Has your experience as an ROTC cadet helped to develop your emotional intelligence? If so, how? If not, could a change be made to do so?
In my experience the military as a whole (including ROTC) has had a marked lack of emotional intelligence throughout every level of leadership. The very structure that the military is based on lends itself to a hierarchical design, and that makes interpersonal communication very rigid. Due to the fact that communication is so intertwined with emotional intelligence, this system does not lend itself to the advancement of said communication. While personal introspection is not advised against, the military still expects people to fit within a certain mold. If someone finds themselves outside of that mold, then it is looked down upon. At the end of the day an order is an order whether or not a subordinate is properly motivated. This fact is something that is heavily relied upon by leaders in the Army and has almost certainly caused some form of discontentment

The one area of emotional intelligence that is expounded upon by the military is personal knowledge. After spending long hours amongst others within the military and really testing yourself (and those you are with) in harsh environments, it is easy to see how you react. After learning how you lead and act in stressful situations, you can better determine how and who you truly are. Along with this comes the better understanding of others as well; knowing how people work in these situations will help you to better lead them. The Army has just never made an effort to show this, and it is instead (hopefully) learned naturally.
My time as a Cadet has been fairly enlightening as far as knowledge about others and myself is concerned. As a Communication Arts major, I have been studying how to better interact with people for three years, and emotional intelligence is a major aid in that pursuit. I believe that in some ways emotional intelligence is innate and cannot truly be taught, but it can be practiced. If I were to make any suggestions as to how to better help Cadets build their emotional intelligence, it would be to have more classes on the subject, and possibly have some practical exercises. Communication practice (outside of KLE’s) is something that everyone can use, and would greatly improve the emotional intelligence of anyone who takes part in it.