Personal Statement: My Role As A Senior Enlisted Leader

This concise paper addresses a lifetime of learning on part of the author and the gracious graduated squadron commander interviewee who leant his time and wisdom. In the next few paragraphs the three key elements that will be addressed include: the author’s leadership philosophy, elicited in the hot seat from the Group Commander, a summary of the author’s commander interview, and an analysis of the interview through the lens of the author’s own philosophy.

When I was a lieutenant, one of my mentors told me that the officers ‘job is first and foremost about leadership. For senior officers, then, one must say everything is about leading strategically. In order to be an effective strategic leader, my self-assessment has led me to focus on the following goals during this academic year at the Air War College (AWC): to improve my understanding of the strategic environment; to learn to be strategically relevant, to shape my ability to communicate effectively at the strategical level.

7. One may argue that new enlistees in the Coast Guard have a purpose and know what they want to do, but the facts that are presented are the Coast Guard is 3500 people short at the non-rate level. We are accepting everyone who walks through our recruiting doors, and still can fill our personnel gap. The US economy is struggling so new recruits’ do not have the exposure required to make an educated decision on a career path. The Coast Guard will make more efficient Petty Officers as long as future goals of its service align with the future goals of the

Purpose. This memorandum outlines my vision on leadership as a senior noncommissioned officer. It also defines my leadership philosophy and principles towards seniors, peers, and subordinates. My philosophy reflects the foundation of my personal and professional beliefs that makes us successful Soldiers.

Author. Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education. (2016d). EL05, Ethical Leadership. Maxwell-

By having so much exposure to young adults, I know that I will be one of the people that have a direct impact on them. I always find the greatest pleasure in hearing that I am their favourite senior cadet or that they are thankful that I pushed them beyond their limits. In addition to the sea cadet program, I am also involved in the leadership within my school. I am the head of my school’s leadership team in which I spearheaded my school’s annual grade nine orientation and I am currently in the midst of planning a weekend in May for leaders among my school board. As a leader within my school, I have gained countless opportunity to work with others. For example, during my school’s grade nine orientation, I know that many of the grade nine students looked up to me and would like to follow a path of interschool leadership. In planning a three day weekend for 350 leaders in the TCDSB, I have a fantastic role in working with eleven other individuals to prepare a fun-filled weekend that has always made a lasting impact on me in previous

“You are the new Leading Petty Officer”, a phrase uttered to me by a volunteer adult leader as a 15 year old Naval Sea Cadet following the division’s tragic loss of two petty officers, in what the media dubbed as the “Hail Mary Murder” (reference a). A year into my experience as a Sea Cadet, when the senior youth leader died at the hands of another cadet petty officer. A third senior cadet, who’s relationship was close to the other two, dropped out of the program as he couldn’t bear the trauma of coming back to the division. That left me next in the cadet chain of command. At 15 years old, this unfortunate event put me in charge of about 20 other teenagers, all reeling from the loss of our friends and youth leaders. To say nothing of the fact that getting a new role in this manner is terrible, it happened, and together we needed to help the unit recover and move on with our teenaged lives.

Throughout history our country has had many leaders. Whether you’re the leader of a business, military platoon, or the leader of our great nation you were withheld with the honor and trust to govern the actions and best interests of fellow Americans. But just because you have achieved the title of a leader does not by default make you a good leader. A good leader is a person who has risen above and beyond to show cooperation, perseverance, and respect to decisions made by those still above you at one point in time. “As a seasoned member of the military, you’ve risen through the ranks because you understood your mission and performed your duties with distinction. At this stage of your career, your most important contribution may be how well you take care of the service members and

Over the past sixteen years, I have had the distinct pleasure of being a Soldier and a Noncommissioned Officer in the United States Army. The opportunity of being a part of this great organization has truly been a once in a lifetime experience. I have always sought out challenging positions, which is why this particular assignment is so appealing to me. I was a Drill Sergeant for two years, and I am currently working as an Observer Coach Trainer with 1-410th Brigade Engineer Battalion. The opportunity to work with the Defense Attaché System (DAS) would be a new and stimulating experience in my military career. I enjoy traveling and the idea of working with different cultures is an extremely appealing prospect. I am very interested in

I wish to enroll in the Army ROTC Program because of the positive impact it has already made in my life. My father was an Army ROTC cadet and he ended up serving twenty-four years for our amazing country. Growing up on army bases, I was surrounded by success that came from hard work. Every soldier had their houses paid for, but with that comes the risk of Uncle Sam requesting their presence on the battle field. The ROTC program would be the threshold to my future; I wish to one day becoming a doctor for pediatrics. Army doctors delivered me and I want to repay that back by delivering and taking care of fellow soldiers' children. The STEM program that is associated with ROTC will help me in achieving my goal of becoming an Army doctor. After

After having attended the Introduction to Strategic Studies Course in last two weeks, I have gotten a clear understanding of how much impact a senior leader could have in his power to influence an organization’s preparedness and effectiveness. The well-suited example to attribute this is General Schwarzkopf’s decision to change the U.S. CENTCOM’s strategic focus from the Soviet oriented threat to Iraq focused threat before the First Gulf War. Without this strategic shift and the follow-up contingency plan, planning of the war effort would be time consuming and could require enormous effort which might hinder overall operation to take place and succeed before desert heat and Islamic holiday Ramadan. Broadly speaking, Schwarzkopf’s timely and insightful decision enabled the coalition to accomplish their

2. One great leader in my career I will always reflect upon as a significant influence to me: an old, grouchy QMC and was my very first Chief. He was quiet, socially awkward, and routinely hard to get along with since his demeanor was never known to be ‘friendly’. However, even with these setbacks, he did not remove himself from the contention as a leader as he most certainly was. He required much of his staff: long hours, attention to detail, inspection-ready uniforms, among others. It may seem ironic, but people were always ready and willing to work for him. The main reason I look to him as being a

I had the desire to become an Air Force officer since the day that I joined in January 2013. I've always wanted to inspire others using my leadership abilities. Before I decided to enlist I went to school fulltime and volunteered at the VA Hospital. I did this for a couple years before becoming a full time emergency dispatcher, where I actually learned the meaning of stress. I was there for a few years and climbed up the ranks fast. I became a trainer and supervisor in just 7 months. I was in charge of approximately 10 emergency dispatchers and I managed to get an "Atta Boy Award" for a job well done. After three years I got the yearning to serve in the military like my father. Consequently, I decided to marry my high school sweetheart and enlist in the Air Force. I am so grateful to the Air Force because they have given me so much opportunities. I owe the Air Force so much, and I would love to repay them by becoming an officer. To become part of that

As military members we are educated to think very linearly about strategy. For many years we have been trained to have a strategic thought process based on the use of a methodology that espouses three major steps: Ends (Objectives), Ways (Strategic Concepts), and Means (Resources). (Barber 1997)

In the article, “It’s your ship: A Navy commander’s grassroots leadership (2003), a Navy commander, Captain D. Michael Abrashoff, took command of his ship, the USS Benfold, encountering very low morale throughout the ship. He utilized what he called his grassroots leadership strategy to raise the ship to be the best ship in the Pacific Fleet. While in command, he incorporated three principles that he used as guidelines for his leadership strategy.