I am not sure how big Army can claim they are trying to weed out toxic leaders when they accept this as appropriate conduct for a battalion commander:
The commander of a Fort Carson helicopter battalion objected when subordinates talked about a toxic command climate, according to documents obtained by The Gazette.
“You want toxic? I’ll show you toxic,” Lt. Col. Tammy Baugh allegedly told soldiers in the 1st Battalion of the 25th Aviation Regiment, documents said.
A 263-page Army investigation report released under the Freedom of Information Act portrays Baugh as a foul-mouthed boss who belittled soldiers, threw things during a meeting and sometimes stormed out of battalion gatherings.
Baugh and the battalion’s command sergeant major were temporarily relieved in July, but later placed back in command despite the scathing report.
“Too many soldiers and leaders in the battalion, across all ranks, have been negatively impacted by her belittling, disrespectful and caustic interaction, and the results of that interaction have been detrimental to morale, effectiveness and climate of the organization and the morale and well-being of soldiers,” the report says. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read much more at the link, but this commander would throw flight schedules at people, cursing them out, and storming out of meetings. It was so bad that the colonel that conducted the investigation recommended that she should be removed which the 4ID commanding general decided not to do for whatever reason.
So does anyone think that LTC Baugh would tone her act down a bit during a high profile investigation? If you did you would be wrong:
In her statement, Baugh said her critics are slackers.
“It seems that those who cannot meet the standard have the loudest voice,” she wrote.
And the colonel denies that she belittled troops.
“I have made spot corrections,” she wrote.
I have been in units where senior leaders felt like they had to come in hard to change the culture. Cursing I think people can live with, but if it is meant to belittle others that is where it becomes a problem. I once saw a first sergeant in 2ID replaced due to cursing soldiers out in front of others much less throwing things at them. In my experience it seems like senior NCOs get less the benefit of the doubt compared to a battalion commander or higher. Also the storming out of meetings seems childish to me unless it was a one time thing to make a point. However, it is her meeting so if she wants to storm out than so be it, but it does not set a healthy command climate. I do have to wonder though that if she felt her staff was letting her down what had she done to properly train them to meet her standards? I seriously doubt everyone in her unit, but her was incompetent. For the most part if you tell people exactly how you want things done they will usually do it.
Anyway it takes something pretty big to remove a battalion commander like committing a crime or making inappropriate comments about women or gays. She did nothing like this just demonstrated the toxic leader traits the Army has claimed it is trying to weed out. The 4ID commander may have felt since she did nothing criminal it may cause a bad precedent to remove her because of an investigation that began due to a poor command climate survey. He may not want to send the message that soldiers can get rid of leaders they don’t like by giving poor ratings on a command climate survey.
In my experience I have never seen a battalion commander removed for toxic leadership if like this if everything claimed is true? Than again I have never served under a commander who regularly cursed people out, stormed out of meetings, and threw things at people. Has anyone else?
