Why the Engineer Corps?
The U.S. Army Engineer Regimental motto is Essayons! It is French for, “Let us try”. This isn’t a sympathetic, half-hearted try. It’s a statement of confidence as almost if to say, where others failed, we will succeed. I wanted to be an Engineer because I wanted to succeed where others hadn’t yet. I wanted a diverse mission set that required me to be physically fit and mentally sharp. The Engineer Corps offered it all.
There are few things more exciting, more freeing, and more attractive to humans than man-made flight. Many Soldiers have walked the broken ground of combat and looked to the sky. With a mixture of envy and anticipation, they search the horizon for their Chinook ride home, their Blackhawk MEDEVAC, or their Apache close-combat attack support. What does it take to be an Aviation lieutenant? The Aviation community expects its leaders to stay humble, maintain self-awareness, and identify metrics for success. Although these three components do not underpin all of the factors that the Aviation community expects from its young leaders, they do represent key themes that ultimately stress perhaps the best piece of advice I can give: LISTEN AND TALK TO YOUR SOLDIERS. Here is what your future Soldiers want you to know.
Everyone that was of age in 2001 has their “9/11 Story”. Mine took place while attending the West Point Prep School, back when it was located on Fort Monmouth, NJ, just across the Hudson River from New York City. I wasn’t even an actual cadet yet, but a “cadet candidate” as we were called as prep students. “Cadet” was a title reserved for actual West Point students. I was just 18 years old with a brand new cell phone; a Sprint flip-phone that was state of the art! If only then I knew the kind of technology and mission I would have years later as a leader in the Army’s Air Defense Artillery Branch.
In the summer of 2008, I was waiting on the bleachers at LDAC (now Advanced Camp) in Fort Lewis, Washington for an event called “U.S. Weapons Day”. At that point, I still wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do in the Army. I had some ideas, but no clear first choice. The announcer began describing the systems in front of us, and then an M198 Howitzer fired a 98 lbs projectile, 2 km downrange with a thunderous detonation that reached all the way back to the bleachers. It was absolutely a marketing ploy on the Army’s part, and it absolutely worked on me.
I knew from the moment that I joined the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) that I wanted to branch Armor. I can vividly remember the branch counseling session with my Professor of Military Science (PMS). He counseled the assessing cadets on filling out the branch and duty station preference sheets. He asked me for my first choice and I told him Armor, without hesitation. I was competitive across the branches and my PMS encouraged me to consider all options, including Aviation. He was trying to ensure I thought through all my options, but I was undeterred. In my mind, as a young and brash 22-year-old Cadet, my mentality was set. There was no other choice but Armor Branch.
Sitting in my barracks room as a Senior at Norwich University, I stared at my preference sheet numbered 1 to 16. The United States Army ultimately decides Branch assignments for ROTC commissionees, but we get to submit a preference list. All branches are critical to the mission and we truly are ONE team that couldn’t do it without the whole. I contemplated the order of choices between numbers 2 and 16. But, selecting #1 on my list was a simple choice. To me, joining the Army and not choosing Infantry Branch was like going to a Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and ordering just a salad.
In the Fall of 2017, a former Battalion Commander and current mentor of mine connected me with Colonel Eric Lopez. Col. Lopez, a War College Student and a future Brigade Commander, launched a leadership initiative through YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. Titled Lopez on Leadership, his movement connects leaders of all ranks to the type of mentorship and coaching available through senior leaders in the Army. Thanks to our mutual friend, our connection led us to take on this project we are calling #BranchSeries.
