LC — Authentic Duty
The commander of a company is faced with one of his Soldiers having committed suicide. He wants to inform his company of the death but is unsure if he should show emotion when he addresses the formation.
Topics covered:
Role modeling
Suicide
Grief
Resilience
Responding to crucible moments
Authentic leadership
What’s the Situation?
- You are the commander of a brand new company, heavily populated with new Soldiers straight out of AIT.
- One of your Soldiers fails to show up for PT. The NCO chain is unable to locate the Soldier, so you and the first sergeant go to the soldier’s residence.
- After determining that the Soldier is likely at his house, you call the police for entry. The police confirm that the Soldier has committed suicide.
- You want to inform the company quickly before word gets out on social media.
- Deeply affected by the incident, you struggle to assess how much emotion to show to your troops.
