The Officer as a Leader Part II

[wukong]

Interesting that CPT Sobel comes up here. Remember that many members of Easy company credit him with making the company such a great team by enforcing such high standards (and giving them all someone to hate). Even COL Sink, who knew something about leadership, said that Sobel was a great trainer.

It seems to me that a guy like Sobel would have loved SAC and its’ checklists. Us Army guys have always thought that AF leadership was too ‘checklist centric’, leading to a lack of imagination and therefore flexibility. But, some of the more colorful AF types seem to understand that. To quote the title character from another iconic WWII flyer’s movie: ‘Rules are for sergeants’ -CPT Buzz Rickson.

A lot of what Army and Marine Infantry types see or misunderstand is driven by the machine we fly. The machine can not think or adapt as one would expect from an Infantry soldier. The machine has to be fed instructions in a sequence and worst of all the machine will not cover any errors that are made by the operator.

Another difference seems to be one of perspective. From an Air Force view point it would appear as if ground forces plan going forward. Your take A, then B and then C. When flying in support of this scenario, air forces are given targets and all mission planning takes place in reverse order.

Also many of the rules we operate under are not fully understood as to how they originated or the impact they may have when violated. For example, I once read a critique by an Army SF type that was tasked along with a C-141 SOLL 2 crew to perform a real world mission. While the briefing/planning was occurring the C-141 Pilot brought up the fact that the mission would entail a violation of crew rest rules. The Army troop perceived the mention of crew rest as a wimpy response. However crew rest in the aviation business (especially commercial aviation) is as near sacrosanct as a rule can get. The pilot on his own has no authority to waver a crew rest rule. From an aviation standpoint the pilot was just warning the Com JTF that an AF General Officer would have to wavier the rules. It may appear to be inflexible, but crew rest rules are written in blood. A good deal of that blood is from the passenger compartment.

[PhilK]

It is just a culture difference. When I was a Cav Troop commander I had to take crew rest into consideration everytime we did mission planning. I have several buddies who are Army Aviators and trust me...I still gave them crap over it.

The view from the ground is, if my men and I are expected to conduct a mission with as little as 4 hours of sleep (per regulation) then we don't really "get" the whole 8 hour crew rest thing even in combat situations. (I understand the regs and I understand that you flying a plane is a little bit more complex then us moving to a objective and taking it by force...but still...operating under fatigue is just one of those things we are trained to do.)

[Javelin66]

I agree, and I know that it is really more than simply a safety issue. That won't stop me from poking fun at the 'zipper suited Sun gods'.

I think that I began to understand it when I became a jumpmaster. A lot of the procedures that I just sort of followed before became perfectly clear as I studied airborne operations in much more detail. Things are much more complex than you realize as a jumper, and all of the procedures are based on the cumulative practical experience of thousands of operations.

As I used to tell my guys, behind every 'stupid' rule is a true story...

Tim, I saw your question in the now-defunct 'Officer as a leader part I' thread. Keep in mind that the men aren't looking for you to be the toughest, smartest, etc. in the platoon (although that certainly helps). They want you to do your best, learn from your mistakes, and put them first, right after the mission. If you show them loyalty and respect, they will return it- of course, at first it's because they have to. A good way to start is to suffer every hardship and accept every risk that the men do.

Just about every officer position is paired with a senior NCO, who has an additional, unwritten task of training and mentoring that officer. The real challenge is when the time comes (and it always does) that you don't take his advice and pray that you made the right decision.

[wukong]

Tim, I saw your question in the now-defunct 'Officer as a leader part I' thread. Keep in mind that the men aren't looking for you to be the toughest, smartest, etc. in the platoon (although that certainly helps). They want you to do your best, learn from your mistakes, and put them first, right after the mission. If you show them loyalty and respect, they will return it- of course, at first it's because they have to. A good way to start is to suffer every hardship and accept every risk that the men do.

I would like to add that your subordinates will also recognize and respect what I will call moral courage. You may be the leader within your unit, but you have both responsibility and duty to your "leader." No one relishes being the bad guy or the one who has to say NO. When required to deliver "bad news" to your subordinates there is always that incentive to pass the blame upstairs. If you agree with the decision of the bad news and if you would have made the same decision as a superior, then you should accept the decision as your own. You have no obligation to answer the inevitable "why" question that will come from your whiners. Your professional soldiers will most likely accept your orders/instruction. With experience you will know when a "consensus" of your people may require you to disclose the level of a decision. If you operate on this rule with the minor affairs, you will gain respect on the larger affairs. Soldiers will eventually find out where orders/instruction originate. If you consistently pass the buck, you are hardly better than the whiners.

It is just a culture difference. When I was a Cav Troop commander I had to take crew rest into consideration everytime we did mission planning. I have several buddies who are Army Aviators and trust me...I still gave them crap over it.

I'm sure that your buddies recognized the irony of you a non aviator having to deal with the situation.

Aircrews are just like most everyone else across the services. Aircrews want to fly the mission to complete satisfaction and will take exceptional risk if granted that authority. Experience has repeatedly shown that crew rest decisions must be taken away from the crew and placed at a higher level of authority.

[Javelin66]

Great point; that is the first step towards trying to be everybody's pal. Eventually the day will come when you have to be the bad guy. That day is even harder if you have created artificial relationships.

[wukong]

I find the video series "Band of Brothers" to be a very valuable source of material dealing with leadership discussions. First because there is a great deal of historical accuracy and second most of us have some access to them.

In episode 6, The Breaking Point, First Sergeant Lipton expresses to Captain Winters, the Battalion Commander, that in his opinion Captain Dyke, Easy Company Commander, is an empty suit and will get "a lot of Easy's men killed." Lipton's thoughts are this is something he could never imagine himself doing as an enlisted soldier. This may have been the Army of WWII, but it is not the Army of today. This is true for all the services.

I once fired a Captain that worked for me for buying his men beer during the period they were servicing C-130's performing Engine Running Offloads. The person who informed me of what was transpiring was my senior E. I have also had to discipline the E's that worked for me and I would never so much as verbally reprimand an E without first consulting with my senior E. I can not image any punitive disciplinary action against an enlisted man in today's services without consultation and most probably on the advice of the units senior E.

I don't know when the services instituted the positions of Senior Enlisted Adviser but the Training Wing I was assigned to in 1971 had one at the Wing level as well as Squadron First Sergeants. The senior Es that post on the forum could bring some light to this discussion as well as their involvement with subordinate officers within their units.

[soccermark23]

I found this article discussing the history of First Sergeants in the USAF and thought it would be a good addition to wukong's last post.

First Shirts
By Bruce D. Callander

Their lineage goes back a long way, and they play a vital role in today’s Air Force.

Think of a military job that creates stiff personal demands, requires breaking with your primary career field, demands around-the-clock attention, and lasts only three years. Now note that the person holding this job is the first one to which a troubled airman turns when he or she needs serious help.

You begin to grasp the importance of USAF’s first sergeants—“first shirts,” in Air Force parlance. You also grasp why, with airmen deploying constantly and working at a very high operations tempo, the contribution of these top-level enlisted members is more important than ever.

In the Air Force, “first sergeant” is not a grade but a special duty designation. He or she reports directly to the unit commander on matters of enlisted morale, welfare, and conduct, and is the chief enlisted advisor to the commander on all of these factors.


The position normally is filled by noncommissioned officers with the permanent ranks of master sergeant, senior master sergeant, or chief master sergeant. They can be identified by the diamond device that they wear on the center of their rank insignia.

CMSgt. Sandra Miller, the first sergeant special duty manager for the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, who today is CMSAF Rodney J. McKinley, said senior NCOs should consider a tour as first sergeant “not only for their career and breadth of experience but for [the sake of] the Air Force.”

Specifically, the first shirt helps provide a commander with a mission-ready enlisted force and prepares enlisted personnel for deployments. He advises the commander on a wide range of topics including the health of his airmen and their esprit de corps, discipline, well-being, career progression, and professional development. The first sergeant works with fellow senior NCOs and supervisory personnel to ensure equitable discipline.

He ensures that supervisors set an appropriate example for subordinates and provides guidance. He oversees training in leadership, customs and courtesies, dress and personal appearance, self-discipline, adherence to standards, drill and ceremony, and safety. The first sergeant helps enlisted members adapt to the military environment and adjust to the organization and manages care and upkeep of unit dormitories and adjacent grounds. He coordinates with supervisors to schedule unit functions, duties, leaves, and passes.

The Search for Top-Notch NCOs
Equally important, a unit’s first sergeant works closely with the relevant command chief master sergeant—the senior enlisted advisor to the commander at the level of wing, numbered air force, and major command—to ensure airmen are prepared to execute their missions.

“In effect, the first sergeant is a facilitator,” said Miller.


First sergeants are selected through a combination of application and nomination. Once an NCO applies, the application goes through a wing command chief, to a wing commander, to a major command chief, and on to the Military Personnel Center. Sometimes, a nominee will not be released from his primary career field. Assuming the applicant is released, however, the NCO is scheduled to attend the First Sergeant Academy at Maxwell AFB, Ala.

It is highly unlikely that a nominee will wind up back at the unit from which he came. “Chances are, that the unit already has a first sergeant,” said Miller. “So that NCO is going to get trained and usually will go to another squadron.”

As a special duty assignment, the first sergeant job is in competition with a number of other special duty jobs, all of which are looking for top NCOs. A first sergeant is critical in a squadron. “That’s why it is so important to keep the jobs full,” said Miller.

Some NCOs are fearful that a tour as first sergeant will slow their advancement in their primary careers and delay promotions. The facts show this is not so. “I think any time you do a special duty,” said Miller, “any time you take on that extra responsibility, you become a better senior NCO.” She added that NCOs who have done a tour or more as a first sergeant are more likely to be promoted. The scope of experience gained as a first sergeant provides a boost.

A number of command chief master sergeants have, at one time, served as first sergeants. Moreover, McKinley, the current Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, served as first sergeant with four squadrons.

At last count, the Air Force had 1,190 first sergeants serving in assigned positions and was looking for another 60 to fill vacancies. Keeping the posts filled is difficult. Not only do the appointments require top-notch senior NCOs, they also last for only three years, meaning there is constant turnover.


Throughout its history, the US Army relied on the concept of the first sergeant, which was a formal rank. The Air Service, Air Corps, and Army Air Forces, all of which were integral parts of the Army, also embraced the concept. When the Air Force became a separate service in 1947, however, it broke with Army tradition and made the position a duty specialty. In 1954, Gen. Nathan F. Twining, the USAF Chief of Staff, approved the use of the diamond in the V above the grade insignia as the first sergeant device.

Twists and Turns
In the late 1950s, the responsibilities of the first sergeant were reduced. The unit first sergeant became essentially an orderly room manager. In the same period, the Air Force created the E-8 and E-9 grades, further complicating the role of the first sergeant.

Superintendents in these grades routinely overruled the first sergeant’s directions to airmen in junior grades. Numerous problems with the position prompted a study of the procedures for selecting and using first sergeants.

In 1961 the Air Force created the separate first sergeant career field (01090) and ruled that males in grades E-7 and above and females in E-6 and above could hold the post.

In 1967, Strategic Air Command’s 15th Air Force opened at March AFB, Calif., what is thought to be the Air Force’s original first sergeant school. Training included advanced management, personnel counseling, communications, and military justice.

In the early 1970s, the Air Force made a top-down effort to improve the first sergeant selection, training, and image. A headquarters workshop recommended formal training courses and in 1972, the Air Force Extension Course Institute developed a first sergeant career development course. A year later, the Air Force issued AFR 39-16, “Selection, Training, and Utilization of First Sergeants.”


In 2003, the Air Force again changed course, turning the first sergeant job once more into a separate special duty assignment. At the same time, it adopted the “three plus three” policy making the tour three years, with the possibility of a three-year extension. The reason for making the job a special duty was largely a matter of perception, said Miller.

“The stigma used to be that when you became a first sergeant, you stayed a first sergeant,” she said. “You never could go back or, if you went back, it was negative.”

Another factor in the decision to make the job a special duty was the hard fact that it had lost its appeal to many airmen. The Air Force was seriously short of first sergeant applicants. The changes made the post more attractive to senior NCOs and improved recruiting.

Since 1973, new first shirts require training not only at the Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy but also at the First Sergeant Academy. There is little duplication in their curricula. At the FSA, security forces procedures, human resources intervention, and counseling skills are all covered in more depth than at the Senior NCO Academy.

Among enlisted troops, there is support for returning the first sergeant job to a career Air Force Specialty Code. The fact that so many command chiefs and Chief Master Sergeants of the Air Force have served as first sergeants seems to bolster the argument for returning it to career status.

On the other hand, some first sergeants like the idea of making the status a rank, as in the Army. Past confusion over whether the first sergeant or the ranking NCO on a base was in charge of enlisted members lends some support to this thinking.

http://www.airforce-magazine.com/Mag...108shirts.aspx

[reddog]

I have no illusions of my being a great leader and was just an Platoon Sergeant in a line company during a busy, dangerous time in Vietnam. The hardest part of my job was not crossing that very thin line and becoming too friendly or being just 'one of the guys'. It just went against my 'grain' because I'm a friendly sort. Perhaps the higher one goes the lonelier it gets, but you can't remain in control if you cross that line. We had a new Platoon Leader that made the mistake of being one of the guys and you wouldn't believe the problems that caused. I didn't envy my Company Commander's job and thought it was probably the loneliest job on the planet. He was a 'special breed', tough as nails, but highly regarded. Great posts, any thoughts on crossing that 'line'?
Easy Brother,
Reddog...

[wukong]

I am by far not an expert on the inner working and hidden mechanisms of an Infantry unit, but there are some parallels in the aviation world. Aviations units fail when they can no longer maintain an operation ready status. Although not all ways the case but predominately the reasons are people related. A unit that is operational ready has aircraft ready to fly at a certain ratio of aircraft assigned. A certain number of ready crews that are fully trained and physically fit for duty. A certain amount of supplies in WRSK kits immediately available to deploy with the aircraft and numerous other measures of combat readiness. When these measurable factors fall below what is deemed adequate, the Commander's attention is focused in these areas. A fall in the number of operational ready aircraft could very well indicate problems in maintenance manning, morale or a host of other problems. Whether it is "leadership" or "management" that is the cause of the problem, the commander has to deal with the cause.

In the example of Easy Company at "The Breaking Point," the company only had one effective officer, Lt Compton. It was the Sergeant Guarneres', Malarkys', and Martins' as well as First Sergeant Lipton that kept Easy Company as a stable and functioning fighting force. I would not deem Compton as a failed leader, he nor anyone else is a iron man. Compton had only so much to give emotionally. Compton was very close to his men and paid a price for that bond.

What this boils down to is that units fail where the work is done. It fails due to specific actions or non action by the privates, seamen or airmen that do the bulk of the work. The line supervision by sergeants or petty officers is absolutely critical. All command basically does is facilitate that work.

The article that soccermark23 posted was very informative on the specific duties of the First Sergeant. The explicit duty is to be the commander's people expert. I would also contend that implicit in those duties is a requirement to treat the units officers including the commander as a body that the First Sergeant is also responsible. These are bodies that must be sheltered, fed, clothed and armed. In the Air Force the focus of the First Sergeant or Senior Enlisted Advisor is not on the mission, but on the people assigned to the mission. This assignment allows Command to focus more on the mission with dedicated assistance in protecting the commanders people. This arrangement also provides quicker command response to the needs of the human element.

It is difficult to argue a rational case opposed to this management style. US combat forces are much more flexible, ready and deadly than what I experienced in 1971.

[Billyd]

Originally Posted by wukong

What this boils down to is that units fail where the work is done. It fails due to specific actions or non action by the privates, seamen or airmen that do the bulk of the work. The line supervision by sergeants or petty officers is absolutely critical. All command basically does is facilitate that work.

Not entirely true. The command enviroment will have great impact on how the sergeants and petty officers press the jr. enlisted folks to perform their tasks.

Live example: I had just arrived at my unit and one of the appointments was to attent the commander's inbrief. I was one of about 15 or so Sergeants in the room when the commander tells us "You are not real NCOs." Now, what kind of enviroment did that tell us we were going to be working in? Do you think we were motivated to mission excellence? At my next assignment, we had a commander that right before 20AF came in to do our NSTI, was walking the hallways of the building, greeting every person by name, shaking his/her hand and jokingly telling us he was with the IG and was here to help us. What do you suppose the impact on mission excellence was? We scored very well and morale was VERY high and it showed. We took the IG and showed them how missile comm was supposed to be done.