I’ll have to think about some of those things (being I’m still a CPT), however there is one thing that I have seen time and time again in officers who are in similar circumstances to myself; that being AGR (active) in the Guard. Full time officers in the National Guard (and I’m sure it’s the same in the USAR) quickly forget that the bulk of the…[Read more]

Brock and Cale,

Where can leveraging adjacent active duty units help NG? Meaning, can your AGR folks tie-in and use facilities, resources and fall-in to train with AD units? We did some of that in Europe, and it received lots of praise, attention, backing from the big wigs on both sides, they were loving the total army concept. NG/USAR was one of…[Read more]

A point on the pay; yes, Soldiers do get paid, however it becomes a cost-benefit decision. SSG X/CPT G, a mid level civilian or law enforcement professional makes $80-$90k a year before overtime. Normal drill already eats into Soldiers’ civilian careers. Now add MUTA 6-8s (3 and 4 day drills), emergency activations, mil schools, etc. Now you have…[Read more]

This is how bad it’s gotten in many Guard units. I’ve told LTs that if they want to set themselves apart from their peers they have to one thing, give a “sh*t,” just a little. Now this may seem like a simple thing, but look around you. How many officers (and NCOs), actually CARE. Care about their subordinates, care about the profession, care about…[Read more]

I told my students, 1. show-up fired up, energetic, eager to learn and stay positive, 2. work hard and learn fast and 3. pick yourself up and dust yourself off, then reapply 1. and 2.

@cplenge,

This is one of those situations where both are right.

From my own experience and observation, leaders at all levels FAIL to develop subordinates. BN/BDE level ODP/LDP/NCODP are worthless, often dry, detail free PP or briefs with briefers who were chosen last minute (opposed to being chosen for their strength) and given no guidance on…[Read more]

I commanded 22 months. We were very busy, on the threshold of overwhelming. I finished #1 FST cdr, though I took over one of the bottom 2 troops in regiment. Along the way we transformed from making excuses, always complaining to an excellent team, family addicted to winning, being the best.

The Command Climate Survey is worthless in my opinion.…[Read more]

It depends on unit op tempo. If the unit is very busy then you have to consider blocking /protecting time on calendar. If it isn’t unreasonably busy (this excludes 10 divisions worth of units and then some), then leaders must find time outside of work hours (either lunch or O-call or off-site).

Sapper School (like Ranger School) is officially designated the “Sapper Leader Course” and it is open for all branches. However, attending these schools costs money and it can occasionally be a challenge to get authorized to go by your unit (who will need to pay). Units will often refer to their TOE (table of organization and equipment) to tell…[Read more]

Good questions and comments and more questions. I’m no guru, but I’ll attempt an answer and maybe some of the smarter folks on the forum can offer their insights as alternative perspectives or reinforcement.

I prepared mentally through a not so humble process of relative comparison. Roughly ~50% of my lieutenant buddies would not graduate Ranger…[Read more]

George,

I think an important piece to this is peer feedback.  Despite your best efforts you may not always get good feedback from your troops.  Or as I’ve frequently seen, troops with just one or two assignments may not know anything different than their current assignment or the dreaded in my last unit….

A trusted peer can be a great m…[Read more]

I feel very hot and cold about social media. There’s certainly times that I love it and being able to keep in touch with certain people in an easier fashion than individual emails, text messages, Christmas cards, or phone calls. But … I have security concerns about these platforms as well (caveat / confession — yes, ack this varies on the p…[Read more]

@vanezzaospina / Hmm, you asked for writing tools. Maybe providing Attachments to the BN Memo of the specific award templates could help? Also, have you talked to your BC and/or CSM? Depending how closely you work with them, getting one (or both) of them to put this out to Command Teams (likely during Command and Staff) could be helpful to both…[Read more]

@vanezzaospina / Here’s the resources that @rakimball mentioned. Maybe you’ll get some ideas from this!

@jeremyboeh

I feel your pain. AGR, since 2012. Aide, PL, BN A-S3, full time BN 3, S1, Company Commander, BDE A-S3… It never seems to stop.

I recommend attacking it just like any other M-day commander does. Work out a daily battle rhythm of when and what you need to do, and then pen in some time for your Company Command role. We’re lucky that…[Read more]

Social Media… you’re doing it wrong.
 Sorry #NotSorry for the #Clickbait title. I felt like it was appropriate for the topic. I’ve wanted to write this post for a long time. Thank you to the JOF team for giving me the incentive to stop procrastinating. 
 If you haven’t heard, social media is a thing. We can ignore entirely the debate around your…[Read more]

cplenge/ basic writting skills! It seem as though the recomendors are making the achievements sound too eloquent and forget the basic rule of writting K.I.S (keep it simple)

gregoryhacker/ we do have a BN Policy Letters which states our timelines as well as standard citations. The problem is mainly with the achievements, recommenders are w…[Read more]

 
In talking about social media, I think it’s important to note which perspective we are speaking from.
For me, social media is a double edged sword. I run the Clinical Support Division at Evans and we are currently in tough times as we turned off enrollment for our retirees and folks retiring off Active Duty. We have to make room for an incoming…[Read more]

Thanks for the link, @rakimball, I’ll dig up the data off MilSuite and will post here.

In the meantime FWIW, I agree with @cplenge that distinguishing between 1 of at least 3 distinct problems that could be all happening at once is very important … and challenging.  Initial help, I’d say make sure to communicate the specific issue to…[Read more]