Just going through your backlog, I can't get enough! I now have a new favorite statement when asked "wHerE's yOUr CoMpAnY LoyaLty?" simply responding with "Where's the loyalty you show to your employees?"
Airforce Veteran here. Yes he disobeyed a direct order, however under NORMAL circumstances he would get In trouble, but this wasn’t normal. Comms went out and his job requires him to get it back up and running. Also keep in mind that this Tsgt was not in his direct chain of command. It’s a grey area but he would be ok breaking this order. He had a job to do and could not do it unless the power came back on. His direct chain of command would back him 100% and the Tsgt should have been reamed. Also the paperwork that followed could be rebutted because of the said incident as a retaliation write up
That last story: That Sargent could trying getting him written up for disobeying a direct order, but when you boil it down to order of operation, OP did exactly what they were supposed to do. Direct order from “low level manager”: Don’t touch this Indirect order from “upper management”: do your job So that ultimately leads it to a “don’t touch unless backup fails. If back up fails and you can fix it, upper managements orders supersedes all existing orders. Touch it to fix it.” Hopefully that piss ant gets demoted for obviously not doing their part in making sure the back up worked
OPs job was to make sure security and comms were maintained, that NCO was proven by the flat battery on the backup generator, which HAS to be switched over to, to NOT be doing his job. On top of that, the NCO got chewed out by someone of higher rank, meaning that said officer would have OPs back in this case. Henceforth nothing would become of it except for it going on that NCO's record that he failed to maintain equipment to a standard that was needed for operations. Also, switching over to a backup generator is actually allowed since such a command would go against OPs primary duty of making certain they have security and comms.
@@Ryanthusar exactly. Emergency situations like that and any orders or commands (be direct or indirect) from higher ranked officials above Tech Sargent gain higher priority. Tech could write OP up, but since OP has stated the generator was going to go down, any higher officials can override that, especially if it is an emergency situation like the mentioned power outage. The fact the Tech didn't maintain the generators and ran late to getting there was also a bigger screw up than disregard of orders from a higher ranked officer
OP gave the PG version of events. I can all but promise you the actually screaming match in the end used language that would have landed it a solid R rating. Because that is just how the military rolls. But on a side note, I can't help but wonder if Airman UXO was the subordinate who had the duty of waking up at 5 AM to refill the generator before 7 AM. And to be fair to the antagonist NCO of this story, every car battery I replaced over the decades all had the same problem. One day the engine cranks just fine, the next day nothing. So unless they have a daily or weekly maintenance check to verify the status of the battery, I could actually see this being a problem that could go undetected. But the solution is to do generator swap outs. Switch from one generator to the next periodically so that one generator isn't operating all the time and generating all the operational hours.
OP jumped the gun. He should have complied with the idiotic order to the letter. So when the officer showed up to see NCO not there, generators not functioning, an onsite person with orders not to touch them. CYA, get it in writing. Especially the part where NCO was gundecking the maintenance of the back up unit.
"You can come in half an hour later if you cut your lunch by the same amount of time *and* I’ll overlook your attempt to quit :D what do you say?" Remember that other deal we had? The one where you didn’t hold up your end of the bargain? Why would I believe you the second time?
"My contract says I start at 8 am and finish at 5 pm, with 1 hour of lunch break. So from now on I start at 8 am and finish at 5 pm, and take one hour of lunch break." What are they going to do, write him up for refusing to do unpaid overtime?
As OP stated in the last story the whole reason for his being in Afghanistan was to operate communications 2/7/365 so that would be a reason, an order from a pay grade residing in the Pentagon not some pissant E-6. So while true he was given an order not to touch the generators and a case of obeying ones last order first then the E-6 can explain to those above why he hasnt done his job.
This says it all. By letting generator die to discover failure of maintenance of the second and then getting it up and running in absence of the NCO, OP simultaneously earns a commendation from officers in charge above him whilst throwing NCO under the bus....then backing up over him again. He complied either Lawful order to extent possible. But SOP would take priority.
@@MatokAKAM - Considering said Tech idiot got chewed out by someone there, someone of higher rank WAS there. Even if they match ranks, since they are commander of that area they outrank them by that fact.
@@Ryanthusar - as an Army Brat (my Dad was in the Army), I knew there was someone there that outranked the Tech Idiot, I also know the CO tore that Tech Idiot a "Galaxy-sized hole" with the dressing down that was indeed coming his way. I would have died laughing if OP had then said to Tech Idiot something like, "I was told that CO wants to see you. Have a good day Tech Idiot." However, throwing the tools at the feet of Tech Idiot was also a nice touch.
Yeah, he could possibly try writing them up, but then Tech Sargent would open himself up to a rebuttal of “I violated the order to preform my job because he wasn’t doing his” - especially since the backup gen wasn’t working.
He could have been written up for disrespect to am NCO. Though I'd have creatively written it as an FU to the guy. One of my standing orders to my guys was always send other NCOs to me first. I've got the stripes. I'll deal with them.
He could also claim the order singled out the main generator, especially since he asked about refueling it, and in his opinion the back-up wasn't covered by the order. Apologize a lot.
@@Masterninja2321 yeah and HQ trumps everyone cuz they generally have brass. Some of the guys I used work with had a shiny new 2nd LT that sounds like he could have been a cousin to the Tech Sargent in this story. It is not disobeying an order if you get a contractor or someone else to to the job. They were ordered to not crank the trucks and such until it was time to leave to conserve fuel... because the 4mi round trip to the motor pool to gas up was a waste... in the winter while we were having snow and ice weather. The shift NCO on that shift figured out quick if he asked us we would go start the trucks and then just graciously "let them use the ones we started" to do stuff.
I believe that because the commander got involved by personally calling Tech Sargent into his office for I assume to be a ass chewing of epic proportions. The argument that OP violated a direct order not to touch the generators is very likely to fall on deaf ears, especially since Tech wasn’t on station as required to refill the generators before they ran out of fuel. Even though it wasn’t mentioned, I would not be surprised if OP wasn’t commended for his own timely actions in bringing up the backup generator.
Last Story: When OP recited that the backup generator battery was dead, I literally said "Oh no..." knowing that the tech sergeant was _toast_ . lol Sadly, OP's big mistake was trying to get the emergency generator online. If they left things as-is and failed the 30 minute check-in, the Tech Sergeant would have been sent home, most likely, because HQ would have sent in someone _well_ above anyone's paygrade at the site to investigate. Because if they knew of the situation, and confirmed the order, they _would_ have verified who was at fault.
"How could you do this to the company, after everything they've done for you?!?" The only thing 'the company' has done for them is sign their checks, AND they're only doing THAT because slavery is illegal.
Wager slavery is legalized slavery ;) We live in a capital order. The situation works like this: You have no means to fend for yourself other than taking on a subsistence wage. If you should not be able to work at any point--be it personal health disaster, market implosion, or you getting fired--you are screwed. Your employer isn't. Your employer will be fine. They get fat tax payer bailouts if anything goes bad. But you. will. be. screwed. You will be forced to take whatever you can find, even if it comes with a pay cut substantially below your cost of living or has no health benefits to speak of. The capital order ensures that the social safety net is razor thin and barely adequate because if joblessness didn't screw you, then you'd be able to just walk away anytime you liked. You'd have true choice and agency. The fact that your choices in a capitalist society are "work or starve" means you only have a choice to work. And work you shall. Under a slave economy, your choices are work or be beaten within an inch of your life, and then starve. So, depending on how you look at it, the existing political order is either slavery with one fewer step, or just slavery with extra steps. Either way, you are a worker. You must obey the needs of capital. And you own nothing. Or next to nothing. And the system is designed to keep things that way. And sure, you can always walk away and work for a different employer. TECHNICALLY. Technically you can. But even if you find a comparable or better job, there's an old saying: Say hello to the new boss, same as the old. The situation will be basically the same no matter who you work for. And that means you really don't have a choice. After all, what is the difference between being slave to a "bad" master over being a slave to a "kind" master? You are still a slave, either way. The main difference between old feudal slave systems and the modern capitalist slave system is whereas before human flesh was bought and sold wholesale by employers, now your flesh is sold to the highest bidder carved up in fractions of an hour. I sell you 8 hours of my body to do with as you wish within the scope of the law. For 8 hours every day, and sometimes on weekends and holidays too, I am a slave. It's still slavery.
Former US naval military. I'll start by saying each branch tends to handle things differently and each individual command CERTAINLY does. That said, last OP could have been screwed over, but not likely as a direct consequence of disobeying that order not to touch the generator. Generally, the way it works is top brass gives the orders (in this case maintain comms 24/7) which OP must follow. Anyone higher ranked than OP, but lower than that person/entity that gave the operational comms order can add more restrictive steps that don't interfere with following previous orders (in this case, not touch the generator or hypothetically that OP must wear X uniform, perform y maintenance on this schedule, etc). However, once that latter order from the Tech now interfered with the higher directives from higher rank superiors (not to mention the fact comms are mission critical) OP was no longer bound to follow to follow the orders of not touching the genny as following said order would prevent him from maintaining comms.
Story1: I'm sure OP realizes this now, but never accept any offers to stay after putting in notice. I don't care if it's a million dollars an hour plus coke and hookers. It's a sucker-offer. Also I'm reminded of MASH: "I go to get new job. More pay, less you."
If I'm not mistaken, as OP said, He has orders to keep communications up and running no matter what. Those orders are most likely from someone higher up the chain. In this scenario he has every right to work on those generators since if they are down it would impact the higher ups order. So Tech Sergeant cant do squat about OP messing with the Generators since the backups were not properly maintained.
Story 2 Same thing happed to My wife and i as we went looking for furniture .... Before we could even as a question him about the furniture, the Idiot told us the cheaper furniture was in the other section of the store, need less to say we left and bought our stuff somewhere where they appreciated our patronage
It's hard enough finding good solid furniture that isn't particle board with veneer, but having sales people dumping on people they feel aren't dressed correctly really pisses me off. Hubby and I have left a few places after being treated like that. When Ikea is more customer friendly, an hour drive to get there isn't so bad.
I was looking to buy several expensive computer parts and Best Buy happened to have them. I could not get a single salesperson to pay attention to me. They would tell me to look around and come over to the register when I want to check out. Meanwhile running off to help better dressed people who kept walking out with nothing after asking a dozen stupid questions. We did have a competitor store across the road at the time (they’re gone now) so I pulled my phone out and asked them if they price match because no one at Best Buy wanted to help me. They said they did and I walked off, ignoring the guy who suddenly had time for me and was trying to greet me. I could have left a complaint but they’re likely told to do that. I’m not going to get them in trouble for crap management. I just order online now.
they guy with the washing machine i did that when i got my truck. i was 18 worked my butt off since 13 knew what truck i wanted. walked in and no one wanted to help me. went to the only female in the place and said i want that one draw up the paper work and i have check in hand. she drew up the paper work and the 6 other guys said it was there sale since i tried to flag them down. they hated the fact i said well if it was your sale then why is she doing the paper work. left with the pink slip in hand (yes i saved all the money needed to pay for it in full all up front)
Yes, but as OP stated he was also charged with keeping communication lines open. So fixing the generator was the lesser of the two evils in this damned if you do and damned if you don't situation for OP!
My two cents on the generators story: given that OP was the one on site and also reported that the generators would be back online during OP's shift he would have been the one holding the grenade when that time would lapse and the power wasn't coming back on. If he had not reported that there was an imminent power outage and that he would correct it then he could have followed it through with the malicious compliance when the MPS would show up demanding to know why the site was down and OP could reference their orders. I would like to think that behind the scenes outside of the story as it was told that the Tech Sergeant was found not following his duties and this would have put him on thin ice, but what do I know?
Story 1: Loyalty? When you break an agreement & tell me if I don't like then I can quit...where is the loyalty there? Reneging on an agreement is tantamount to lying...not being loyal. Story 2: I knew a guy in my city that was a multi-millionaire...but he dressed in coveralls, work boots & tattered shirts...he would buy things only from people that treated him well. He came into my restaurant and ordered a special meal for him & his wife. I cooked it up as ordered but added a little something extra because he was a really nice guy. He left me a $20 tip on a $25 meal :) Story 3: OP's standing order from command was to keep communications up...this order would be over & above the NCO's order to allow communications to go down through negligence.
Loyalty HAS to work both ways or it's not valid. It's not only in Africa where appearances matter. Here in the US my wife and I have had sales people turn up their noses at us, only to regret it later when we bought something from someone else. Sam Walton (the founder of Walmart) uses to drive around town in a beat up old pickup truck, looking much like a poor farmer in bib overalls. Generator story: OP also had standing orders to maintain communications as close to 24/7/365 as possible. That allows him to switch over to the backup generator and "fix" said backup generator in order to maintain communications.
A direct order is one that is issued by an Officer as opposed to one issued by an enlisted NCO which is called a lawful order, but either can be disobeyed if it's an illegal order.
You need to take into account that the salesman in the washing machine story probably only makes about the equivilent of $5k/yr so that 90$ hit can really be appreciated.
Retired AF here. In what branch of service does anyone take directions/"orders" from another enlisted person (especially an E-6) who is not in their chain of command? If you have a problem with someone who doesn't work for you talk to their boss; or, better yet have your boss talk to their boss. Also, if you knowingly allowed the compound to lose power to prove a point you'd be in more trouble than the TSgt.
Gotta be honest... I read the AF not as Air Force, but as the more commonly used, no so appropriate, short form lol. Had me confused for a split second :)
The E-6 only verbally gave orders while OP had WRITTEN orders, probably signed by an officer in charge of the post or maybe even higher. If OP had just sat and waited for the E-6 to come, he'd have to explain why he wasn't getting the backup working since he had WRITTEN and OIC SIGNED orders. To say that E-6 gave orders verbally wouldn't hold water because E-6 is a weasel and would tell investigating officers that he never told them not to mess with the generators. Since higher ranking officers (allegedly) had standing written orders on what to do if main generator went out, that's the orders you follow. If the E-6 tried to do anything to OP about not following his verbal orders, then he would have a very hard hill to climb.
For the last story, as someone who worked on Comms at Headquarters, an NCO can give you that command and yes you can getting written up for it (BS I know), however that sergeant will have to explain either to a Captain to a Full Bird Colonel, and/or depending where you are station A GENERAL, on why the Hell their Comms were down...
Sergeants cannot legally give "direct" orders. Only commissioned officers can. The storyteller was actually given a "lawful" order but considering the situation I am sure he was not reprimanded.
No, you can disregard an order to keep mission up. You had better be right though. This happened to me at 0100 and could see/hear issue with a compressor. I was taking the system down to keep permanent damage to equipment. I was ordered by this nubnuts Sgt. to leave it running. After middle finger salute, I took system down. He called NCOIC. I called commander. (Call tree process) NCOIC and commander showed up at same time just before 0200. (Yes this system was that important.) A curtain numbnuts Sgt got a Article 15, I got 72 pass.
The tech sgt command could be overruled if a higher ranking person (higher than tech sgt) gave an order countermanding the tech sgt, such as standing orders to keep comm facility running at all cost. This is why tech sgt got in trouble with the commander.
Companies treat you like shit untill you decide to quit. Then they act like they can't survive without you when really they just want to keep someone to take advantage of
As others have pointed out, OP in the last story was given two orders. One set of orders from officers and another set of orders from a NCO. As long as the order don't conflict, OP can follow both. When they do conflict, OP must follow the order which takes precedence, almost always, the orders from officers takes precedence. The order to maintain continuous communications with HQ takes precedence over everything. If OP wanted to cover his ass, all he had to do was get permission from the officer on duty to turn the power back on. Then, when E-6 storms up, all he had to do was say "Power went out, back-up generator battery dead, I got permission by [Officer] to restore power." What you forgot to consider, that this was a primary communications hub for the area... an area where they are coordinating with the locals to build up local infrastructure. This means, there were computers and data storage centers dedicated to that purpose. Without power, those computers won't be functional, which will cause delays in completing reports. The officer on duty would need to write a report on the power loss, and not only log it for their relief, but to pass on to the brass so they can determine the cause of the power failure (to make sure it wasn't from incompetence, enemy action, or enemy action masquerading as incompetence) and to have any replacement parts ready to be delivered. IMO, this story was either fake or copied from someone else. My opinion is based on OP's use of "Supervisor" to refer to their boss while referring to everyone else by their rank.
Actually, it’s pretty common for the military to have civilian contractors, the supervisor, in low level positions like that, they handle the mundane admin stuff and keep things moving.
Actually, mission parameters (operate communications 24/7/365) -- usually set by people above Tech Sargent's pay grade -- supersede orders by the Tech Sargent that interfere with the mission. It works that way in any kind of administrative system: Upper management beats middle management beats lower management. As Caleb Carter pointed out: Tech Sargent is lowest managment, the supervisor is lower management, the HQ chief is middle management and the Pentagon is upper management.
Army vet here. So if all branches work the same way then the com guys job Supersedes that specific NCO because he needs to keep communication between the base and the fob and that is mission critical technically couldn’t have gotten in trouble for not fixing it but it looks really bad on him if he could fix it and chose not to because he was following some idiots orders.
The last story, your comments about the disobeying of orders. It is far worse for the comms to go down for more than he said. They might assume it is an enemy attack and go all ham. Stuff like that. You can ignore orders if you have higher orders, or if it puts the mission in jeopardy.
Sometimes a task is more important than someone else's order when lives are in danger and it depends on who above the one that give the order comes down on them.
@@KarmaStoriesPodcast Our clocks went forward yesterday and traffic was heavy on the way home. Your video came at the perfect time for me and I NEED my KCC relaxation time when I get home from work, so no need to apologise. Hope you have a wonderful day, Rob.
HELL NO!!! MISSIONS ALWAYS COMES FIRST…NO COMMS=NO MISSION. Also, if you are given orders from a HIGHER RANKING OFFICER then an E6/SRGT, then any orders given from a LOWER OFFICER IS NULL-n-VOID; and if that E6 is in a DIFFERENT UNIT his orders wouldn’t not have meant much, he would have had gone to that PERSONS COMMANDER to make those orders OFFICIAL.
Last story: It could get OP. But, considering that the Sergeant didn't do what he said he'll do (fueling the generators) and it caused a setback (generators shutting down), I doubt it. I mean...why order them to not touch the generators if he wasn't going to fuel them? Why give this order to the people who can work on the generators and keep them in top shape? Why not go after the guy who keeps messing things up for everyone else? :/
Lmao i just gave loads of free vouchers, discounted heavily (within reason), and removed all costs associated with additional cover (since they weren't counted as "loss", but as a "gesture of goodwill") when I gave in my notice at an insurance company. Most people on the phones caught on and word must have spread because my manager shat herself (the reason I was leaving) when my call volume doubled and my customer satisfaction scores were through the roof. I was a temp, and left because of poor management - I wasn't offered full contract despite good KPI/targets. A lot of my colleagues started direct routing calls to my handset - because they were pretty fed up with my manager too, and thought it was pretty funny watching her squirm unable to do anything. Campaign manager got involved and questioned whether good KPI/targets was better for the company or not. I simply told her that I don't work for the company, don't earn commission, and I'm enjoying my last couple of weeks by not stressing about targets: but instead retaining customers. They couldn't fire me because I didn't do anything wrong. Everything I did was in my terms of contract, retention and customer satisfaction. Sitting there whilst she told me I had 3 weeks holiday which I HAD to take - fully paid, was magical.
As for as u/Mostlymad1, no he would not be in trouble. He was following the first order from the Air Force, and that was what he was trained to do. Keep those comms going, and he was probably told by the commander and his NCO to get those comes running.
I my experience 'loyalty' is ALWAYS one sided...I told one boss 'Look...there is one reason and ONLY one reason why I have a jog...of ANY description...and that's to get paid for what I do...it's a trade off...my time and experience for your money'. He didn't like that for some reason.
So navy KCC but can imagine this rings pretty true across the various branches, loss of coms, expecially prolonged loss, especially especially in a contested region even with a forewarning of outage, when the outage lasts much longer than it's supposed to, can be a really bad thing. HQ is only then left to assume due to lack of status updates that something occured at the outpost/station and may even have to dispatch resources/manpower ect. to send back up ect. OP only maliciously complied with the no touch with the assumption that the back up was operational and would have minimal impact on coms/interuption of. The tech for the generators probably got in some really deep shit for that fuck up.
It would if it messed up operational requirements on base but he got power back and the one responsible for the wrong orders would have been chewed out
He also so has orders to keep the base operational. And the operational order is from a higher ranked officer. Is a screwed if u do and screwed if u don't military order. Which are way to common
No he wouldn’t get in trouble for getting the backup generators running because his mission command supersedes his tech sergeant’s order of not touching the generators
To story 3 it could in fact lead to some serious problems but given the fact in a combat zone comms are the life blood of any unit. The E6 got into more trouble than he did.
Mission comes first. His job was to keep the sight running. The tech Sgt was being a prick. Same thing happened to us. Only the mechanics were supposed to mess with the genny. Well guess what. They didn't. It seized up and died. Requiring replacing the whole unit. Oh well. After that, whoever was on duty had to check it
I have been connected to the military one way or another since I was 16 years old. I am now 63 and still connected. I mention this so ya'll could possibly understand that I do indeed know what I am talking about. I also spent 7 years on active duty so been there, done that. Yes, OP did disobey a direct order but under all given circumstances (they WERE in an active war zone)it was an invalid order. OP did exactly what (s)he should have done. The fault lay in the E6 who issued that order. He could become an E-5 or even an E-4.The higher ups would have taken this all into consideration and done nothing to the OP. The E-6 is a whole different story. In my day this would never have happened in the first place.
So probably not the first person to explain this but the NCO who ordered the lower enlisted guy not to touch the generator while that is a lawful order and he should have obeyed it he also had higher orders to maintain contact so whenever the backup generator failed to come on he had to get his comms back as prairie higher order that would proceed that don't touch the generator and also the base commander got mad at the text Sergeant for not showing up which pretty much moot pointed it anyways
Last story is a negative. Tech Sargent endangered the mission and unit by not only giving that order, but by also not being there at the specified time resulting in critical communications failing. Technically, the OP put the mission first and refused to follow an order that endangered the mission by replacing the battery. So he would have been in the right.
A standing order from a higher ranking officer (EG... Keep the comms up and running) outweighs a standing order from any NCO (non commissioned officer) so he followed both orders for as long as possible until he had to get a generator up and running to maintain his defined mission. In addition I would have sung out loud and clear on the comms NCO Dickwad failed to maintain the equipment he is supposed to so I was a little slow on getting things back up.
Second story,strong disagree. Been working in retail for about a decade and any customer who came in looking and sometimes smelling like a dirty hobo was in fact actually a dirty hobo trying to cause trouble. If you don't want to be treated as such don't go into stores dressing or smelling like a dirty hobo 😮💨
Orders Bah! a Sgt cannot issue orders only directives but I'll let that slide as the nuance between the two takes too long to explain. OP had standing "orders" to not touch the gen. So, he followed the "order" until circumstances dictated them to be null and void. If you have to can parts (Cannibalize stuff from one bit of equip to get another up and running) in an emergency you do it. You know like having ZERO Coms with troops who are outside the wire. Now if OP was told never to eat TSgt.'s jelly doughnut and when they ran out of sprinkles doughnuts he disobeyed the directive yeah that would have been different. YES That was an over the top nonsense example but you get the drift. If mission critical orders are out the window to get crap moving again and if not mission critical then stick to the orders. HOWEVER..... OP should have just taken it up the chain and said something to superiors instead. Gone to the duty officer or a Sgt of equal or higher rank than the TSgt. and said Hey we are about to lose coms and power because TSgt. has expressly forbid us to touch his equip and he is not here to fuel up the generator. If they didn't do anything about it then yeah Malicious compliance all the way. And Given the TSgt. got ripped a new one seconds after getting to post OP probably did Just that.
Opie's standing orders come from someone much higher than that e6 and the standing orders come from HQ is standing orders are to keep communications open therefore he had to do something
Like when I was in I was but a lonely Lance corporal yet my billet was chief of maintenance everything to do with the trucks in my motorcycle was my domain The only people that could overrule what I said when it came to my trucks would have been an officer with a b billet higher than mine or an officer o3 and up
Just going through your backlog, I can't get enough! I now have a new favorite statement when asked "wHerE's yOUr CoMpAnY LoyaLty?" simply responding with "Where's the loyalty you show to your employees?"
Airforce Veteran here. Yes he disobeyed a direct order, however under NORMAL circumstances he would get In trouble, but this wasn’t normal. Comms went out and his job requires him to get it back up and running. Also keep in mind that this Tsgt was not in his direct chain of command. It’s a grey area but he would be ok breaking this order. He had a job to do and could not do it unless the power came back on. His direct chain of command would back him 100% and the Tsgt should have been reamed. Also the paperwork that followed could be rebutted because of the said incident as a retaliation write up
That last story: That Sargent could trying getting him written up for disobeying a direct order, but when you boil it down to order of operation, OP did exactly what they were supposed to do.
Direct order from “low level manager”: Don’t touch this
Indirect order from “upper management”: do your job
So that ultimately leads it to a “don’t touch unless backup fails. If back up fails and you can fix it, upper managements orders supersedes all existing orders. Touch it to fix it.”
Hopefully that piss ant gets demoted for obviously not doing their part in making sure the back up worked
OPs job was to make sure security and comms were maintained, that NCO was proven by the flat battery on the backup generator, which HAS to be switched over to, to NOT be doing his job. On top of that, the NCO got chewed out by someone of higher rank, meaning that said officer would have OPs back in this case. Henceforth nothing would become of it except for it going on that NCO's record that he failed to maintain equipment to a standard that was needed for operations.
Also, switching over to a backup generator is actually allowed since such a command would go against OPs primary duty of making certain they have security and comms.
@@Ryanthusar exactly. Emergency situations like that and any orders or commands (be direct or indirect) from higher ranked officials above Tech Sargent gain higher priority. Tech could write OP up, but since OP has stated the generator was going to go down, any higher officials can override that, especially if it is an emergency situation like the mentioned power outage. The fact the Tech didn't maintain the generators and ran late to getting there was also a bigger screw up than disregard of orders from a higher ranked officer
OP gave the PG version of events. I can all but promise you the actually screaming match in the end used language that would have landed it a solid R rating. Because that is just how the military rolls.
But on a side note, I can't help but wonder if Airman UXO was the subordinate who had the duty of waking up at 5 AM to refill the generator before 7 AM. And to be fair to the antagonist NCO of this story, every car battery I replaced over the decades all had the same problem. One day the engine cranks just fine, the next day nothing. So unless they have a daily or weekly maintenance check to verify the status of the battery, I could actually see this being a problem that could go undetected. But the solution is to do generator swap outs. Switch from one generator to the next periodically so that one generator isn't operating all the time and generating all the operational hours.
@@superdave8248 flip flop generators!
Correction : NCO order is a lawful order
Officer order is a direct order.
IIRC
Director was still holding strong because he was getting stock options on the IPO. Everyone under her was expendable tools.
She, but yes
OP jumped the gun. He should have complied with the idiotic order to the letter. So when the officer showed up to see NCO not there, generators not functioning, an onsite person with orders not to touch them. CYA, get it in writing. Especially the part where NCO was gundecking the maintenance of the back up unit.
"You can come in half an hour later if you cut your lunch by the same amount of time *and* I’ll overlook your attempt to quit :D what do you say?"
Remember that other deal we had? The one where you didn’t hold up your end of the bargain? Why would I believe you the second time?
"My contract says I start at 8 am and finish at 5 pm, with 1 hour of lunch break. So from now on I start at 8 am and finish at 5 pm, and take one hour of lunch break." What are they going to do, write him up for refusing to do unpaid overtime?
As OP stated in the last story the whole reason for his being in Afghanistan was to operate communications 2/7/365 so that would be a reason, an order from a pay grade residing in the Pentagon
not some pissant E-6. So while true he was given an order not to touch the generators and a case of obeying ones last order first then the E-6 can explain to those above why he hasnt done his job.
This says it all. By letting generator die to discover failure of maintenance of the second and then getting it up and running in absence of the NCO, OP simultaneously earns a commendation from officers in charge above him whilst throwing NCO under the bus....then backing up over him again. He complied either Lawful order to extent possible. But SOP would take priority.
Also, we do not know if the OP was given an order from someone higher then the Tech Idiot that countered the Tech Idiot's order.
@@MatokAKAM - Considering said Tech idiot got chewed out by someone there, someone of higher rank WAS there. Even if they match ranks, since they are commander of that area they outrank them by that fact.
@@Ryanthusar - as an Army Brat (my Dad was in the Army), I knew there was someone there that outranked the Tech Idiot, I also know the CO tore that Tech Idiot a "Galaxy-sized hole" with the dressing down that was indeed coming his way. I would have died laughing if OP had then said to Tech Idiot something like, "I was told that CO wants to see you. Have a good day Tech Idiot." However, throwing the tools at the feet of Tech Idiot was also a nice touch.
Yeah, he could possibly try writing them up, but then Tech Sargent would open himself up to a rebuttal of “I violated the order to preform my job because he wasn’t doing his” - especially since the backup gen wasn’t working.
On top of that he technically had orders from headquarters to have power on at all cost.
He could have been written up for disrespect to am NCO. Though I'd have creatively written it as an FU to the guy. One of my standing orders to my guys was always send other NCOs to me first. I've got the stripes. I'll deal with them.
He could also claim the order singled out the main generator, especially since he asked about refueling it, and in his opinion the back-up wasn't covered by the order. Apologize a lot.
@@Masterninja2321 yeah and HQ trumps everyone cuz they generally have brass. Some of the guys I used work with had a shiny new 2nd LT that sounds like he could have been a cousin to the Tech Sargent in this story. It is not disobeying an order if you get a contractor or someone else to to the job. They were ordered to not crank the trucks and such until it was time to leave to conserve fuel... because the 4mi round trip to the motor pool to gas up was a waste... in the winter while we were having snow and ice weather. The shift NCO on that shift figured out quick if he asked us we would go start the trucks and then just graciously "let them use the ones we started" to do stuff.
I believe that because the commander got involved by personally calling Tech Sargent into his office for I assume to be a ass chewing of epic proportions.
The argument that OP violated a direct order not to touch the generators is very likely to fall on deaf ears, especially since Tech wasn’t on station as required to refill the generators before they ran out of fuel.
Even though it wasn’t mentioned, I would not be surprised if OP wasn’t commended for his own timely actions in bringing up the backup generator.
Last Story: When OP recited that the backup generator battery was dead, I literally said "Oh no..." knowing that the tech sergeant was _toast_ . lol
Sadly, OP's big mistake was trying to get the emergency generator online. If they left things as-is and failed the 30 minute check-in, the Tech Sergeant would have been sent home, most likely, because HQ would have sent in someone _well_ above anyone's paygrade at the site to investigate. Because if they knew of the situation, and confirmed the order, they _would_ have verified who was at fault.
That NCOs order doesn't hold weight against a general order from a commissioned officer to maintain communication at all times.
"How could you do this to the company, after everything they've done for you?!?"
The only thing 'the company' has done for them is sign their checks, AND they're only doing THAT because slavery is illegal.
"I go to get new job. More pay, less you."
"How could you, after all I've done for you!"
"I name a son after you." - MASH
Wager slavery is legalized slavery ;)
We live in a capital order. The situation works like this: You have no means to fend for yourself other than taking on a subsistence wage. If you should not be able to work at any point--be it personal health disaster, market implosion, or you getting fired--you are screwed. Your employer isn't. Your employer will be fine. They get fat tax payer bailouts if anything goes bad. But you. will. be. screwed. You will be forced to take whatever you can find, even if it comes with a pay cut substantially below your cost of living or has no health benefits to speak of.
The capital order ensures that the social safety net is razor thin and barely adequate because if joblessness didn't screw you, then you'd be able to just walk away anytime you liked. You'd have true choice and agency.
The fact that your choices in a capitalist society are "work or starve" means you only have a choice to work. And work you shall.
Under a slave economy, your choices are work or be beaten within an inch of your life, and then starve. So, depending on how you look at it, the existing political order is either slavery with one fewer step, or just slavery with extra steps. Either way, you are a worker. You must obey the needs of capital. And you own nothing. Or next to nothing. And the system is designed to keep things that way.
And sure, you can always walk away and work for a different employer. TECHNICALLY. Technically you can. But even if you find a comparable or better job, there's an old saying: Say hello to the new boss, same as the old. The situation will be basically the same no matter who you work for. And that means you really don't have a choice. After all, what is the difference between being slave to a "bad" master over being a slave to a "kind" master? You are still a slave, either way.
The main difference between old feudal slave systems and the modern capitalist slave system is whereas before human flesh was bought and sold wholesale by employers, now your flesh is sold to the highest bidder carved up in fractions of an hour. I sell you 8 hours of my body to do with as you wish within the scope of the law. For 8 hours every day, and sometimes on weekends and holidays too, I am a slave. It's still slavery.
The thing about company loyalty is that if we died today, our vacancy would be up in less than a week.
Former US naval military. I'll start by saying each branch tends to handle things differently and each individual command CERTAINLY does. That said, last OP could have been screwed over, but not likely as a direct consequence of disobeying that order not to touch the generator. Generally, the way it works is top brass gives the orders (in this case maintain comms 24/7) which OP must follow. Anyone higher ranked than OP, but lower than that person/entity that gave the operational comms order can add more restrictive steps that don't interfere with following previous orders (in this case, not touch the generator or hypothetically that OP must wear X uniform, perform y maintenance on this schedule, etc). However, once that latter order from the Tech now interfered with the higher directives from higher rank superiors (not to mention the fact comms are mission critical) OP was no longer bound to follow to follow the orders of not touching the genny as following said order would prevent him from maintaining comms.
First story: companies deserve just exactly the same amount of loyalty as they have to their employees which is, generally speaking, None At All.
Story1: I'm sure OP realizes this now, but never accept any offers to stay after putting in notice. I don't care if it's a million dollars an hour plus coke and hookers. It's a sucker-offer. Also I'm reminded of MASH: "I go to get new job. More pay, less you."
If I'm not mistaken, as OP said, He has orders to keep communications up and running no matter what. Those orders are most likely from someone higher up the chain. In this scenario he has every right to work on those generators since if they are down it would impact the higher ups order. So Tech Sergeant cant do squat about OP messing with the Generators since the backups were not properly maintained.
Some more top notch Malicious Compliance. Thanks to all OPs and KCC for this episode
Story 2 Same thing happed to My wife and i as we went looking for furniture .... Before we could even as a question him about the furniture, the Idiot told us the cheaper furniture was in the other section of the store, need less to say we left and bought our stuff somewhere where they appreciated our patronage
It's hard enough finding good solid furniture that isn't particle board with veneer, but having sales people dumping on people they feel aren't dressed correctly really pisses me off. Hubby and I have left a few places after being treated like that. When Ikea is more customer friendly, an hour drive to get there isn't so bad.
I was looking to buy several expensive computer parts and Best Buy happened to have them. I could not get a single salesperson to pay attention to me. They would tell me to look around and come over to the register when I want to check out. Meanwhile running off to help better dressed people who kept walking out with nothing after asking a dozen stupid questions. We did have a competitor store across the road at the time (they’re gone now) so I pulled my phone out and asked them if they price match because no one at Best Buy wanted to help me. They said they did and I walked off, ignoring the guy who suddenly had time for me and was trying to greet me. I could have left a complaint but they’re likely told to do that. I’m not going to get them in trouble for crap management.
I just order online now.
There's a war going on, and being down 1/2 hour is one thing, being down 2 hours is something else.
they guy with the washing machine i did that when i got my truck. i was 18 worked my butt off since 13 knew what truck i wanted. walked in and no one wanted to help me. went to the only female in the place and said i want that one draw up the paper work and i have check in hand. she drew up the paper work and the 6 other guys said it was there sale since i tried to flag them down. they hated the fact i said well if it was your sale then why is she doing the paper work. left with the pink slip in hand (yes i saved all the money needed to pay for it in full all up front)
Yes, but as OP stated he was also charged with keeping communication lines open.
So fixing the generator was the lesser of the two evils in this damned if you do and damned if you don't situation for OP!
Sounds like management. Some days you need to choose what you are yelled at over.
It would seem that OP's mission to keep the compound with power would override the NCO's order to keep hands off.
12 hour days with no overtime? I'd better have 3.5 days off each week!
Good morning KCC. Thanks for the stories. Have a great day
Yay, malicious compliance on a Monday morning. Can’t get much better than that, thanks Rob for the great stories🥰🔥❤️
The thing about orders is that unless you get it in writing, superiors can just deny it
My two cents on the generators story: given that OP was the one on site and also reported that the generators would be back online during OP's shift he would have been the one holding the grenade when that time would lapse and the power wasn't coming back on. If he had not reported that there was an imminent power outage and that he would correct it then he could have followed it through with the malicious compliance when the MPS would show up demanding to know why the site was down and OP could reference their orders. I would like to think that behind the scenes outside of the story as it was told that the Tech Sergeant was found not following his duties and this would have put him on thin ice, but what do I know?
Story 1: Loyalty? When you break an agreement & tell me if I don't like then I can quit...where is the loyalty there? Reneging on an agreement is tantamount to lying...not being loyal.
Story 2: I knew a guy in my city that was a multi-millionaire...but he dressed in coveralls, work boots & tattered shirts...he would buy things only from people that treated him well. He came into my restaurant and ordered a special meal for him & his wife. I cooked it up as ordered but added a little something extra because he was a really nice guy. He left me a $20 tip on a $25 meal :)
Story 3: OP's standing order from command was to keep communications up...this order would be over & above the NCO's order to allow communications to go down through negligence.
I have one rule for threats - only utter the ones that can be carried out, otherwise you'll create Discord...
Hmmm, Discord, that reminds me...
Loyalty HAS to work both ways or it's not valid.
It's not only in Africa where appearances matter. Here in the US my wife and I have had sales people turn up their noses at us, only to regret it later when we bought something from someone else. Sam Walton (the founder of Walmart) uses to drive around town in a beat up old pickup truck, looking much like a poor farmer in bib overalls.
Generator story: OP also had standing orders to maintain communications as close to 24/7/365 as possible. That allows him to switch over to the backup generator and "fix" said backup generator in order to maintain communications.
A direct order can be disobeyed if illegal order for example.
In this example he did exactly as he was trained to do in case of a failure.
Great job
A direct order is one that is issued by an Officer as opposed to one issued by an enlisted NCO which is called a lawful order, but either can be disobeyed if it's an illegal order.
You need to take into account that the salesman in the washing machine story probably only makes about the equivilent of $5k/yr so that 90$ hit can really be appreciated.
Retired AF here. In what branch of service does anyone take directions/"orders" from another enlisted person (especially an E-6) who is not in their chain of command? If you have a problem with someone who doesn't work for you talk to their boss; or, better yet have your boss talk to their boss. Also, if you knowingly allowed the compound to lose power to prove a point you'd be in more trouble than the TSgt.
Gotta be honest... I read the AF not as Air Force, but as the more commonly used, no so appropriate, short form lol. Had me confused for a split second :)
The E-6 only verbally gave orders while OP had WRITTEN orders, probably signed by an officer in charge of the post or maybe even higher. If OP had just sat and waited for the E-6 to come, he'd have to explain why he wasn't getting the backup working since he had WRITTEN and OIC SIGNED orders. To say that E-6 gave orders verbally wouldn't hold water because E-6 is a weasel and would tell investigating officers that he never told them not to mess with the generators.
Since higher ranking officers (allegedly) had standing written orders on what to do if main generator went out, that's the orders you follow. If the E-6 tried to do anything to OP about not following his verbal orders, then he would have a very hard hill to climb.
Lives are more valuable than a rank.
Pretty sure the Courts would understand this case and he would be left off without such a warning.
For the last story, as someone who worked on Comms at Headquarters, an NCO can give you that command and yes you can getting written up for it (BS I know), however that sergeant will have to explain either to a Captain to a Full Bird Colonel, and/or depending where you are station A GENERAL, on why the Hell their Comms were down...
So it's pick your poison, is it? I'll take the antifreeze over the cyanide then!
@@DrownedInExile Yeahhhhhh pick your poison lol
Loyalty is a 2 way street. That dipsh*t Director and that toxic company showed no loyalty. They got what they deserved.
Sergeants cannot legally give "direct" orders. Only commissioned officers can. The storyteller was actually given a "lawful" order but considering the situation I am sure he was not reprimanded.
It becomes a question of which direct order to follow I think. The direct order to keep things running? Or the direct order to not touch?
No, you can disregard an order to keep mission up. You had better be right though.
This happened to me at 0100 and could see/hear issue with a compressor. I was taking the system down to keep permanent damage to equipment. I was ordered by this nubnuts Sgt. to leave it running. After middle finger salute, I took system down. He called NCOIC. I called commander. (Call tree process)
NCOIC and commander showed up at same time just before 0200. (Yes this system was that important.) A curtain numbnuts Sgt got a Article 15, I got 72 pass.
Someone asked me today where KCC college was? I told them on RUclips.
The tech sgt command could be overruled if a higher ranking person (higher than tech sgt) gave an order countermanding the tech sgt, such as standing orders to keep comm facility running at all cost. This is why tech sgt got in trouble with the commander.
Companies treat you like shit untill you decide to quit. Then they act like they can't survive without you when really they just want to keep someone to take advantage of
Operational readiness outweighs an order that is only legal if E6 can explain why he was late and why the backup wasn't working
As others have pointed out, OP in the last story was given two orders. One set of orders from officers and another set of orders from a NCO. As long as the order don't conflict, OP can follow both. When they do conflict, OP must follow the order which takes precedence, almost always, the orders from officers takes precedence. The order to maintain continuous communications with HQ takes precedence over everything.
If OP wanted to cover his ass, all he had to do was get permission from the officer on duty to turn the power back on. Then, when E-6 storms up, all he had to do was say "Power went out, back-up generator battery dead, I got permission by [Officer] to restore power."
What you forgot to consider, that this was a primary communications hub for the area... an area where they are coordinating with the locals to build up local infrastructure. This means, there were computers and data storage centers dedicated to that purpose. Without power, those computers won't be functional, which will cause delays in completing reports. The officer on duty would need to write a report on the power loss, and not only log it for their relief, but to pass on to the brass so they can determine the cause of the power failure (to make sure it wasn't from incompetence, enemy action, or enemy action masquerading as incompetence) and to have any replacement parts ready to be delivered.
IMO, this story was either fake or copied from someone else. My opinion is based on OP's use of "Supervisor" to refer to their boss while referring to everyone else by their rank.
Actually, it’s pretty common for the military to have civilian contractors, the supervisor, in low level positions like that, they handle the mundane admin stuff and keep things moving.
Actually, mission parameters (operate communications 24/7/365) -- usually set by people above Tech Sargent's pay grade -- supersede orders by the Tech Sargent that interfere with the mission.
It works that way in any kind of administrative system: Upper management beats middle management beats lower management.
As Caleb Carter pointed out: Tech Sargent is lowest managment, the supervisor is lower management, the HQ chief is middle management and the Pentagon is upper management.
No he didn't touch the generator he changed the batteries and touch the key lol
Army vet here. So if all branches work the same way then the com guys job Supersedes that specific NCO because he needs to keep communication between the base and the fob and that is mission critical technically couldn’t have gotten in trouble for not fixing it but it looks really bad on him if he could fix it and chose not to because he was following some idiots orders.
The last story, your comments about the disobeying of orders. It is far worse for the comms to go down for more than he said. They might assume it is an enemy attack and go all ham. Stuff like that. You can ignore orders if you have higher orders, or if it puts the mission in jeopardy.
The mission comes first.
Loyalty - like trust, friendship, ... works *both* ways, or not at all. But companies neither trust you or are loyal to you, so why should you?
Thanks Rob!!💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
Direct orders are issued by officer aka lieutenant and such, lawful orders are/can be issued by NCO's
damn, there were good people in that company, even in high places
Sometimes a task is more important than someone else's order when lives are in danger and it depends on who above the one that give the order comes down on them.
I’ve been waiting for this all day!
I slept in... lol sorry!
@@KarmaStoriesPodcast Our clocks went forward yesterday and traffic was heavy on the way home. Your video came at the perfect time for me and I NEED my KCC relaxation time when I get home from work, so no need to apologise. Hope you have a wonderful day, Rob.
@@Loki-and-Thor ahh time change
HELL NO!!! MISSIONS ALWAYS COMES FIRST…NO COMMS=NO MISSION. Also, if you are given orders from a HIGHER RANKING OFFICER then an E6/SRGT, then
any orders given from a LOWER OFFICER IS
NULL-n-VOID; and if that E6 is in a DIFFERENT UNIT his orders wouldn’t not
have meant much, he would have had gone
to that PERSONS COMMANDER to make those orders OFFICIAL.
Last story: It could get OP. But, considering that the Sergeant didn't do what he said he'll do (fueling the generators) and it caused a setback (generators shutting down), I doubt it. I mean...why order them to not touch the generators if he wasn't going to fuel them? Why give this order to the people who can work on the generators and keep them in top shape? Why not go after the guy who keeps messing things up for everyone else? :/
Lmao i just gave loads of free vouchers, discounted heavily (within reason), and removed all costs associated with additional cover (since they weren't counted as "loss", but as a "gesture of goodwill") when I gave in my notice at an insurance company.
Most people on the phones caught on and word must have spread because my manager shat herself (the reason I was leaving) when my call volume doubled and my customer satisfaction scores were through the roof.
I was a temp, and left because of poor management - I wasn't offered full contract despite good KPI/targets.
A lot of my colleagues started direct routing calls to my handset - because they were pretty fed up with my manager too, and thought it was pretty funny watching her squirm unable to do anything.
Campaign manager got involved and questioned whether good KPI/targets was better for the company or not. I simply told her that I don't work for the company, don't earn commission, and I'm enjoying my last couple of weeks by not stressing about targets: but instead retaining customers.
They couldn't fire me because I didn't do anything wrong. Everything I did was in my terms of contract, retention and customer satisfaction. Sitting there whilst she told me I had 3 weeks holiday which I HAD to take - fully paid, was magical.
*by "better", she meant "profitable"
As for as u/Mostlymad1, no he would not be in trouble. He was following the first order from the Air Force, and that was what he was trained to do. Keep those comms going, and he was probably told by the commander and his NCO to get those comes running.
I my experience 'loyalty' is ALWAYS one sided...I told one boss 'Look...there is one reason and ONLY one reason why I have a jog...of ANY description...and that's to get paid for what I do...it's a trade off...my time and experience for your money'. He didn't like that for some reason.
So navy KCC but can imagine this rings pretty true across the various branches, loss of coms, expecially prolonged loss, especially especially in a contested region even with a forewarning of outage, when the outage lasts much longer than it's supposed to, can be a really bad thing.
HQ is only then left to assume due to lack of status updates that something occured at the outpost/station and may even have to dispatch resources/manpower ect. to send back up ect.
OP only maliciously complied with the no touch with the assumption that the back up was operational and would have minimal impact on coms/interuption of. The tech for the generators probably got in some really deep shit for that fuck up.
Good afternoon Rob
It would if it messed up operational requirements on base but he got power back and the one responsible for the wrong orders would have been chewed out
He also so has orders to keep the base operational. And the operational order is from a higher ranked officer.
Is a screwed if u do and screwed if u don't military order. Which are way to common
No he wouldn’t get in trouble for getting the backup generators running because his mission command supersedes his tech sergeant’s order of not touching the generators
Court-martial procedure would find sgt derelict and take his sgt stripes. Commo man covered his own butt with HQ staff.
To story 3 it could in fact lead to some serious problems but given the fact in a combat zone comms are the life blood of any unit. The E6 got into more trouble than he did.
Mission comes first. His job was to keep the sight running. The tech Sgt was being a prick.
Same thing happened to us. Only the mechanics were supposed to mess with the genny. Well guess what. They didn't. It seized up and died. Requiring replacing the whole unit. Oh well. After that, whoever was on duty had to check it
I have been connected to the military one way or another since I was 16 years old. I am now 63 and still connected. I mention this so ya'll could possibly understand that I do indeed know what I am talking about. I also spent 7 years on active duty so been there, done that. Yes, OP did disobey a direct order but under all given circumstances (they WERE in an active war zone)it was an invalid order. OP did exactly what (s)he should have done. The fault lay in the E6 who issued that order. He could become an E-5 or even an E-4.The higher ups would have taken this all into consideration and done nothing to the OP. The E-6 is a whole different story. In my day this would never have happened in the first place.
So probably not the first person to explain this but the NCO who ordered the lower enlisted guy not to touch the generator while that is a lawful order and he should have obeyed it he also had higher orders to maintain contact so whenever the backup generator failed to come on he had to get his comms back as prairie higher order that would proceed that don't touch the generator and also the base commander got mad at the text Sergeant for not showing up which pretty much moot pointed it anyways
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Loyalty supposedly flows upwards but not downward, because they feel no loyalty to the employees, only the bottom line, sadly
Last story is a negative. Tech Sargent endangered the mission and unit by not only giving that order, but by also not being there at the specified time resulting in critical communications failing.
Technically, the OP put the mission first and refused to follow an order that endangered the mission by replacing the battery. So he would have been in the right.
A standing order from a higher ranking officer (EG... Keep the comms up and running) outweighs a standing order from any NCO (non commissioned officer) so he followed both orders for as long as possible until he had to get a generator up and running to maintain his defined mission.
In addition I would have sung out loud and clear on the comms NCO Dickwad failed to maintain the equipment he is supposed to so I was a little slow on getting things back up.
Second story,strong disagree. Been working in retail for about a decade and any customer who came in looking and sometimes smelling like a dirty hobo was in fact actually a dirty hobo trying to cause trouble. If you don't want to be treated as such don't go into stores dressing or smelling like a dirty hobo 😮💨
Good afternoon
First time catching it at 0 views :)
Orders Bah! a Sgt cannot issue orders only directives but I'll let that slide as the nuance between the two takes too long to explain. OP had standing "orders" to not touch the gen. So, he followed the "order" until circumstances dictated them to be null and void. If you have to can parts (Cannibalize stuff from one bit of equip to get another up and running) in an emergency you do it. You know like having ZERO Coms with troops who are outside the wire.
Now if OP was told never to eat TSgt.'s jelly doughnut and when they ran out of sprinkles doughnuts he disobeyed the directive yeah that would have been different. YES That was an over the top nonsense example but you get the drift. If mission critical orders are out the window to get crap moving again and if not mission critical then stick to the orders.
HOWEVER..... OP should have just taken it up the chain and said something to superiors instead. Gone to the duty officer or a Sgt of equal or higher rank than the TSgt. and said Hey we are about to lose coms and power because TSgt. has expressly forbid us to touch his equip and he is not here to fuel up the generator. If they didn't do anything about it then yeah Malicious compliance all the way. And Given the TSgt. got ripped a new one seconds after getting to post OP probably did Just that.
Opie's standing orders come from someone much higher than that e6 and the standing orders come from HQ is standing orders are to keep communications open therefore he had to do something
Like when I was in I was but a lonely Lance corporal yet my billet was chief of maintenance everything to do with the trucks in my motorcycle was my domain The only people that could overrule what I said when it came to my trucks would have been an officer with a b billet higher than mine or an officer o3 and up
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2 things a soldier FEARS IN BATTLE/WAR…
1.) FAILING their BROTHERS/SISTERS IN ARMS
and
2.) NOT COMPLETING the MISSION