Posted on Apr 22, 2014
What's more important to you? A "dog and pony show" for a VIP? Or seeing your unit in action like any other day?
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When you get the news that someone in a very high position is visiting your unit, does it bother you that your own leaders go out of their way to impress this visitor? I personally would love the day when a high position leader like the CSA, SMA, or a Regimental CSM or Branch Chief makes an unannounced visit to see how things go day to day in your unit. What is the significance of a static display? If the visit is to see how your Soldiers are performing, then visit for that reason.
Posted in these groups: 
Performance
Performance
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 12
When I was a young Lieutenant, I was taught to always conduct training as though there would be a VIP observer, else if the day a VIP ever did show up and I asked my troops to behave differently, I would stand to lose their respect in a lose-lose situation. Either 1) we were doing something wrong before, in which case, why would I have allowed that? Or 2) we were not doing anything wrong before, but I would be compromising our appearance for the pure benefit of a VIP's expectations. Either way, I think it makes you look poor as a leader. I therefore always led training with the integrity of what I thought was the right thing to do. This paid dividends when VIPs did eventually come, and we did essentially nothing different. I could feel a sense of pride in my troops, and they felt that they were a squared away unit. <div><br></div><div>No unit is perfect, and I don't think trying to pretend to be perfect is helpful to anyone. I think not showing our senior leaders the reality on the ground, whether in training or while deployed, does them a disservice, gives the wrong impression of what is actually going on, and is therefore actually disrespectful in a way.</div>
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SSG (Join to see)
Sir, we need more of the approach you have. The trust and respect of my subordinates, peers, and seniors is very important to me and should equally as important to all leaders. How you touched on either supporting "wrong" or compromising your true identity for the sake of impressing someone is a great point.
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Suspended Profile
Sir, I was the same with my troops. I can remember when I was a Weapons Range Officer, business as usual until one day a BG was going to appear on site. My job as ROIC stayed the way it was, as the OIC period no matter if someone had higher rank than me. This day the BG appeared on range, the rules were simple. Kevlar on at all times and no smoking near the ammo - in bold letters posted large and clear everywhere before approaching the ranges. My NCOIC's were very good with placement and enforcement of the safety rules. The day the BG showed up though, he had no Kevlar. So one was provided to him. He then approached the ammo point with a pipe in his hand. He had to be immediately corrected by the OIC and asked to step away from the area and into a safe area. He spoke with me later and commended me on my proper techniques for Range Safety and for correcting him. I was very respectful of him and any other VIPs that arrived to the ranges.
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The term "dog and pony show" is no longer approved for use. In the future, please exchange that term for "canine and equestrian lalapalooza."
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I would prefer to show the unit how it is without "sugar coating."
Unfortunately my commander, when I was a captain, kept saying "if it looks good, it probably is". He lost some cool points that day.
Fast forward a few years later. When I served as BN S3 and later BN XO for a WTB in Alaska, the units could take care of a VIP visit with just a 10 minutes heads up. No dog and pony show here. Just our day to day operations.
Unfortunately my commander, when I was a captain, kept saying "if it looks good, it probably is". He lost some cool points that day.
Fast forward a few years later. When I served as BN S3 and later BN XO for a WTB in Alaska, the units could take care of a VIP visit with just a 10 minutes heads up. No dog and pony show here. Just our day to day operations.
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