REFLECT
Professional Fulfillment: How Finding Your Purpose Promotes Unit Cohesion
By Andrew J. Bibb The first time I took the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) I felt as if a massive burden had been lifted off my shoulders. My Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) scores were steadily declining as I aged. I was frustrated...
What are Chaplains For? Five Suggestions on How to Best Utilize the Chaplain
By Caleb Miller There are many guides for officers or NCOs to become better leaders. There are also guides for chaplains to improve. However, I see very little out there helping leaders develop, utilize or rate the chaplains in their midst. This...
Suicide is a Battle, I Could Not Fight It Alone
By Danita Darby On 25 May 2019, in Bagram, Afghanistan, I had reached the end of my rope. I was suspended from my command in February 2019, but that single situation is not why I am writing this. What I am writing about today is the fight I had...
Lessons Learned in Large Scale ACFT Testing
by Sarah Ferreira Since 2018, my unit has been executing the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) on a large scale, meaning that we test large groups of Soldiers continuously throughout a single duty day. We found that we can test a battalion size...
An Aversion to Ambition
by Brennan Randel What is it about open displays of ambition that can cause an eye-roll so deep it results in temporary blindness? Imagine a room full of combat arms second lieutenants on the first day of their basic officer leadership course. To...
A Leader’s Guide to Navigating Social Media in the Military
By Kristy Bell Social media has blurred the lines between our private and professional lives in an unprecedented way, and has also, in some ways, eroded the idea of a “non-partisan military” that shores up our democratic ideals. This came to the...
New York City Recruiting Battalion in a Time of COVID
By Lieutenant Colonel Whitney O. Jensen and Command Sergeant Major Latosha Ravenell Editor’s Note: A version of this article was first published on March 21, 2021 in the NCO Journal. A year ago, in March of 2020, the New York City Recruiting...
Choices
by Dave Leach “Do you want to continue?” the paramedic asked. I was just over three miles from the finish of the Ironman Florida 70.3 race and I was struggling. The 1.2 miles of swimming, 56 miles of cycling, and the 9 ½ miles of running in the...
Building on Crisis
by Matthew Schardt I am as eager as anyone to get beyond the human and economic suffering associated with the current pandemic. Thankfully, the promise of vaccinations gives me hope that life around the Army and the country as a whole will come to...
A Gut Worth Trusting
by Dilan Swift and Daniel Phillips Much has been written about Frederick the Great’s “Coup d’oeil.” In translation, “stroke of the Eye” was coined to define one’s ability to observe, intuit, and correctly act in each situation. As combat arms...
Reflecting on Servant Leadership
By Joshua C. Bowen This past holiday season, I had the good fortune of celebrating Christmas with my family at my sister’s house in Bremerton, WA. She is a Navy Lieutenant (O-3) assigned to an aircraft carrier, the USS John C. Stennis, at Naval...
Do Leaders Need Emotional Intelligence?
Over the holiday break, I had the opportunity to catch up with with Dr. Joshua Spodek, author of the upcoming book Leadership Step by Step and discuss emotional intelligence. The term gets thrown around a lot in the military, but I...
Be The Duck: The Rubber Duck
Editor’s Note: The is the second insightful guest post by Zach. I highly encourage readers to check out his last post: Be The Duck. Zach discusses the importance of leaders remaining calm in intense and chaotic situations. By Zach Mierva...
4 Tips for Transitioning into New Assignments
By Thomas E. Meyer The United States Military provides an outstanding leadership laboratory to grow yourself and your team. Perhaps the most impressive means of continuing personal and organizational growth is a personnel system that requires...
Be the Duck
By Zachary Mierva The cabin was very quiet. A few passengers made phone calls or sent text messages to loved ones. Some were saying their prayers. Others would say they were making peace with the situation. If they were going to die, they said,...
Resources for Iron Majors and Company Grade Officers
By Joe Byerly Company Command and S3/XO time are two critical seasons in an officer’s career, and one of the keys to being successful is to show up prepared. Below are three resources that leaders can tap into to help prepare ahead of time...
Look to the Past for Lessons
From ARMY Magazine, Vol. 66, No. 6, June 2016. Copyright © 2016 by the Association of the U.S. Army and reprinted by permission of ARMY Magazine. By Joe Byerly As military professionals, one of the most critical components of our personal growth is...
Curiosity: The Underrated Leadership Value
By: Kellie J. McCoy Across the branches of the military and in business worldwide, leaders ascend through the proverbial ranks based on two primary factors: they deliver results and they demonstrate an ability to extend their influence over...
Throwing Your Boots Over the Wire
By: Steve Leonard There comes a time when we all throw our boots over the wire. It’s a time of reflection on the past and a time of anticipation for what’s yet to come. It’s an opportunity to share lessons learned, to look back on the kernels of...
31 Things Your Senior Rater Would Like You to Know That He Probably Won’t Tell You
By LTC Dominick Edwards I have begun a lot of self-reflection as I near the end of my nearly 24-year career in the US Army. One of the topics that comes to mind is how many “unspoken norms” there are in the Army and how we all become aware of them....
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Preparing Leaders for the #Future of War: Leveraging Communities of Practice
This post first appeared on March 13, 2015 via the Strategy Bridge as part of the Preparing Leaders for the #FutureofWar Series. Recently, we tuned in for New America Foundation’s Future of War conference and watched as the military took some hits...
Improving the Military with a Little Innovation
When I think of innovation, my mind tends to wander over to stories such as the junior officer who revolutionized gunnery in the U.S. Navy, Steve jobs introducing the very first iPod, or hover tanks. Okay, hover tanks aren’t a thing...
Don’t Be a “Water Bucket” Leader
by: Joe Byerly Command in the U.S. Army, regardless of echelon, is one of the greatest privileges (and stressors) bestowed upon commissioned officers. Unfortunately, many of us seem to stumble through these small windows of our military...
No Details, No Paper, and No Regrets
“I had a sort of a motto, “No details, no paper, and no regrets.” No details-don’t go about setting machine guns on different sides of bushes. That is done a damn sight better by a platoon commander. Then, no paper. You...
Finding the Path Towards Mission Command: An Exercise
By Joe Byerly Following my time in company command, I had the privilege of teaching future company commanders and first sergeants at the Cavalry Leader’s Course at Fort Benning, GA. During this assignment, I quickly learned that one of the...
How to Lead with the Strength of Nelson
This post is also available at the U.S. Naval Institute Blog and at Small Wars Journal Typically the Services study historic leaders from their own particular domain of expertise (air, sea, land), and rarely do they venture beyond this. The Navy...
Leader-Made Climate Change
Have you ever taken charge of an organization that had a poor command climate? Whether it’s a platoon or a division, changing the climate isn’t easy and it takes time. So where do you begin? If you want to change the climate, you...
Leader Development: Ends, Ways, and Means
This is the final installment of a series on leader development. For the previous posts, please read Leader Development: The Leeroy Jenkins Model and The Maker’s Motto. Over the last several weeks I’ve discussed leader development...
Leader Development: The Maker’s Motto
Author’s Note: This is the second installment in a series on leader development: For the previous post check out Leader Development: The Leeroy Jenkins Model “If you can’t open it, you don’t own it.”...
Leader Development: The Leeroy Jenkins Model
“Time’s up! Let’s do this! LeeeeeeRooyyy Jenkins!” -L. Jenkins If you’ve been to a professional military education course in the last seven years, you’ve probably seen this video at some point. In the middle of the clip, the players devising a plan...
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