Great topic! I will offer two things I did as a commander. First, we did a troop-level dining out, which took dedicated planning and coordination but the Soldiers and their families really enjoyed the event. We were fortunate to conduct the dining out a few months after returning from a deployment, so it gave us a chance to recognize outgoing leaders, Soldiers, and family members in a formal setting. Also, a dining out gives you the opportunity to teach junior Soldiers and leaders some of the customs and traditions of the profession. I was a bit apprehensive at first, but the effort the unit and family volunteers put into planning the dining-out made it a truly remarkable event and one of my favorite memories of command. (If anyone is interested in planning a company-level dining out, message or e-mail me and I can discuss the planning and some risk mitigation in more detail.)

Second, we handed out “game balls” to recognize and reward Soldiers. I ordered a few cases of baseballs printed with the troop logo and we would present the game balls to deserving Soldiers at closeout formation once or twice a month. Not shamed at all to admit that I stole this idea from a friend who had implemented this while he was a battery commander!

~Scott