How can I help raise morale in my unit?

Cadet PVT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 04 May 2015 21:53:36 -0400

So my ROTC unit is pretty much dead in morality and I want to know a couple ways to help everyone want to like ROTC and want to participate.

Response by TSgt Joshua Copeland made May 4 at 2015 10:04 PM

TSgt Joshua Copeland — Mon, 04 May 2015 22:04:09 -0400

If your dead in morality, maybe you all should not be in ROTC. However, I hope you mean morale. If that is the case, dive through the history of your Det! Look for the heroes that have come before. Make it a competition to find the most decorated alum!

Response by Col Private RallyPoint Member made May 4 at 2015 10:22 PM

Col Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 04 May 2015 22:22:44 -0400

DO something fun like coordinate an obstacle course run together (tough mudder, spartan, etc). Talk to your Det leadership and see if you can get it to count for a PT session. You can also train together to prep for it, and plan a cookout for afterwords. Or you could look up a local Fisher House and go cook for them. I took my flight there every summer to cook. The families at Fisher House loved it!

Response by SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S. made May 4 at 2015 10:32 PM

SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S. — Mon, 04 May 2015 22:32:27 -0400

Morale = Mission
no mission, no morale.
find a mission, find morale.

Response by Lt Col Private RallyPoint Member made May 4 at 2015 10:34 PM

Lt Col Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 04 May 2015 22:34:08 -0400

Your question is vague and open ended hence you have received some simple one dimensional answers. First, foremost to solve any problem you need to identify the root causes to it. Why is morale in your unit poor? Does your unit have a leadership issue? How are the cadets treated in your unit? Does the leadership both cadet and cadre treat the lower echelons like garbage? Are people not being taken care of? Does your unit have cliques where only the cool kids advance if you are not in the group you are marginalized? These are the things that you need to find out. I can gander a simple guess on my experiences on why an ROTC unit starts to falter.

When I was in ROTC the one morale killer was when the Cadet Leadership and officer staff forgot that our primary responsibility is school first the unit is a close second. If unit activities start interfering in school studies than that caused a lot of consternation. Its a fine balance to make activities to bolster team building and unit cohesion to going over board. Not everyone is on the schedules or has the same academic load. Someone doing 15 credit hours in basket weaving may have more time on their hands to do extra stuff compared to the engineering student doing 18 credit hours and is staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning. Some people are holding jobs to offset the cost of school, that gets overlooked a lot. Those are some considerations. Obviously there are mandatory requirements that are prescribed by your cadet command those you have to work around or get the hell out.

When I was a cadet wing commander how did I solve these things? First, with my staff we secured money from the school student union to create a study lab with updated computers where people could do work in between ROTC and other classes in our building. We also put in a morale room got funds for a pool table and a TV/AV system. We held movie nights and pool tournaments. These were completely voluntary. Small things like that help to get the unit together. Not saying you have figure out how to do these things exactly but there are ways to get people together.

How do you mitigate problems in morale? Have unit study sessions. Do activities outside the unit that have nothing to do with ROTC. Sometimes its best to close the "Hangar Doors, stop the shop talk and get to know each other out of uniform. If you can build on the interpersonal relationships and make it a comfortable environment where everyone feels included than your morale will go up. There are some things out of your control, like if you have a toxic cadet staff or officer leadership. But in the scope you can manage you can at least make a difference in your span of control.

I am shooting dark, but if I have come close those are some of the things to consider.

Response by Cadet PVT Private RallyPoint Member made May 4 at 2015 10:41 PM

Cadet PVT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 04 May 2015 22:41:35 -0400

Sorry guys I meant morale In my ROTC unit.

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made May 4 at 2015 10:52 PM

LTC Jason Mackay — Mon, 04 May 2015 22:52:51 -0400

Oscar, need to get a handle on why morale is low...if morality is low, blame your parents and find a new profession.

Is it because the cadets are not in it to succeed? Sorry, can't help there. Being an officer is a lot harder than being a cadet. People will drift in an out of ROTC. The key is for the small group who are in it to win it to stick together and make it work. This will attract others who are in it and those who want to try.

Is it because you are miserable? Can't help you there. Embrace the suck or find a new path. There is a certain amount of suck to gauge your leadership. I am not talking about hazing or demeaning people, those are incongruent with Army Values.

I was in a ROTC program that was a cross enrolled extension center of an extension center. We had less than a platoon. We got left out. We found out last about everything. We were never selected to be key leaders. We were not PT studs. We were in a cheap state school, our parent BN was an expensive operation. We had every reason to just hang it up. Bump that! Everytime we went to the field, we brought it. Most of our guys were prior service or SMP Cadets. Our Company HQ was at another state school, and those guys were green to gold from 10th SF Group. We were tight. We hung out with each other. We partied together. We did PT together. We knew our stuff and taught each other what ever we learned. In peer environments we represented ourselves well, helping others with basic skills, including from our parent BN. I used to be the Guy for the M60. I passed what I knew on.

The best you can do, as Will suggests in his post, is lead from the front. Take an interest in these cadets. Help them get better. Teach them what they need to succeed. If you show others you got what they want, and you will help them get it, it leads to cohesion, cohesion leads to morale. Train hard, but don't waste time. Don't do things designed to screw with people. Demonstrate that what you are doing is valuable and is linked to a commissioned skill or a pre commissioning requirement.

Response by 2LT Private RallyPoint Member made May 4 at 2015 11:56 PM

2LT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 04 May 2015 23:56:40 -0400

It might be as simple as getting your ROTC buddies go out on a shooting range on a weekend or go eat something together right after coming back from FTX's, etc. Since handling academics, social issues, and ROTC can be tough on a lot of ppl, the students can usually deal with hardships through simple bonding moments with fellow cadets... go out and do something together socially outside of ROTC.

It's also kinda cool for everyone to go down to chow hall and eat breakfast right after morning PTs. This is a good way to get to know each other in your ROTC platoon.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made May 5 at 2015 12:03 AM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 05 May 2015 00:03:01 -0400

The phrase "inmates running the asylum" reminds me of my ROTC experiences. We did some really silly stuff simply because our Cadet leadership thought it was a good idea.

Here's a few suggestions I have:

As my 1SG likes to say: "An informed Soldier is a happy Soldier." The more you can keep your junior Cadets informed typically the happier they'll be.

Don't waste anyone's time.

Be able to articulate why you're doing something. I remember I stood out in formation in the rain during an ROTC training event for the better part of 20 minutes for no discernible reason. Because I said so should be the absolute last thing to come out of your mouth.

Response by COL Charles Williams made May 5 at 2015 1:07 AM

COL Charles Williams — Tue, 05 May 2015 01:07:52 -0400

Are you asking about Morale or Morality? Two very different issues. Morality, your cadre need to be made aware of and need to deal with. Morale is more of a Cadet issue, which you and your peers can figure out ways to make it more fun to be there.