Does your religion cause friction with the idea of success in the military?

2020-05-08T13:28:33-04:00

http://fieldgradeleader.themilitaryleader.com/success-trimble/

My thoughts today:

I have been taught these 4 P's before and I work to take them to heart and do my best as a soldier. I sincerely hope to learn from my superiors. However, these are not my measure of success. I resist this traditional view, not that it's incompatible with my own, but because it does not capture what I value.

This article visualizes success primarily as progress or gain, whether that be through promotions or something else. Army doctrine encourages this type of thinking through its core leader competencies and attributes and goal-oriented philosophy. Whenever talking about career goals or developing as a soldier, a former mentor of mine always said, "At the end of the day, you have to win." This type of thinking comes naturally. Those who perform well in the right places under the right people are seen as more successful than their peers.

I accept this competitive ambition. Advancement is effectively determined by a contest of ability; it translates into potential at the next level of leadership. The SF officer who has completed their schools, led elite units, and achieved countless missions is more capable than I. Hence the use of the word "elite". However, my religious beliefs directly discourage a competitive attitude of self-gain. Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus and significant leader in my religion once wrote, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." These few verses from his letter to the church in Philippi capture the definition of success for a Christian. Our religious beliefs do not end in our personal spheres of life, but invade every part of everything we do. Therefore, success is in fact distracted by these 4 P's, they should not be the focus of a Christian. Rather, our success is defined under something akin to 3 S's.

Sacrifice - Am I humble, in both actions and words? I must take the time to recognize the significance of others and to learn from them. I must constantly evaluate my own pride and arrogance. I achieve things in life to further the interests of others. This requires a balance of ethical behavior geared towards the generous service of others.

Suffer - My sacrifices must not be easy or comfortable, there must be some cost. Otherwise, am I truly sacrificing anything? My achievements in life are defined under the actions of a man who gave fully of himself for the sake of others. I strive to be like this man. His greatest achievement was a humiliating and agonizing death, a far cry from what he deserved. I am successful in my career when I surrender my ambition to the example that Jesus left for me.

Spirit - I must rely on the things of God in my endeavor to be successful. I depend on spiritual things, believing my physical abilities are developed and sustained by the Lord. By reorienting myself in religious worship to my Creator, I reorient the meaning of my actions and thus redefine what my achievements are in this life, i.e. they are always acts of servant-hood and obedience. There is great theological claim in this. It is why Paul also wrote "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." The Christian wants nothing more than to "achieve" intimacy with Christ, but the Christian succeeds in this not through ambition, but through love.

Surely I have goals of achieving higher rank or being in various positions, of making a certain amount of money (an often overlooked tenet of measuring success in our society I believe). But they are not the standard by which I measure my success. They are part of my efforts to achieve something else, at least I hope! So if I were to attempt to compete with that SF officer who is far more capable than I, it must be from this definition of success, otherwise I am compromising the true spirit of what I think it means to succeed.

We might take the court martial of LT Jackie Robinson as an example. Success in that situation was arguably to change the precedent of racism and uplift the value of a man beyond the color of his skin. Everything else was secondary. And I see my 3 S's as more significant in achieving that version of success than the 4 P's we read today.

Success in the Army is spelled with a P. - The Field Grade Leader

In more than 20 years of service there have been several opportunities to offer guidance, mentorship and opinions to other Soldiers on career moves and life decisions. Every situation is slightly different as most individuals have slightly different career, life or family goals. While it may make sense for that aspiring general to move their […]

Response by SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth made May 8 at 2020 1:56 PM

2020-05-08T13:56:45-04:00

Thank you for the share sir.

Response by CW2 Private RallyPoint Member made May 8 at 2020 1:59 PM

2020-05-08T13:59:43-04:00

It's the military..any religion is looked on better than no religion.
I've been told that I "need Jesus to change my outlook on life" (by a Chaplain no less), forced to clean because I chose not to attend service, I am forced to receive scripture quotes in my email everyday, forced to sit through prayers, told S1 to put "ATHEIST" on my dog tags and when I got them they wrote "No Rel Pref", the list goes on.
The Army "says" that it's all no preference, no matter, but in practice it's very much - we don't care what religion...as long as it's A RELIGION.
Success comes in how one is perceived by the superiors...it's how promotions and awards work - it's a crazy subjective thing. And as much as we want to believe that those sitting on boards and/or approving awards can be objective, it's far from true. Something as trivial that should have absolutely nothing to do with being a Soldier can make or break you. Good leaders know their Soldiers, but that goes both ways. They know them, and their perceptions are then affected by getting to know them.

Response by LCDR Joshua Gillespie made May 8 at 2020 2:07 PM

2020-05-08T14:07:03-04:00

Yes, and no. Yes, in the sense that the Military offers a somewhat "condensed" cross section of all the things many faiths (including my own) conflict with modern society on. No, in the sense that with most faiths (again, including my own)... there are fairly straight forward ways to incorporate core values of military service into the tenets of theology. I never viewed our broader mission as "killing"... and I still don't. We protect; sometimes the interests of our own people... and often, the interests of other peoples. Among ourselves, we care for and inspire one another... we're a "family", and faith informs us well on how to be good members thereof. One need look no further than David or even Paul for examples of true leadership under adversity. The greatest challenge I faced was within...as I discovered my greatest moral weaknesses were found in the vices of most military men: women, whiskey, and wrath. Fortunately, time is a great teacher... and I think I left the service with more good than bad incorporated into my being.

Response by SSG Samuel Kermon made May 8 at 2020 2:19 PM

2020-05-08T14:19:18-04:00

Young sir, if I may, I think you have your head screwed on straight. Keep true to your inner self because in the end you only need to please God through your actions. The three "S's" you mentioned are three great yardstick to measure your success.

Response by LTC Wayne Brandon made May 8 at 2020 2:26 PM

2020-05-08T14:26:24-04:00

Well said - from start to finish, 2LT Pat Caley.
You certainly won't go wrong with this philosophy and thanks for sharing it with us.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made May 8 at 2020 3:22 PM

2020-05-08T15:22:53-04:00

Excellent question and thoughts, Sir.

As within my own belief system, it's difficult to go day to day let alone duty day to duty day without going about the tenets and guiding rules. Even within the NCO Creed, it allows me to feel and witness my own success.

While I am a SSG who freshly graduated SLC, I wouldn't be at this stage in my career if not for my family, friends, faith and follow through. If it wasn't for my Seniors, Peers and Subordinates equally; I wouldn't have gain so much from giving as much as I can.

I wish I could go deeper on this topic at the moment, currently getting my home fixed up so I can move in the very near future. Thank you so much for sharing this!

Response by SGT Steve McFarland made May 8 at 2020 3:34 PM

2020-05-08T15:34:04-04:00

Christianity is counterintuitive, because we are naturally "ladder-climbers", but John the Baptist, in John 3:30, summed up how we should live: "He must increase, and I must decrease."

Response by Lt Col Jim Coe made May 8 at 2020 3:40 PM

2020-05-08T15:40:29-04:00

I took a minute to read your profile. I read the article you linked to. I see you have a theology degree, so I won't attempt to argue Christian theology or history with you, but I'll try to answer your question based on my experience.

No, religion did not adversely impacted my military, private industry, or civil service careers. In most cases, my supervisors and coworkers seldom knew my religion. Some supervisors made an occasional remark about their faith to help their subordinates understand them as real people. Interesting, most of the Army General Officers I worked for mentioned their faith. Because members of minority religions are "protected classes," supervisors often know about those people's religion because they request accommodation for their religious beliefs and traditions (holidays, dietary rules, beards, head coverings, etc.). Most supervisors assume that Service Members who don't ask for accommodation are either non-religious or Christian. As a supervisor, the best course is to keep religion, politics, and sex out of your relationship with your subordinates.

I also believe Jewish and Christian religious beliefs are compatible with good leadership, management, and a military career. Recognition of a higher power (YHWH, God) to whom one owes obedience, respect, and love teaches us to respect, obey, and maybe even love (care for) those placed in authority over us. In Acts, the first Gentile convert to Christianity, Cornelius the Roman Centurion, tells Peter that he too is a man under authority, that is, he understands what it is to be a subordinate and a leader. Leaders must have compassion for their subordinates. They must look out for the welfare of those Service members under their command. Jewish and Christian traditions of caring for other people support this aspect of leadership. Dedication to a higher cause may require a leader to make decisions that risk the lives of his or her subordinates and the leader, but that decision is made with recognition of the value of those lives.

A final point. Don't overthink the material you're presented in leadership training. You will be exposed to a lot of ideas. The truth of those ideas for you is only known when you apply them to leadership situations later on. Leadership is always a combination of problems and solutions. The things that work with one Soldier or organization may not be effective with another. A broad knowledge of leadership techniques and flexibility is necessary to effectively lead a diverse set of Service Members. A few things were always important to me: integrity, communication (listening, writing, speaking), technical knowledge, caring for subordinates.

Response by CWO3 Private RallyPoint Member made May 8 at 2020 4:33 PM

2020-05-08T16:33:19-04:00

Be a chameleon and adapt to your environment while on duty, but retain your ideals always. We're only issued one soul. Care and cleaning are operators level maintenance.

Response by MCPO Private RallyPoint Member made May 9 at 2020 11:24 PM

2020-05-09T23:24:35-04:00

I ran into problems with my lack of faith, because of the huge push to ensure that Jesus was fed to all members. Some branches are better about respecting non-Christians and non-believers than other branches, but it was still a pain to have to attend mandated worship services, or to see special treatment of religious folks at the expense of non-Christians (for some reason, it was always Christians that were magically "off" on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings, while practicing Jews didn't get Friday evenings or Saturdays off - and it was always non-believers that covered for them).
Oh, and don't EVEN suggest that a mandated benediction, convocation, or blessing be non-denominational or include non-Christian faith, because it won't happen.

Response by Maj John Bell made Nov 28 at 2021 1:07 AM

2021-11-28T01:07:26-05:00

Response by SSG Byron Hewett made Nov 29 at 2021 5:23 PM

2021-11-29T17:23:14-05:00

Not at all, because I'm serving My God and my Country