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To: Midwesterner53
Many times the greatest learning comes from the hardest, most painful and difficult lessons.

Learn from your mistakes, from your naivety, and you'll be much better prepared for the even greater challenges that will surely come along.

16 posted on 09/16/2023 7:01:22 AM PDT by glennaro (Never give up ... never give in ... never surrender ... and enjoy every minute of doing so.)
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To: glennaro
Many times the greatest learning comes from the hardest, most painful and difficult lessons.

One of the greatest learning experiences was when I flunked my first ARTEP (tac eval). It didn't matter that I had just been handed the platoon, nor did it matter that 3 of my 4 squad leaders were ROAD (Retired On Active Duty). There would have been a different outcome had they chosen the platoon I had been leading for 4+ months.

Nope, it all came down on my head, as it should have. I subscribe to the definition of leader as, "A leader is responsible for everything his unit does or FAILS TO DO." I learned my lesson, never had a problem after that...took 4 more platoons through their paces over the next two years.

O/T, but I believe this is what's missing in our military today. LTs, butterbars in particular, need the opportunity to learn their craft, and learn from their mistakes. Platoon Sergeants can only do so much in training their Platoon Leaders. My 3 platoon sergeants all had at least one tour in Nam, they were invaluable in training me.

It lead to a funny moment in a battery level evaluation. We had a new First Sergeant, who had 25 years in the infantry, and 3 tours in Nam. He came up to me (I had to wear the XO hat), and was outwardly uncomfortable. "LT, I don't know a damn thing about Air Defense Artillery, what am I supposed to do?"

It was the first, and probably only time a senior NCO asked for my advice...lol. "Top, you know how to run a Command Post, don't you? That's all you have to do, let me take care of the ADA bull$hit." That's all it took.

That's the part of my Army experience that I truly loved, it was a great 8 years of my life.

115 posted on 09/16/2023 11:00:07 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Gonzales! Come and Take It!)
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