Col. Daniel P. O’Hora canned
Bobo sends a link to the Marine Corps Times which reports that Colonel Daniel P. O’Hora, the commanding officer of the Marine Corps Engineer School was fired because of a “loss of trust and confidence in his ability to serve in command.”
“I have never seen or heard of a Marine Corps command so broken and climate so hostile, the mental health of the members is at a dangerous level and if unchanged could result in heightened incidents to loss of life,” an undated memo from the Equal Opportunity Office to the commander of Training Command included in the investigation says. “Immediate intervention is needed to heal the command and return it to its once glory.”
Subordinates complained that he couldn’t take constructive criticism and that he “was like an abusive spouse”.
Category: Marine Corps
It sounds like Col. Daniel P. O’Hora confused being the leader with being dictator.
Some folks just cannot seem to figure out that they are not gods.
Daniel needs to change his name to Richard so we can call him a Dick!
Is there something about the name Daniel that causes the person to be an ass?
My brother Daniel is evidence to the contrary.
As was the prophet Daniel, of course.
No disrespect intended. A convict in Tidewater was on my mind.
It was understood 🙂
I understood that as well, Sj. No harm, no foul.
Not sure who was in command of Courthouse Bay Engineer School when I went thru there in 67 but glad it wasn’t that creep. It was an interesting and informative experience back then.
Sorry, Colonel, but you’re not entitled to behave that way towards your subordinates.
You were given command of MCES with the understanding that you would be a professional, effective leader and look after the welfare of the Marines and Sailors who were entrusted to your care.
MCES was not your personal fiefdom.
So he found out that yelling bloody murder at people scared them, and that’s the path he took. Yeah, that’s real smart. Really makes people admire you and want to follow you.
I worked for someone like that once. Took some paperwork to him and he started yelling the moment I walked in through the door. I looked around and he asked me what I was looking for. I said I was trying to figure out who he was yelling at. Couldn’t be me, I just got there. He stopped yelling after that.
I’d bet a small amount of cash that O’Hora’s blood pressure spikes like a seismograph, every time he opens his mouth.
Ha the General that fired him was a 1st Lt who had just left the Weapons Company I joined in 95.
It sounds like the Colonel was a paper pushing egotistical SOB.
Old Dog, it’s been my experience most of these dick weeds don’t rise past lieutenant colonel. Any idea how this one reached colonel? Some kind of a Reserve to active duty deal?
I’m sure his ex-Subordinates are ready to party now that he’s gone, pity he’s still eligible for retirement.
Whoa, since when does being an obnoxious flaming asshole who treats his subordinates like shit disqualify one from being a high ranking military officer? If that’s the standard a lot of the officers I’ve seen in 23 years of service would have gotten kicked to the curb.
Having spent much of my career in headquarters-level units, I wouldn’t say a majority of field grade commanders are assholes but it’s at the very least a large minority.
Which makes one wonder just how bad he must have been if the other high ranking officers thought he went “too far.”
Yep this was my line of thinking if you’re too big a fuckstick in a veritable sea of fucksticks you must be a special kind of shit head….
Without any real information about exactly how O’Hora acted toward subordinates while he was on the job, there’s a vast difference between being a Captain Bligh (tyrant) and being a leader (Mattis).
Actually, Capt Bligh was too lenient on his crew which, therefore, created a climate of insubordination led by Fletcher Christian.
Does the name Trayers ring any bells with anyone?
Is this what you’re referring to?
https://ihatetheusmc.com/battle-stations-21-training-so-realistic-recruits-diagnosed-with-ptsd/
What is wrong with me that I can’t figure out if that link is satire nor not?
It is satire, but it’s written well enough throw you off.
Here’s another one, Jonathan Swift’s ‘A Modest Proposal’ written in 1792, which attempted to provide a solution to the problem of the Irish poor.
https://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/modest.html
That is classic satire.
Can you imagine George Washington pointing at Jonathan Swift saying “You are fake news”.
Not exactly but that is one hell of story! However, the Trayers I knew came from a family of undertakers went to West Point and eventually timed out as head of Engineer Corp for MDW. He was a brilliant guy but an ignorant bastard.
Could that be why a dummy training ship is named Trayer?
Are you referring to Army Colonel James Trayers, EN Corps, who commanded the 1st Armored Division DISCOM in Germany in the late 1970s?
Probably the very same person. Did you serve with him?
Yes. He promoted me to 1LT in 1977. He was a real people person when I knew him. His wife occasionally “spoke in Tongues” so he didn’t have an easy brigade command. I heard her actually do it in public at a Hail and Farewell. I was embarrassed for him. I saw on line that he has passed away. Where did you know him?
Yeah, she was pretty special and he eventually divorced her. Col. Trayers was in his element in the Army, he loved it and stayed on for 33 years. I believe he had a notion about becoming BG. I worked with him at the Soldiers Home in DC where he was the Director of Logistics. His nickname there was Boomer.
Roger. I heard that he got divorced. He should have done that much sooner. BTW, his replacement as DISCOM Cdr was a real screamer named COL Fred Hull, AR, USA. As an Armor Bn Cdr one of his soldiers shot him with an M-16 on Post in Erlangen. Fred didn’t finish his DISCOM command because of the unrest among the troops and officers he caused and wound up retiring from a nothing job in the Pentagon. He’s passed on too, now. Good chatting with you. Take care and thank you for your service.
Merry Christmas!
You too, glad to meet up with you.
BTW, did you know that Trayers could speak Chinese? Not only speak it but could write it, too. He was a very smart guy. Moral in his office was abysmal, everyone tried to avoid him.
Life’s been good, Merry Christmas to y’all!
Good meeting up with you, too. I didn’t know that about his Chinese ability. He didn’t seem to know much German as I remember. I did know he was exceptionally bright though. Take care and I wish you and yours a safe and Happy 2018.
He sounds like the Co. in that movie with Gunny Highway telling the IG that he thought the recall was a cluster cluck.
Dave Hardin has not dumped his butt-hurt wimpy opinion on us yet.
I’m sure he will as soon as his Household Soviet lets him!
The Soviet probably has him decorating the house for the holidays – or desperately out trying to find an appropriate gift for her.
What has happened to our caring leaders?
you would have to actually been in Courthouse bay to understand. for fun on guard duty while attending Engineer school there in 86′, we would walk through the “Live” simulated minefield. you could always tell who hit one in formation the next day, covered in flour or chalk or what ever it was they put in those bouncing betties. that is what the place will do to you…
i am guessing that he will have his MOS changed from 1371-Combat Engineer to 1369-Unlucky cocksucker…
A paradox for guys like this colonel is that when they mental counseling they are likely to lose their command. So, instead, they just lose their command.
The downtick is that he probably does need some mental health work but was too unhealthy to understand it.
Sometimes when people feel that they are in over their heads, they cover it up by being assholes.
On the other hand, sometimes, they are just assholes.
Amen. I may have been like that myself from time-to-time. As Dirty Harry would say “a man’s got to know his limitations” and avoid getting too far over his head before looking for someone else to blame. Life can be a stern teacher. Hillary is about 70 and still not learned it.
It’s also entirely possible that his tantrums, if that’s what they were, were generated by some physical thing that went unnoticed.
It’s just too bad that nobody stood up to him and put a stop to it. Now he’s toast.
Tallywhagger, are you referring to COL James Trayers, EN, USA, who commanded the 1st AD DISCOM on Montieth Barracks in the late 1970s?
Yes, see above. I just saw you comment here.
Nobody noticed this guy’s flaws for 27 years and various command tours?
http://usmclife.com/2017/06/marine-corps-engineer-school-colonel-relieved-command/
Sounds rather odd to me that the “Equal Opportunity Office” seems to have so much input into evaluating an officer’s fitness for command.
And, just to pick a nit, “…return it to its once glory.” is bad grammar. “Once” is not and adjective.
D’oh! And “and” should be “an”.
Properly, that should have been “…return it to its former glory.”
Grammar Police of the world; Unite!
Amen. However, it is a lot easier to correct someone else’s grammar than one’s own.
I remain very leery in EEOC related and agree that there could be more to the story; albeit, the redux is that this Colonel has been relieved.
Amen. But we individuals don’t have the benefit of editors and proofreaders paid to go review our copy before publication.
And Dyslexics of the World Untie!
“Equal Opportunity Office”
LOL WTF?!
This sounds like typical Marine Corps command. When did the Corps take into account the feelings of Marines? Good grief.
EOOffice means there were civilians involved in this.
I can’t be the only person who reads this: “…belittled, demeaned or showed displeasure to some members of his staff either through comments, or minor physical actions, such as throwing a pen or papers on to a desk or table…” as the only specific example of his behavior and wonders what he ever actually did wrong, can I?
Any leader gets frustrated when shit goes wrong or a subordinate overutilizes their fifth point of contact. A leader who actually gives a shit might get frustrated enough to toss his pen onto his desk or ask, “what the fuck?”
I don’t understand what was so bad about this guy.
Especially in the Engineers.
Essayons!
Well, if you must know, it’s mild way of saying that this colonel threw temper tantrums or went ballistic, possibly over things that weren’t necessarily bad.
My high school history teacher would break pencils and throw erasers at us if we couldn’t come up with the answer to a question when she snapper her fingers.
Whatever he did, it appears that it was universally distributed to everyone. Delivery of the amount of force applied to throwing pencils, or the vocal volume invoked in demeaning remarks, have a lot to do with how those actions are perceived by the recipient of them.
The article doesn’t make it seem like he was throwing the pencils/papers AT his subordinates. There probably is more to it, but just off what the article says… this seems more about appeasing the crybabies than actual poor command.
The best commanders I’ve ever had pissed off the majority of their subordinates at one point or another, and they WERE afraid to disappoint him. This is exactly why OERs/NCOERs aren’t written by subordinates (though I would like to see some consideration for their feedback).
One has to wonder what has happened to our military when the “Equal Opportunity Office” gets to decide who is fit to serve in a command position. I hope there is more to this guy’s unacceptable behavior than he made some snowflakes uncomfortable. Otherwise, our military is doomed to failure in combat.
Yes, but how many civilians work on that base and how many of them did he aim at?
I don’t know and neither do you. But if low level DOD civilians get to decide who are the commanders of our war fighters, because they are butt-hurt, then we are doomed.
I can remember after Desert Storm there was an article in Time (I think) where someone expressed dismay that Gen. Schwartzkopf had dared to threaten one of his staff officers with a court martial for inefficiency or something. I laughed.
My late father-in-law told a story about WWII (one of too many). He was stationed in Paris and had an NCO who constantly complained about the food, etc. My father-in-law had the ungrateful SOB sent to the front. I laughed at that, too. Good thing there was no EEOC back then.
A good leader leads by example and not through fear and intimidation.
The best can do both, as appropriate.
Big difference between being in charge and knowing how to be in charge. Some never get it.
And it took the Marines 27 years to notice?
I spent 17 of my 30 years in The Fleet Marine Force serving as Medical Officer from Battalion all the way thru to MEB,MEF and MARSOC. Except for a very small handful I worked around, Marine officers are driven to leadership excellence and most all find a way to be an inspiration to their subordinates at the same time. Name excluded, my 1st choice and winner of the rare and difficult to attain “Flaming Rectum Achievement Award” would go to a LtGen USMC whom I was fortunate NOT to have worked for.
The rest of the USMC generals were great guys, friends and still look me up when they need an opinion or favor. It’s an interesting business. Sounds like this Colonel was tone deaf.
CAPT Bones USN (ret)