Category Archives: Self-Development

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How the Moral Compass Stays on Azimuth

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You’re standing in the dense vegetation of a land navigation course, frustrated and looking for your next point. “It should be here,” you say to yourself. You know your pace count and azimuth were accurate. Time passes, doubt creeps in, and you realize you might be off course. There’s nothing left to do but get your bearings, course correct, and try again. We’ve all been there. Land navigation is an essential military skill. A slightly incorrect azimuth, just a degree or two off course, has minimal effects in the short-term. But a small discrepancy, over time or distance, can lead you significantly off course. This is similarly the case in navigating ethical decision-making. Leadership requires an accurate moral compass.

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Principles to a Successful Army Career

A Command Sergeant's Major Perspective

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Command Sgt. Maj. Scott Schroeder, U.S. Army Forces Command senior enlisted adviser, discusses trends and priorities for Army leaders, and gets feedback from 1st Cavalry Division enlisted leaders during an open forum at Howze Auditorium Dec. 8 at Fort Hood, Texas. Schroeder, who served as the III Corps and Fort Hood senior enlisted adviser from September 2012 to June 2014, discussed FORSCOM priorities and topics with leaders, including improving readiness, equipping the force, training, operationalizing the total Army, sponsorship, career progression and development, family care plans and many other topics. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Keith Anderson, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs, 1st Cavalry Division) (Photo Credit: Staff Sgt. Keith Anderson)

Military service is a unique profession that less than one percent of our nation answer the noble call to serve their country. Some are motivated to join based on a relative that served or something more profound such as, answering a higher calling. In the quest to serve, some will make a career of their service while others will only commit to their first term obligation. Whether they decide to make it a long-term profession, or move on after a few years, one should aim to have a successful career serving their country. While there’s no exact recipe or secret to a successful Army career, it takes dedication and sacrifice to ultimately achieve success.

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2019 in Books

A Personally Curated Review of 85 Books

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My goal for this year was to read/listen to 100 books. Spoiler…I fell short of that goal. But it was a successful year of reading nonetheless. Studies show that tracking our progress and metrics helps to accomplish our goals. Tracking my own reading helps me in many ways that I discuss below. By sharing these books, I hope to provide some useful recommendations to others as well as gain more insights into my own reading plan to guide my 2020 reading goals. Without further adieu, here is my 2019 in books–a Reading List that includes a Top 10 list for your stocking or a nice gift for someone you love.

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Echo Chambers and Loud Speakers

A Reflection on #AUSADigital2019

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On the heels of a very successful #AUSADigital2019 event, I have been reflecting on the ways we as a #MilTwitter community can be better. Occupying that mental space, and enjoying a cup of coffee, I read a recent blog post from a close family-friend (@awktravels). She nailed it! Reading her thoughts on diversifying media, got me thinking about our own accountability, candor, and “outrage.”

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Tactical Implications of Strategic Shortfalls

An Interview with Lt. Col. Gallagher

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In the post-World War II era, the United States has enjoyed a near faultless tactical dominance and overmatch against its enemies. And yet, in that time we have, at perhaps equal rate, failed to “win the peace” in the post-war/kinetic environment. In the Post 9/11 era this has become status quo, a constant in U.S. combat operations. The shift from Afghanistan in 2003, “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq, and a whole host of other U.S. incursions overseas have left many scratching their heads. How can a global superpower win so spectacularly at the tactical-level and yet come-up short so often in the strategic ends? That is exactly what Lt. Col. Brendan Gallagher set out to discover in his recent book, The Day After: Why America Wins the War but Loses the Peace.

U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to 1st Battalion 252nd Armor, North Carolina Army National Guard, scan for targets on July 16, 2019. (Photo by Pfc. Brooke Davis)
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Rearm and Refuel (ABCT Logistics)

The Company Leader TDG 19-10

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The radio squawks in your combat trains command post (CTCP) as you listen in on the battalion net. “DREADNAUGHT 6 this is ORPHANS 6, we low on fuel.” One by one, the company commanders report in that they are low on Class III. Your battalion, 2-34 Armor, 1st ABCT, 1st ID, has been engaged in a continuous decisive action fight for the previous 72 hours. There have been lulls, but the last 24 hours just outside of Razish along the central corridor wasn’t one of them. As the battalion commander says “Break, Break, Break,” over the radio, you know what is going to come next. Logistics are taking center-stage and operations can’t continue without more fuel–you reach for the radio as your mind starts turning over for a plan.

“Thumbs up” means fuel it up. 1st CAV Sustainment Brigade controls the flow of fuel during Refuel on the Move (ROM) in support of 2nd ABCT during Pegasus Forge IV on Fort Hood, Texas, Feb. 2, 2019. Refueling operations enable maneuver units longer operational reach and provides combatant commanders battlefield endurance during long-distance movements. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Ashleigh E. Torres)
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The Dangers of Mirror Mentoring

A Response to "October Baseball"

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We are in a daily…scratch that…a moment-to-moment fight against our biases. They blur our sight-picture and color our perceptions. This is especially true in our mentorship of junior NCOs and officers. It’s human nature to build a picture of success that is predicated on our own experiences and views. It’s even more prevalent among successful leaders who believe they got where they are by doing what they’ve done. In “October Baseball,” a recent post on The Field Grade Leader, Major Jim Plutt provides some insightful advice on the development of captains and the transition to major. His point about broadening assignments provides a lens through which to assess the dangers of the Mirror Bias when mentoring our leaders.

Army Sgt. Forrest Layton applies face paint before a training event at Bemowo Piskie Training Area, Poland, Nov. 14, 2018, during NATO joint training exercise Anakonda.
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A Corporal’s Perspective

Why We Write #4

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Why do we write? As humans, we write to communicate information and ideas across time and space, when we cannot do so through oral means with physical presence. As Non-Commissioned Officers in the United States Military, we do so because we can no longer afford to do otherwise. Writing is now a part of all professional military education, starting at the Basic Leaders Course that all enlisted soldiers must go through to become NCOs.

Promotion to Corporal

Four soldiers assigned to 444th Engineer Company, Oswego, N.Y., receive lateral transfer from specialist to corporal rank, during the company’s annual training event July 14 at Ft Drum. Pictured here are Barry J. Bullis, of Baldwinsville, Christopher Zajac of North Syracuse, John M. Anderson of Henderson, and Charles J. Delaney of Brewerton, N.Y., receiving promotion from Sgt. 1st Class Charles Haws, unit training non-commissioned officer. (Photo Credit: Spc. Karen Sampson, 362nd MPAD)
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An Exercise In Communication

Why We Write Series #3

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Loud and colorful video imagery covered the screen in the Production Control office of our Kiowa Squadron. It was 2012 and we were conducting an after-action review of a downed aircraft recovery training event. In the middle of our exercise, in a simulated crashed aircraft, we had no way of talking to our TOC. Our QRF forces weren’t coming in over the radio. And the pilots providing overhead cover…nothing from them either. We couldn’t talk. Our recovery mission was a complete failure. In this moment – standing in our AAR – I realized it was because no one conducted pre-missions checks and services on our radios. As our Production Control Officer would say, “without comms, you are dead. End of story.”

Paratroopers assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, secure a helicopter landing zone for a CH-47 Chinook Helicopter, July 20, 2019, in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. The Paratroopers provided protection to a nearby meeting between U.S. and Afghan officials discussing peace and security within the region. (U.S. Army photo by Maj. Thomas Cieslak)
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Creating an Image of Leadership

Why We Write #2

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It was a rare weekend when we weren’t in the field, preparing for the field, recovering from the field, or occupied with an upcoming deployment.  If I wasn’t cursed with weekend duty, I either took advantage of Schofield Barracks’ proximity to Waikiki to partake in bottomless mai tais at the Outrigger Reef, or played hermit in my barracks room.  Back then, I pecked away at my top of the line Gateway PC with a whopping 1 MB of RAM, 400 MB hard drive, and 33MHz processor, and a keyboard that clicked loudly with each key stroke.  I was working on a novel, an activity that filled hundreds of lazy weekend hours, but my voice as a twenty-two-year-old novice now seems almost laughably naïve.  Almost as laughable as all that computing power filling up an entire barracks desk, but I digress.