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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Joined at 31 after using every single option that I had in hand. BCT felt like High School to me, being surrounded of so many teenagers made me feel older than I really was. Sometimes I think I was more disappointed with my battle buddies than the Drill Sergeants themselves.
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I had graduated and worked in a Denny's prior to enlisting. Didnt have a clue about anything but wound up working my way up to become a manager in training (MIT). got pissed at the owners cousin because he wouldnt do anything and ordered everyone around to do his work for him or he would complain to his Uncle.He tried this one night while I had the store and I fired his ass and had him removed by police which prompted him to call uncle Bob who showed up at the store and told me to hire him back, our trucker night rush was just starting and I simply handed Bob the keys, told him he had a worthless cousin and I refused to hire him back and then walked out. I enlisted the next day, spent 2 weeks with my parents and the off to MEPS station and the rest...is history....well kinda....maybe?????
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I have been there and done that. I have counseled Soldiers on the basics of living a clean life at home whether its in the barracks or in an actual home with a family. I have also counseled Soldiers on the ins and outs of buying a car and making prudent financial decisions. Many young Soldiers have never balanced a financial register. I have a financial register that goes back at least 5 years on an excel spreadsheet. I have also shown Soldiers how to make their own cleaning supplies from organic materials already found in their homes to help save them some money. Yes, our young Soldiers need to be taught the basics of life skills before they get some idea their way is the acceptable way of doing things. Then again, I have had young Soldiers who were squared from start one from arriving to the unit which are a blessing and rare.
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Be glad they're just kids. Be glad that you have a chance to mold them into good soldiers. Be glad more of them aren't like me...
I enlisted in the Army in 1966 fresh out of law school. They tried to talk me into accepting a direct commission as a captain in the JAG corps, but I refused for reasons too strange to discuss in less than 5000 words. I went through BCT, AIT, and Infantry OCS with the kids.
It was strange. I was the youngest child of youngest children. My father was born during WWI. His brother fought in WWI. I was born during WWII and had two cousins KIA, one on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. Suddenly, I was the "old man".
The DIs molded those kids into good soldiers. There wasn't much they could do with me. Indeed, every one of them, including the cadre in OCS, were in awe of my advanced education and figured that I already knew what I was doing.
I didn't.
I wish they had taught me better. I might have been a better officer. I didn't understand anything about the chain of command. Instead, I bullied senior officers. Generals loved me. I got the job done (in fact, I was the one they turned loose on the hardest ones), but left a trail of resentment in my wake.
Ultimately, they couldn't RIF me fast enough. Even with a major general fighting for me, I was sent packing.
But, those kids got the life skills they needed in the Army. They learned new habits. They developed the maturity to make sacrifices, take chances, work together, cover each others backs. In a word, they became soldiers. If I ever have any job that needs doing, I'll take a veteran over a non-vet every time.
But for you, the DIs, the NCOs, and the commanding officers, they might never have gotten any "life skills". Indeed, I know many who've never served who never did...
I enlisted in the Army in 1966 fresh out of law school. They tried to talk me into accepting a direct commission as a captain in the JAG corps, but I refused for reasons too strange to discuss in less than 5000 words. I went through BCT, AIT, and Infantry OCS with the kids.
It was strange. I was the youngest child of youngest children. My father was born during WWI. His brother fought in WWI. I was born during WWII and had two cousins KIA, one on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. Suddenly, I was the "old man".
The DIs molded those kids into good soldiers. There wasn't much they could do with me. Indeed, every one of them, including the cadre in OCS, were in awe of my advanced education and figured that I already knew what I was doing.
I didn't.
I wish they had taught me better. I might have been a better officer. I didn't understand anything about the chain of command. Instead, I bullied senior officers. Generals loved me. I got the job done (in fact, I was the one they turned loose on the hardest ones), but left a trail of resentment in my wake.
Ultimately, they couldn't RIF me fast enough. Even with a major general fighting for me, I was sent packing.
But, those kids got the life skills they needed in the Army. They learned new habits. They developed the maturity to make sacrifices, take chances, work together, cover each others backs. In a word, they became soldiers. If I ever have any job that needs doing, I'll take a veteran over a non-vet every time.
But for you, the DIs, the NCOs, and the commanding officers, they might never have gotten any "life skills". Indeed, I know many who've never served who never did...
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CPT Brian Kent, PhD
I think the military has been doing this task since the beginning. Each year just a new batch of young service members.
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