Why Can’t the U.S. Military Grow Better Leaders?

[afnav]

The article above this post was required reading in the US Army Red Team Course I just finished in January.

There are people out there that are watching, it's just that they are filtered by the military bureaucracy before it gets up to leadership. Of course, leadership may just not care.

[Tonka]

Leadership means finding a new direction, not simply putting yourself at the front of the herd that’s heading toward the cliff.

"Unfortunately, there is no 'room' on an OPR for me to rate subordinates on how well they are applying critical thought and their 'empowered' leadership traits... for that would require me to put some critical thought into the way I do OPRs. Since I cannot change the way the AF does OPRs, I will not change the way I do OPRs... therefore I will continue to use hoop-jumping as my primary justification for strating my subordinates and therefore their promotion.

Even if I have the avenue to rate them, I have no way to justify the rating because I cannot empower them; they might fail and make me/us look bad. So I HAVE to micromanage so that I can continue to play the promotion game (so that when I am in charge I will change things)" -the sentiments of many an AF officer.

aka: I can't change the way we do things, because I can't change the way we do things.

If it (hoop-jumping=leadership) is systemic in America, based on his examples at other universities and businesses, it might just be a change that the entire populace is experiencing. Opinion article about the powerful people in the world becoming powerless: Link (was also in the early bird), with similar sentiments.

Leaders today seem to be more prone to immediate scrutiny, second guessing, and punishment since the information age. Instant feedback and transparency of actions has thus led to more permission asking than decision making... I felt more empowered 12 years ago, before everyone worshipped email, then I do today. I distinctly remember 1 on 1 personal conversations with a Wg/CC back then, today I can't even email the OG/CC without asking mother-may-I.

Democracy and transparency has brought about a good many things, but taken to the extreme: leadership by collective reasoning and consensus is leading to more leaders that are powerless to accomplish change... i.e. email=devil.

[M2]

I'm telling ya, it's all in the beard!

Soldier Kicked Out Of Special Forces Because He Can’t Grow A Beard

FORT CAMPBELL, KY – A former member of the U.S. Army’s elite 5th Special Forces Group is not a happy soldier these days. Army Staff Sergeant Mark Diggs is still coming to grips with the fact that his childhood dream of being a Green Beret has been cut short due to an unofficial technicality in the esteemed group’s operating procedures.

“It’s really embarrassing,” said the twenty-eight year old from Spicer, MN. “I keep trying to tell myself that I’m just highly evolved, but it still doesn’t make up for the fact I have a testosterone level of an eleven year-old French boy.”

Diggs is referring to his recent ejection from the legendary unit based on his inability to grow a suitable combat beard.

“My instructors warned me during Robin Sage that I was walking a thin line when they discovered that my hair wasn’t filling out,” he added. “I kept telling them, ‘Patience, patience, it’ll happen. I’m one-sixteenth Cherokee … these things take a while.’ But in my heart I knew I was only delaying the inevitable.”

His former comrades admit Diggs, who is currently serving as a supply specialist, was a decent soldier. Yet they maintain that rules are rules.

“Look, we have a reputation to uphold,” his ex-team leader, Master Sergeant Kirk Carmona, told The Duffel Blog. “And for that matter, our beards aren’t just for looking radical, either. Studies have shown that our whiskers have a Samson-like correlation with our effectiveness in combat… plus it helps me fuck my super model wife better. How can I trust a beardless soldier to watch my six?”

The unofficial tradition of SF facial hair dates back to the group’s inception in 1952 when the newly formed group tried to break away from the clean-cut image of their OSS predecessors.

“General MacArthur was a classic by-the-book douchebag,” says Maury Tracewski, a Green Beret historian. “We were having a hard time retaining a lot of our best soldiers because of his strict grooming policies. The unit was essentially created to give our smartest, fittest, and hairiest warriors a safe-haven from the mainstream Army and all the cock-wads in charge. And our hands-in-pockets waiver was pretty appealing, too.”

Despite Diggs’ upsetting break from the unit, he says he understands the rationale behind the decision.

“I accept what I am: a hairless soldier. At least I can take pride in the fact I made it through the training and served in an operating unit for a while. Like they always say, ‘Once a Beret, always a Beret.’”

As Diggs told us this, a voice came from the background.

“No, that’s the Marines,” said his new First Sergeant. “You’re a nobody now. Go pick up those cigarette butts, you baby-faced pussy.”

[Whitman]

Hahaha very funny M2. This can't be real.

Edited March 11, 2013 by Whitman

[DFRESH]

Hahaha very funny M2. This can't be real.

Duffel Blog.... like the onion for the military.