on a deployment to Iraq. Before we had commenced our mission, I had
every doubt about the discipline this unit had. Once deployed, my doubts were confirmed. The
lack of discipline and the poor military bearing that these Soldiers had was something I have
never experienced in my career.
In this report, I am going to explain the issues that I have come upon, at the same time,
proving some effective, almost no cost, solutions. This will help improve our fighting force and
be an effective part of the total Army mission. IMPROVING MILITARY DISCIPLINE WITHIN THE CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD 4 I think that there are three issues that are the contributors to the problem this unit is facing with
lack of military discipline. The first contributor is the type of soldier that is now being recruited.
The second contributor is the weekend mentality. The third is that the Army has become softer on
disciplining its Soldiers.
A New Generation of Soldiers Our country is evolving every minute after minute. With that, the people of our country
are also changing. Every generation seems to get its name to identify the people of that
generation. There are two generations that I will be addressing, the millennial and Generation Z.
(I belong to the millennial generation.) The Soldiers that belong to these generations have a lot of
habits and ideology that have been developed by their generations over the years. One of the
worst things that I have seen is the sense of entitlement that these Soldiers have. They think
everything will be handed to them and that they should be awarded for something as simple as
showing up to work on time. They also think they have the authority to skip the chain of
command when they have an issue, whether it be personal or professional. These two habits of
these generations of Soldiers is completely undermining the structure of the Army and the
regulations that we have in place. Some might argue that we are evolving as a military and that
we should adapt to these habits (Hinote, 2015, P131-138). However, I would like to make the
point that our rank structure and chain of command is there for a reason. If the lowest ranking
individual doesn’t like that their Non-Commissions Officer (NCO) wants them to clean the
motor pool, they will feel free to contact the Command Sergeant Major (CSM), because they
might be on good terms, and that Soldier would then be excused from performing their duties.
This presents two major problems. One, which the NCO has now been undermined by a senior IMPROVING MILITARY DISCIPLINE WITHIN THE CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD 5 NCO and the private is aware of this, and will now try to do this every time to get out of
performing a duty. Two, which the NCO will now feel there is no reason for them to do anything
so why even try. With most of the millennial Soldiers, they are now seasoned in the military and
are commanding officers and senior NCO’s. They are decisions makers who are suggesting and
allowing changes to be made to make the Army a better place to work. I would like to remind
you that this is the greatest fighting force in the world, the United States Army! This is not some
social experiment where everyone gets a participation ribbon. There are real stakes, like Soldiers
lives, at risk here.
Weekend Warriors In my opinion, it is safe to assume that we have all seen the Army Reserve commercials
which state “One weekend a month, two weeks a year.” That statement alone is probably the
reason that there is such interest in the National Guard and Reserve Component services. In the
military community, they are often referred to as “weekend warriors.” It is my belief that this is a
contributing factor to the lack of discipline amongst the ranks. A lot of these Soldiers are
between the ages of 18 and 25. Most still live at home with their parents, and with no real job or
life experience. These Soldiers are used to being handed everything, and when they don’t get it,
they show no iota of respect for the authority. Indeed, these Soldiers have complete basic training
and their advanced military training. However, when they get home and on that “weekend” status
it’s as if it was all for not. Also, it can be hard for these Soldiers to transition from their civilian
status to being a Soldier. Maybe they are the manager at their place of civilian employment. They
are used to being the boss, people looking up to them, and having the authority. When they come
to drill on the weekend, they are just a Private (PVT) and are constantly being told what to do. IMPROVING MILITARY DISCIPLINE WITHIN THE CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD 6 They now develop a chip on their shoulder and start to get an attitude and talk back to superiors
instead of doing what is being told. Which leads me into the last contributing factor.
Punishment, it’s good for you, it’s good for me Leaders are now facing a big problem, the inability to properly discipline their Soldiers.
The Army has gone from being able to take someone out back for some good ole’ “wall to wall
counseling” to limiting them to 8, 4 count push-ups that the Punisher must do with the Soldier.
Sincerely, this is just ridiculous. Wall to wall counseling is a thing of the past, and I am by no
means suggesting that we bring it back; I am suggesting that they do allow their leaders to
properly punish their Soldiers as they see fit. When I first joined the Army, leaders were allowed
to give a Soldier a good “smoking” as corrective training. Now, that is seen as hazing, and the
leader can be punished. (This is also ridiculous). This is exactly what the Army needs to bring
back. No one likes to get smoked, especially if it is in front of their peers. And the shame from
that action will most likely be the determining factor if that Soldier will ever do what got them
punished again.
The light at the end of the tunnel I am proposing some great solutions to the problems that I have brought up. These
solutions will be at minimal or no cost to the California National Guard. The Army needs to
change a few of its regulations to allow leaders to effectively punish their Soldiers. The National
Guard can also define what proper corrective training is and provide training on what proper
corrective punishment would be. The way our leaders are leading can also be something to be
changed. The leaders ought to be taught what the habits are of the new generations of Soldiers IMPROVING MILITARY DISCIPLINE WITHIN THE CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD 7 that are coming in and how to highlight the best qualities that they have to become a more
effective Army (Hinote, 2015, P131-138). The leaders also need to enforce the standards. When
the Soldiers come to weekend drill, they need to ensure that they are complying with all Army
Regulations, and are being respectful of not only their superiors but also their peers. If there are
Soldiers that are habitual offends of these rules and regulations a plan needs to be set in place for
them to be kicked out of the military for failure to adapt.
It’s finally over All things considered, there are various undesirable habits that could be potentially
destroying the greatest fighting force in the world. But, if the National Guard can change just a
few of the things that I have proposed, the military should be in a good place…before the next
generation starts to join and messes everything up. IMPROVING MILITARY DISCIPLINE WITHIN THE CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD 8 References
Bertagni, B. & Salvetti, S. (2015). Dealing with complexity in a simple way. How
visualization boosts understanding in learning process. The Z generation
Case. Sociologica del Lavoro, 137, 201-215. Retrieved from:
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/ 2016.5.04
Hinote, C. & Sundvall, T. J. (2015). Leading millennials. Air & Space Power Journal, 21 (1), 131-138. DOI:Retrieved from: http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/ 2016.4.23
Kelty, R. (2014). The millennial generation and national defense: Attitudes of future military and
civilian leaders. Journal for the Study of Peace &Conflict, 2014, 135-136. Retrieved from:
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/
Sheffield, G. (2000) Military discipline and punishment. World War One. Retrieved from:
http://www.bl.uk/world-war-one/articles/military-discipline
Smith, K. A. (2009). Gaining the edge: Connecting with the millennials. Air Force
Journal of Logistics, 33 (3/4), 52-60. Retrieved from:
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/ 2016.5.04
Tan, M. (2016) Millennials may need drill sgts beyond basic, Army says. Army Times, Retrieved from: http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/careers/army/enlisted/2016/04/25
/millennials-may-need-drill-sgts-beyond-basic-army-says/83274044/2016.5.04 IMPROVING MILITARY DISCIPLINE WITHIN THE CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD Thompson, C. & Gregory, J. B. (2012) Managing millennials: A framework for
improving attraction, motivation, and retention. Psychologist-Manager Journal (Taylor
& Francis Ltd), 15.4, 237-246. DOI: 10.1080/10887156.2012.730444.2016.4.23
U.S. Department of the Army. Army Command Policy. Army Regulation 600-20.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Army, November, 6 2014, 23-35.
2016.5.04
Walker, W. E. (1992) Comparing army reserve forces: A tale of multiple ironies,
conflicting realities, and more certain prospects. Armed Forces & Society (0995327X),
18.3, 303-322. DOI: Retrieved from: http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/
2016.4.23
Williams, K. (2010) An assessment of moral and character education in initial
entry training (IET). Journal of Military Ethics, 9(1), 41-56. DOI:
10.1080/1527570903523107. 2016.5.04 9

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