Cadets are often told to listen to our NCOs after we commission. How can we achieve a good balance between taking advice and being in charge?

When I was a 2LT and was given a mission I would draft my initial mission order to my platoon, then get with my PSG and run it past him. He would help me to "flesh it out" for me. I would rewrite it, then call in the platoon and issue the order. He would stand back, listen, then say, "all right, lets move!" or whatever was appropriate at the time. The point is, by consulting with my senior NCO he and I became a team, and his support propelled our platoon into successes. He was fully invested in helping to mold a young officer into a soldier and a leader.

The best way to develop your bullshit meter is to work toward BE-coming the subject matter expert through self-certification. It's not something that you will be able to do instantly. But, as you certify yourself, you will meet the NCO that has certified themselves and you will KNOW them by the way they DO their leadership and take care of their Soldiers. They're the ones that are DO-ing what they KNOW they are supposed to BE. Are you seeing the trend in this message? BE, KNOW, DO. This should resonate loudly to every officer who reads this. A good NCO is BE, KNOW, DO. FM 22-100. ARMY LEADERSHIP. BE, KNOW, DO. If you want to know which NCO to follow, read this manual like drinking a fine wine. Open it. Let it breathe. Let it get into the air. Inhale the bouquet. Then, when you think you've got an idea of what this will taste like, drink it all in. Let it become a part of your blood. There is no better bullshit meter to have than to be the same kind of leader that you expect your NCOs to be. Your good NCOs will recognize this in you and you won't have to look for them. They will find you. The most important thing to being a good leader is being a team builder. You build a team like you build anything good. Set an unbreakable foundation and build it UP from there.

You don't run into officers like LTC Mackay everyday. I would listen to every damned thing he's saying like it was the Bible.

Well said, Col. Mackay! Your brand of wisdom and intelligence seem to be more difficult to find, every day...

MAJ Norm Michaels - Sir, your are absolutely correct. That is why they are the Platoon Leader (PL). The Platoon Sergeants (PS) job is to advise the PL and make sure the PL orders are carried out. Besides the last time I check the OPORDER came from the LT not from me

SFC (Join to see) - Thank you. Some Platoon Sergeants get offended that some college kid is in command, but oh well; such is life... :-) I did both sides of this, but even when I wan an NCO, I always understood that the officers were the bosses, no matter my experience or theirs. Funny thing = my first joint assignment, there was an Air Force TSgt that asking me to coordinate with the Zeros on stuff. Zeros? I asked him what he meant; he said, " you know zero-1s, zero-2s, zero-3s, zero-4s". I said, " you mean O-1, O-2, O-3s"? His answer was classic = "you call them Os (ohs), we call them zeros".

MAJ Norm Michaels - That Tech Sgt was a punk. Major, I would agree that the PL is in charge and any SNCO, or NCO that is worth his salt understands that there is a chain of command for a reason. It undermines their own authority and credibility to front the Platoon Leader. At the same time ignoring the years of experience, advice and mentoring that a young PL can get from their senior and staff NCO's would not be any more prudent on the part of any PL, whether they are a 2/1 LT or Captain. With all due respect Major, good ideas, strategies, tactics etc can come from any where and just having a shiny stuff on a lapel doesn't make a person the end all be all of leadership.

The platoon is a team and like any other team, each part needs to know and understand it's role, responsibility and how to function as a part of the team. I didn't get any more offended by a young LT, or a Pvt with a good idea; I always tried to give the PL my best advice and in the end his decision and I implemented his orders. We don't need arrogant over-bearing know-it-all officers any more than we need arrogant over-bearing know--it-all NCO's.

Good leaders know how to get every brain in the game and engage all at their appropriate level without having to impress anyone above, or below them and they know how to make sure everyone knows their proper place without having to be a punk about it. As you say, the chain of command is what it is...just be a great leader.

Let's face facts here we all know that running a platoon is a balancing act. At the end of the day the platoon will either make you or break you.

Exactly! My OIC had many heated discussions behind closed doors; once the decision was made in how we were going to proceed, everybody was all in.

Well said Capt. two thumbs up.

You were a very lucky man Sir.

Your #1 job as an officer is to make sure your men & women have what they need to do their jobs, then get out of the way!

Altho not directly relating to this subject I will relay a personal experience I had. I was an Eg corpsman working in abase clinic temporarily as ambulance crewman. My partner was another E6 corpsman. One duty watch he was on bed rest due to an injury. When I reported this towatch Chief at the same time an ambulance rollout was called I was told to take call. I told them I had no attendant on unit. A nurse Lt Miss H was going by watch station and over heard this..she VOLUNTEERED to go as my attendant. We took the call and returned with patient altho we worked as a team at site the Marine MP was amazed to see a Navy nurse Lt following orders from a Petty officer. Her response was classic she told the MP the Petty Officer knows his job and has more experience than I do in this area. The driver is senior man on site I follow his orders and do as he says. Altho I did not give her orders I made suggestions and allowed her to perform as she had learned in nurse training. I helped her when necessary. She turned out to be a fine nurse and officer and always a lady. She had the respect of every enlisted guy in the clinic...She knew when to command and when to step back and let the enlisted and NCOs take charge. She was willing to learn from NCOs and enlisted when necessary and still remain the officer. That I think is the secret of being a good officer be humble enough to ask for help and learn from everyone regardless of rank.

My good friend Kirk Heutel, also CEC, was able to overwinter there a few years back, so it's not totally over yet...

Wonder if it's contract administration. Used to be Seabees running PW, doing construction, etc. but that ended decades ago for contracted services. So could be a few onesies out there.

Avoiding micromanagement is the bane of many officers!

If you provide good top cover when needed along with what LTC said your troops will follow you to hell and back.

As a E 5 in Vietnam, i wish some of the new Lts would have had the chance to read some if not all the responses i have read on this topic, i was leading a squad and the new Squad leader, 1st week in country, tried to get us and him self killed the 2nd day on a 10 day mission, he finally listened to me, and we made made it back to base camp alive, the 1st Sgt asked me how it went, i explained to him the issues that came up, he then. had a meeting he invited me to, to explain to the Lt, that until he had the shine off his boots to listen to which ever Plt. Sgt he was with, a few weeks later i was promoted, the CO has the lt, give me my new stripes and the Lt, thanked me for helping him along, better to listen to most of the NCO then not, but as pointed out, we all made mistakes, just how bad they turned out was by the luck of God, and we moved on, learning by them,

Sir..... Welcome home. Your advice to a young LT is spot on. You must have been a good boss!

It's a fine balance between your decision making and your NCOs recommendations. I have no doubt you'll do fine. 2LT (Join to see) -

2LT (Join to see) - August 1954, Korea, a brand new, West Point graduate was a really quiet person. Then, after a few weeks of him quietly observing our platoon at work; CPL Meredith, (left side of the photo), (of Portland, OR?), was severely reprimanded and we became aware that our PLT had a LT!

Your comments reminded me of your dual role as an officer - providing some backbone for your unit, but also act as a buffer when the shiitake (sic) hits the fan! lol

good stuff Gunny.

Succinct, yet significant. I appreciate the advice, sir! Listening with the intent to understand was stressed to me by the behavioral health personal whom I worked for over the summer, but I think the effectiveness of empathy and active listening goes so much further than in mental health counseling situations.

And if you're supposed to have more than one of something, make sure you see ALL of them at the same time...

Be very careful when a sergeant says "Trust me the Troop's books are all in order sign right here sir and you will be the new Troop Commander. Trust me Sir.

PVT Raymond Lopez - definitely! I phrase I borrow from the Intel community "In God we trust - all others we VERIFY!"

That applies to everything, though. I took over a section from an E4 one time when I was an E5, so i had to sign for all the equipment, this was a USAF SAMTU (now CATM) section so a lot of the stuff was controlled items. Jerk didn't tell me there was a missing M60 armorer's kit. Expensive, at the time anyway, the sort of thing that would have go/no go gauges, replacement parts, special tools, etc. I found it missing, refused to sign for it, he tried everything he could think of to get me to sign for it, on the basis that it wasn't there when he signed for it either!! I think it cost him over $200.00. He was probably making about 5-600 a month at the time, and was quitting at 10 years. The guy he signed for it from (when it wasn't there) was as I remember a RIF'd Major who took a reduction to E5 so he could make his retirement, and draw Major retirement pay. He hated everyone and the USAF most of all, from what I heard, and it probably disappeared with him, then he browbeat a junior NCO into signing for it. I would have been pissed off too, but I wouldn't have done that. MY replacement was a really by-the-book guy who checked everything, so it would have cost me nearly half a month's pay had I signed for that.