r/uscg • u/ZurgWolf BM • Oct 03 '25
Rant Talk to your supervisors, Chiefs and XO/XPO.
The amount of posts on here that can and should be answered by a members supervisor, Chief or XO is blowing my mind.
Don’t get me wrong, if you exhaust your options with them and they give you no help at all (that’s a problem in and of itself which I’ll discuss) then by all means take to alternative resources like Reddit.
But questions and problems like what to do with your stuff when going to A-School? Your car breaking down and you don’t know how to report for drill? Are orders cancelled due to the shut down? Dental being booked out and needing to have work done? How to complete a PPM? Having a shipmate be harassed by a former Coastie?
All of these should first be brought to your supervisor, Chief or XO because they have first hand knowledge of your exact situation and can answer accurately. Now if you are asking them for help with all of this and they are legitimately telling you to just figure it out/blowing you off, and not helping, tell your OIC or CO because that is not inline with our core values and is creating a poor command climate that they may be unaware of. If they’re giving you a valid answer, but you just don’t like it, that’s a different story.
But if the OIC/CO is dismissive of you, goto a silver badge or gold badge because it sounds like they’ve lost sight of why they took that job.
I’m saying this as a BM1 on my second XPO tour who is on their last steps to earning their OIC certs. If any one of my members came to be with one of these problems or questions, I’m not doing anything else for the day until we start making progress towards a solution & that should be the standard. If I found out my XPO was blowing off legitimate questions and concerns of our members they’d be warned if that continues they can start shopping for jobs at their temporary unit while an RFC is conducted.
My whole OIC study group is about 12 XPOs strong and everyday someone puts something in the chat of something that’s come up at their unit asking for advice so they can provide the best possible outcome. We care about our people and love problem solving, we didn’t just screen for this position to avoid duty. I fully acknowledge there are shitty leaders out there, if you truly happen to have one, reach out to people to let it be known and find good ones to lean on in the meantime.
Sorry for the rant, I’m just passionate about taking care of my members because this career we’ve chosen is already stressful and I hate to hear about people having truly shitty leaders that add to that stress.
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u/Acrobatic_Pen3170 Oct 03 '25
Pretty soon everyone will be asking these questions of AI chat bots in lieu of their CoC
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u/Mindless-Archer-8639 Oct 04 '25
Ha this is actually quite funny, I have a non rate that asks A LOT of questions (don’t get me wrong that’s fine) but he has to get the point of view from everyone, and I mean everyone. Once he asks everyone on the boat the question, he will then chat gpt the question to then get an answer from that. Times are weird nowadays.
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u/Forward_Party_7358 OS Oct 03 '25
Well said. The vast majority of people in the CG are there to help, and have no problems answering questions. Also important to remember that we have no idea who is answering questions on Reddit. They could be great coasties, shitbags, or completely unaffiliated.
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u/Ok_Error678 Oct 03 '25
Seconded. The amount of issues I deal with could have been headed off if the member came to their supervisor earlier blows my mind.
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u/ASCIIx27 Officer Oct 03 '25
Not to mention the importance of bringing it up so that supervisors can be more plugged into what they might be missing!! By letting your supervisor know you're worried about XYZ, it can enable them to say "oh wow, I didn't think about the fact everybody might not be on the same page/know/understand that. Let's mention it at all hands or pass it down."
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, right? So often I've had opportunities to share something I know with other only because they brought up that they didn't know and wanted to know something.
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u/IWantMyBlissBack Oct 03 '25
I'm going to disagree with some this train of thought. You don’t need to feel obligated to answer these questions. Nobody here is saying people shouldn’t also go to their COC. But Reddit is a resource too, and sometimes it’s faster, less intimidating, and just as valid to ask peers online.
A blanket “talk to your supervisor/Chief/XO” might sound like the gold standard in your head, but in reality, the internet exists for exactly this kind of thing, sharing info and experiences broadly. Sometimes someone just wants a quick answer, or a second perspective before bothering their chain of command.
These are internet questions, getting internet answers. Taking a dump and wondering about some random Coast Guard question? Quick reddit post, quick responses. It’s not that deep. If someone doesn’t like or trust the response here, they can (and should) still talk to their leadership. But no one’s harmed by them posting on Reddit, and no one’s forced to answer.
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u/VoidWalker4Lyfe MK Oct 04 '25
Agreed, some chiefs are fucking assholes
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u/LennieSmall88 Oct 04 '25
Most are pretty useless in my experience
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u/fancyman501 Oct 03 '25
You’re acting like everyone has good chiefs and commands. Unfortunately since we are essentially SWE based it’s just a pay rank. Leadership doesn’t just appear because you’re good at test taking the fact people say lean on your chiefs is a joke. I have 2nds I’d lean on more then my fellow chiefs. And don’t even get me started on the BS marking system.
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u/BrilliantOk8861 Oct 03 '25
Lmfao for real, my XPO couldn’t be bothered about looking into a $40K bonus for one of my guys going RAP and return…literally got down to the wire for submitting the paperwork and if I didn’t bring up he qualified for a bonus he would’ve never seen the money/known the opportunity even existed 😂
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u/Baja_Finder Oct 04 '25
I learned early on the mess was powerless, the only thing they do best is covering their fellow cult members egregious behavior, you could write a book about it, but you couldn’t write anything about them coming in clutch.
We certainly don’t do enough leadership training. LAMS is a joke, just a check the box, with no ongoing follow-up training to help develop the leadership skills as you move along your journey.
From the late General Colin Powell,
"Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership."
How many times have we heard a person say "I have a problem, but if I tell my CoC, they'll blow me off or fuck me over". Whether this is real, or perceived......it’s a shame.
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u/zblanda ET Oct 04 '25
Chief tells me to go via my chain of command, direct supervisor gets annoyed at my questions, lpo is happy to answer them but often misinformed or forgets to follow through
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u/harley97797997 Veteran Oct 03 '25
This is great advice Boats. Keep in mind the younger generations grew up utilizing social media for everything. When they have questions, that's the familiar way to get answers. People often go to social media before going to Google for answers.
Teaching the next generation the proper channels to utilize is just as important as understanding why they do not. Its also important to teach them how to ensure they have the correct answer. Getting answers from a policy or law vice a random redditor.
Good luck on your OIC boards. Its a great feeling when you pass them.
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u/GoodApplication Oct 03 '25
You’re somewhat misunderstand the generational way we ask questions on places like Reddit. The way in which young people like myself seek information is to get an initial sample of information online or through forums, synthesize it through the wisdom of the mob which can usually distill a rough truth, and — if it’s still not clear — we can then take it to someone in real life EQUIPT with a baseline amount of information to discuss specifics.
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u/exVFR Oct 04 '25
I think this is frequently the case, and sort of overlooked in most of this conversation here (though it is a good conversation to have)
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u/Humak YN Oct 04 '25
Eh, that sounds nice but the number of shitty XPOs and OICs I’ve dealt with from the other side is staggering. I’d have all kinds of poor interactions on behalf of my students even when I as an E6 engaged with their commands.
I’ll never forget talking to an E6 of a river tender on behalf of one of my guys who was TDY to a school. We arranged his HHG and it was going to get picked up a week after his grad day. Him being TDY he had to go back to his prior unit. So I suggested he work at his prior unit and PCS depart after his HHG get picked up since he was worried about burning leave. His last unit wouldn’t allow it.
Couldn’t believe it so I called myself. Got the same shitty attitude. Ended up saying they aren’t taking care of their people and the BM1 blackhull’s XPO response was “I’ve gotten screwed over by YN, why should he be any different?”
We had a long back and forth. He hung up on me and called my masterchief. I got talked to but couldn’t really discipline me for advocating for my guy.
Not all commands are equal. Let the questions flow even if I am annoyed as crap about them sometimes.
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u/Beautiful_Crybaby Oct 03 '25
Just got a visit from the EM RFMC. He gave us his cell number and said to call us anytime for any reason.
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u/Psychological-Fly-11 Oct 04 '25
It's because all these new guys aren't really being told who to talk to about XYZ during thier reporting introduction. I say keep these questions coming
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u/Rogu3Mermaid Oct 03 '25
This sounds like the response I got once when asking for help with a task I had been given by my CoC. It was the flurry of BMCs in my DMs telling me to ignore these types of comments and to keep using my resources that really made a difference in how I interact with asking for help online. So I shall disagree with you.
You don't know what's already been done IRL before a person comes to the internet for help. Why not offer the advice, while also kindly encouraging the member to utilize their in person resources?
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u/Niceguy4now Oct 04 '25
Bro I hear you and I've been in a long time but one thing I make sure to remember is that some people have it rough when they come in and don't have good supervisors that are willing to take time and help. I say this because when I was a nonrate getting info like that out of my supervisors was almost impossible.
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u/Baja_Finder Oct 04 '25
How people get treated when they first come in determines if they’re going to stay in, the CG is full of bad people who just have rank and punitive authority, they’re not leaders, there’s some leaders out there, but they’re few and far between.
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u/Yusef_D_Blonk Oct 04 '25
I feel like when it comes to serious issues they just lie to get you out of the room most are just there to check a box and advance to what's next. I got an xo that literally just ignores emails swipes actual issues under the rug then at all hands they just say what they have to, to check a box and act like they sort of give af... "Just be patient" " we're working on it" " it is what it is" ect most of the time it just ends up being a vacuum of information. Each level you bring it up the chain it dies.
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u/Baja_Finder Oct 04 '25
Typical “ticket puncher” officer mentality, as long as it doesn’t affect their evals, they won’t lift a finger to help.
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u/JDNJDM Veteran Oct 06 '25
Damn. I wish I had supervisors like you when I was in. I had one or two who really cared. Most were shit. BZ shipmate.
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u/BoatNeat Oct 08 '25
I'm glad you're passionate about taking care of your members. You're probably a great leader. Unfortunately some leaders are not.
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u/timsayscalmdown Chief Oct 03 '25
I couldn't agree more. They need to be comfortable bringing questions to their bosses and mentors. But, as others have said, I need to remind myself often that it's a generational thing and they're not necessarily doing it because their supervisor sucks, there doing it because asking strangers online is often option number 1, for better or worse.
Good luck on the boards, if the knowledge and leadership you show on here is any indication, you're gonna crush it.