Some Things I Learned from a Decade of Military Service pt 2.

1. Respect starts from the way you address people

This obviously has been lost to the last two generations of Americans. Try this out. The next time you greet someone say “Hello Sir” or “Hello Ma’am” as opposed to “hey” or as I was greeted at Walmart recently “What’s up”

Instead of saying “What” when you did not understand a comment, say “Excuse me” Test this and note if people respond differently.

2. You are in fact judged on your appearance. If you choose to look like shit, people will choose to treat you like shit.

Up until a few years ago, all four services wore leather boots. Highly shined leather boots. A mark of excellence and personal pride. We all used to starch and iron our uniforms. Appearance was everything.

As a side note, this trend has went away with wash and wear uniforms and suede boots, and I believe we lost something there…

Standing in front of a formation, I could point out the sharpest people within 2 second. Who had highly shined boots, who had a crisp clean pressed uniform? Who had a clean cut hair style, and a cleanly shaven face? Whoever that was, that was the guy I wanted to work with.

Dress like this on a US Army base and you will get your face tore off

Do you think this is just a military culture thing? Wrong. I get the whole deal were people dress in a way to “express themselves” I do not get why someone would expect others to respect them as they dress like a bum. Want to make a good impression? It starts when someone’s eye balls meet you. Look good, you are treated good. Look shitty, well I am sure you understand how that all goes…

3. Never pass on training, ever.

Opportunity knocks and when it does open the damn door. Never pass on a training school. Personal case in point.

In November 2002 I was asked if I wanted to go to MK-19 school (automatic grenade machine gunners course) but my job was flying sweeps with a helo crew. Which meant I would never post with a MK-19, not even once. At the time I wondered if it would be a waste of time, but I took the school anyway.

The entire course was full of NCOs on their way to South Korea. I got a chance to meet these guys and work with them for a week going through the course. One month later I got orders to South Korea (no relation, I had submitted for them in May)

When I arrived in South Korea, I was immediately tracked to go to sensor school and take the TASS program. Who was the guy who did that? One of the guys from the course, who knew I could handle it.

Going through TASS put me in contact with a guy who later become one of the primary TASS administrators for central Iraq. When I arrived in Iraq in 2005, I was one of 4 men who had been trained on the current operating system. That allowed me other opportunities that year.

This snowball kept rolling. This is one small example, I could go on here for days. The point is simple. Never say no to training. Going to a machine gun school got me to a point where I know a damn electronic security system inside and out. That put me in some interesting situations over my career.

So, never pass on training!

4. if you don’t lock it up, you are requesting it gets stolen.

Set the stage: 2004, I am working the law enforcement desk at Kadena Airbase (18th SFS, Okinawa Japan) the largest military installation in the pacific.

Says a whiny looking SSgt : “Senior Airman Glass I have a crime to report, My wallet was stolen tonight”

“Your wallet was stolen, now, tonight?

“Yes”

” Where was it, and was it locked up?”

“In my car parked at the base gym, No it was not.”

“No? Well then it’s your fault asshole.”

“Wait, you’re not going to do anything about?

“Well, I am going to write a report about how an idiot left their wallet sitting on a car seat with the windows down and doors unlocked at the base gym. Said idiot has no idea exactly when crime occurred, no description of the subject, and surely has a cloudy memory of wallets said contents.  Does that sound accurate?”

“You’re not suppose to talk to me like that! This is really important, my wallet was stolen! Who is your supervisor!”

“TSgt Glover, would you like to speak with him?”

Enters TSgt Glover, a big black dude with less tact and patience than I.

TSgt G: “What’s the problem, Glass mouthing off to you?”

“Yes Sir, he said that my wallet being stolen was my fault, and called me an asshole”

“Was your car locked?”

“No”

“Sounds like it’s your fault asshole”

In the military, anything which is not secured is basically sending out a beacon for some asshole to steal it. What shit have I had stolen in the past?

My damn Playstation 1 controller in the dorm in 2002. I left the door open to the room, stepped out to cook a bowl of ramen noodles, and bam it was gone. Who steals a controller??

My wedding band and favorite shower towel in 2005 when I was in a shower in Iraq. Left it sitting on a towel on the bench. 2 minute cold shower, and walked out to no ring, no towel. Thanks a lot assholes. I am still pissed off about that towel!

My last can of monster in Iraq in 2007. The damn PX was getting sold out in 2 hours on the resupply days, and I sent a guy over there just to get a single can of Monster. I set it on the bench by my shack, and one of you bastards drank it. I will never forgive you, whoever you are, to have drank my only can of monster. 20 hours later my skull would get fractured in a riot, and I only wonder had I drank that can of monster would I have avoided the injury. It still haunts me to this day…

In 2009, one of dickheads took my shiny pen which was sitting on my desk. I am certain it was one of you who wanted your leave paperwork signed. You needed a pen, you saw my pen, and off it went. I miss that pen…

So basically anything can be stolen if it is not secured. What kind of world do we live in when someone will take your last can of Monster? A bleak outlook for future generations, that is certain.

5. Know when to shut up

I don’t know how many examples I need to get you to understand this, I have a lot of examples where I should have known to shut up. Basically sensation and movement are coupled- when you think you should keep your mouth shut it is a good idea to follow that sensation. Biofeedback does not fail. Had I known that years ago I would have spared myself plenty of times standing at attention answering questions in a “Yes Sir, No Sir” format.

6. You become the people you associate with

I have held my current (and last) duty position as SF trainer for the last two years. One of the things you get to do as a trainer is work with all of the new people as they arrive in the unit.

Over the last two years I have predicted with an 80% accuracy which new troops would make it their first year and who would be kicked out of the service. My method is simple but accurate. I evaluate who they associate with and what those people do.

Nearly without fail–if someone associates themselves with low quality people they will become low quality and it will happen fast.

You become the people you surround yourself with.

A friend shared something with me two years ago . Take the 9 closet people you associate with, and add up their annual income. Now divide by 9. That average is what you make. Fairly accurate.

Are you friends right now positive on the move people, or are they stuck? All I need to know is that, and I know exactly where you are. Keep telling yourself you are doing ok, the numbers rarely lie.

Consider this point strongly, and put it to the test.

7. Leadership 101: Set clear expectations and consequences:

Clear expectations makes you easy to work for

Let people know what you want, and let them know what happens if it does not go down that way.

What we all hate, is working with someone who does not know what they want done. It sucks, so be the solution in your own circle.

8. Leadership 102: If you are doing your job someone should be pissed off at you.

If you are leading a group and you can honestly say everyone is happy with you, well that means you are a pushover and you are weak.

if you are not catching flak somewhere, it means you are letting people slide and people are pulling fast ones on you. if you find this causes you grief, you are not ready to lead and it’s time for you to follow again.

Critical point here: being an asshole does not count as being a good leader. If everyone hates you, you’re not doing a good job either. Try and find a balance. Also, keeping your boss happy is not your damn job, getting the job done is your damn job. We will count that last one as leadership 103. A gift from me to you.

9. No job is more important than another

Your job is not more important than someone else’s job. Everyone thinks their job is the most important, but that is complete BS. Case in point, let’s examine the USAF

In the USAF, pilots rule, everyone else sucks. Yes we all get it, you fly a plane. It’s cool, I agree. It is very apparent us lowly Law Enforcement and Maintainers do not rock as much as you do. So tell me what happens when a finance troop does not do their job? Oh wait, you don’t get paid! That sucks Sir. What if a maintainer does not fix that awesome plane? Ah yes it stays parked on the ramp. What if the Engineers do not fix your toilet when it breaks? Yes, now you have to go pee outside or dookie at the neighbor’s house, definitely not cool.

I can play this game with any service, and it is immediately the same thing in the civilian world.

You are not better than the 17 year girl at Starbucks who serves your precious mocha chocolate foo-foo coffee, you are not better than the old guy greeting you at Wal-mat (in fact he maybe a Vietnam vet who you owe a thank you too)  You are not better than the guys who pick up your trash weekly, and you are not better then the kid who serves you those golden french fries.

These guys are valuable, so stop looking down on them!

If they did not do that job, your quality of life would be different. I am not saying go thank them, just be cool. Your job is no more important than theirs and they are doing the best they can, just like you are.

Yup, I can write these articles for days.

ATG

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