I’ve never been a staff OIC, nor worked in an S1 shop. However, my time as an AIT commander was very much impacted by the S1 shop. I’m not sure if it is a systemic issue for AG MOS’s, but our S1 personnel were not cutting it, either.

As you’ve seen, patience was mentioned above. I would also encourage this, while also providing counseling, guidance, and mentorship (more the latter than the previous).

Time and effort tend to fix things. The S1 shop that I worked with was awful for the most part of my time in command. What I did is place pressure on them, in the form of CC’ing the appropriate people, or providing memorandums with incorrect reports. They at least knew that I was watching what they did (though as a subordinate company commander it didn’t have many consequences). Just before I left, the S1 shop did a 360 degree turn around. Reports were getting more and more correct, saving me time and effort.

Try building trust as well. While I am a firm believer that BN Staffs are there to facilitate the success of the companies, if a company tries throwing your NCO under the bus for their failure, light them up, respectfully (and then help them). This will show your NCO that you’re willing to be in their corner if they’ve done their job. This *should* increase the NCO’s buy-in to the mission.