Posted on Oct 27, 2013
What is the best advice you can give a Jr Officer?
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Mentorship
Officers
Junior Officers
Professional Development
Posted 12 y ago
Responses: 90
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Make your set of standards and let the NCO's know what you expect. Confidence is everything but don't be afraid to admit when something is wrong otherwise how else is anything going to change. Also don't hold information back, nothing lets a soldier feel betrayed by his leadership than to have to get important information from elsewhere. As a lower enlisted I would rather get 20 different FRAGOs over a 3 week period than 1 solidified order the day a high priority task rolls the CoC. All we want is the information we need to execute the mission and we can do all the rest sir. Also frequent inventories on high usage items, that should be a standard that honestly I don't see being done, because soldiers lose stuff or it gets stolen way too frequently.
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SGT (Join to see)
As a caveat to my previous post, it never hurts to learn the jobs of your soldiers. Nothing made me more proud of my current LT is know that even though he came out with a finance degree he stilled learned what it is that every MOS in his PLT does and how they do it.
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2LT B, my advice is to do the absolute best that you can in all situations, and focus on taking care of your Soldiers as well as possible. Trust your instincts and do not default to blindly trusting the recommendations of those who have more time in the service than you. Typically, their advice is right on -- but not every time. Find some good NCOs in your unit and spend some time learning from them. If they have an "I hate all junior officers" attitude (which is not common, though it does exist), then find other NCOs to connect with. Make sure they understand that you appreciate and respect their perspectives. NCOs can be a real gold mine of mentorship if you are able to connect with the right ones. I was fortunate to be surrounded by excellent NCOs, and they taught me a ton.
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COL Jason Smallfield, PMP, CFM, CM
My advice is to learn your job. Everything you do for the rest of your career will be based upon the basics that you learn as a lieutenant. Fire every weapon in your platoon, learn to drive every vehicle, understand products and processes such as a 5988-e, DA 31, LES, etc. Have a SPC walk you through how to PMCS a vehicle under the guise of you checking his understanding. Goes along the lines of the book "Everything I needed to know in life I learned in kindergarten".
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You are going to mess it up. You are officially in charge but your subordinates have a wealth of experience; that makes you a better decider than planner. Demand that your NCOs train and teach you. Every horrible company commander had a horrible PSG as their first trainer in the regular Army. Take the opportunity to make bold decisions in a training environment to learn as much as you can and trust experience down range.
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Seek advice from the NCO ranks. Don't just assume you are better than your soldiers because even a private may have a usable suggestion. However a real leader will listen to the people around them that has the experience and will take any advise offered and be thankful for any input.
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LtCol Dann Chesnut
Everyone has experience and knowledge that you don't have. You can learn something from everyone.
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The hard way is nearly always the right way. You will have thirty voices in your ear trying to convince you to take the easy way, but don't do it. You will know what the right solution is when you see it. Listen to your gut and don't cave in to the pressure of not wanting your guys to hate your guts. If you take the easy way back from an objective, someone is going to get blown up. Count on it.
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LTC Stephen Conway
Lessons I learned as an Officer:
1. Being unfairly 'relieved- for- cause' as a 1LT is not the end of the world especially if you give a fair and written rebuttal to your situation. I was relieved as S1 for not making the daily battle update briefs. I had no S1 PAC nco (he was on the main post and no cell phone coms either) and nobody was with me (not even the S4) at the CTCP at Yakima training range in 2002. The Bn XO said not to worry and he would inform the battalion commander and yet I had nobody there to give me a ride nor go in my place and the battalion commander fired me anyways. I had gotten screwed said my fomer company commander (at the time an Xo for an MP BN). My documentation did not prevent me from being approved for CPT by the Army Promotion board in 2003. I took my promotion delay letter for 3 years delay on taking my 0-3.
2. If you are in the ARNG: if you make 0-3 on the promotion board and you can't get promoted in your unit due to politics or no slots and you want your rank now instead of later, don't take the promotion delay letter from HRC but leave the unit and go into the IRR get your 0-3/CPT and go back in the ARNG or go in the USAR and find a slot.
3. Acting battalion Commander/Major can't be your Senior rater on an OER.This happened to me. The Brigade G3 made him rewrite it as the rater and write it more fairly than it was originally and the G3 became the Senior Rater.
4. Get your rater and senior rater's support form and try to see where you need to be with schools or experience to work on his job experience and qualifications and get promoted.
5. Be physically fit and maintain a 290+ or 300 on your apft. I was not the best officer in the past but my APFT score overcame alot of discrimination. When a 40 something officer could run under 14 minutes and go over the max on pushups and situps,it made the commanders think differently of me. Just my wisdom as an older soldier.
I look forward to reading your comments so I can continue to grow as well.
1. Being unfairly 'relieved- for- cause' as a 1LT is not the end of the world especially if you give a fair and written rebuttal to your situation. I was relieved as S1 for not making the daily battle update briefs. I had no S1 PAC nco (he was on the main post and no cell phone coms either) and nobody was with me (not even the S4) at the CTCP at Yakima training range in 2002. The Bn XO said not to worry and he would inform the battalion commander and yet I had nobody there to give me a ride nor go in my place and the battalion commander fired me anyways. I had gotten screwed said my fomer company commander (at the time an Xo for an MP BN). My documentation did not prevent me from being approved for CPT by the Army Promotion board in 2003. I took my promotion delay letter for 3 years delay on taking my 0-3.
2. If you are in the ARNG: if you make 0-3 on the promotion board and you can't get promoted in your unit due to politics or no slots and you want your rank now instead of later, don't take the promotion delay letter from HRC but leave the unit and go into the IRR get your 0-3/CPT and go back in the ARNG or go in the USAR and find a slot.
3. Acting battalion Commander/Major can't be your Senior rater on an OER.This happened to me. The Brigade G3 made him rewrite it as the rater and write it more fairly than it was originally and the G3 became the Senior Rater.
4. Get your rater and senior rater's support form and try to see where you need to be with schools or experience to work on his job experience and qualifications and get promoted.
5. Be physically fit and maintain a 290+ or 300 on your apft. I was not the best officer in the past but my APFT score overcame alot of discrimination. When a 40 something officer could run under 14 minutes and go over the max on pushups and situps,it made the commanders think differently of me. Just my wisdom as an older soldier.
I look forward to reading your comments so I can continue to grow as well.
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The welfare and care of your men, award those who show leadership potential, consider the advice and SOP of your NCOs and know that work
and training has it's limits.
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Find Good Mentors... It is the responsibility of the mentee seek out mentoring relationships. Select a few (1 or 2) possible mentors. They don't have to be a specific rank. Find some one who has been successful in the areas that you want to be successful in and start creating a relationship with that person. Focus on Values, and Leadership Traits NOT career progression (fast tracking)... The Values and Leadership traits you gain now will set the tone for your future. Pick them wisely.
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Guard your primary relationships, the Military is all about relationships. Your early years establish your branding an how others view you. It is vital to have humility and gleam from those that are around you.
When you make rank it is not to power over others, remember where you started from and help others that are coming behind you. Stand on regulation and be a team player.
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Never mistake education with experience. Education will let you know how to do things, but experience will tell teach you when and what the best way to do something is. I can tell that you have a strong desire to do well by your willingness to ask for advice, also find other leaders that you find to be effective and emulate the traits that you find to work best, and also look for the traits that you see that do not work and strive to avoid those traits.
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