I AM MY BROTHER'S KEEPER!

When women first joined the military they were not allowed to serve with the men, they were just there to nurse them back to good health.

Now we are serving side by side, we lead from the front and we cover them from the back.

There is an old saying “ I AM MY BROTHERS KEEPER”, I have lived by those words for many years serving in the military.

1.     When my brother in arms needed a female to talk to about something going on in his life I listened without judgement.

2.     When my brother needed a shoulder to cry on but didn’t want the guys to see it, I was there.

3.     When my brother needed someone to get it across to the opposite sex that he wasn’t interested or that he was married I was there.

4.     When my brother needed someone to just to tell him like it "IS" without holding any punches “You know I was There”.

5.     When my brother needed someone to just sit and be there with him, no words needed, I would sit with him and just be. I was just there.

6.     When my brother in arms called and said “my sister all Hell has broken loose and I need you to either help me either tear Hell down or sooth the savage beast” I was there. ( We mostly tore Hell down) LOL! The life of a soldier…

7.     When my brother called and said, “ I lost a family member today and I don’t know where to turn” I was there.

You see when women joined the military we joined for many reasons. Not just for something to do we joined to make a difference and Oh what a difference we have made. I became a mother to those who needed guidance, a sister to those who needed someone to talk to, a daughter to the one’s who never had a child, an enforcer to those who needed discipline, a counselor to those who just needed answers. So are you, your brother’s keeper?

BECOMING AND STAYING A STRONG FEMALE SOLDIER!

Female soldiers always wonder why they have to work so hard to get the respect they deserve. The military is just like the outside world, you are still looked at as a woman and you don’t equal up to a man. But I am going to give a few pointers on how to Get and Keep that Military respect.

1. Respect yourself on and off duty.

a.     Watch your mouth, how you speak can lower your standards

b.     Control the way you carry yourself, make sure people are talking to your face and not your body.

2. Know your job and equipment

a.   Don’t wait for someone to tell you to learn, learn on your own

b.   Don’t be afraid to down and dirty if needed, there is always soap and      water. (In other words don’t be so pretty you can’t get your hands dirty)

c.      If you see it need to be done, be motivated enough to get it done

3.     Stop complaining about things that you have no control over, just accomplish the mission.

a.     Don’t always be the weakest link, make sure you work at the areas you have problems with.

Remember that over time you will go up in rank and some people will either go up with you, pass you or stand still and you must learn to adapt. Learn how to turn the friendship off when you are at work. Learn to stop the head rolls, the neck rolls, the hand on the hips, the roll of the eyes and the smack of the lips. The main thing is that you can only make a first impression once, so when you get to that new unit or get a new leader make sure you make that first impression an outstanding one. Be motivated and dedicated to the position you are placed in and always will to go to the next level. Never let anyone take your self-esteem, take your inner strength, your inner peace or your determination to reach your Goal in life.

FEMALE STRONG! 

ITS HARD TO BE A STRONG FEMALE NCO IN THE MILITARY?

The topic is one that I know is probably very touchy to alot of females because they are probably saying, heck it's hard to be a female period.
Once you reach the NCO level you have to go head to head and toe to toe with males who feel like you got there with your body and not your mind and hard work. I know that it is very frustrating and we really get tired of having to prove ourselves over and over again.
The one thing that we want people to see is that we are Non commissioned Officers and we are here to do a job and we want the respect. Over the years I have had to go head to head with male NCO's to show them that I was capable of accomplishing the mission, solving the problem, giving direction and putting the free of GOD in soldiers just as well, if not better than they were. I have had to do the stare down, the argue down, the get out of my office until you are able to respect me down, the knock down drag out down and the down right do it my way or don't get nothing down. To show people who they were working with. I have been in places where males soldiers were below standard and they would be called on to do a project before me because I was a female and in the end I not only had to fix it, I had to teach others how it was supposed to be done. So Females nothing is easy and you will always have to fight for your place.
It is very Hard to be a Strong female in The Military but continue to stay strong, fight the good fight with knowledge and never let them see you sweat. FEMALE STRONG! LOL!!!!

ITTY BITTY TITTY COMMITTEE!! AND NO PUSH UP!

ITTY BITTY TITTY COMMITTEE! And no PUSH UP’s!!!

I am sure that a lot of the females in the Army are jumping for joy that they are getting rid of the push up. Well let me tell you something, stop being selfish, think about your sisters that need this event to help pump up there upper half.

Now I understand that it can be hard for some of my top heavy sisters but just look at it as a way to keep you toned. But, for females like me who were truly lacking when I first joined the military and the more pushups I did the better my TOP became. I say that with a great smile, you know how we use to do the fire engines and for females it really helped to tone our butts. I’m just saying the ARMY is doing an injustice to us poor ladies who fall in that Itty Bitty Titty Committee. We get teased enough now about not having nothing. Now we won’t even be building up those muscles so that we can eventually walk around like they grew over night. Hey I’m just saying. So to all my sisters in Arms with the Itty Bitty Titties, Keep pushing cause the Army is taking away or one way to make it all better. To all my topheavy sisters, I know you are laughing but payback is coming. I’m just saying!!!

I am laughing so hard while wring this, so please don’t get offended because without the pushup I would still be stuffing my bra………

This is what I mean when I say Knowledge is nothing unless it is shared!

This is my Peer, my Friend and my girl making a difference in the ARMY!

509th NCO receives recognition from chief of staff for Each One Teach One program

By 1st Lt. Clayton K. Durden

509th Signal Battalion

For more than seven years, Sgt. 1st Class Carmen Leggett, 509th Signal Battalion, has been influencing junior Soldiers, her peers and seniors alike with her “Each One Teach One” program.

Through her efforts of consolidating cross-branch information into simple, yet comprehensive 1-2 slide presentations, and using these tools as a force multiplier in Soldier, noncommissioned officer and officer training, Leggett earned the respect and trust of her Soldiers and fellow leaders.

Each One Teach One has been

instrumental facilitating productive discussions on Army Regulation, and has encouraged professional development and personal growth within the ranks. Due to her outstanding service and professionalism above and beyond the norm, Leggett recently received a Letter of Recognition from the Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr.

Leggett, a unit supply specialist, currently serves as the 509th Sig. Bn. Equal Opportunity leader and Assistant Sexual Assault Victim Advocate, in addition to her assigned duties as the S4 NCOIC. She holds a masters degree, and is currently enrolled in Walden University earning her PhD in Psychology. 

Are you serving with a Purpose, a Goal, and Motivation to reach your Highest Poential?

Are you giving in to your environment or, are you serving with a driving force.

It’s hard being a female in the military, then you throw in being a wife, mother and mentor.

When you put passion, determination and strength behind reaching your destiny the right people and situations will be drawn to you and make everything work out.

Don’t sit around with an attitude because things aren’t going your way, just learn all there is to learn, know more than is expected and be there ahead of the rest.

Trust me when I say that if you are strong and positive in your doing you will be on top and all that doubt your abilities will soon turn to you for answers.

BEEN THERE DONE THAT “DESIGNED” THE T-SHIRT!

Rude Awakening!!

Where should I start? I am so happy that the Military has decided to go back to the basics, and let me explain why. When the military became relaxed I just knew they were giving the soldiers just enough rope to hang themselves. So many soldiers took it to far with the stress cards, the tattoos on their necks, all over their legs, pass their short sleeve shirt and piercings in every open space they can find. Soldiers became to civilianized and it hurt the training of the troops. We took the Drill Sergeants out of AIT and gave soldiers more room to play and less time to train. Soldiers came to their units over weight and couldn't pass the APFT, now we are going back to basic where you have to earn the right to be called a Soldier or Sergeant.
The only problem I see is that we have promoted so many that are not qualified to be in leadership positions. Now is the time for them to get trained up or they will probably be losing that rank!
Be careful what you decide to come out with because it may not be to your advantage, there is always a loop hole somewhere in the system.
All I would like to say is, If you have not been doing what it takes to be a good leader, follower or soldier you might want to get the manual and get it together.
IT's TIME FOR A RUDE AWAKENING!!!

INSPIRED TO INSPIRE!

Posting comments

Hello all. When you go to post and you don't have a google account, please just post as anonymous and put your name on the bottom of your post. You can also click on follow on the left hand side and see which account you may already have and log in from there. I apologize for the inconvience, been working with site to try and make things easier. Also if you have alot to say, you may way to put it on a word document and then post to site so that it will not timeout while you are typing. Thanks for coming and I look forward to your post! Inspired to Inspire.

What Should I Expect from my Leader?

What should I Expect from my leader is a question that is often forgotten from the giver as well as the receiver. Always have expectations in your life/career, therefore you will always be in a position to receive.

 Your expectations should be HIGH!

1.   Expect Respect.

2.   Expect Guidance.

3.    Expect to be taught the right way.

4.   Expect Discipline.

5.   Expect to receive Motivation even when you do wrong.

6.    Expect to be Pushed beyond your limits.

7.    Expect to be Rewarded.

8.   Expect to be Protected.

9.    Expect to be Informed at all times.

10  Expect the Unexpected, because no one knows what tomorrow may bring.

If I missed something Please tell me about it. Life is what you make of it and you must realize that there will always be another door for you to open to get to the next level.

Always know that there will be failures, there will be days that seem to be just wrong and you will sometimes want to just give up, just remember you will only go as far as What you Expect from Yourself.

Inspired to Inspire!

LOAN YOU WHAT? CAUSE I’M IN THE MILITARY, MAN PLEASE!!

Someone please tell me why people think that since I am in the military I have all this money. Now that may just be in my life, but I know I have ran into plenty of soldiers that have taken out loans to give their family to keep up the image that they are balling in the military.

I am here to say, I don’t have funds for everyone. It really hurts my heart when I have to counsel soldiers on their finances and find out that they are giving most of their money to family members. For males, they are supporting their wife’s family and then for females they are trying to keep their family in the best of everything and letting their bills fall behind. I always have to tell them, until your family start getting up at zero dark hours in the morning, start getting ate up by bugs in the field and start carrying all that equipment from point “A” to point “B”, your house hold come first. Men say I just want to keep the peace, I say there is no peace when you have no lights and no food.

There are situations where you have to send support to help your family, but at the same time you must take care of you first. If your family or whoever is asking can’t understand that then we might have a problem.

Soldiers have lost their career because they were sending so much money home that they let their own finances get so bad it caused them to get discharged.

I don’t know if there is a flyer out or if someone has a commercial out saying soldiers are rich and if you meet one, milk them dry.

IF YOU ARE A SOLDIER WALKING AROUND LIVING LIKE DONALD TRUMP, GIVE ME A CALL AND TELL ME THE SECRET.  LOL

Keep Your Opinions to yourself! Let Newcomers Form Their Own View!

Everyone is entitled to their opinion of the unit that they are in but please stop telling new soldiers about all the bad things before they get there. 

I know that all units have problems with leadership and everything may not look and smell like roses, but that may only be for you. When new soldiers come to a unit give them a chance to be in the unit before you start putting bad pooh in their head. They may not see things the same way that you do but man if you cloud their head with negativity that is all they will see. This will start the beginning of a bad soldier. The reason I say that is because they will not trust the command or anyone in the unit, and when this happens they start to get in trouble. So if you have had a hard time or if you are going through some things keep it to yourself. 

Also don't be the one in the unit to bring the moral down. Just because you are having trouble doesn't mean you need to tell everyone and keep up a lot of commotion within the unit. When you run around and keep telling your story you just look guilty and when you get soldiers involved that don't need to know about it you just get your story twisted and turned. Not a good look. 

Learn to handle your business quietly and bring new soldiers into the unit with a good impression. Lead from the front.

Knowledge is no Good unless it is Shared!!

FEMALE SOLDIERS NOW VERSUS 5 TO 10 YEARS AGO, ARE THEY BETTER OR GETTING WORSE?

I am watching the females in todays Army and you have to step outside yourself to get them to realize that this is not a game, I am not your mother nor your father, this is your job and you will do it, you are not here for a beauty pageant or a friend contest. You are in the Army and it requires you to use your brain, your hands and yes you will sweat and get dirty.

I remember when my NCO’s would tell me “Soldier if you don’t get a move on I will put my foot in your back”, that meant I would be doing push-ups and their foot would be resting on my back. I remember the saying that I would be pushing my way to China, that meant I would be doing push ups until I couldn’t do no more. This caused me to get the job done and I took pride in it. My NCO could call me in and raise his/her voice at me and give me that verbal counseling to get me back on track without having to do all that paperwork. I understood what was needed and when I left the office we had an understanding that they were in charge and I needed to do what was expected of me.

I am a Female soldier and I respected my NCO’s and my peers. I made sure I stood in the proper position even if we were friends off duty. I was where I needed to be even if I didn’t like the person I worked for because I was doing what needed to be done to either pass them or leave the unit. I talked with respect and I left my neck rolling for the club. 

When I became an NCO I carried myself as one. I kept my weight, my hair, my uniform, personal life and my attitude in accordance with the regulations and standards set by the Military. I did what I knew was right and didn’t worry about the people around me. When I made it in the NCO Corp I represented the CORP with Dignity and Pride, I gave the younger female soldiers someone to look up to. I didn’t get mine and then say let them get theirs, I showed them what it took. I will fill sandbags, pick up trash, sweep sidewalks, raise and lower the American flag, drop with my soldiers and take a chewing when they are wrong. But I am an Old Female Soldier from the Old CORP. Tell me what you think of the new female soldiers being built from the new CORP!
When you come to the end of this post I either want you to be motivated to tell me how it really is (meaning tell me that what I see is wrong), or explain to me what you feel has went wrong. I wrote this blog to get females and males to start expressing what they really feel, so don't let what my blog say stop you from expressing what you feel. We can only get better when we know where things are wrong. Take a moment and tell me how this post affect you.

IS IT REALLY YOUR LEADERSHIPS FAULT!

I work in an area where I see soldiers being chaptered out of the military on a daily in record numbers. When I take a moment to ask them what happened they always blame it on a lack of leadership.  Now I know that you have soldiers being promoted before their time and they may not be properly trained to handle a troubled soldier, but should the NCO be blamed for your continued mess-ups.

I have watched units give soldiers chance and chance again to get it right and they still do wrong. Do these soldiers realize that when you are a constant focus to the leadership, other soldiers are left untrained and un-supervised. Once you raise your right hand and join the military you take an adult step and say train me to be all I can be. 

Don’t expect your Chain of Command to be able to do what your parents were unable to do and that is make you respect yourself. It takes a inner want for you to do that. 

I will not say all NCO’s are great leaders but I will say that until these young and new soldiers take responsibility and the corrections for their actions they will never make it in the military. 

It’s your life and your career so take responsibility for IT and stop expecting others to do it for you!! 

Ten Things to Help Your Military Career

  Here are a few pointers that can help your days in the military a little easier. I know, I know you already know these things but hey just a friendly reminder.

   1. Know your MOS, be able to explain and preform it.

   2. Know your equipment and its’ location at all time, never loan it out without the proper paperwork

         3. Keep up with all of your Military Records in a binder and make copies to give out.

         4. Take college classes and classes pertaining to your MOS for advancement.

         5. Go to Soldier of the Month and Quarter boards.

         6. Be early (15 min), just incase something changes.

         7. If you know it needs to be done make it happen.

         8. Be responsible with your money. Save for an emergency!

         9. It is your career, not your buddies. Most of the time they are doing things to advance behind your back.

                 10.  Always check to make sure your ERB is correct before you, PCS, go to the board, or go to school.

KEEP YOUR CHAIN OF COMMAND INFORMED! NOT YOUR BATTLE BUDDY!!

WHY DID YOU JOIN THE MILITARY? Was it for a better you or was it just something to do at the time?

I joined the military to become a better me. My mother was a single parent and she had done all that she could do. I wanted to see the world, get that hard core discipline, and learn the true lesson of being on my own. I knew in my heart that college just wasn't for me at the time because partying would have been at the top of my list.
Once I became I soldier I tried to learn everything I could from the ones' that were doing it before me. I wanted the secrets to get ahead and they were all to willing to teach me. The one thing they didn't take was attitude, a smart mouth and laziness. With the old school soldiers you had to first earn their respect then they would teach you how to get what you needed to know.
I didn't join the military to see how I could use my body to get ahead, I did't use others as stepping stones and I wasn't lazy when it came to getting the job completed. I came in the Military to make a statement and to prove a point, my brother and uncles were in the military and at that time there were no females in my family serving. I wanted to prove to them that females could do it to and I was motivated, dedicated and disciplined enough to use my brain and not my body to get ahead. That is something they always talked about when they were together. Females trying to be pretty to get out of work.
I really showed them because I can walk the walk and talk the talk. I have the best mentors, the top awards, the schools and served in some of the best special assignments to prove that females can kick butt and take names when they put their minds to it.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER ONLY IF YOU SHARE IT!!!

Becoming Me!

If I didn't follow my dreams would I truly be me? 


If I never failed would I ever have learned any lessons of life?


If all my obstacles were small how would I be able to cope with the hardships in life?


I am me because my yesterday determined my today and


I just realized that I want my tomorrow to be developed from my lessons of yesterday.

Getting Pregnant to keep from getting deployed!! 18 yrs verses 12 mths, is it really worth it?

Ladies I have had the pleasure of serving in the Gulf war and the last OIF/OEF war and during both of these I know females that intentionally got pregnant to keep from going. I want to know if you think it is really worth it?
I have watched females have to end their career because it didn't turn out the way they expected it to. The military didn't give them the time they expected to bond with the baby and still decided to send them to the fight after the baby was born. The other downfall was that the father of the baby also left them with the baby to do it alone.
We as females must realize that when you sign up for the job you must be willing to carry it out no matter what the situation may be.
Trust and believe I am not against having a baby, but I am against having a baby for the wrong reasons.
It hurts my heart to see a female that had it in her to go far in the military have to let it go because she had a OOPS! moment, and didn't realize how hard it was going to be to have a baby and be in the military.
Ladies before you decide to take this huge step of skipping the fight by getting pregnant, make sure you think it all the way through because once you start, it is so hard to turn back.
Give me your thoughts on the subject. Also hit the follow button to let me know you stopped by!!

My Black is Beautiful

My Black is Beautiful because,
I can be taught, led, and when it
is all said and done be a Leader.

My Black is Beautiful because,
My obstacles have only been a test
of my strength and I Overcome.

My Black is Beautiful because,
My stumbling blocks have become my
stepping stones and then my Foundation

My Black is Beautiful because,
When everyone see darkness, I see a
whole world of opportunity that others
are afraid to endure

My black is To be a Leader, To Overcome,
To set a Foundation and to always Endure.

Can that Uniform get any tighter?

Hello everyone. My first blog is to talk about females in the uniform. I know we all like to look like a lady but do we have to have it so tight that it just look nasty. I work in an area where I see so many female soldiers that wear their uniform so tight it looks like they can't breath. If you are going to have it that tight at least have a top on long enough to cover it. But hey I know you want the guys to look, but when they say something you get mad.
I tell my female soldiers all the time, If you want respect and the male soldiers to look you eye to eye dress the part. If you have to lay on the bed, leave the top button open, or do squats during the day to get relief your uniform is too darn tight.
Please ladies we are trying to move up in the military so lets get it together.
Hit me back with what you think. Also give me topics to help your fellow female soldiers. This is a place to be heard.