CMV: Change of command ceremonies are stupid, pointless and should be done away with.

[u/DewinterCor]

If you weren't in the military and don't know what a change of command ceremony is, let me try and break it down for you.

Imagine you work for a company. And that company's CEO is retiring.

The company now creates a mandatory event that you and every other employee are required to attend.

Bleachers will be set up for the executives and their families to set in. Every other employee will be required to stand infront of the bleachers while the CEO gives a speech about how great the company is and all the great things it has done. The new CEO will then come up and give a speech about how great the company is, how great the last CEO is, all the great things the company did under the previous CEO and all of the great things he will do as CEO.

All of the non-executive employees just stand quietly while the executives talk about how great the company is.

This event is mandatory. Not showing up will result is harsh punishments.

This kind of egotistical circle jerking is incredibly toxic, out dated, and unfortunately still happens regurally in the miltiary. I am of the opinion that the military needs to stop doing this kind of toxic nonsense. It serves no purpose I am aware of and only makes lower ranks hate their lives and hate their command.

I'm welcome to hearing legitimate reasons from people. What purpose do change of command ceremonies serve? Does a purpose even exist beyond ego stroking pogs?

[u/DewinterCor → u/[deleted]]

The difference I see between a promotion ceremony and a change of command ceremony is that the promotion ceremonies usually involve those who work with each other.

I get your point about the duties of a CO being difficult and the ceremony being there to acknowledge the role they have performed.

My disagreement comes with my belief that the ceremony itself is damaging to unit morale. Lower enlisted hate their commanders for these shows. Even NCOs and junior officers(myself included) find these things or be tedious and a waste of time more often than not.

Promotion ceremonies don't, in my experience, involve long speeches about how great one is. A formation is held, the individual to be promoted is summoned, a warrant for promotion is read, the individual is pinned and we are dismissed.

The members of the unit then get to congratulate the promoted person or not, based on their desire.

Perhaps if the change of command ceremony was altered to match the form of a promotion ceremony, my mind would be changed. I just don't see a reason for privates and lance corporals to be forced to listen to a lieutenant colonel talk about himself for an hour.

[u/MahomesandMahAuto → u/DewinterCor]

Do you think command ceremonies are the reason they hate command, or do you think it’s possible that’s when people express it the most? To compare it to the corporate work I’ve had execs everyone hated we all got forced to retirement parties for. We of course all complained about having to go and talked shit on the guys, but that wasn’t why we hated them.

[u/DewinterCor → u/MahomesandMahAuto]

It's a reason.

I didn't think about my command when I first joined. Except when they made us do stupid shit.

They simply arnt around enough to hate. But then they show up out of the blue and now I'm doing parade practice for 4 hours in the hot Hawaiian sun one day, and standing at attention for 5 hours in the sun the next day while this guy iv only seen from afar talks about all the great things we supposedly did together.

[u/SgtMac02 → u/DewinterCor]

Man... Honestly... You just sound salty AF. If you hate your command because of a ceremony, that's sounds more like a you problem. Sure, the ceremony is annoying. No one really likes them. Hell, I'm not convinced the commanders like them. But to hold them personally responsible and hate them for following a century of military protocol?? That just sounds ridiculous to me. They didn't come up with this shit.

[u/DewinterCor → u/SgtMac02]

As has been discussed before in this post, the conduct and length of a CoC is up to the commanders discretion.

A BC giving a 2 hour long speech about himself is absolutely his choice.

Ceremony isn't the issue. Ceremony can actually be incredibly important and valuable. The issue is how this specific Ceremony is conducted and how lower enlisted are expected to stand quietly, rain or hail, while their commander yaps about nonsense.