Tag Archives: manage

Posted on

Why I Serve

By Josh Powers

In memory of Dwight Davis, who passed away 01 November 2018

The memory is clear in comparison to others that have faded over the years. The early morning Ohio air seemed crisp even though it was the middle of summer, somewhere around the end of July I suppose. I stood by, waiting for Grandpa as I did every morning and evening, during every visit to Ohio throughout my childhood. Grandpa emerged from the garage with his American flag, rolled neatly from the previous evening. The flag was slightly weathered from daily use, but still in good condition. Every so often, during road trips, Grandpa would stop and complain to a business owner who flew a tattered flag. Each morning he carried the colors at a modified port arms, calling me to attention and then present arms, singing a fine rendition of To The Colors while unrolling his flag. I’d watch the flag sway in the breeze, maintaining the best salute a seven-year-old could render until Grandpa completed the tune and slid the staff into the bracket on the garage. My Grandpa taught me what it means to be an American. He taught me about ideals and traits that I now observe in our Army’s Soldiers, and that I hope I embody through service to our Nation and these Soldiers.

Posted on

How to Fail as a Major

A Guest Post by Terron Wharton

 

wharton-photo.jpg

October 30, 2013 – Photo by Staff Sgt.Tim Chacon

 

“…the expectations of a Major are very different than those of a captain, and not everyone knows what these expectations are or the impact they have on personal and professional success.”

-MG(R) Tony Cucolo, “In Case You Didn’t Know It, Things Are Very Different Now: Part 1”

While attending the Command and General Staff College (CGSC), instructors and mentors constantly drove two points home. First, transitioning to the rank of Major and the expectations of a Field Grade Officer is a difficult and steep learning curve. Second, what made an officer successful at the company grade level does not necessarily translate to success as a Major. I have been a combined arms battalion S3 for ten months now and during this period I’ve planned, resourced, and executed field training exercises, live fire events, gunneries, an NTC rotation, and spent enough hours on my Blackberry that I never want to see one again.  However, I can definitively say two things about my instructors’ advice: They weren’t kidding about either point … and they vastly downplayed both.

Posted on

The Eight Essential Characteristics of Officership

A Guest Post by Nathan Player

 

Player Photo.jpg

 

I wrote this article while sitting in a hotel room in Madrid contemplating how I got here. I was visiting the Spanish and Portuguese militaries as part of my experience in the Army’s Schools of Other Nations (SON) Program. I have spent the last nine months studying at the Colombian Superior School of War, and I sometimes pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming.

In 2007, if you told 2LT Player, a “CHEMO” for 3-7 Field Artillery, what the next decade would look like, he would have told you to stop teasing him because he had to finish the USR.  I am confident about what he would have said, because I am him, just ten years later. However, in the next ten years, I served in multiple leadership positions at the platoon and company level. I also served in a joint special operations unit, taught ROTC, and was selected to attend a foreign service’s ILE.