[March 29, 2017] There was a small group of us U.S. Army Infantry second lieutenants sitting next to a M60A3 Patton Main Battle Tank when one of our black-hat instructors came by. Calling out one of the lieutenants, he said that the officer had failed to meet the standards on his second retake of the Land Navigation exam and was being sent home. Saying things others don’t want to hear is what leaders sometimes have to do.
Leadership means doing a lot of things and among them are enforcing standards, upholding institutional values, disseminating a vision, and explaining complex issues with clarity. In any scenario there will be individuals who either fail to understand or have to be told bad news. Occasionally it makes those people better at their job and other times not.
During an exam on Nuclear-Biological-Chemical Attacks in school at Fort Benning, we were overheard the student body executive officer call two lieutenant students out of the room. They did not return. Later we discovered, much to our shock, that both had been caught cheating on that exam. They were sent to a review board, found guilty, told to clean out their belongings, and were on a commercial airline home; all in the same day.
The expectations of a U.S. Army officer doesn’t really differ that much from any other profession. There are rules and regulations that govern behavior and standing operating procedures that guide common actions. Violations are not tolerated well. For example, as lieutenants we were told to “never lie, cheat, or steal.” There’s more to it than that but this was about as clear as you can get on how to cooperate and graduate.
We all wanted to get the heck out of school and to our new units as quickly as possible. Graduating was the key and most of us were focused on that one goal. Some wanted to have fun with the ladies in downtown Columbus, Georgia (the city adjacent to Fort Benning); the same Columbus that George S. Patton of World War II fame took his tanks so he could spring some of his soldiers out of jail. He informed them they would now spend time in his military prison.
Like Patton, we sometimes had to tell people things they didn’t want to hear. It was a beacon on how to behave properly and it was clear. When that happens, organizations operate more smoothly and efficiently. The people in it have less stress and more confidence.
Fortunately, all my friends and I graduated; some of us with honors. Those time are some of those that I remember like it was yesterday. Why? I don’t know. Maybe it was because our instructors had to tell us on occasion things we didn’t want to hear.
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