Bottom line, being a leader is hard. It requires a great deal of time and effort on the parts of leaders to enforce the standard, and ensure any remedial actions or training is complete. It’s part of the reason that so many people who fail to meet the standard are never corrected. But when we do it, the organization gets better and your job gets easier. When considering what to do with a substandard subordinate, I use an escalation of force model, which is to say you don’t have to go though all of the levels and you don’t necessarily have to move to the next level. It’s all issue or event dependent.

1) Verbal counseling, remedial training and or remedial action.

2) Written counseling, in depth remedial training.

3) Written counseling reflecting intent to add to evaluation; additional remedial training to include teaching classes, writing papers, etc.

4) Have performance reflect on evaluation; cut a Senior Rater Option (or Rater Option for officers) if annual eval isn’t due any time soon.

5) Suspend from position pending additional training IOT become proficient, include counseling.

6) Transfer in lieu of relief, with performance reflected on evaluation. .

7) Relief for cause.

As I said, it’s all issue dependent. Is the guy lazy or did he do something to endanger Soldiers? Has he been slow rolling updating someone’s ERB, or did he screw up something and a Soldier didn’t get paid or promoted? Pay, promotion, life, limb or eye sight – basically the things in the S1 world that (to me) cross the relief threshold.