“Toxic” LTC Tammy Baugh back on the job
The Stars & Stripes reports that an aviation battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Tammy Baugh was removed from her position, along with her sergeant major when the Fort Carson command structure received complaints that she had been verbally abusive to her subordinates, threw things at them and stormed out of events and meetings when she was displeased. Her response to the complaints? “You want toxic? I’ll show you toxic.”
Well an investigation revealed that the complaints were true, and the investigators recommended that she be removed from her command. But, you know, she was returned.
Dozens of soldiers were interviewed, with most calling the climate bad, or worse.
Baugh told investigators she was misunderstood.
“My passion can sometimes be confused with anger,” she wrote.
[…]
Fort Carson confirmed that Baugh returned to command, but didn’t respond to questions on what steps were taken to change the command climate in her battalion.
“The suspension imposed on the leadership has been lifted and both have resumed command responsibilities,” Fort Carson said in a statement Tuesday. “Neither the commander nor the command sergeant major are facing any disciplinary action and have been cleared of any wrong doing.”
In her statement, Baugh said her critics are slackers.
“It seems that those who cannot meet the standard have the loudest voice,” she wrote.
Yeah, and a good commander would know how to address those issues without throwing things and publicly belittling people. Baugh isn’t a good commander. A male commander would be looking for a nice ROTC assignment near his retirement home at this point. Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno promised to remove toxic commanders from their jobs, but I guess there were limitations to that promise that we didn’t anticipate.
Category: Big Army
An “aviation battalion commander”, without pilots wings. That seems odd to me but maybe things have changed over the years. Also:
“My passion can sometimes be confused with anger,” she wrote.
No Colonel, forget the nice word passion. I think you “anger” can be confused with, “who’s gonna get be in my fucking barrel today!”. Seen it too many times so don’t piss down my leg and tell me it’s “passion” that’s giving me that nice warm feeling.
“My passion can sometimes be confused with anger.”
I’m keeping that line. It’s brilliant. It’s passion, dammit, and it’s not my fault that I others stupidly mistake it for anger!
Reminds me of the job interviewer who asks an applicant, “What’s your greatest weakness.” The applicant pauses reflectively and then says, “Well, some accuse me of being a workaholic.”
She is a senior aviator…AH64 “qualified”
Beretverde…Thank you for clearing that up. I should have read the Stars & Stripes.
I’m still surprised she’s not wearing her wings. Those command pictures are usually where commanders try to strut their stuff. Should be at least Senior Aviator wings and a CAB unless she’s also avoided deployment for the last decade+.
rustypaladin…That’s what initially threw me about “aviation battalion commander”. If I had ’em, I’d wear ’em!
According to her bio,she should also be wearing a Parachutist’s Badge. Maybe she’s PO’ed that she hasn’t been able to get the required flight hours in yet for the Master Aviator’s Badge,therefore she just won’t wear anything.
Yep,if she wanted that Master’s Badge,she should have been a Lift Pilot.
Maybe none of her pilots will take her up? maybe she doesn’t trust her packers?
I served with her in Afghanistan .. 2010-2011
She was the BDE XO; no issues
I don’t have a short temper. It’s just a rapid reaction to bullshit.
I tell the lads and lassies who work for me that I’m allergic to bullshit and suffer violent anaphylactic reactions to it!
Just don’t be pissin’ me off.
Removed from her position, along with her sergeant major a SECOND TIME in 3……..2…….1…..
/or promoted to a higher position….”Peter” ◔_◔
The wonderful “fuck up, move up” principle in action…
Next step for the Army is to promote here immediately, Issue a letter of apology that is read in public on the main parade field. I am so happy to be retired from an older U.S Army be all that you can be!
Fire a female commander? NOT with this social engineering administration. Gonna run it down your throats- No matter what the consequences!
You hit it exactly, If it was a Male Commanding Officer he would have been fired and never heard from again. Since it is a Female then she is afforded every privilege imaginable.
The whole thing reminds me of “Horrible” Holly Graff.
All I can do is shake my head and look in in shame. I remember back when VFA 82 integrated Female enlisted into the Command. Ten females came in the same month. The highest rank was a overweight Chief who was almost 270 lbs. It was embarrassing to see her waddle down the hallways to go get her coffee then head right back to her admin office.
As for the others, 5 out of the ten got pregnant, and when the Command finally deployed they only had 3 Females out of a total 12 they got.
Back in the 2000’s I watched female after female manipulate their way through the military. Always being fawned over and always flirting no matter how ugly they were. I was single but they disgusted me so I looked down on them with contempt. Combine that with the easy claim of sexual assault or harassment many of my friends and I looked at female sailors and marines as toxic to be avoided at all costs.
I am sure there are good women in the military it is just that I only met one.
I thought the military in general was getting rid of people like Baugh.
But they’re keeping her? Why? What makes her so special? Who is she boinking?
From the looks of the photo Ex-PH2, the questions is more likely, “Who is getting boinked BY her…”
They don’t call her Strap-On Tammy for nothing.
My fear is that she doesn’t *need* a strap on…..
*shudders*
Ex-PH2, you said it 3 times, why she is so special. “her”, “she” and “she” again.
It’s all the in numbers. They must succeed.
Was she returned to the same command she was suspended from?
If you are gay then it’s ok.
That’s true, jerry920, but there is also the possiblity that she is so close to retirement, it makes for less bad PR if she’s allowed to stay until she does retire.
Ex-PH2…I think you’re on point here. The bad rap the media would give everyone from her to the Pentagon over a forced retirement firing is more than they want. Just don’t promote her and let her retire when she tops out.
Put her in an advisory position at Ft. Carson or a ROTC spot near her retirement home.
“Special Projects Officer” for the CG. I think that was the follow-on assignment for upper-echelon reprobate officers.
What’s so special about her?
She has a vagina, which, to progressives, is a sign of natural superiority over men. Nevermind that she most likely can’t even do as many push ups as the worst slacker male in her BN.
What the hell does doing pushups have to do with being a toxic boss?
Would you care to explain your misogynistic statement to the rest of us?
Must you start this shit this early in the morning?
What makes you think men don’t act the same way Baugh does?
Ex,
…What makes you think men don’t act the same way Baugh does?
Oh, they do. But they do not get returned to the command from which they were relieved/suspended.
Without voicing any mysogyny, it sounds to me her reinstatement is a PC ploy.
Me? Color me a “Philogynist.” (^__*)
It isn’t misogyny to point out the truth. She talks about “high standards” but has her career on the basis of lower physical standards, due to her gender.
I have had male commanders who acted just like her and their careers were dead in the water. No reinstatements. Tantrum throwers weren’t tolerated.
Again, a double standard that benefits her, due to gender, is being applied.
That’s my point.
I agree with you, Ted, that there is a double standard being applied, which is detrimental to the job she is supposed to do.
But when I ran into women who were unchained screaming bitches when I was in the Navy, they did not move beyond E-6 and everyone was glad to see them leave.
I don’t like this PC change I see, because it is wasting training time and money, and destroying discipline to keep someone like this on the job.
I think she is special just due to having ovaries… but if somebody has evidence to the contrary, please post
I think she’s just a screaming bitch, and the Army is too pussified to fire her ass.
I say this because I can be a bitch on wheels when the occasion calls for it.
Do you want to get me started, sport?
Wait a minute please, I have to go get the popcorn.
I have the weirdest boner.
😀 😀 😀
Dammit, Chip, would you please post a spew alert?
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha — wheeze — hahahahahahahahahahahahahaa
Ditto for me….
Now, I want to see that video!!!
You’re damn right our ovaries make us special. And somewhat tempermental, particularly during hot flashes.
Ex-PH2 is right, she’s being a screaming bitch, and needs another pair of ovaries to knock her on her bony ass. It sounds long overdue, in my opinion.
Pinto Nag…You made a great point which I have seen in action and it was ugly to watch!. Nobody, but NOBODY…can put a bitchy woman in her place like…another bitchy AND pissed off woman!
And inclosing, James(in Gulf Breeze), I would like to say that I think you’re special, too, just because you have the ball-cock thing… if we can find it.
Will you adopt me? I’ll even keep my room clean and pretend to like cats.
Sure, why not? I need someone around here to do chores.
I hope we’re all done here. I’m going to be busy this afternoon reviewing all the shit I’ve written so far and baking cookies, so I won’t have time to watch what all of you are up to.
All of you, play nice with the other kids and be home when the street lights are on, because you REALLY don’t want me to come looking for you.
All of you, play nice with the other kids and be home when the street lights are on, because you REALLY don’t want me to come looking for you.
I’ll wait until after you call me the THIRD time. I mean, that has ALWAYS been kids’ Standing Operating Procedure, right?
I’ll be in the bushes waiting…..
*rustle rustle…*
😀 😀 😀
Call you? If I have to call you even once, you will be consuming your meals standing up for the next 10 days.
That is all.
Did I ever tell you guys about the time when I was 5 and my parents were giving a dinner party, and no one was talking to me so I went for a long walk, right out the front door?
Did you have to go out and cut your own switch from the lilac bush? That’s what my Mom did to me when I screwed up.
Switch? No. My father used the flat of his hand on my backside. Three hard smacks. I tried to avoid it by sticking a book into my pants, but that didn’t work.
Ma’am, I think I was trying to say that she was special ONLY because of her marital tackle… Where as you have proven over and over again that you are special because of all the awesome stuff you have done/said. My apologies that I offended.
No offense taken, James.
I have thick skin and a deeply defined sense of humor. And thanks to the many sailors who thought it was OK to take aim at the WAVE over there, and find out what that poor girl could take, I learned to hand right back what they handed out.
No offense taken at all.
Kinda reminds me of the CAPT Holly Graf fiasco. It took years & crapload of bad publicity for the Navy finally to cut terrible Holly loose…and she still got to retire as an 0-6.
Maybe just maybe Odierno has a plan in place. Perhaps this is LTC Baugh’s terminal point…no brigade cmd or bird col promotion…quietly retired in a couple yrs. Probably wishful thinking.
Ah, yes. Holly Graf. First person I thought of.
A shipmate of mine was on Churchill with Graf. Before that tour, he was one of the most gung ho squids you would ever meet. CPO, then LDO. Squared away. Total professional. He absolutely loved the Navy. That ship cured him forever of that silly idea. I talked to him soon after he left the ship and I never heard a more beaten down man. It was heartbreaking to hear.
It’s criminal that officers like Graf and Baugh are allowed to poison our military in the name of political correctness.
I agreewith thegal about slackers and dirtbags having the loudest voice and the most to gain by inflating the toxicidity of the command. Command Climate Surveys are as worthless as EO NCOs.
Read this, from the article:
Her response to the complaints? “You want toxic? I’ll show you toxic.”
That speaks volumes about her. It’s everyone else’s fault. She’s not to blame.
There are slackers and whiners everywhere, but labeling EVERYONE who works for her that way means that she is NOT taking any responsibility for her own behavior.
What part of that do YOU not get?
There’s a huge amount of difference between demanding high standards and being a hardass about it, as opposed to just being abusive.
Too bad she doesn’t know the difference. It she had been a man, it seems rather likely she would have been stuck somewhere around 1LT. Just ask that drama queen Choi about that.
Agreed.
My first BC told us LTs that he hated LTs. And he wasn’t joking. I never understood why. He had to be one at one time but…there it is.
Most knew it. In and out of the battalion. You’d like to think the army would weed out bad leaders but it doesn’t it.
“My passion can sometimes be confused with anger.”
So she treats people like shit because she just loves job so much and cares so much about the Army and her soldiers. Oh and as an extra ‘fuck you’ to the soldiers who give her rank any meaning, she lets them know that if they criticized her they’re slackers.
Meanwhile Army leadership has become so pussified that they won’t remove a woman from command because of potentially bad optics and political correctness. Yet senior level leaders will sit in their offices and scratch their asses wondering why a) soldiers don’t believe one fucking thing that comes out of the their mouths and b) those same soldiers say fuck it and don’t re-enlist. It will be a genuine mystery to them.
It has become quite clear that the Military, especially the Officer Corps, has completely become infected with the Progressive nonsense of the Universities.
Sounds like she is just the type of CC to lead the way for female soldiers everywhere by volunteering for Infantry training.
*ducks behind cover*
I’ll help load the bullets. 😉
‘Toxic’ sounds to me like just another polite buzzword. Call the baby by its name. In this case, she sounds like an immature brat who throws tantrums. That isn’t command material of any level, nor for any outfit.
Society demands we teach our sons to control their sexual aggressiveness, desire, etc, etc, or whatever. Why doesn’t society demand we teach our daughters to control their emotions?
Female emotions can do more damage to society one thinks.
See the video of little girls dropping the F-bomb? I’m sure that LTC Baugh would approve, after all, the kids are just displaying “passion”. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/10/23/feminism-f-bombs-video/17763763/
Keep reminding me why I got out.
Honestly, I have no clue who this lady is, and what really happened in her command. She could be a huge duffelbag of crap, or it could be she has been saddled with a bunch of malcontents … I really just don’t know.
However, two things strike me about this.
1. She is correct about the fucking whining dirtbags having the loudest voice when they complain.
2. It’s sad that the pussification, as some have called it, has gained such prevalence in the military that you can’t get your ass (verbally) reamed out for fucking up without calling the IG or your Senator.
Yeah, maybe she’s an asshole of a commander, but I’m thinking that the people complaining were on the receiving end of a good ass chewing for a reason.
Just my thoughts on this.
I remember reading a long time ago the statement (roughly) that “true racial equality will be reached, not when black men can be promoted to the same level as white men, but when black me are free to fail and lose their positions exactly the same as white men – no props, no special help, just rise or fall on their own merits.” Sure seems applicable to this situation, too.
Well, we GIRLS don’t have dick measuring contests, but here’s my take on this. How many Army years does this bitch have, anyway? If she’s thiscloseto 20, they can they tell her ‘retire or get fired’, can’t they? Retirement for her would be less bad PR for the Army than kicking her ass out the door for any cause. If they ran an investigation on her behavior and then put her back on the job, they’re sending the message that she can retire ASAP. I’ve run into toxic bosses in the civilian work world. They tend to drive away good employees. That lowers production and quality, because replacing those people costs money. New people have to be found, hired, and trained. If it’s bad enough, the toxic boss generally finds new employment or the company may go belly up. I’m not going to go into that nasty word ‘nepotism’, because we all know it can build a company’s business but can also destroy a company if the relatives are idiots. The economy is still sluggish, despite gubmint reports to the contrary, and part-time work is easier to find than full-time, unless you have specific job-related skills. It will be a while before that changes, too. In a sluggish economy, people like Baugh can find themselves facing the exit door if they are really awful, but they never take any responsibility for their own behavior. In this case, Baugh is saying THEY are ALL slackers. I find that seriously doubtful. Slackers can be motivated to work harder, but she doesn’t know how to do that. Instead, she throws temper tantrums, screams at people, flounces out of meetings instead of solving problems, throws things at people, and essentially presents herself as the Army’s version of the toxic boss. That is not how you motivate people. She’s painting everyone who works for her with the same brush – slackers – with no backup for that. It’s all everyone else’s fault. The universal complaint about her is that she’s a screaming bitch. She has a rotten temper and takes it out on everyone around… Read more »
I’ll beat Green Thumb here to the punch…..
” . Then she can find out what it’s like to be in the REAL world where, most of the time, you can’t get away with being an asshole on the job….”
Until she goes to work as a senior executive at All Points Logistics.
😀 😀 😀
Pound on this bitch all you like. I’m not going to defend her.
I’ve run into plenty of women in civilian jobs who were this bad or worse, who got fired because they drove away good employees. That meant hiring new employees, which is costly and time-consuming. It reduces production levels.
Not meeting production levels means not producing income.
Civilian companies run on profit. They are not charities.
If you don’t produce the finance department’s projected results for your department or division, and a lot of people leave for other jobs, taking those skills and their experience with them, then you, the department head, are looked at as the problem, not the employees.
I had a commander like her once. No one could do anything right. Everyone was a worthless slacker. he screamed and cursed and generally acted like an asshole. Back then there was really no channel for us snuffies to complain to. So we did what we could, which was nothing. Literally nothing. Everyone did the bare minimum to get by. Pretty soon Commander Asshole had to answer for why readiness was in the crapper. He gave his stock answer. everyone was slackers, which by this point was actually true. he was transferred elsewhere PDQ. The new commander was tough but fair and morale increased along with readiness to the point that our unit was the AAAA Aviation unit of the year.
I’ve had plenty of poor “leaders” in the private sector of both genders. Unfortunately, the phrase “shit rises to the top” always seemed to be in play. The difference is that when you’re in private industry, or even non-military government, you have the option of voting with your feet.
Personally, I prefer working for and with men. They are usually more straightforward in how they fight. Many women seem to feel that they have to be nasty and fight dirty in order to compete with men and that includes pushing other women down. I currently work in a small web development office with 3 men, all younger than I am, and we never have any personal conflicts, ever.
y’know, it would really send a message if they scheduled a party for the da AFTER she left.
I once knew a guy who was fired – intentionally – on his birthday. That’s a message.
Good idea.
I once had a Female boss who was a real turd. We referred to her as “the EO Quota” among other things and yeah, we had a party the day after she left! I see that today’s Army has Political Correctness as its #1 priority!!
Ex-PH2…Thank you for your input. I’ve had them too, male and female in the civilian world but only males in the military, probably due to my service era. In civilian work though, they were gone, post haste. Always with the same parting sentiments. “Let’s shake hands and promise NEVER to write.” The civilian’s version of the “Dear John” letter.
Glad I stayed Infantry.
Did not have to deal with this.
Well at least we know equality is working well in the US Army, there’ve been a lot of shitbag male senior officers of late who’ve been allowed to remain or retire without censure. Apparently they are extending that privilege to all senior officers regardless of sex.
Now if only they would consider using accountability and conduct that is actually “becoming” an officer as the standard for men and women we’d again have a senior leadership pool that was filled with people who understand the massive responsibility a good commander has for the men and women under their command structure instead of a fiefdom where the lords and ladies of the palace believe their rank affords them the opportunity to use subordinates as peasants with about the same consideration for their welfare.
Veritas Omnia Vincit…I agrees sir. I thought if I ever heard “RHIP” one more time in the military I’d shit AND go blind. I understood the concept but it was taken to extremes too many times.
Cut her some slack. It is not like she is bat shit crazy everyday!
Her caustic style only surfaces regularly every 28 days!
My caustic side surfaces every morning.
What’s your point, Master Chief?
Ah … No point other than some chicks get very cranky every 28 days or so!
It is nature and I am big supporter of all thing naturerer!
Ah! I understand. You only get angry sex once a month. My sympathies are extended to you.
Ex-PH2…Spew alert please! Where’s my keyboard rag when I need it? 😀
Sorry, Sparks. My bad. I forgot.
I think I just got a weird boner like Chip’s…
The flag behind her says “25th Aviation Brigade”…that’s Hawaii. Someone needs a little more Aloha spirit here.
I won’t claim to know the whole world of aviation, but I deployed with an aviation brigade once, and in general I found the commanders (and especially the BC’s) to be extremely easy to get along with. It could be hard to find them sometimes and they loved to get their flight hours in, but they were ladies and gentlemen without exception. (The brigade commander especially…though heaven knows he could make his authority felt if he had to.)
I thought part of what I saw had to do with having so many warrant officers under them…aviation warrants didn’t seem scared of anything except losing their flight status; so intimidation tactics would be “selected against.”
From the Unit Lineage for 1-25 Attack:
On April 16, 2013 in a ceremony at Fort Carson, Colorado, the 1st Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment reflagged to 1st Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment. The reflagging saw the rebirth of the Battalion and solidified its relationship with the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade who they deployed with to Afghanistan in 2012.
Looking at the Fort Carson unit listing, her battalion seems to not be listed under 4th I.D. and actually falls under the 25th CAB out of Hawaii.
Nt sure I agree with the premise here, i.e. that she’s been spared because of her gender.
Working in MI most of my career put me in proximity to a lot of high ranking officers including general officers and from that experience I have to say that being an a$$hole may not be a job requirement for senior officers but it certainly doesn’t hurt.
It’s a fine line that commanders have to walk between being an aggressive “hard charger” that pushes his/her soldiers to excel and being an obnoxious dick, and I would imagine that most successful senior commanders probably combine elements of both.
The flip side of the question “was she spared because she’s female” would be to ask whether her subordinates that complained about her would have done so had she been male? Or whether those of us here at TAH would have even zeroed in on this if it hadn’t been a female commander?
I swear if I had a dollar for every obnoxious dickhead officer or senior NCO I had to work with in my career I wouldn’t NEED a retirement pension.
After reading the article and seeing what the report said (at least those parts mentioned), almost any Commander would have been relieved with those remarks, male or female. And having spent almost 8 years in Army Aviation units myself, I promise you that the females under her command were probably harder on her than the males.
With that being said however, this wouldn’t be newsworthy had it been a male Commander. Regardless, she needs to go as she will no longer be effective as a Commander as trust by her troops has been lost.
I’m can’t dismiss but don’t completely buy into the “She’s female so she’s getting a pass” thing. She’s Aviation, not combat arms. We’ve had females in command positions for over a decade. Including attack aviation. It’s not common but not so rare it would illicit comments. I think there must be something else going on here. Her being female might be a factor, but if that were all there was to it she’d be piloting a desk at Brigade.
I agree. Females have actually held command in Army Aviation even longer. My second company commander was a attack helicopter trained female captain. She was a damned good commander. This was in the early 80’s.
LTC Sally Murphy (Army’s FIRST woman helecopter pilot) was the Aviation Battalion Commander when I was at the 17th Area Support Group, Camp Zama, Japan. She was a tough commander, but not abusive — and her troops all respected her. She excelled at getting the mission accomplished.
She was the only woman officer at a bilateral coordinating meeting in Sapporo, Hokkaido. A Japanese major asked her to bring in the coffee …… She turned to him — pointing to her collar insignia, and said, “I am a Lieutenant Colonel and YOU are a major; YOU bring in the coffee.”
I did not witness the exchange, but as the Group S3, I heard the story at the ASG commander’s weekly staff meeting.
http://www.army.mil/article/18853/army-honors-its-first-female-helicopter-pilot/
There’s a huge difference here. In this case Murphy stepped up and brought it.
She didn’t use her gender to get ahead, she did the work and was rewarded for achievement.
Men can be screaming dicks too, but in this case she shouldn’t have a job whether she’s a she or a he.
I agree….in 23 years I had a *lot* of both….male and female so, I’d agree that many of us here, taking gender out of the equation….would probably find this to be true, regardless…
“I swear if I had a dollar for every obnoxious dickhead officer or senior NCO I had to work with in my career I wouldn’t NEED a retirement pension.”
Oh and let’s strip race out of the equation too.
We had some of the WORST slackers that used to say, “Well you know they’re just trying to keep us down…” when in fact their supervisors and a lot of the senior NCO staff were of that exact race as a majority.
We had outstanding and really poor examples of every kind.
/shakes my head remembering that.
I agree. Slackers universally point the finger at everyone else. it goes beyond sex and color. The excuses were something like, “He’s a racist”, “He hates whites,” “She’s a dyke”…. My response to each of them was the same, “No, you’re just a lazy asshole.”
For what it’s worth, one of HER excuses is because Division HQ is in Hawaii and her BN is in Colorado and they fall under various chains of command.
Bad answer. In Germany for instance, damn near every BN is/was separated from BDE/DIV HQ and functioned just fine under multiple command structures. How about that 1ID Brigade in Germany with the rest of the Division in Kansas? Seemed to work out okay for them.
Hard to believe that she could command a whole BN of slackers. I’m sure there was some truth to her problems.
If anything, I’d rather be separated from higher HQ. Being on the same base, they find it much easier to micromanage and get in your face and ask for 45 meetings a week.
She should feel lucky that she’s not on the island. Yeah it is frustrating working for more than one boss, but that’s a weak reason to be a bitch. I’m Civil Affairs, we “work” for multiple bosses every deployment, every exercise, every major training event. So her argument is invalid.
I checked AKO and verified that she is the Battalion Commander for 1-25th Attack, at Fort Carson, CO. I have seen her in action when she was the XO for one of the Apache BNs for 4ID. Can’t remember if it was 1-4 ARB or 4-4 ARB. Anyway from what I have seen she was the in your face hard ass type that got results. I don’t think she would have won any popularity contests but she definitely got people moving.
I would say that there is a substantial difference being the XO and being the CO. Besides, the XO is supposed to be an asshole to make sure things get done. The XO is the asshole so the CO can be the “nice guy” and make a balance.
At the same time, some people just aren’t cut out to be commanders. There’s nothing wrong with that, until they become commanders.
Maybe this says more about LTC Baugh’s subordinates than it does about her. Perhaps they thought that a “girl” commander would be less of a harda$$ than a guy. Perhaps they expected her to treat them with kid gloves and with tender consideration for their fragile feelings and were unpleasantly surprised to find that she didn’t.
There’s an old Drew Carey routine from the Tailhook scandal that seems appropriate here.
Something like “Of course pilots are aggressive a$$holes, that’s what we pay them to be.”
Thinking you missed the comment about her lack of wings…
She is an AH-64 pilot. 😉
I’ll take anything from a boss except physical interaction. The day I go to jail for assault is the day a boss lays their hands on me or (as was indicated in the story) throws something at me. It’ll be ‘everybody out of the pool’ at that point.
There is no excuse for that type of behavior (throwing things), there are way to many decent, qualified, good leaders, on the alternate command list for the institution to tolerate someone who appears to be abusive.
Anyone who ever had a female Drill Sergeant in Basic knows this is false. I had two in my company. They were meaner, tougher, harder, and more aggressive than any male Drill.
However, they could step up and get it done and the difference is, they had a PURPOSE behind their yelling and being mean. I think she’s just a bitch because she can be.
She’s just mad because none of her subordinates want to fraternize with her.
Every branch on the way down…
Can’t say as I blame them, and the same thing applies to men who act like rank gives them the right to be sociopaths.
I’ve run into both, in the Navy and out of it. They hit a certain point and go no further.
Rank and sociopaths-reminds me of some spouses in Family Support Groups back in the day…
Back in the day? As in yesterday? They are still like that.
The officer’s wives club is still the most powerful lobby in the Army.
I wish I didn’t have as many stories as I do.
The worst part was making some of us go to family readiness meetings as mandatory fun because everyone was bringing their family. “Sir, I don’t have family, can I be dismissed?” “No! They might have some good information for you to pass to your troops or something. You need to be there too!”
So us single people would sit on the side doing nothing and waiting for all the family to spew all the stuff about their great and wonderful lawn parties and how their kids were doing in school for hours…
#FemalePrivilege
No way FC….*YOU*…pound it.
I’ve had both male and female commanders and I expected the same thing out of both….stay the hell out of my way and let me do my damn job.
The unfortunate thing is, we’re in an “Admin War” right now.
Commanders are trying to save their unit and their own careers from being deactivated and the way to keep them going is to micromanage and ensure numbers are high.
A Fancy term for it would be “Deep Dive” as in, to the wrist…
Never had a female CO (combat unit), so I couldn’t tell you what it’s like to serve under a female CO. As with any CO, or SNCO, you have good and bad, whether male or female. The question is; is a bad CO being put back in place based on gender and political correctness, or is she truly dealing with “slackers”? I think I can make a semi-educated guess that her command style rubs a lot of people the wrong way. I can’t say as I would like to serve under a CO that publicly berates those in her command as “slackers” and I don’t think it’s good command tactics to throw shit at subordinates when you’re upset. What would happen if whatever it was she throws hits the person? Would she be charged with assault of a subordinate? That would end her hard chargin’ career quick, fast, and in a hurry.
Screaming, throwing things, leaving meetings when you’re not happy is NOT anger or passion. It’s a bitch move (or possibly even the “C” word).
My Marines and later soldiers, knew if I was loud I was just venting.
When I got real close and quiet, THAT’S when it was true “I am going to kill you and your entire family to ensure your genetic material can no longer contaminate the human race” anger and passion.
Oh and for the record, I’d hit that….again…
I really wouldn’t want to, but if nothing else I’ve learned what awful things I’m capable of over these many decades and it’s not pretty….
I would definitely smash that as well. I would not admit to it afterwards, however.
Veritas Omnia Vincit…Trust me, I do see your point, especially at my age. But maybe, just maybe and this is because I really do like you brother, think about an elevation and windage adjustment on this one. Then look through that scope at the target again.
Thanks for the cover, if she’s a screamer on the job she might be a screamer all around….that’s a lot of fun and like I said, I know my limitations and when it comes to women well I love them all….and I like the variety…but I understand your point and will take under advisement.
More likely she’s the type who is NEVER satisfied with anything you do, even when she’s telling you how to do it. And I’d willingly bet that she’s more of a grunter or a groaner. Once she’s done with you, can’t stand the sight of you.
she probably won’t even give you the god damn courtesy of a reach around either. Her poor husband…
It all could have boiled down to her having a few subordinates who were butthurt and had the savvy and connections to make waves. All it would take would be to have an XO, Ops officer or a company commander to have an axe to grind,
I can truthfully say that in my time if someone wanted to point out “toxic” things done by a CO that butthurt people they would be enough done in under a month to get them in trouble.
They key word is “butthurt”. Telling someone they fucked up a sight count, didnt inspect the armory right, have too many run drops or didnt enforce night and noise discipline in the field isn’t being “toxic”, even if you toss in a few “dumbass” and “what the fuck” comments.
I would hope for her sake and the Army thats all it was.
Time to throw a little levity into the mix on this. She is just pissed off at the world because in six months of flying as a PFC/SP4 crew member,I earned twice as many Air Medals as she has in 18 years as a pilot. Yea,that’s gotta be it.
CLAW131…You’re my main man today!
Sparks,Thank You. Yep,it’s to bad she never got to enjoy the simple pleasure of running a stump up through your bird’s hell hole in a touch down LZ. Now that’s living life to the fullest.
CLAW131…Oh yes. Good times, good times. Fun was had by all!
I do hope all the mouth-breeding, snot-gobbling, intellectually inbred thumbsuckers among us getting bent over the bench and punked into playing that idiot “women can be infantry too!” song are paying attention to this story.
Gender Quota. Nothing will ever be allowed to disturb the gender quota.
Skill? doesn’t matter. Capability? doesn’t matter. Competence? doesn’t matter.
The quota will be filled and maintained. at. all. cost.
Grimmy…I got ya, but lemme get this straight so there’s no misunderstanding.
“Skill? doesn’t matter. Capability? doesn’t matter. Competence? doesn’t matter.
The quota will be filled and maintained. at. all. cost.”
That about it? Did I get it right?
Yep, that’s what I thought.
Who Knows? It could be at this very moment the Brigade Commander from Hawaii could be winging his way to Colorado with a replacement Battalion Commander as a traveling companion. I’ll just take a wait and see attitude until further info is published.
“Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno promised to remove toxic commanders from their jobs, but I guess there were limitations to that promise that we didn’t anticipate.”
That would be vaginas
Typical
Its been my experience that women can get away with murder in the Army. Just another typical case of double standards on the basis of sex.
Double standards leads to the lowering of standards. Lowering of standards leads to more body bags in combat.
Is there anyone in a leadership position with common sense in today’s military to stop the social engineering insanity?
No. Next question.
What VI said.
I bet she talks dirty in bed too. Lol
I’d hit it.
“Why, Mr. Churchill, you’re drunk!”
“Yes, I am. And tomorrow I shall be sober and you, madam, will still be ugly.”
Or something like that. Whenever I see reference to that exchange hereafter, I will have Baugh’s mug in mind.
Like I said, I’m not going to defend this bitch because I ran into more than one female senior PO in the Navy who acted like this. They were universally disliked.
Naybe Baugh got some counseling while she was out of command status, maybe not. but the simple fact is that she is someone who has an abrasive, volatile personality and long ago lost control of it. She doesn’t know how to motivate anyone to do anything so they’re all slackers and anything wrong is their fault, not hers. This will not serve her well when she returns to civilian life.
I don’t think that attitudes change a whole lot, even with counseling. It may work with some people, but there are those who go through it and then blow it off once they are done.
I’ve had suerpvisors who were demanding. They expected results. They knew how to say ‘No’ and ‘Get back to work’ without making people feel idiotic. I’ve also had coworkers who spent more time discussing what music was on which album than they did working – that sort of thing. They resented being told ‘get back to work’ and bitched about it excessively, until they found employment elsewhere.
The point is that there is nothing wrong with being demanding and expecting results, but there is no excuse for being a bad boss, for being abusive, and engaging in physical violence like throwing things at people.
So if Baugh was sent back to run things, after all those people were interviewed and all said essentially the same things, then she is most likely at the end of her career and will probably find herself at the exit door.
It’s a cold, cruel world out here. No one gives a crap about your rank. The private sector, if you’ve never worked for it, expects results. If you can’t provide results, you don’t last long.
We should keep tabs on her, just to see what happens next with her.
The telling thing , is where is her CSM. Does he get to return to the same job? I say he because he is not mentioned again after being replaced. I am Old Corps now accordly to the A’Stan and Sandbox warriors. I never had a female officer in the Squardons I was in. Flying Officers especially helos tend to be looser on the flight line because we work so closely together. So she is saying her shop NCOICs are slackers and the shop Officers also ?
My bet would be she threw him to the sharks to save herself as well. “The CSM isn’t telling me about what’s going on with them, he’s supposed to….”
Granted the CSM IS supposed to keep the commander in check, same as the 1SG does. However, there are quite often commanders who don’t listen to their CSM or 1SG. That can apply even down to the PL/PSG level.
I would add that I was deployed with a 25th BCT in Afghanistan. They had a female Major as a staff section OIC that everyone hated. Why? Because she OWNED that Bde HQ and worse, she knew she did. I would be on conference calls and the DCO would say, “Hey, can you get this done?” and she would say (To basically the whole brigade) “No, I’m not doing that, find someone else to. I won’t do that, I don’t care what you say.” The DCO wouldn’t say anything about it, but she’d still have a job the next day. Why? Because a bunch of infantry officers didn’t know how to deal with a female officer. So, she abused her own vagina to push the Bde HQ around. And yes (in reference to Ex-PH2) other females in the HQ hated her too, especially the 1-2 subordinate females that worked for her. I would also add that if you think its bad in the Active side, you should have a look at the reserve side. A female battalion commander in California took command and for about the first month everything was fine. But then she started attacking people, flying off the hook, (ironically she was an aviator as well) and worse built her own oligarchy within the battalion. After that first month, she changed anything and everything to how SHE wanted it without regard for her subordinate leaders and micromanaged the battalion to the point people started leaving in droves. (They can do that in the reserves) Anyone who didn’t agree with everything she said and kissed her ass, was shunned and shot down for anything and everything. Companies tried doing worthwhile training and if the Cmd Team was shunned, she would disapprove it, no reason given. Fast forward 12 months. She violated every Army value, publicly told her troops she was doing something that she told them not to, flat out LIED to her subordinates in many cases, and caused many people to leave the unit. Her being female had nothing to do with her being a bitch. But she… Read more »
Instead of Flight School they should have sent her to Flight Attendant school. Then perhaps she would be more amicable. OR, people could just Soldier up and stop being such effing cry baby’s. Army Aviators are a bunch of prima donnas anyway. Oh, and one last thing, she doesn’t need to wear any of that pagan idolatry on her uniform to be a LEADER!
I acted like her at times throughout my career. I mellowed out as I got older. People would actual say “wow, silly sapper hasn’t had an episode in a while”. Hearing things like that will wake you up. She will probably wake up too…. eventually.
Where was the CSM at, why didn’t he pull her ass I ..tighten her up..I can’t stand abusive leadership or ppl who look the other way. ..Respect goes BOTH WAYS.and your rank is not there to intimidate or abuse others with..She needs to GO ,and the CSM as well..cause he allowed it to.!