Thank you Cale! You brought really good points.

I am definitely looking at the past experience this individual has had and if that has impacted the current lack of knowledge. I am also looking at how I can assist in order for this individual to succeed individually as well as a team. I also looking at daily performance to ensure there is a…[Read more]

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]

I kept the details to a minimum on my post, nonetheless I was quite thorough on my counseling for expectation on NCOIC duties and responsibilities. It seems like this SM is motivated however over the past couple of weeks there has been tasks that have come down and have been turned in late or not done at all. We get 1SG coming in asking for…[Read more]

As a new BN s1, it has been hard living work “on time”. I’ve had days where my husband has called and said “why you still there”…I’ve had other days that I’ve forgotten to eat lunch…

I do try not to bring work home (literally) however, my mind does not stop…I think of what I did not finish for the day, what I still have to do the next day,…[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]

Hello everyone,

I think that work-life balance is one of the top challenges for all Americans in the workplace, but especially within the military. The trends don’t lie: Americans tend to work much more than Europeans, but less than East Asian workers. But are we more productive on an hourly basis? Probably not. The expectations from most bo…[Read more]

Hi George!

I can only give a small input on regards to this from my experience (although not in command)…while working at the BDE, I made it a point to get into my DCOs (SR) calendar for my initial, after receiving a “verbal counseling, the DCO PCSed  within 3 months. When I tried getting a new SR counseling with the new DCO, my boss said not…[Read more]

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]

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 am new to WTO and waiting on more guidance from S3 to understand how it works but…a WTO is a weekly tasking order and has the same information as an OPORD just in a more condense manner.

I will get back with more specific info on WTO and end result of them as I am getting ready to write one for the new BN S1 hours of operation 🙂 .

I’ll also…[Read more]

As I have been always told…where you go, what ever you do…plant a seed and grow!

Your branch does. It define you, you define you so make the best out of the branch you got and succeed! Things are not always how you planned them because it they were then there wouldn’t be no fun to life!

Sir! Although I been a little MIA (mainly due to a new job and the husband coming back from deployment) I wanted to let you know that I enjoy reading your post! They are super interesting!

I’m currently transitioning to a BN S1 position and observing how they operate and for me I do best with writing things down on my green book and/or writing it on a white board so I can have physical visibility of what I need to do or refer back to.

My XO on the other hand is all about calendar events and WTO so that’s something I’ll be getting used to!

Master Outlook Calendar and Notebook.

Like brock.j.young mentioned,  I first obtain the master outlook calendar from the higher (battalion etc).  In a perfect world, the master outlook calendar is controlled by the S-3 shop and can adequately drive the battle rhythm for “higher events.” I ensure that my major company events are on that calen…[Read more]