Leadership as The Contemporary Issue in The Army

The contemporary issue facing the Army that I have chosen is within the category of leadership. The Army today is adapting to a multi-generational force and it’s distinctly different learning styles and motivations. We have gone from a workforce that actually wanted to work with a strong work ethic, to one that wants everything handed to them. The recruits coming in today rely on technology rather than analog, as many senior leaders were accustom to. With that said, a lot of leaders are afraid to make waves. We need to train our young Soldiers to be leaders and NCOs not Sergeants as they are the future of the Army.

We have gone from a workforce that actually wanted to work with a strong work ethic, to one that wants everything handed to them. This creates a strong challenge for leaders to get the same level of work production from “millennials” as that of their older counterparts. Today’s young folks tend to stand around waiting to be told what to do and when you look at the older junior Soldier they have taken initiative to find work to do. It seems that the younger aged generation would rather sit and play around on their cell phones instead of finding things to do which is quite a challenge to change as it is so habitual to be on cell phones.

The recruits coming in today rely on technology rather than analog, as many senior leaders were accustom to. Young Soldiers rely on google and the magnificent control F in order to find answers rather than actually reading the particular manuals and learning a little more. Although convenient, this does not help with learning the whole story versus just the particular answer. I have had Soldiers try to “quote the regulation” but at the end of the day they only read the one sub paragraph that they wanted versus the entire section which proved them to be wrong. We as leaders must train our Soldiers to read the whole thing instead of just what they want to “control F” this may sound simple but it is quite the challenge as they are so used to taking the easier left and not the hard right or more in depth course of action.

So many leaders are afraid to make waves. They just do what has always been done. Even if it is wrong they don't question it and keep it up. We are a military that is consistently evolving, some leaders don't like this and I think some are afraid of it. How we address today's problems is crucial to our success as an organization. We can't just use an old solution to a new problem, we need to focus on new solutions. Will old solutions work on new problems? In some cases I would have to say yes, but in most cases I think they would not. The reason is due to the difference in generations as the younger Soldiers will have a different perception or outlook on things and how they go. I would also have to say that it is not just the younger generations and is the individual as well. As I was executing my duties as a Drill Sergeant, I would find that you could scream and holler at the trainees all day long but it would only fix some individuals but not all. It is a challenge for leaders to find the right way of dealing with each individual Soldier.

Moving on to the latest and greatest what some tend to call the 'entitlement' generation. Soldiers will get upset that they weren't allowed to attend college during duty hours because they should be entitled to it. I have explained this to junior soldier’s that duty hours are duty hours and they can take classes in the evening or to reenlist for the school option which is a great incentive and allows Soldiers to attend classes as their place of duty and allows them to focus on school work and continuing education. This isn’t always the case as it all would depend upon the mission and OPTEMPO. We would a lot time, depending on the mission requirements for Soldiers to take exams for there classes or even CLEP tests, with prior planning of course. These are thing we need to take in to consideration as it will help with morale if the Soldiers understand that the mission comes first but at the same time, we can take care of them by allowing the to get schooling done as long as the mission gets done as well. This is being a leader in my mind but is also a challenge getting Soldiers to understand this.

We need to train our young Soldiers to be leaders and NCOs not Sergeants as they are the future of the Army. I have seen this a lot over the past 7-8 years where young squad/team leaders aren’t being NCOs and taking care of our Soldiers. It has been viewed that the younger generation constantly has the all about me mentality. What happen to the sacrificing your time as a leader to ensure your Soldiers are taken care of, i.e. quality of living whether it be barracks, on/off post housing, making sure during monthly counseling’s that all is well in regards to living, financial, and personal items are squared away. Too many NCOs today are not executing these tasks for instance checking in on your Soldiers over long weekends or just weekends in general. I have gone to barracks rooms on the weekend and asked Soldiers, “When was the last time your squad/team leader has checked on you during the weekend?” Their response a lot of the time will be several weeks ago which I find to be unacceptable and we must fix this issue and if we don’t, we as leaders will have failed and our leaders of tomorrow will fail as well.

The above paragraphs that are written are just a few challenges that I have viewed in my time in the Army, they may not be views from others but are what think some challenges are. From distinctly different learning styles and motivations as well as strong work ethic or lack thereof. I have mentioned that the recruits coming in today rely on technology rather than analog with focusing too much on cell phone use and the lack of initiative. I feel that we need to teach, coach and mentor our young Soldiers and future leaders to be NCOs not Sergeants and get back to our core being the pure backbone of the Army as they are the future and without them the Army may fail.