Sunday, January 8, 2012
WOW! SOLDIERS CAN REALLY SURPRISE YOU!!
One day I was putting a message on facebook and received a message from a soldier from my past. Now I could not recognize the picture or the name, but the soldier fixed that. To my surprise it was a soldier that told me over and over again that she was going to get out of the military and that she hated it.
I made it my business to get this soldier to the board and get her through her PT test no matter how much she kicked and screamed. Every time she would the day was going to be easy I made her do push ups and flutter kicks and I drilled her for the board. She soon made up songs for the board answers, and was asked by the CSM at the board to sing it. When she PCS’d to another location she was promoted but still talking about getting out. This was back in 2002.
In 2011 I received a message from this soldier and she has been a Drill Sergeant and now she is a SFC. She also told me that she uses some of the sayings that I use to say to her on her soldiers. I truly thought that, she wanted to kill me at times because I would drop her in front of other soldiers and drill her when she wasn’t expecting it. But now to know that I had a great impact on her career, makes my retirement all that more special. Thank you SFC Veronica Carter for making my retirement so special.
So to all the NCO’s out there; “What type of impact are you making in your soldiers career? Is it good or bad?
S-4 AND SUPPLY NCO’S WAKE UP AND GET IT TOGETHER
To the Supply Sergeants and S-4 NCOIC's, take time out and train the clerks. Your clerks should be able to fill your shoes when you are out of the office. Make sure that they have a continuity book, check it out and make sure they highlight things that are important. Give the clerks areas of responsibility and stop letting them sit in the office and just hand out supplies. When I worked as the S-4/PBO my Supply Sergeants thought I was crazy at first because I would just go into the supply rooms and go over their paperwork. Why should they always come to me? I was able to inspect, train and observe at their level all at the same time when I did this. I drilled the clerks to see if they were being trained properly, and I took time out to train the Supply Sergeants. If one of my supply rooms had a problem with something and we fixed it, I would have them share it with all the supply rooms. All Yankee's or Supply Sergeants and Arms Rooms in the same Battalion should be on the same page and closer than close. Mentorship is the key to success. Remember you will need someone to take your place when you move to the next level, so if you groom nothing there will be nothing, if you groom the best you will leave your stamp and the best. This can be used in any office environment, just tailor it to you. Knowledge has no POWER, unless it is SHARED!!
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