Profanity? I was shocked when I read the news about Brig Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair's conviction for sexual misconduct. He pleaded to adultery, inappropriate relationships, possession of pornography, mistreating his mistress (no details, please) and the use of profanity. Profanity? Paraphrasing the words of Captain Louis Renault (played by Claude Rains) in the movie Casablanca, I am shocked, shocked to learn that there is profanity in the Army! (Click to tweet)
I have been retired from the Army since 1990 and I recall that at that time there was a lot of profanity in the military. It was the Vietnam/Cold War era. After serving for 22 years, I think I earned a black belt in profanity. I never thought I could get court martialed for it. In Vietnam, I always thought that we could shorten very conversation by half by removing the profanity; every other word was a cuss word. Our official battalion motto was No Slack. Somehow, in combat, it evolved to No F---ing Slack.
I later served as a company commander in a mechanized battalion (3ID) in Germany. During an annual training test (ARTEP), a signal unit monitored 1000 radio transmissions from my company, and only four violations were found – all profanity used by me. I will admit that there were times when profanity seemed appropriate based on the situation. It seems that certain words that once were profane have now become acceptable in everyday usage, if TV is any gauge.
As a rule, profanity is not appropriate. I wrote about the use of profanity in my e-book, Leadership for New Managers: Book Two, http://smashwords.com/b/300090.
I have been retired from the Army since 1990 and I recall that at that time there was a lot of profanity in the military. It was the Vietnam/Cold War era. After serving for 22 years, I think I earned a black belt in profanity. I never thought I could get court martialed for it. In Vietnam, I always thought that we could shorten very conversation by half by removing the profanity; every other word was a cuss word. Our official battalion motto was No Slack. Somehow, in combat, it evolved to No F---ing Slack.
I later served as a company commander in a mechanized battalion (3ID) in Germany. During an annual training test (ARTEP), a signal unit monitored 1000 radio transmissions from my company, and only four violations were found – all profanity used by me. I will admit that there were times when profanity seemed appropriate based on the situation. It seems that certain words that once were profane have now become acceptable in everyday usage, if TV is any gauge.
As a rule, profanity is not appropriate. I wrote about the use of profanity in my e-book, Leadership for New Managers: Book Two, http://smashwords.com/b/300090.
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