When I was a Cav Squadron Support Platoon Leader, the Infantry Battalion next to us was well known for their soldiers being in full battle rattle: Weapon, Kpot, Kevlar and LBE every time any of them broke the gate of the kaserne. Every single cook, ammo hauler, fueler or truck driver looked as squared away as the line troops. This was the standard, even if running across town. Every other unit's truck drivers were often in t-shirts and soft caps, including my guys.
The Infantry Battalion shared a mess hall with our squadron and the BN CO and his officers (down to LTs) ate multiple meals every day in the mess hall. I was the DFAC OIC so I was there a lot too, since I didn't want my boss to hear news from the grunts before he heard it from me.
One morning, early in my command, the Inf BN CO said "Parmly, you need to remind your men that they are soldiers first then specialists in their trade. If they don't look like soldiers they won't act like soldiers." That meshed exactly with what SSG Hill, my transportation section sergeant, had said to me the day prior.
I sat down with the platoon NCOs and gave them room to raise the standards for performance. SSG Hill advocated for a policy like the grunts. I backed it and we made it the new SOP. Some griping at first, esp the bit about drawing weapons from the Arms room every day. HHT CO wasn't a fan of that but I changed his mind. CSM was a big fan and made it a point to stop our guys and do a spot check of vehicle readiness and individual weapons cleanliness. Now you not only needed to draw your M16, but it had to be clean! What a concept!
Pretty soon, we started to see differences, in the way the guys took care of all their gear, vehicles, etc. OR rate jumped up, and support improved across the board. Platoon morale was high as our guys felt like they were role modeling high standards and expectations for the first time in many of their young careers. Like, whoever expects a 55B to role model soldierly conduct? Soon, line troops were doing the same with their vehicles and drivers.
A simple act of reminding soldiers of their core purpose can generate multiple positive returns. This is why Lt Col (later Maj Gen) John LeMoyne was such a powerful influence upon me as a leader of soldiers. I have many examples where John pointed out to me the inadequacy of my expectations of my men. He often noted it was easy to make an 11B feel like a soldier; Hard to make a cook feel like one.
Really like your point that definite ACTION must be taken to build a culture.
Leaders can’t just snap your fingers and “be these things, team”. What about the leader of that team? Would modeling those characteristics personally help create them in the team?
Also, I think purpose/meaning/a vision can, and should, be provided and there could be some causation there. But of course that in and of itself is not enough. Still need to build the rest. And to your point, I can imagine contexts where the purpose/meaning would need to come later.
When I was a Cav Squadron Support Platoon Leader, the Infantry Battalion next to us was well known for their soldiers being in full battle rattle: Weapon, Kpot, Kevlar and LBE every time any of them broke the gate of the kaserne. Every single cook, ammo hauler, fueler or truck driver looked as squared away as the line troops. This was the standard, even if running across town. Every other unit's truck drivers were often in t-shirts and soft caps, including my guys.
The Infantry Battalion shared a mess hall with our squadron and the BN CO and his officers (down to LTs) ate multiple meals every day in the mess hall. I was the DFAC OIC so I was there a lot too, since I didn't want my boss to hear news from the grunts before he heard it from me.
One morning, early in my command, the Inf BN CO said "Parmly, you need to remind your men that they are soldiers first then specialists in their trade. If they don't look like soldiers they won't act like soldiers." That meshed exactly with what SSG Hill, my transportation section sergeant, had said to me the day prior.
I sat down with the platoon NCOs and gave them room to raise the standards for performance. SSG Hill advocated for a policy like the grunts. I backed it and we made it the new SOP. Some griping at first, esp the bit about drawing weapons from the Arms room every day. HHT CO wasn't a fan of that but I changed his mind. CSM was a big fan and made it a point to stop our guys and do a spot check of vehicle readiness and individual weapons cleanliness. Now you not only needed to draw your M16, but it had to be clean! What a concept!
Pretty soon, we started to see differences, in the way the guys took care of all their gear, vehicles, etc. OR rate jumped up, and support improved across the board. Platoon morale was high as our guys felt like they were role modeling high standards and expectations for the first time in many of their young careers. Like, whoever expects a 55B to role model soldierly conduct? Soon, line troops were doing the same with their vehicles and drivers.
A simple act of reminding soldiers of their core purpose can generate multiple positive returns. This is why Lt Col (later Maj Gen) John LeMoyne was such a powerful influence upon me as a leader of soldiers. I have many examples where John pointed out to me the inadequacy of my expectations of my men. He often noted it was easy to make an 11B feel like a soldier; Hard to make a cook feel like one.
Excellent illustration, David! Cohesiveness and the effectiveness of the team came as a byproduct of the actions you took. Very inspiring!
Love “Steel My Soldiers’ Hearts”!
Really like your point that definite ACTION must be taken to build a culture.
Leaders can’t just snap your fingers and “be these things, team”. What about the leader of that team? Would modeling those characteristics personally help create them in the team?
Also, I think purpose/meaning/a vision can, and should, be provided and there could be some causation there. But of course that in and of itself is not enough. Still need to build the rest. And to your point, I can imagine contexts where the purpose/meaning would need to come later.
Great newsletter and food for thought as always!
Thanks for the comment, Mike. Don't just talk about it, be about it.