What advice would you give to enlisted soldiers interested in entering the officer ranks?

You are accountable; to your leadership, to your subordinates, to your peers, and to yourself. As you rise in rank and responsibility the light will shine brighter. Find and correct your own flaws else others surely will.

5 things to consider or remember.

1. Everything that happens or fails to happen ultimately falls on your shoulders. It’s sometimes a heavy cross to bear when you come into a less than stellar unit.

2. Don’t be a dick! Be the bad guy when you have to, but build relationships with your leaders and joes. The more you move up the less you are around them.

3. Embrace the suck. There will be hard times, but if you persevere it makes the good times that much better.

4. Listen to your NCO’s. They’ve been there, done that, and got the shirt more times than you ever will.

5. Be your own man. Never be exactly like one person. Take the good leaders you’ve learned from and make your own leadership style.

What if you were an Infantry PL and your commander says take that hill. You know it will be a tough fight and the objective is to kill the enemy, and your platoon will leave the terrain upon reaching the objective. What will you do?

Timeo. My suggestion is simple make sure that you understand the duties an responsibilities of an officer first. It will be very good to ask someone in your COC to let you see over their shoulder for couple of weeks.

SPC(P) Timeo Williams perspective will serve you well.

As a Mustang myself, I'll tell you what I told my junior officers and NCOs, "Leadership is the ability to motivate others to do something, not necessarily in their best interest, willing, without fear of punishment."

Your leadership skills and techniques will be dependent, to a large extent, on your personality and experience. If you truly care about your people and their ability to accomplish the mission, you'll do fine.

#1 Must have an unwavering call to Honor, Duty, Country.
#2 Must be able to show firm compassion and make hard decisions as to UCMJ and troops.
#3 Must be willing to spend more time away from family performing your duties
#4 Must be willing to know individuals troop names who comprise your command
#5. Must have a wife who supports your call as an officer and contributes to that goal.
#6. Must have military bearing under all circumstances
#7. Must continue your education to next levels
#8 If you have a command, must be able to be in your unit before reveille and until taps are
sounded.
#9. Hold your junior officers accountable
#10. Hold your sergeants accountable
#11. Have frequent planning meetings and evaluations for junior officers and Sergeants.
#12. Strive to become a team with your first sergeant, he is the backbone of your success or failure
#13 Stand your ground under UCMJ when an illegal order is given. Never get involved in the politics
#14 Be sure to include your XO in details and responsibilities.
#15 Always get a complete inventory of your supplies and TOE, you will be held accountable
#16 Always be prepared for an IG inspection and hold your junior officers and NCO's accountable.
#17 Don't be afraid to frequently converse with your superior officer on a professional level.
#18 Be comfortable in your position as an officer and enjoy the ride.

I made 7 pretty fast and didn’t expect to make 8 on my first look, but I did it I was seriously considering doing it.

The HUGE issue I was worried about was living the life of a 2LT.

That was a deal breaker for me.

If you’re going to do it- do it now.

Its not for everyone and the military needs good, strong, competent, NCO's as much as they good, strong, competent, Officers. So really think it over and consider what others on here have posted. Being a Butter Bar was tough. Even though I had prior service I was treated like I had none. It didn't matter to anyone I had been 11B for 6 years. Getting that silver bar was a great relief. It was only one up. But I gained more respected and responsibility. Even though the only thing that really changed was the color of the bar I wore. As a 1st Lt more Enlisted and Officers respected my prior service as well. I missed the comradery of the 11B enlisted soldiers life. After 6 years as an enlisted soldier I had worked up to E5 and I really liked it. But I wanted more leadership and responsibilities so I perused a commission through ROTC. At first the transition was a tough. But I found my niche and did 29 more years of service. I enjoyed it all and accomplished quit a bit. But I'd be lying if I said there wasn't days in those 29 years where I missed being an enlisted soldier and just one of the guys.

About 18 months ago there was a similar thread with this topic. The response chain really stuck with me and I saved it, and it went like this:

Young Solider:
I know, it seems obvious, go to the dark side, the pay and benefits are amazing and you don't have to deal with all the enlisted bullshit. But I know there's got to be your fair share of officer bullshit to deal with. Is it worth the swap? I've been getting advised to switch over for a while, and as of now my plan is to apply for green to gold following an upcoming deployment. I am a little worried I might miss the enlisted life though. Officers, what's it like? The day to day schedule? Time for family? Opportunities to personally lead soldiers? Control over your career? I never really talk to officers on the day to day so I want some inside info before I make a commitment here.

OFFICER1:
Officer work is harder in different ways. Here are some analogies. Enlisted hard is like breaking rocks with a hammer for 10 hours a day with instructions, tools, and meals provided, and when you're done, you're usually* done. Officer hard is like you're lost on an island with a live volcano that's about to erupt, and you're trying to build this raft to get away. You want to work 14 hours a day building the raft, scavenge for food, and build shelter? Your call. You want to spend 8 hours a day? Your call. How do you balance the time spend on scavenging for food, vs building shelter, vs building the raft, vs making spear against predators, cloth for warmth, or etc? Again, your call. How do you build the raft? What kind of weather should the raft withstand? How big is it? What kind of materials is it made of? All of those again are your call. At the end of the day you will have to escape this island before the volcano erupts. If you manage to escape this island, you'll land in another island with the same situation. It just keeps going and going.

OFFICER 2:
I really like this analogy.
But what about trying to fight off/cooperate with the other people on the island trying to build rafts? Do you try to make yours better than theirs, take their supplies, or pool your resources to make a bigger and better raft, or build the raft while he hunts for food for the both of you?

OFFICER 1:
That’s a good addition. Also don’t forget at the same time you’re responsible for a bunch of orangutans who like to fuck shit up from time to time.

OFFICER 2:
Those fucking orangutans. I'm tired of their shit

YOUNG SOLDIER:
I feel like half the battle is just knowing what needs to get done.

OFFICER 1:
Awesome, U Going to build a raft?