This Soldier Story is also part of My Soldier Story—that is, it is a story of a Soldier who influenced my Soldiering greatly.
I was a senior (4th year) in the university and in the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), which is a military training program for future Officers embedded in a university. I was the Cadet Battalion S-3, who was in charge of planning and executing training and operations for the 130 cadets in our program.
Meeting a Real Hero
We received a new sergeant that year from the real Army: a Master Sergeant who had become quite famous because someone wrote a book, and someone else made a movie about a military operation in which he came out a hero. Needless to say, all of us cadets were eager to meet him!
He was a very tall man, not flashy at all, and very purposeful about everything he said and did. There was no wasted energy about him. Most of us watched him from a little distance away, slightly intimidated to interact with him unless we had a good reason to. After all, how else does one treat a real combat hero?
Watching a Master at Work
One day, our battalion was on a three-day long Field Training Exercise (FTX), which I had planned and was overseeing in its execution. As part of my planning duties, I assigned cadre tasks to facilitate the training. I had assigned this master sergeant to be at the land navigation course’s end point, where cadets would arrive with their maps to be graded after spending up to four hours wandering through the woods with only their compass to guide them. This sergeant was one of six graders and 60 cadets needed to be graded so I told every grader that they needed to “work fast and keep the line moving: receive the cadet, grade the map, tell them what they got wrong, and send them to the barracks”. Well, he didn’t listen to my instructions. :/
When he received the first cadet, instead of asking for his map, he told him to take off his gear, take a drink of water, take a seat, and rest. “You must be tired, take a break,” he said. “You gotta save your energy for the rest of the FTX.” He began asking questions about the course, “How was it for you? Do you think you did well? What was the hardest part for you?” When someone mentioned they were still confused about some aspect of land navigation, he gave them a block of instruction right then and there to help them understand what they missed. He praised them for what they got right and encouraged them that they would figure out the other parts with practice.
His line was moving four times slower than all the other lines put together—and I almost went up to him to hurry him up—but then I realized that none of the cadets who were in his line seemed to mind the wait. I think they figured that if waiting a little longer was the cost for experiencing such care and concern, it would be worth it! In that moment, he earned his “hero” title in my eyes.
Life Lesson Learned
From that day forward, I stopped telling people to hurry up in their Soldier Care activities. I decided that the next time I planned anything, I would plan in extra time for leaders to attend to their subordinates—so that every sergeant could slow down for the one standing before them, because each one needed their full attention and concern.
Leave a Reply