Military Counseling Philosophy

(2004) elucidated that the significant motive leading to the avoidance of mental health treatment was their profound fear of being branded as “weak” or “unreliable.” Consequently, they were also afraid that they could lose respect and trust from the fellow service members, including their superior officers (Hoge et al., 2004). It is apparent that, especially due to the high value place on physical and mental strength in the military, being labeled can be extremely detrimental to service members. “Perhaps the most significant way in which stigma impedes care seeking” (Corrigan, 2004, p.616). Respectively, it is part of distinctive military culture that they do not like to allow neither time nor space for weakness (Nash, Silva, & Litz, 2009). After all, majority of men and women who joined the service during the wartime were rather inspired to be part of the America’s fighting force (Figley & Nash,

When I went on mobilization to Fort Lewis, Washington and left my son in the care of my parents, I thought my parental duties would be set aside until I returned home. Unfortunately, the soldiers of 351st Ordnance Company would prove me wrong with their excessive alcohol consumption, commonly term “binge drinking,” and destructive behaviors. I would then spend the next year sharing the responsibility with four other junior noncommission officers in the task of taking care of soldiers. Despite the efforts of myself and the others we were not fully prepared to handle some of the outrageous events and lack of engagement from the leadership that would challenge us during the tour. My abilities as a junior noncommission officer and the understanding of leadership were redefined and I learned exactly what it meant to ensure soldiers have proper guidance, leadership, positive morale, and well-being.

This past year, I had the opportunity to serve as the acting Detachment SGT for 629th Military Intelligence Battalion. During my time as DET SGT, I began thinking about my leadership philosophy and what it would mean to my soldiers. I thought of a number of ideas, however the one word that came to mind was mentorship. Early in my career I had the privilege of being mentored by SGT Ronald Lott. He was an older NCO who was about to retire from the National Guard.

Every uniformed Army professional knows the Soldier’s Creed. The tenth line of the Soldier’s Creed - “I am an expert and I am a professional,” is a powerful statement recited during significant occasions including enlistments, graduations, first formations, promotion boards, change of command ceremonies, and deployment ceremonies. The NCO Creed even includes the bold statement, “No one is more professional than I,” in the opening line. For these words to ring true, the Army must deliver training sufficient to certify professional Soldiers and leaders at all levels. The Army’s ability to recognize this need and adapt its methods speaks volumes for the Profession of Arms. The three components of the Army’s leadership model -

Anything that can impact military readiness can be reported to a member’s commanding officer. A sad result this as caused many a service member to become very distrustful of both mental health and family support personnel. Many civilian counselors have resorted to promising service members that requests for treatment will not be reported to their supervisors. Fortunately while the stigma still exists some progress has been made about shifting attitudes up and down the ranks towards getting the necessary help. (Hall, 2008) This attitude often stems from the fact that if a member, especially one in command of other service members, makes a bad judgment call due to having a mental health issue it could very well lead to a significant loss of both life and government property. Many view or used to view seeking the help of a mental health expert as showing the inability of making sound calls in the field. (Schreiber & McEnay,

My leadership philosophy revolves entirely around the Army Values. In every action I take as a leader, I assess whether or not it lines up with the Army Values and the potential impacts. I have had a variety of leadership assignments during my career, all requiring a different leadership approach, spanning from team leader through platoon sergeant. My conflict resolution skills have greatly evolved through my twelve years in the Army, from rudimentary conversations to in depth problem solving. My professional development has had a profound effect on my leadership abilities, from NCOPD’s to mentorship from senior non-commissioned officers (NCO’s).

A service member’s emotional and psychological issues are not like malfunctions of a piece of equipment and must not be treated as a troubleshooting problem in a technical manual. And yet this seems to be the only way the military, as a whole, knows how to address the issue of a service members mental health. It requires a holistic approach that is not currently embraced by the military. Historically, the military has been ill-equipped to handle the shifting nature of the psychological issues created by introducing a service member to the battlefield.

I quote straight from the Creed of the Noncommissioned Officer, “My two basic responsibilities will always be uppermost in my mind, accomplishment of my mission and the welfare of my soldiers.” I am disgraced to admit that I failed to comply with this line of the very outline of my role as a noncommissioned officer. I believe that every noncommissioned officer should do more than recite the words for a board. They should live by those words. If there is ever any doubt as to what my responsibilities are as a leader I always refer back to the Creed of the Noncommissioned Officer. I find there are no better words to describe a good leader than those found within that creed. The fact that I did not live by those words shames me as a leader. However, it also strengthens me. It shows me where my faults lie and what I need to improve upon to ensure I am always doing my very best as a leader.

As an officer in the United States Army, it has been imperative for me to understand every facet of leadership and why it remains important to be an effective leader. During this course, I have learned some valuable lessons about myself as a leader and how I can improve on my leadership ability in the future. The journal entries along with the understanding of available leadership theories have been an integral part of my learning during this course. For all of the journals and assessments that I completed, I feel it has given me a good understanding of my current leadership status and my future potential as a leader. All of the specific assessments looked at several areas in regards to leadership; these assessments covered several

In 1996, Military Review published an article that stated ~85% of Lieutenants reported that they receive support form counseling less than 1 week before their OER is due. Although over two decades old, Training and Doctrine Command recently published an EXORD that requires all raters and senior raters to record in a memo or an excel spreadsheet the dates that each of your required counseling’s have taken place. Each Center of Excellence is required to submit this information through the G-1 on a semiannual basis. One might ask, if we are professionally developing Soldiers as we say we are why this extra requirement, especially since all annual evaluation reports capture such information in their support forms.

Many participants acknowledged a desire for counseling, or that they attempted counseling but had a negative experience. Across participants it was noted that many people who were expected to provide help simply minimized or dismissed the issue, resulting in further marginalization for the participant. It is therefore crucial for clinicians working with this population to avoid dismissing abusive behaviors as a result of stress or implying that the client may be at fault. Additionally, recognition of basic cultural factors that military wives face, such as the stress of deployments, role shifts during times of reintegration, isolation from friends and family, and financial issues, is essential (Brancaforte, 2000; Burk,

This counseling helped me grow as a NCO because it made good points that I never thought of when acting in this situation. First of all the fact that I, someone who is not a doctor cannot make a proper evaluation of someone in order to assume that there health problem is no big deal. And by acting like is no big deal I could have made the situation take a turn for the worse. Also I neglected to remember the importance of knowing my soldiers general where abouts at all times whether at work in the field and even at home.

In the report from the Pentagon’s Task Force on Mental Health they reported that a significant deficit in the military’s ability to provide their personnel with adequate care. Some causes of the lack of quality and the gaps in care they found were due to in sufficient military health professional which resulted in limited services being provided to personnel. The Task Force also reported that, though networking with non-military mental health is necessary to meet the needs, the military’s policies, procedures, insufficient oversight, and lack of adequate financial reimbursement where considerable stumbling blocks in creating the network resources the need. With these administrative and financial issues limiting or breaking down partnerships between the military and non-military

Leaders owe their soldiers the best possible road map to success. Leaders help their soldiers solve complex problems by guiding them to workable solutions through effective counseling. Developmental counseling is subordinate-centered communication that outlines actions necessary for soldiers to achieve individual and organizational goals and objectives. It is vital to the Army's future that all leaders conduct professional growth counseling with their soldiers to develop the leaders of tomorrow. Leaders counsel their subordinate NCOs and junior enlisted soldiers. There may be situations where officers counsel junior enlisted soldiers. The point is this: every leader has an obligation to develop their subordinates through developmental counseling. The Army values play a very important role. Simply put the values of loyalty, duty and selfless service require leaders to counsel their soldiers. The values of honor, integrity and personal courage require both leaders and soldiers to give straightforward feedback and, if possible, goal-oriented tasks or solutions. The Army value of respect requires us all to find the best way to communicate that feedback and goals. Some soldiers may perceive counseling as an adverse action, perhaps because that is their experience. Developmental counseling most definitely is not supposed to be an adverse action. Regular developmental counseling is the Army's most important tool for developing future

After 18 years as U.S. Army team member, I have developed a core set of values which I consider integral to the success of the Army. The United States Army is a value based organization. In order to ensure continued success, every member of the Army team needs to ask themselves, "Do I live by my values and making decisions consistent with these values when interacting with those around me?" Everyone has their own values, but as a member of the Army team our values, should nest in the Army’s core values of Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage to ensures mission accomplishment. We are all volunteers, so we want to be here. Every day we will strive to do our very best in support the Army soldier and mission. As a leader, all members of the Army team are important and essential to the success of our mission. These members include our Active Duty Military, our Civilian and Contractor colleagues as well as their families. I cannot over emphasize the importance of quality leadership. What fosters a good working environment is recognition of success, and discussion to rectify sub-par performance. I will provide a vision for where we are going and what we are trying to accomplish. In that effort, I believe in regularly scheduled performance counseling sessions to cover the good which should be sustained as well as the areas which need improvement.