What does "taking care" of Soldiers truly mean to you?

Taking care of your soldiers means grooming them to be the next generation of leaders. It means answering calls at 2 in the morning because your soldier is having a rough time adjusting. It means being a mentor as well as a friend when they need it. Everything you listed I would consider part of taking care of your soldiers. Your troops are a reflection of yourself.

SFC (Join to see)
Being their mama, father, priest/pastor, psychiatrist, mentor, big brother/sister and most of all, problem solver.

Helping them through any problem and teaching them to avoid the problem in the future.

SSG Scheil, You mentioned some good points already. Here are some more: encourage and assist Soldiers to know thyself, help them learn to be critical and creative thinkers, treat them with respect & dignity, and challenge them frequently to help develop problem solving skills.

1. For those doing the right thing ... Making sure they are afforded all the benefits and privilege they are authorized.
2. For those NOT doing the right thing ... Making sure they know and understand what they are doing wrong, why and how to fix it and the benefits in correcting that action.
3. For those who continue to not do the right thing ... Making sure they were afforded the maximum opportunity to seek excellence outside of the Army.

Training your replacement is your main job. Educating. Setting the example. Showing compassion while maintaining Standards. Admitting that you are not the expert at everything but can steer them in the right direction. Showing them through your actions, as a team you can work through anything.

Taking care of those in your charge; means many things. It means you teach them right from wrong, and expect them to put that knowledge into action. It means you train them how to be experts and professionals in their jobs and prepare them to take yours. Taking care of your troops requires that you know them; do they have kids or not and if those kids are in school or not. What does that Soldiers spouse do for a living? What do they like to do when they are off work? Did PVT Snuffy just break up with his girlfriend? But in my humble opinion the biggest thing involved in taking care of your Soldiers is helping them manage their career and making sure no one screws them over. I'm the only one who is allowed to screw my troops over and since I won't do that, nobody else better try!

It means all that, and putting their welfare above your own.

Placing their needs above my own!

Looking out for their well being, disciplining them when their out of line, being there when they need someone to talk to. I always tried to steer my guys in the right direction.

Basically being that mentor that they need, so that in turn, they can be that mentor for somebody else.