At this time a year ago (Valentine's Day) I was at the Embassy and FOB Prosperity in Baghdad. It was a nice stay: I flew around almost the entire country to get down to the embassy, I had nice accommodations, I got to watch Mubarak's resignation live with a friend a minute after we flipped on the TV... I got to celebrate my birthday with a great NCO, and I took the standardized portion of the Foreign Service Exam... I really can't complain about any aspect of the trip. That's not really what I wanted to talk about though...
I guess what I really wanted to express was how interesting it is to be in a leadership position within the Army Reserve. All my life, I feel like I've looked up to other people, seeking their advice and their approval, and now it's the flip side of the coin, and I have people looking up to me. Soldiers ending their sentences in "Sergeant" whenever they talk to me, considering I was a Specialist forever until last fall, is still taking some getting used to, but it's a meaningful change for me. It makes me more conscious that it's my turn to take care of other people, and it gives me more confidence - I'm prone to curl up into a shell when I'm under a lot of stress, but not as much anymore! When I was in Quantico for a few days for some joint training, I thought I would be completely intimidated by all the higher ranking NCOs Army-side, and the Marines... but I don't think I really was, and part of it came from actually having relevant Iraq experience.
Two years ago I went to the Army's "Warrior Leader Course," formerly the "Primarily Leadership Development Course" which is a lot cooler sounding I think... anyways, I'll be honest: I didn't get a whole lot out of the structured portions of the class. However, I learned a lot about the intangibles of leadership through interactions with the different instructors and observing their different leadership styles. My two "small group leaders" were very laid-back, yet purposeful about their instruction with us, and emphasized critical thinking over rote learning by the book. Sure we had to perform different tasks to standard, but it wasn't thumped over our heads unless their leadership made us do it... and in the end, our platoon performed the most effectively out of the six or so total in the class.
My goal, though I might screw up the execution, is to be professional while keeping my light-hearted nature intact, to fuse "Yaobert" more into "Sergeant Yao" if you will.
I guess what I really wanted to express was how interesting it is to be in a leadership position within the Army Reserve. All my life, I feel like I've looked up to other people, seeking their advice and their approval, and now it's the flip side of the coin, and I have people looking up to me. Soldiers ending their sentences in "Sergeant" whenever they talk to me, considering I was a Specialist forever until last fall, is still taking some getting used to, but it's a meaningful change for me. It makes me more conscious that it's my turn to take care of other people, and it gives me more confidence - I'm prone to curl up into a shell when I'm under a lot of stress, but not as much anymore! When I was in Quantico for a few days for some joint training, I thought I would be completely intimidated by all the higher ranking NCOs Army-side, and the Marines... but I don't think I really was, and part of it came from actually having relevant Iraq experience.
Two years ago I went to the Army's "Warrior Leader Course," formerly the "Primarily Leadership Development Course" which is a lot cooler sounding I think... anyways, I'll be honest: I didn't get a whole lot out of the structured portions of the class. However, I learned a lot about the intangibles of leadership through interactions with the different instructors and observing their different leadership styles. My two "small group leaders" were very laid-back, yet purposeful about their instruction with us, and emphasized critical thinking over rote learning by the book. Sure we had to perform different tasks to standard, but it wasn't thumped over our heads unless their leadership made us do it... and in the end, our platoon performed the most effectively out of the six or so total in the class.
My goal, though I might screw up the execution, is to be professional while keeping my light-hearted nature intact, to fuse "Yaobert" more into "Sergeant Yao" if you will.
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