I had the opportunity at the end of July to attend the United States Army War College graduation at Carlisle Barracks, Pa. Carlisle Barracks is one of our nation’s oldest military installations and the home of U.S. Army War College since 1951. On that hot summer morning as I watched the graduation and a sea of proud families, parents and loved ones, fellow classmates and senior officers. I recalled my two years of study there. We had 301 officers; about 15 seminar groups as I remember, each about 20 officers in size. My “seminar group” produced 6 general officers out of the 18 classmates that comprised the group. I still reach out and maintain contact with these folks.
But I nearly quit... which would have changed my career. I was a battalion commander for the 15th Psychological Operations Battalion when I was accepted into U.S. Army War College, Class of 2001. The Kosovo Air Campaign was just coming to a conclusion. Over 1,000 aircraft operating mainly from bases in Italy and aircraft carriers stationed in the Adriatic were bombing and shelling the stuffings out of the Serbs occupying Kosovo. The 15th PSYOP Battalion was one of many units identified to mobilize and deploy as part of the initial NATO Ground Force that would enter into Kosovo. |
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So my advice is, get ‘er done. Enroll and move out. You can figure it out. Is it tough? You bet! Others have done it before you. And we should be mentoring our subordinates and encouraging them. You are the future of this great Army.
I would be taking my battalion and one of my companies to this Peace Enforcement Operation. I felt that I would be unable to do a mobilization, deployment and operations and accomplish the distance learning required of AWC at the level that I expected of myself. I would defer and re-apply if they would let me when I returned. I went to my Commander and mentor, Col. (later Maj. Gen.) Charles “Sandy” Davidson to tell him of my plan. I was certain that he would be sympathetic to my situation and would support my decision.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Davidson told me that although I would be incredibly busy and engaged, that I would find a way to do both. He did this with a smile on his face good naturedly. He felt that if I deferred, I would come back and resume an even faster civilian pace and would never go back. He told me that there would never be a good time for this and he was not letting me off the hook. I was pissed. But I completed my first year of AWC while being the KFOR PSYOP Chief, perhaps not as comprehensively as I wanted (two marginal grades on papers) but I completed it.
But Davidson was right. Looking back now, I know he was right. There is never a good time to complete military education. I hear this from our junior officers and NCOs as well as from some of our more senior officers and NCOs. We have busy jobs. We have families. We have our kid’s sporting events to attend. We have other such events that consume our time. It is never the right time. As a result, we have senior captains without their career course and great senior Lt. Col. battalion commanders that have to leave the service because they do not have all of their education. So my advice is, get ‘er done. Enroll and move out. You can figure it out. Is it tough? You bet! Others have done it before you. And we should be mentoring our subordinates and encouraging them. You are the future of this great Army. Make sure we are taking care of our educational requirements and ensuring that our subordinates receive the encouragement to do the same.
Maj. Gen. Richard Longo, deputy commanding general for Initial Military Training, TRADOC visited the 108th Training Command (IET) at Ft. Jackson, S.C. for a day and was able to learn first hand about who we are, our capabilities and our contributions in training the force. We spent time at the U.S. Army Combined Drill Sergeant School, observed our drill instructors teaching combatives to the recruits, watched pugel training, and discussed the future of the IMT partnership between the active component and Army Reserve. It was a great day. Overall, Longo left at the end of the day better informed about who we are, the challenges we face and was optimistic about our partnership.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, the 37th Chief of Staff of the Army held a Two-Star Leadership Forum where he gave his vision on the way ahead, a smaller and more capable Army. We are an Army in transition. We will transform from an Army that has deployed to an Army that now prepares to deploy. As our resources diminish and we go into a garrison environment, leadership and leadership development will be paramount and will take center stage in everything we do. Leadership development continues to be about the coaching, teaching and mentoring of our next generation of officers and NCOs. I got the feeling Dempsey was very confident and optimistic about the future. I share his optimism and I hope that you do as well. This Republic continues its journey into the future. The military and especially the United States Army and Army Reserve have a huge part in that future. It is up to you and I, the leadership of the Army to formulate our destiny.
Victory starts here!
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