Posted on Dec 24, 2018
Do you think the military should allow an enlisted spend the day with an officer in order to better understand an officer's role?
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I was thinking of some sort of program where enlisted can see first hand what our officers/leaders have to go through in order to maintain order within their units. It may also help enlisted that are seriously considering becoming officers with a peek behind the curtain.
Mentor
Training
Officers
Enlisted
Posted 6 y ago
Responses: 49
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No. I think all should They should pay attention in training an KNOW their own role. Teach customs and courtesies more and roles will be understood. NCODP is where that information can be retaught if necessary.
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SSG Lyle O'Rorke
CW3 Kevin Storm my reference was a CPl because the topic started with the a marine and CPLs are tram leaders. My argument is a team leader should know what a PSG and PL. does and tag with them occasionally. Squad leaders should occasionally shadow 1sgs and XO/CO. Sorta of like how the normal mentoring should be going. The lower enlisted do it as an once a year or quarter thing. As for the shadowing it builds junior leaders and allows them to see what higher does. Plus although not common now it has happened in the past that during a fire fight the PL and PSG were taken out of the fight and some squad leader SSG or SGT had to assume command of the entire platoon. This is why it is important. If it means and Officer has to have someone shadow them once or twice a month and mentor troops heaven forbid
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CW3 Kevin Storm
SSG Lyle O'Rorke - Try and keep in mind, the entire Army or Marine Corp is not an Infantry Platoon. I know the Marine Corp is going to say we are all riflemen blah blah, but the reality is if every o0ne is slinging bullets we got a major problem going on. Is a Private or Corporal for that matter going to be in tune with Logistical forecasting, Fuel rate consumptions, class IX repair parts demand reports, Class II inventories, Medical Supplies, Training Range Requests, Op Orders, and the other things Officers and Senior NCO's perform on a day to day basis. Does that officer have the time, and I Hate to pull this card, but I seem to recall something in the NCO Creed to the effect of "I will strive to remain technically and tactically proficient." Another one that states: "Officers of my unit will have maximum time to accomplish their duties; they will not have to accomplish mine." If I have to dedicate time to give each soldier of a given section to understand what I do or the LT or the CDR, what do I have NCO's for? Kind of answers the question doesn't it, you just made yourself obsolete. No this is a function of NCO's, and should remain the function of an NCO. if a soldier/NCO wants to become an officer/WO, and wants to shadow for a day or two is something different. To do it for every single Snuffy... sorry this isn't Romper Room.
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SSG Lyle O'Rorke
CW3 Kevin Storm if you had red my statement. A PL has maybe 8-12 team leaders so if one day a month he has one side seat him for a day even if it is just going with them to BN meetings is to much. These PLs should be just as concerned with getting to know their elements leadership at the Team leader level anyway. This is the focus of mentor ship, or at least was when I was in. The commanders/ leaders focus was on developing and mentoring the leaders two levels below their level so a BC mentoring a PL and a Company element mentoring and being worried about squad leader mentor ship and development. My statement about the PVT and Lower level was do it as an annual or quarterly (commander for a day) morale event type of thing. But if having a TL or Squad leader attend your meetings with you for one day a month is to much strain on today’s officer corps I feel sorry for the state of the military and will hug my DD-214 blanket that much harder
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SFC (Join to see)
I think this response is wildly off base with regards to what was actually asked.
It is not a program for literally everyone, it is for those thinking about OCS.
It is not a program for literally everyone, it is for those thinking about OCS.
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Way back when, for fundraisers, CO and 1SG would auction off Commander for the day / 1SG for the day. Winner would go to all the meetings, sit in on all the calls, and stand out front of formations, etc. Real CO/1SG was there, of course, but junior Soldier got a good look at life of CO / 1SG, and even got to make Company policy - for a day.
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Cpl Kevin Henderson
Good evening, SFC O'Mally.
That sounds like a really great thing. What impressions did the junior enlisted have after the day?
That sounds like a really great thing. What impressions did the junior enlisted have after the day?
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SFC Casey O'Mally
Cpl Kevin Henderson Most of the time it was a "wow, I thought it would be WAY cooler to be in charge" reaction. It is a great eye opener into how much WORK is involved in leadership - and the fact that even the boss has a boss.
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Here is what we did. We made sure that our Soldiers knew every aspect of their job. We had a time for the 1SG, Commander and XO jobs to be auctioned off. The winners would go hold the positions for a work week and park in the Command Team parking spaces. The Soldiers did everything the Command Team did. We did not allow them attend BN and BDE meetings but they would put out notes from those meetings. The Soldiers were shadowed by the individual whose position they won. Example 1SG: The Soldier sat behind the desk, read emails (adjusted email settings for only the title to show. Soldier would read email title and I would decide if to let them respond) and answered questions for everyone entering my office or calling on the phone. Went out to check on training and pick up admin information (Soldier did not see or touch PII) from BN. What we did was nothing knew it was something that had been done in the Armg for years. At the end of that work week the Soldier that was with me was fried. All three Soldiers saw how challenging being a leader can be. They also saw how much interaction goes on between the "Too 3" in a unit. There is no reason to have a special program. Just keep it simple and low impact. In my unit the auction was open to all ranks but the SPC and below were the ones fired up about it. I encouraged the Platoon Leadership to do the same. If the units do not feel comfortable with an auction then each platoon can give up a volunteer.
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SGT (Join to see)
This is a great tool, from every angle. Not only did you teach these young troops about senior leadership, you set an example that you cared enough and respected them enough to show them how things work. This type of mentorship is as scarce as Sasquatch anymore. Good job!
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SGM (R) Antonio Brown
SGT (Join to see) Thank you. I was taught to put systems in place in order to make my Soldiers(Officer and Enlisted) better then myself which will make the Army better.
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SSG Brian Lovins
We did this back in the late 90s in my unit at Ft Stewart, i dont remember the details but all leadership positions were "sold" even my position as a SGT maintenance team leader. It raised moral and was part of a year long fund raiser through the FRG to take the entire company to Disney world for a 4 day weekend.
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SGT Stephen Jaffe
When I was in the US Army (1965-68), I was taught to salute officers and not worry about how the officers were trained and what they did. Whether any officer was doing their job was up to the officer's superior officer. It was above my paygrade.
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