BLUF: Our Soldiers are on social media all the time, where they’re being influenced. Are we going to cede that space to others, or are we going to try to influence them there as well?

I picked up this idea and others while listening to COL Lopez’s interview on the Military Leader podcast: https://www.themilitaryleader.com/podcast/eric-lopez/

Thank you! Things have gotten much better however having someone else’s prospective on my situation wouldn’t be a bad idea!

I’ll be happy to link up with another fellow AG Officer!

#AGATW

@george-l-gurrola

I try to teach the biggies; SHARP, suicide prevention, and resilience at a minimum. Having served 22 years, I have a perspective not many CPT’s have. It’s fun watching the faces of new troops when we discuss how “life changing” or “bad” getting an article 15 can be, and I point out that it doesn’t have to destroy your life……[Read more]

Incomplete list… Missing WTF; IDGAF; FUBAR; and JAFO to name a few.

Hah!

Thanks for the share.

Brock

There’s some really good points here that resonated with me. I agree with Jeff ( @x70037 ) that maybe a different title would be helpful. I also agree with Chad’s concerns about alcohol, as well as some of Brock’s counterpoints.

I personally think it significantly comes down to the US drinking age being 21 and alcohol (which is a drug, just as…[Read more]

george.l.gurrola

The first thing I want to say for the young officers reading this, be VERY careful with the anonymous comment boxes. I have seen those things destroy units, especially when you have commanders who act and react on every complaint, rumor and innuendo, even when the note is anonymous. The idea board has merit, but just be…[Read more]

Great post, Chad! There’s tons in here and I love the variety.  13 pages is for sure a lot of variety!! A few things that resonated with me, in no particular order:

– “Be curious”. I think that’s a great way to inspire questions without relying on the trope far too often leaned on of ‘I’m just a LT/SGT/etc, what do I know?’. Everyone can be…[Read more]

I made senior rater counseling a key part of my battle rhythm and it paid huge dividends.  One TTP I found that was extremely successful was to actually enumerate the person I was counseling.  I would open every senior rater counseling with: “As you know, over the last two/three months my top three priorities are 1, 2, and 3. I currently senior r…[Read more]

Thank you Jason!

Trust…is earned not given! Cliché but true!
Just a few days ago we had an incident where a 1SG was “showing off” in front of our CSM and being a bit disrespectful to my NCO.

While in the meeting, I pulled the NCO and said, “let them speak, you are doing great, have the right info and the error that he is pointing out is…[Read more]

Thank you Cristian!

I’ve try to maintain everyone informed but also try to take care of things are the lowest level.

I am still learning on how to properly involve my HHC Commander/BN XO, it is a hard transition and I continue to just want to fix everything my self.

Thank you so much Brock! This is a real eye opener!
Being a leader is hard…I am learning that rather quickly and it is quite a challenge yet a challenge I plan on overcoming.

Your explanation on escalation of force makes complete sense…as a Junior Officer I am still learning on what the right thing to do is as far as mentoring others and…[Read more]

Thank you Adam! This is very true and I appreciate your words.
My first disagreement with this NCO turned into me approaching the CSM and requesting to move the NCO; his response, very professional and made me think twice, “ma’am, understand my fox hole first, how would it look on me if I give up on this NCO right away?”.
I was quite annoyed at…[Read more]

In my experience, civilians working within the military organization can be a challenge, or an asset. In CA, we have both dual-status and Title 5 (non-dual status) Federal Technicians, and while I don’t currently lead any, I have in the past, and have also been one. Like @fightingengineer said, you have to tread lightly when leading civilians.
One…[Read more]