31 Things Your Senior Rater Would Like You to Know That He Probably Won’t Tell You

Some good points in there, but there are a few lessons I had to learn the HARD way:
1. Hail and Farewells, balls, dining ins, and other unit social events are not optional
2. You should attend changes of command, changes of responsibility, award ceremonies, volunteer recognition ceremonies and other key unit events. Unless you’re in the field, you can usually break away for an hour to support the unit
3. If you want to stay in the Army for a full career, remember that your entire Family is serving. Get them involved in the Army Life. You all will miss out if the Army is “that thing he does...this is touchy being that the spouses are now more than ever being taxed to run the house AND manage their careers while the SM is deployed, come back, just to roll out again. OPTEMPO can destroy a unit, and it WILL KILL a marriage.
4. How well you choose your spouse says a lot about who you are. OH MY GOODNESS HOW TRUE THIS IS!! I went through HELL with my ex. She HATED the Army, the military, and when meeting my SNCO's her mouth wasn't foul, but they KNEW she had a distain for the service. It became more of an embarrassment to be told by your Senior Rater that your wife "Isn't too nice". Another sticking point would be that Carl will fall in love with the local barracks chic. The one who knows EVERY room from the last 10 years and who was in them. Carl will be your Soldier and you have to walk a very tight line to tell him she's not in love with you, just the benefits you can give her. If Carl doesn't do that, he's going to marry a stripper and once again.....it's those moments you want to gouge your eyes out, and swallow a 7.62mm to end the pain from dealing with Carl's new wife and issues.
5. Sir, you didn't attend 1SG Course, and you didn't attend SGM Academy....so I KNOW you didn't assign him the role of "Guardian of the Grass". You didn't attend any NCO academies (possibly) so you're not a born again dickhead when a vehicle isn't PERFECTLY in line with the other 50 in the motorpool, or the drip pan isn't perfectly underneath the oil tank. Heaven help you if you don't have a chalk block. You don't have a "AR 670-1 Radar". SNCO's DO. Sir, you sit there and tell us to call you if we are in trouble. You make us say "Hooah", but at NO POINT in your speech do you look behind you and see the 1SG's and the CSM there frothing at the mouths WAITING for one of us to actually call you.
6. If I tell you I want feedback, then I want the truth. I trust officers and NCOs to tell the truth – even if it’s uncomfortable. I trust you all to let me know what’s happening in the unit that I can’t observe. I can’t fix problems that I am unaware of and I can’t help the Soldiers in the unit if no one tells me what is going on.....yeah about number five up there....."Soldier I want you to tell me how you feel about the unit you're in". At that point, CSM's "Soldier is about to f*ck up royally" radar is on FULL ACTIVE SEARCH. The second you open your mouth, he's already called your 1SG, who has called your PSG, and ALL of them are in CSM's office waiting for you to come out thinking you did the world a freaking favor. About that CQ, Staff Duty, Duty Driver, Vacuuming the parking lot, Shop vac'ing the motorpool in a downpour, and becoming the SME for every sh*t detail they can come up with until the next "genius" wants to talk to the CDR.

Thank you notes and congratulatory notes, love that that was included. Hardly any leaders do this anymore but it's a simple gesture that's never forgotten.

The dress mess lines are solid. That gets noticed, good and bad.

Great article overall.