One of the most illuminating experiences I had about “stepping away” was an OPD in which we had the senior MI leader on post, discuss work-life balance.  I definitely invite other officers, when tasked to do execute an OPD, to invite a senior leader to come discuss “work-life balance.”

That being said, I have found that leaving work at work, fi…[Read more]

Firing an NCOIC is not a small task nor is it easy.  Before you go down this road consider the following:

1) Is the lack of performance because of a lack or motivation or ability?  Do they have the tools and not want to do the job or do they lack the tools?  Collectively we want to “motivate” people to do the job but usually fail to assess if we…[Read more]

Rose – what a great post! I wholeheartedly agree with your comments about disciplined initiative and being a jack of all trades. As an MI LT, one is expected to provide timely intelligence and demonstrate competence in their primary duties. However, junior officers also get “selected” to execute other responsibilities. I was lucky enough to plan…[Read more]

Great topic!

@vanezzaospina is absolutely correct. Seek out your counseling if you haven’t received it. In my experience it’s rarely been more than a check the block, “here’s where I think you should go next” sit down, and opportunity for the higher CDR to poor upon you some of the highlights of their own careers. With that said, it gets you…[Read more]

@cplenge,

Precisely. All too often we forget that there are two careers and lives at stake in one of these situations. Thankfully I have not had to deal with a sexual assault under my command or when I was a PL (knock on wood…), however being an MP for over a decade I have seen a couple of them. Over the course of my career, there have been 8…[Read more]

I get VERY clinical with things like this and suicidal ideations. Have a process or a battle-drill beforehand, something, and then practice it. When you’re done, put it in a drawer, pull it out every couple of months and practice it some more.  You have to KNOW how to react when it happens, before it happens. Because when it happens a lot of…[Read more]

@cplenge
Well, let’s take a look at your points.
“Is it really a leader’s responsibility to teach others to drink responsibly?” Is it my responsibility as a leader to ensure an SFC knows how to be a platoon sergeant and act in a manner that meets my expectations? SHOULD we have to…? No, probably not. However do we find ourselves in positions w…[Read more]

I’m trying to get time with my SR in order to force some conversations. I’m sure other functional area officers may see some parallels to my predicament:

I’m an FA57 in a USAR ECAB. They haven’t traditionally filled this role, but here I am. I switched components from NG to USAR AGR, and in doing so lost some progression time so my first look for…[Read more]

How about commanders of ARNG HRF, CASE, or QRF units? Are there any tips you have for those commanders of those specialized stateside missions? @cpth, you’re a commander of a CASE element, any thoughts?

I’ll provide a slightly different perspective. As a cadet, I served in reserve units for three years prior to commissioning and entering active duty. While I can’t speak specifically on the transition like brock.j.young did, I can say some things are different.  Unfortunately, there is somewhat of a perception of reserve units. However, like most…[Read more]

@rakimball,

Plan on things being slightly easier, while expecting more to do. As a Reserve compo officer, you could have what amounts to 2 full time jobs; your civilian career and Guard/USAR position.  In the AC you only have one. Yes, you might have a couple of additional duties, but from the experience of several deployments, life is MUCH…[Read more]

Jeff,

Those are the ones that always get me too. I’ve never been haunted by the hard calls. It’s the ones where I took it “easy” on someone who could have gotten slammed. I had to relieve a PL – the reason’s not really important – however it was one of those things that people said, “you relieved him for THAT?” It could have gone either way I…[Read more]

Overall, I agree that we should get together and discuss concerns among peers while having ‘drinking’ as an option. I agree that we can come up with a better name and have actually been to a couple of The Strategy Bridge events named “Cigars, Scotch and Strategy.”  While I attended these events, I did not partake in the cigars and scotch and…[Read more]

I recommend two books on this topic:

Douglas Stone – Difficult Conversations

William Ury – Getting Past “No”

The first book speaks generally about how and why to give candid feedback. The second book is the second of Ury’s more famous book “Getting to ‘Yes'” but I think the more valuable of the two for how to set up and have particularly…[Read more]

I think these days we can come up with a better name than “Drink and Think.” That would go a long way to eliminate some of the concerns about whether we’re getting together socially or professionally and why there does or does not need to be alcohol involved.

Maybe we could  just call it, “peer to peer informal discussion and…[Read more]

Good topic. Tasking FRAGOs.

I have seen organizations that issue Weekly (WTF/O) and Daily (DTF/O) tasking FRAGOs or Orders. As with most things, the decisive point of success was implementation not the mere existence of the document. So, what are some of the keys tips for successful implementation?

In no particular order [ha! see what I did…[Read more]