Posted on Dec 29, 2014
Young Service Members with Little to No Life Skills
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You get the call from S1: you have a new soldier to go pick up, in-process, and begin your process of giving purpose, direction, and motivation. They have all the shiny new skills given to them from AIT. They have their basic tactical skills given to them by basic training, as well as their field exercises, so they are not a completely blank canvas. You get their ERBs, scan them over, see their birthdays, and you realize they are barely adults, or quite possibly still 17. The next questions you run through with each troop, “Where are your from? Are you married? Do you have a driver’s license? A car? Kids?” You get a short bio. Usually you see one of two things: their parents are still married and there are a bunch of siblings, or, more often these days, you get that the parents are divorced, sometimes re-married, and they only grew up with one of them with a handful of various siblings. What do these things tell you? What is the writing on the wall when you get the background on your troops? You’re basically their foster parent at this point.
A week later you do a barracks inspection and you see their room isn’t clean - dishes piled up, a myriad of empty Cup-o-Noodles cups strewn on their desk, a bunch of clothes purchased at your local mall lay in a pile on the floor. All of their tactical gear is in a clump in the back of their closet. There’s probably a TV way out of their price range along with a video game system fresh out of the box sitting on top of their dresser. A strange smell is emanating from under their bed, and you’ve discovered where the weekend’s pizza boxes were stashed. Easy fix right? Tell them to clean it up and re-inspect in the morning before PT. Most of the leaders in the military have walked in on this very scene. There is more to do here than to tell them to simply clean it up. You should probably teach them how to do that laundry so they can make their clothes last longer. Their diet is atrocious so you need to show them how to follow a meal plan. A meal plan will then lead to a grocery list, so they don’t motor up and down the aisles with one hand out just slap-slap-slapping things off the shelf into their cart. This leads to them setting money aside just for food.
What does a freshly minted troop want more than anything? Typically, they all want a car.. You have to keep them away from the dealerships right outside of the gate…even if you are new to that duty station, you know better. They have this signing bonus money burning a hole in their pockets, and they want some wheels. And they don’t want just any wheels; they want some either attached to 400-horse power engine, or a 12-inch lift. You know they don’t need any of this, but they want it anyways. You tell them they need a 6-8 year old, 4-door sedan (preferably a Toyota or a Honda) and they just look at you like you have a mental disorder. They want something “sexy” that will help them get the second most wanted thing by a freshly minted troop. So, they are either going to take to your reason, or they are going to go get their shiny next year model dream on wheels. Hopefully you go ahead of them and made sure they didn’t lock themselves into a high interest rate.
So after a few months you have taught them to separate, iron, and fold their laundry, to budget for food and fun on the weekends, to set up their TSP, and to buy a car. You were their rock to build a foundation for a future successful life, and the hard place where they had to make some wise but tough decisions. There were probably many more lessons woven into these broad topics, but these are things that you came in knowing. They aren’t from your generation, the last of the “prepared” young adults mostly ready for the world. They could probably re-program your phone, or teach you how to properly work the various aspects of the latest social networking site, but they don’t know their basic life skills. There is more to being a leader these days than just “Shoot, Move, and Communicate”. The only hope those parents around America have is that we have the experience, capability, and willingness to pick up where they left off.
A week later you do a barracks inspection and you see their room isn’t clean - dishes piled up, a myriad of empty Cup-o-Noodles cups strewn on their desk, a bunch of clothes purchased at your local mall lay in a pile on the floor. All of their tactical gear is in a clump in the back of their closet. There’s probably a TV way out of their price range along with a video game system fresh out of the box sitting on top of their dresser. A strange smell is emanating from under their bed, and you’ve discovered where the weekend’s pizza boxes were stashed. Easy fix right? Tell them to clean it up and re-inspect in the morning before PT. Most of the leaders in the military have walked in on this very scene. There is more to do here than to tell them to simply clean it up. You should probably teach them how to do that laundry so they can make their clothes last longer. Their diet is atrocious so you need to show them how to follow a meal plan. A meal plan will then lead to a grocery list, so they don’t motor up and down the aisles with one hand out just slap-slap-slapping things off the shelf into their cart. This leads to them setting money aside just for food.
What does a freshly minted troop want more than anything? Typically, they all want a car.. You have to keep them away from the dealerships right outside of the gate…even if you are new to that duty station, you know better. They have this signing bonus money burning a hole in their pockets, and they want some wheels. And they don’t want just any wheels; they want some either attached to 400-horse power engine, or a 12-inch lift. You know they don’t need any of this, but they want it anyways. You tell them they need a 6-8 year old, 4-door sedan (preferably a Toyota or a Honda) and they just look at you like you have a mental disorder. They want something “sexy” that will help them get the second most wanted thing by a freshly minted troop. So, they are either going to take to your reason, or they are going to go get their shiny next year model dream on wheels. Hopefully you go ahead of them and made sure they didn’t lock themselves into a high interest rate.
So after a few months you have taught them to separate, iron, and fold their laundry, to budget for food and fun on the weekends, to set up their TSP, and to buy a car. You were their rock to build a foundation for a future successful life, and the hard place where they had to make some wise but tough decisions. There were probably many more lessons woven into these broad topics, but these are things that you came in knowing. They aren’t from your generation, the last of the “prepared” young adults mostly ready for the world. They could probably re-program your phone, or teach you how to properly work the various aspects of the latest social networking site, but they don’t know their basic life skills. There is more to being a leader these days than just “Shoot, Move, and Communicate”. The only hope those parents around America have is that we have the experience, capability, and willingness to pick up where they left off.
Personal Development
Personal Finance
Leadership
Command Post
Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 24
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We were those newly minted troops once too, brother. I remember brand new FC3 Ray and E-fuzzy Palmer who had a lot of growing up to do. We did have a lot better upbringing than this troop you're talking about.
I had a kid like that. His name was Downer and this kid would work all day in the 140 degree Western Afghanistan heat, then play video games till 1 or 2 am and then get in his rack, wake up at 5 am and do it all over again without showering or changing his uniform. It was so bad that he had little red bumps all over his body.
He kind of came around towards the end of deployment but we put shower watches on him and gave him that "tough love" but that really didn't work. I kind of took him and just kind of went about it from a more gentle approach and that worked much better.
My point is that every troop is different so us as leaders, it our job to learn our troops and in that we will know how to better approach a situation. Whether the coddle method or a tougher approach. They all react differently. That's just the two cents of a dusty Seabee.
I had a kid like that. His name was Downer and this kid would work all day in the 140 degree Western Afghanistan heat, then play video games till 1 or 2 am and then get in his rack, wake up at 5 am and do it all over again without showering or changing his uniform. It was so bad that he had little red bumps all over his body.
He kind of came around towards the end of deployment but we put shower watches on him and gave him that "tough love" but that really didn't work. I kind of took him and just kind of went about it from a more gentle approach and that worked much better.
My point is that every troop is different so us as leaders, it our job to learn our troops and in that we will know how to better approach a situation. Whether the coddle method or a tougher approach. They all react differently. That's just the two cents of a dusty Seabee.
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I worked as a teen, I had chores growing up, but when I joined at 17, I was so green at being adult. Thank God I had great leaders in my platoon. They were always available for questions or just to sit and talk about things. as for the Money management, I learned the hard way just like most. Sometimes still learning. We cannot, in the ranks, teach them everything about money management but a good leader can do a lot without formal classes.
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It's funny, I felt much of this in BCT. I "celebrated" my 21st birthday in basic and instantly became our platoon guide. I normally spent an additional 2-3 hours a night following up on the subpar troopers in the platoon every night on everything from missing home to lacing their boots.
Now just to date myself a bit I never wore a reflective belt in PT but we did still do rifle PT in basic so I cant even imagine how leaders are dealing with today's "troops" with stress cards, no swearing, cell phones in the barracks.......
Now just to date myself a bit I never wore a reflective belt in PT but we did still do rifle PT in basic so I cant even imagine how leaders are dealing with today's "troops" with stress cards, no swearing, cell phones in the barracks.......
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I was blessed as a young infantryman to have NCOs who were in about every aspect of my business. While I was reluctant to listen at times which is common at that age, I had discipline to follow not only their orders but advice as well. I didn't want them to be disappointed. Those NCOs set me on a good path and all these years later I hope there are NCOs out there in the force knee deep in their soldier's business today.
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Let me point you to the other side of this argument. The civilian side. What about the kids that do NOT join the military? Do they have anybody teaching them these types of things? No. If they go to college many of them will learn the same things young military people learn. How to party.
So let us look at why it is important for the military to take these wet behind the ears brats and make an adult out of them. Teamwork. If you are in a life and death situation you don't want a person whose only experience is video games backing you up. You don't want them running from trouble. The leaders in the military have to be able to take these kids with oatmeal for brains and make them into a cohesive fighting unit. They may never see bullets flying but they may see a communications system crash and have to get it back up in support of those boots on the ground.
On submarines we were taught how to hang up our poopy suit (submarine coveralls) in such a way that we could be out of the rack and into our clothes and at our battle station in 9 nano seconds (or maybe a bit more). We were taught to keep things clean and stowed so if we took a steep angle that coffee cup didn't become a deadly missile. These things converted to life at home.
When we pulled into foreign ports like the Philippines the leadership had to take the new kids and tell them "DON'T GET MARRIED". Yet some still did. The girls there were trained on how to snag a sailor for a husband.
But in the end you can only do so much for them.
So let us look at why it is important for the military to take these wet behind the ears brats and make an adult out of them. Teamwork. If you are in a life and death situation you don't want a person whose only experience is video games backing you up. You don't want them running from trouble. The leaders in the military have to be able to take these kids with oatmeal for brains and make them into a cohesive fighting unit. They may never see bullets flying but they may see a communications system crash and have to get it back up in support of those boots on the ground.
On submarines we were taught how to hang up our poopy suit (submarine coveralls) in such a way that we could be out of the rack and into our clothes and at our battle station in 9 nano seconds (or maybe a bit more). We were taught to keep things clean and stowed so if we took a steep angle that coffee cup didn't become a deadly missile. These things converted to life at home.
When we pulled into foreign ports like the Philippines the leadership had to take the new kids and tell them "DON'T GET MARRIED". Yet some still did. The girls there were trained on how to snag a sailor for a husband.
But in the end you can only do so much for them.
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I remember being that kid fresh out of basic training. I had a few sour apples for leaders that simply yelled and scolded me, but the ones that mentored me and helped me learn and grow are the ones that will stick in my mind forever.
I've tried to model myself after those leaders and help new troops develop in to a Soldier that demonstrates great potential. Some are challenging, but those are usually the ones that provide the greatest reward!
I've tried to model myself after those leaders and help new troops develop in to a Soldier that demonstrates great potential. Some are challenging, but those are usually the ones that provide the greatest reward!
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The military has been teaching life skills to recruits since time immemorial. To be honest, it's far easier to mold a "snot-nosed kid" into a good soldier/sailor/Marine/airman than to transform someone older. Frankly, I never made it. I was a law school graduate before I enlisted. My age and education cowed drill sergeants. Even my Tactical Officer at Infantry OCS deferred to me. As a result, I remained pretty much the arrogant bastard I was when I joined. I never mastered the chain of command. Sure I got things done. In fact, senior officers loved to turn me loose on a problem (I suppose to see how many company-grade and lower field-grade officers I would piss off). It was no surprise when I was RIFF'd. The medals that the generals pinned on me bore little weight against my poor Officer Efficiency Reports.
No, be happy with the "snot-nosed kids". Mold them into men and women who will serve well.
No, be happy with the "snot-nosed kids". Mold them into men and women who will serve well.
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While I know that soldiers need respect and to be somewhat independent I think the military should bring back things like daily inspections.
But also there should be programs to prepare soldiers for reality of life away from home, and learning personal development. I know that leaders are not parents, but when soldiers get in over their heads it is hard for them to think about their jobs when they are worried about losing their jobs.
I got lucky when I came in I have a squad leader that was a great mentor. At first I thought he was a jerk. He did not allow new soldiers in his squad to have a car until they passed military drivers training, he had all of us sit down and go over our spending, and had us meet him at the chow hall for progress reports during all meals. Six months after being in most soldiers in other squads had no money saved, spent too much on cars and eating out. He took me to get a reasonable car, helped me save money, and taught me to eat right. Because of his training I live a life with very little debt, and when I was waiting on my medical from the army I was able to live off the savings I had as I was unable to work for a long time.
But also there should be programs to prepare soldiers for reality of life away from home, and learning personal development. I know that leaders are not parents, but when soldiers get in over their heads it is hard for them to think about their jobs when they are worried about losing their jobs.
I got lucky when I came in I have a squad leader that was a great mentor. At first I thought he was a jerk. He did not allow new soldiers in his squad to have a car until they passed military drivers training, he had all of us sit down and go over our spending, and had us meet him at the chow hall for progress reports during all meals. Six months after being in most soldiers in other squads had no money saved, spent too much on cars and eating out. He took me to get a reasonable car, helped me save money, and taught me to eat right. Because of his training I live a life with very little debt, and when I was waiting on my medical from the army I was able to live off the savings I had as I was unable to work for a long time.
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Good Post SSG Ray, I wholeheartedly agree with the point you are trying to make. To be a leader you must always be enagaged with your soldiers. If you are not willing to do this then why are you a leader? Glad to see there is still some good NCO leadership in the Army today.
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