How do you address any challenges with getting young soldiers involved and having pride in your unit?

When I joined the Army in 1980 I was stationed at Field Station Kunia, Hawaii and we were a Trick and not a platoon nor a company and we did everything together. the older senior NCOs took care of the younger troops and they always made us feel looked family, I am still friends with many of them today. funny thing is taht I went back in 1987 as a SSG and it was all about work and we did very little things unless it was mandated from the command.

Show your troops you have their backs and will stand up for them as much as you can. But keep in mind, you take care of your children by saying NO at times. You won’t win every fight, but you must keep trying.

It doesn't matter what "IT" is. Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen cannot stand when someone (another unit) does "IT" better than they do. Use that to your advantage.

It always starts at the top. Pride in the unit is a collective goal through actions, not words.

CDR's often make the mistake of preaching a lot of good sounding things but not doing it themselves. They and other CO's often micromanage their units indirectly (or directly) disrespecting their NCO's by telling them "how" to do their jobs rather than to simply stick with the 5 W's. They sometimes make a lot of promises and fail to keep them. This sends the message to the rest of the unit that their CDR and leaders are untrustworthy.

NCO's (in some cases) get too wrapped up into focusing only on themselves and failing to do the most important thing, lead the troops. Leading troops is not a CO's job, it was and always has been the role of the NCO.

The NCO should engage their subordinates by putting them in charge of tasks then letting them learn through mistakes and assisting their performance with experienced guidance. Let the troops feel proud and acknowledge their efforts and accomplishments, and of course, take the time to recognize them by writing up awards that help them advance in their careers.

When Soldiers see that everyone is collectively getting involved with each other's success, they often see that the unit is something they can have pride in being a part of. Taking care of Soldiers is not a slogan, it's not meant to be a speech, it's supposed to be an ongoing PMCS of Soldiers to ensure they are at the top of their game, fully mission capable, sent to schools and get them excel and pass the APFT, counsel them to provide guidance on forward progression, get them involved in doing their jobs, let them lead and continue to monitor their progress and recognize them through awards.

Lead from the front! You and your 1SG, should always lead from the front, and not the middle or rear. What I mean, is for you to lead PT, be the first to repel down, jump out, and demand that your platoon leaders and platoon SGT's do the same. Educate your soldiers on the history of the unit and their place within the history of the Army. Instill pride in their appearance, and enforce customs and courtesies. Be strict, but fair. Be discipline, but care. Good luck to you.

You can thank the wave of toxic leadership for that. Things went from cultivating leaders and wanting soldiers to succeed to holding onto power and showing favoritism. Toxic leadership killed esprit de corps. The only way to get that back is to have a culture change. One that is hard, but fair, and doesn’t allow for unit commanders and their cadre to parcel out rank and responsibilities to those that they “like”. One that gives everyone a chance to step up and be molded into a leader. Leaders aren’t born they're made by mentors that pour into their subordinates. In my last 5 years in the army there was not one person in the upper chain of command that I would do anything for that wasn’t my duty. E6 and below was a different story. Those were the guys we worked with. When you see, however, the platoon sergeants and up denying opportunities because they just didn’t like someone you begin to grow calloused against them.

If you want Soldiers to invest "their time" in the unit, don't waste their time on meaningless garbage at other times. There is nothing more frustrating to me as a leader than getting the "why are we still here" question when I don't have the answer and am wondering the same thing myself.

I was the Single Marine Program rep for my battalion. The Battalion CO asked me why Marines don't show up to barracks stuff. I simply told him because Chains of Command show up. The CoC stopped coming and attendance sky rocketed. The last thing any Marine wants to see is his "boss" when it's Libo after having been in threat of getting burned all day by same boss.
Some units are just better than others when it comes to unit comradery. And no, sending your unit to the field for training constantly is not going to be that "shared suffering expirence" that will help.

You take the time to speak to your Soldiers, listen to their issues and share with your subordinate leaders. Talk to them about how it is they motivate or profess to motivate their Sokdiers. Discuss Duty, Honor, Country and pride in the organization. Look at what you do or don’t do to establish a foundation for high moral and esprit. Unit runs, BBQ’s, sports days etc. also remember to real in the Families ensuring they have buyin. I could go on, you got this. Thank you for your service.

Teach them teamwork and team training let them make mistakes don’t oversupervise meaningful trading not training for the sake of training