When is officer development the right time versus the betterment of the unit?

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 00:06:18 -0500

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 9 at 2018 12:39 AM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 00:39:29 -0500

Officer development ultimately helps the unit to be better so it is always a good time for officer development.

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Feb 9 at 2018 2:54 AM

SFC Michael Hasbun — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 02:54:05 -0500

The unit will always have more needs, missions, requirements, taskings, etc... that you can fulfill. Units are like toddlers in that they always require your time and attention. If you wait on the perfect time to take care of yourself, you never will....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Feb 9 at 2018 4:26 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 04:26:32 -0500

Your question is extremely abroad, it'd help if you could elaborate on your circumstances somewhat, so far as possible. Are you also speaking of your own individual circumstances? Or, are you referring to all commissioned, warrant, and NCO improvement in your own unit, or is your question directed at units generally? When I was in, I developed a technique of carrying a dailymwork diary of generalities of day to day tasks, addl duties, PME I had to do, masters level coursework I was doing then, etc., as a means of both organizing my tasks, and tomjot down everything I did for my semiannual evals, as I'd be explicitly asked what I'd done inna given period. Regardless of rank, any unit member should, in my view, basically he taught to do exactly the same thing, doing thst proved to he invaluable, I assure you. Your own individual improvement is obviously your own personal responsibility, the same is true for all members of a unit, their careers are strictly their own individual responsibility, obvioisly. All members of a unit should be periodical lynched led ssmto their PME progress, their college level coursework, and, of course, their PT performance. As I said, it'd help if you could perhaps elaborate,nhowever, at least initially, those are a few thoughts I'd hoped you might possibly find useful, I'd be most eager to hear more and your thoughts, many thanks.

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Feb 9 at 2018 4:27 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 04:27:53 -0500

Sorry for the typos, I'm on a fairly clumsy tanlet, and I'm afraid my vision isn't the greatest unfortunately, as well, I'd of course meant broad,mnot abroad.

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 9 at 2018 8:25 AM

LCDR Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 08:25:36 -0500

Alex-This is a somewhat loaded question...but a good one all the same.

First, you have to be more specific; If you're talking about getting qualifications, required courses, etc...etc, then I can offer from personal experience that you have to make a clear distinction between how you do your job well...and how you keep it. As officers, we have a considerable amount of professional expectations; we enter our first operational units "behind the curve" in a sense, and it is often up to our own personal levels of commitment and competency as to whether or not we're going to make the cut.

The challenge is definitely there to see the "real" task immediately before any JO...learning how to be a "good" officer, not just one whose "career" is in order. If a JO has any heart, compassion, sense of fairness, etc., he is going to feel a deep sense of obligation to the platoon or division (Navy eq.). He's going to accept from the start that he knows nothing in comparison to his NCOs and SNCOs, and will try to learn how to be an asset to them and the unit. He'll stand up for them, champion their successes, and make up for his lack of knowledge by showing each day that he genuinely cares and is willing to put them first.

As a company officer, you already know that while subordinates and superiors respect this, and will often help you along in your career as a result...those "wickets" seem to be the only real metric your career is measured by. A poor senior officer will let his JOs fall behind, a good one will try to balance his time between the day to day tasks of operations and mentoring subordinate officers...a GREAT one will have fostered a climate in which the SNCOs "run" the unit in keeping with commander's intent, the JOs learn "on the job" from them, and the officers' mess ensures every member; junior enlisted, NCO, SNCO and JO are being afforded the opportunities to advance.

Our challenge on board ship was always "schools". Enlisted needed them for ratings and advancement, officers needed to be kept up to par on ship-handling and simulators, boards needed to be held, and PQS completed. There was ALWAYS something more important, and we NEVER had enough personnel. The best CO I ever had gave clear guidance that we were to cross-train as much as possible and short of safety or mission...get the schools done. At times, this meant people were working above or below their position in port (officers sometimes even stood roving watch and chiefs were often senior watch officers). Often, it created frustration as "want to" tasks got pushed off. However, when we deployed, the benefits were immediately obvious.

Response by SGM Bill Frazer made Feb 9 at 2018 10:59 AM

SGM Bill Frazer — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 10:59:50 -0500

Loaded question- they need to coincide since both should work togther