Just a Retired SFC

I was going to write this as a response to CPT Queers comment on my Army Chief Out post, but it started running long, so I thought that I’d make a full post out of it.

Responsibility was always one of the things that i tried to instill in junior soldiers. When you’re a leader you MUST make a decision. I don’t really care what it is but I expect you stand behind it and face the consequences when it isn’t the right one. I hoped that when they made a decision that they put some thought into it and what the results would be. I always found that to be one of the hardest things to teach. It never really helped that when I would try to get decisions from higher that it always seemed to get pushed higher and higher before someone would finally make a decision.

I work on an Air Force Base, so they run the show. About a year ago they decided to spiff up the building by painting “inspiring” quotes in the hallways of  the building. The one put up outside my office says “Leadership is responsibility, leadership is not position.” When your mentor young SGTs, that’s one of the first things that you have to get across to them. They’ve probably been with the same peers for several years, they’re friends and they don’t want to appear to be bossy, so they try to lead by group consensus. Trying to get the one’s who aren’t natural leaders to be leaders is one of the hardest things I ever found I had to do.

I think a lot of the malaise in leadership now goes right back to that mentoring that should happen from the first day a soldier enters the Army. Decision making is an integral part of the military framework. Making the right decision 100% of the time is impossible. If you worry and fret and vacillate for hours over a decision you only make yourself look silly. Make a decision, right or wrong, but make a decision. If you make a bad decision, own it. Learn from it. Most decisions don’t even have a wrong choice.

I work with AIT soldiers. Because of the amount of training involved in this particular MOS, by the time I get them, most of them have been in the Army for 18-24 months. When they show up for class I appoint a class leader. Usually it just the senior person. I’ve seen a trend lately where that soldier may not feel comfortable being in charge of the rest. They’ve been together for nearly two years and they can generally work together as team. But place one of them in a position above the rest and things suddenly get awkward. This is were the mentoring comes in. I always sit the soldier down on the first day and we talk about what I expect from them and what their responsibilities are. It’s nothing serious, keeping the classroom clean, making sure the soldiers come back from breaks on-time, things like that. But every once in a while, I get that soldier who came in a day or week before the rest of them, and only by date of rank are they senior. They don’t want to ruffle feathers, so they try to do everything with group think. And you can always tell. Just the simple act of cleaning a room when the group mind is operating results in the first thing being done is to take out the trash, when they haven’t swept or done any other cleaning. We aren’t a leadership school, we teach job skills, but every class is about teaching leadership and responsibility.

Everyday, leaders should be showing responsability. And accountability. Leaders set the example, and if they don’t the young troops don’t learn the right things. When that leader sits in one of the highest positions in the military, their actions effect the entire Army. When a leader admits a mistake, they show true leadership and responsibility. When they refuse to admit that something was wrong, it’s the responsibility of others, preferably thier superiors’, to point out that mistake.

Based on the actions of the head of Walter Reed, I would have to say that he was an ineffective leader and it was right to replace him. The resignation of the Secretary of the Army is a much better example of leadership, a little late, but better. If Secretary Harvey had taken action on the matters at Walter Reed earlier, he might still have a job. I think soldiers and Americans can still respect a leader who admits that they made a mistake and takes responsibility for their actions. When the only option left is to resign, then you’ve left it too long. I really don’t like seeing people have to resign because of desisiocns they made or didn’t make. Take responsibility and be the leader that the troops want and need. We serve not only those above us, but those below us, for whom we are responsible.