Patrick,

“Fire and replace” is absolutely one method I’m trying. I recently reiterated to my company that Soldiers should be hungry for their next promotion, and be doing the things that they need to do in order to be ready for it. Things like volunteering for training and teaching opportunities; going to schools when you’re eligible instead of waiting until they’re on the OML. But it’s a culture shift.

Taking command of a company where things just kind of came along and was reactive, and trying to refocus it on being proactive, is a hard task to accomplish when we only drill once a month. I have a feeling most of my Joes have my email address set to forward anything I send during the month into the SPAM folder.