Posted on Jan 18, 2015
What is the ONE thing EVERY young Officer must know?
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There's been quite a few discussions about how clueless young Lieutenants (and Ensigns) are when they hit the Operating Forces (and we often are). Here it is: your chance to publicly and permanently record the one topic you think is the most critical for us to know when we step in at your unit. With some luck, maybe those young officers will read it here and have the epiphany they need privately and everyone will be better off for it.
So hit it: let all the experience of the RP community be brought to bear: immediately after commissioning what's the ONE thing every O-1 must know ?
(Just so no one gets hurt feelings, lets say you're telling this guy here-but before his promotion and deployment in the photo-I cant find any pics from commissioning.)
So hit it: let all the experience of the RP community be brought to bear: immediately after commissioning what's the ONE thing every O-1 must know ?
(Just so no one gets hurt feelings, lets say you're telling this guy here-but before his promotion and deployment in the photo-I cant find any pics from commissioning.)
Platoon Commander
Officer
Leadership Development
Junior Officers
Edited 11 y ago
Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 182
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After you assign your Marines a task take a step back and just watch. Your instinct will be to get involved right away when things are different than you would like, fight that urge. You'll be amazed by how they accomplish tasks. You'll learn more about your Marines and the group dynamic than by any other means. Also, you're demonstrating confidence in their abilities. Your trust in their abilities, especially in your NCOs, means the world to them.
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Go out for a beer with your leading Chief. Let him/her know that you are relying on him/her to keep your ass out of the fire. If you're a Navy O-1, know very well that the Navy is run by the PO1's. Let 'em do it.
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CDR William Kempner
Actually, the Navy is run by LT's AND PO1s. When something bad happens. LTs get fired and their career is over. When something bad happens to PO1s, they don't make Chief-known plenty who didn't who should have. I know we tell Chiefs THEY run the Navy, but when they screw up, they just get transferred.
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CAPT Hiram Patterson
I was an LT for 8 years with staffs of 2 to 20 some personnel with various division and department head positions.
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Take care of your people. Learn their strengths and weaknesses. You can't treat them as friends or buddies but certainly learn something about them on a personal level such as families, where they came from, their Navy experiences, concerns, etc. Learn from your NCOs as they have a wealth of experience that will prove valuable
to you.
to you.
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From an NCO perspective listen to us we are usually trying to do what is best for everyone, but do not be afraid to behind close doors or in the appropriate environment ask us why we do something or for advice on what to do. Some of the best junior officers I ever served with asked questions listened an allowed the NCO's a lot of latitude where available to do things fairly independently but also insisted on the NCO's bearing responsibility for the decisions we made, while having our back for making them
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1) Listen & learn from your NCO's. 2) Take care of your soldiers & #1 can help you a great deal with #2.
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The thing that you will need to do everyday, and will ensure your success is probably the most unglamorous thing that you get exposed to in training. For a Navy ensign, it was how the supply and training paperwork worked. Make sure you find out what that is, and listen to the more experienced people, especially NCO, to do so.
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LT Jerry Gordon
Perhaps, but taking care of your people usually means paperwork. Keeping them alive takes training. Training takes quotas. Quotas take paperwork. Logistics is a lot harder than tactics.
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Having been an NCO and a field grade officer before retiring, any officer MUST listen to there NCOs and soldiers/airmen/seamen. Listen to what they say and make a decision. You might not always agree with what they said and you will have to live with that decision. You men and women need two things: listen to what they have to say and make the hard decisions. It helped me all my career and in combat.
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In my humble opinion (foreshadow what my thought is) I think humility is what a young officer should arrive bearing in mind - constantly. I suspect you are smart and gifted to have made it this far, I also suspect you are motivated, dedicated and have a great love of Country, all great things. However, regardless of how smart you are, again my opinion, I fully believe we can constantly learn from those around us and being humble to hear what they are saying, showing, and teaching us will keep you moving forward. We can all learn. All the best Marine.
S/F
Gerald
S/F
Gerald
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Capt Richard I P.
An excellent point, humility is the bedrock of proper leadership. Arrogance gets people killed.
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Capt Richard I P.
"You either die (or separate) a hero......or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
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