I retired from the Army on November 1st, 2015. I may write about that process sometime, but all-in-all it was not too traumatic.
I decided to go back to college in order to use up my GI Bill and have an excuse to not get a real job right away. I'm attending the University of Arizona, majoring in Political Science, and trying desperately to get a liberal to make a logical argument.
I see ROTC cadets all over the place. One thing you can say for U of A is that, so far, it seems to be very supportive of the military, ROTC, and free speech. I watched a goofy "street preacher" set up on the grass on campus and draw a crowd by insulting gays and telling women not to be "whores". The students gathered around in a good sized crowd and they shouted back and forth at each other, mostly with good humor and tolerance. Real tolerance, where you let the other guy speak and then respond, not the kind of tolerance you get at some colleges where you shout down people with whom you disagree.
A few years ago my son got his first motorcycle. I wrote a blog post on what advice I might give to a new motorcyclist. (That post is
HERE.) I've been thinking about what advice I might give to an ROTC cadet. I think I have some experience that might be helpful.
I served on active duty for 28 years, and I held every enlisted rank from Private to Master Sergeant. I've got four deployments to the middle east, I've served overseas in five countries, and briefly stopped over in many more. I've led Soldiers as a Team Leader, Squad Leader (in Iraq), Platoon Sergeant (in Afghanistan), First Sergeant (also Afghanistan), and as a Battalion Command Sergeant Major, albeit in an interim status. I've also had three MOS's over the years, from support to combat arms and back, on active duty and in the Reserves.
Of course I can't tell a cadet how to be an officer, I'm sure there are very qualified officer instructors who can teach you that. I also know cadets have Senior NCOs around them to provide the enlisted perspective and teach leadership. But I also know that you can't learn everything from one person. You can't base your leadership style or approach on the example of one officer or NCO, there is no "one size fits all" when it comes to leadership. You need to observe many people, many approaches and situations and see how others handle themselves. Take what works for yourself and leave what doesn't.
Leadership is what it's all about, what it all boils down to. The technical aspects of your job, that's another story for another time. And frankly, the military doesn't need to train you for four years to go be a logistics officer or administrator. Hell, even a civilian can fire weapons and (some) can shoulder a ruck like an Infantryman. Where you come in, and where good NCOs come in, is when it stops being fun and becomes hard. Week three of a shitty rotation at the National Training Center, when everyone is tired and pissed off. Month six in Afghanistan, when people you know have died. Or when you are standing in front of a troop who just said, "Fuck you."
You have to have thought these situations through. I've been in all these situations and I can tell you that I handled some of them well, and some not so well. The key is to learn to control your emotions. You can't let yourself get spun up and react in an overly emotional way in the moment. There are exceptions, of course. No one expects (or wants) their leader to be a robot, but troops expect strength, they expect calm leadership in crisis. You can cry, you can get angry, you can yell, but you have to know when. That's the trick, and it can take a long time to learn.
When that Soldier says "fuck you" (yeah, it happens, not often but there it is) you have to be able to reign in that desire to punch him in the throat, you always lose when you lose your cool. What should you do? There are a lot of ways to handle a given situation, I'm a strong believer that there are many right ways to do almost anything. The smart thing to do is a lot of role playing with a good mentor/instructor, and hopefully you are doing this as part of your ROTC training.
There is so much...
I could talk about: The Fine Line Between Hardcore and Stupid. How to tell the difference between good NCOs and bad ones. The importance of fitness. How to earn respect. Or why you should pay attention to Resiliency training. (I was a "volun-told" Master Resiliency trainer, and they won me over despite my reluctance.)
I may make this a series, come to think of it.
However I think there is one main bit of advice I'd give to a cadet: Embrace being a newbie. Use your time as a butter bar Lieutenant to get the most training, mentoring and experience you can. I mean embrace the whole thing, don't try to fool anyone into thinking you know what you are doing. You don't. We all know that, and we hate it when a kid with 14 minutes in service tries to play like he knows what he's doing.
The worst mistake you can make is pretending you know things you don't. First, you aren't fooling your troops. We know, believe me. And we are making fun of you for it. You want to gain a Sergeant's respect? Ask him to teach you something. It's what Sergeants do, and it shows you know your own weaknesses and are willing to learn.
Your first couple of years in the service is when you are allowed to make mistakes, try things out, fall on your face a few times. Don't be afraid to fail, don't be embarrassed to be a butter bar, own it. Ask senior people questions. Listen to the old guy's stories, and learn from them. Ask a PFC to teach you how to operate a piece of equipment. Treat him like the expert he is.
I'm sure you are coming out of ROTC well trained, but you have very little real experience. If you are smart, you will spend your whole career learning, asking questions and never assume you know everything. But your first couple of years are your best opportunity to address this. When you can say, "I'm a Lieutenant, teach me!" And we will. All the best Lieutenants I knew had this attitude.
That's what we respect.
Good luck!
