I’m Retired, but I’m Always A Soldier At Heart!

Well as most of you know I decided to come out of retirement for a week and go and help my daughter get her supply room together. Mentorship is something I will never stop doing. Well I must say for that one week my pressure went to heart attack rate everyday I was there. 

When I retired I wondered if I did the right thing and if I would miss it. Well let me tell you this, after helping my daughter for the week I realized that I don’t miss it at all. The level of respect is gone, the soldiers are lazy (and I won’t say all), and the officers and NCO’s are walking around like they are afraid to correct soldiers (I won’t say all, but most). The soldiers took more breaks when it was time to work than a little bit and the NCO’s acted like it was the norm, how in the world do they get any work done. Soldiers walk around like there is nothing to be learned and no rush to accomplish the mission and if you ask them a question they look at you like a deer in headlights. My blood pressure was high everyday because they couldn’t answer simple questions about mask, toolboxes, and the location of equipment. All of the soldiers were like you had to wait for their NCO to return. Do we not share information with the soldiers anymore?

I know I am not in the military but I dropped my daughter and told her to stay there until I got tired and at the same time I drilled into her head the right way and wrong way to run her office. I told her things that will help her succeed in her office and things that can get her relieved and put in jail, I told her how to stand her ground, and what battles or hers to fight and which ones or for her CDR/XO to fight, and I did all of this while she was in the front leaning rest position. I wanted her to remember it and I know by her being in that position she will always remember it. It’s called tough Love.  

Female Soldier Voice: WOW! SOLDIERS CAN REALLY SURPRISE YOU!!

Female Soldier Voice: WOW! SOLDIERS CAN REALLY SURPRISE YOU!!

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!!

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!!!!