By Rick Van Arnam
Bagram, Afghanistan
There are certain habits leaders should master which require a sense of timing and an empathetic heart. One of these habits is acknowleding the end of uncommon experiences helping those involved to see a future made brighter because of a challenging journey. I’ve been fortunate this year to participate in two such acknowledgements one as an observer and one as the leader.
While on mid-tour leave back in June, I joined the graduating class of Cardigan Mountain School as they climbed the mountain from which the school took its name. This tradition took place at the end of the day and the headmaster seized a few moments to reflect on the significance of their pending graduation and reminded the boys that it may be the last time that every member of the class together shared the same sunset. Pictures were taken, hugs were had and parting words passed between classmates, teachers and family members to become permanent memories sure to long outlast the final rays of the day’s light.
Fast forward to November 30th when I asked my Intelligence team to assemble in the commander’s conference room in our headquarter’s building located on Bagram Airfield. It would be the last time that this group would assemble as a team and I wanted to thank them for making this mission successful and let them know how significant their service has been. Like the now widespread Cardigan Mountain School students, this group was about to re-deploy scattering across the country and back to hometowns making perfect attendance at a future reunion near impossible. They needed to drink in the full weight and measure of what I was about to say.
There is likely not a Soldier today who hasn’t been told, “Thank you.” Ordinary and unknown citizens extend thanks in airports and public places with comfortable frequency. General Officers and Command Sergeant Majors are very good at thanking Soldiers often giving out their coin – a nice tradition unique to the Army. And VIPs, including the President of the United States, always request an assembly in large part to say, “Thanks.” Especially since the end of the Vietnam war, there is one characteristic that is distinguishing about this country. Americans are free to withdraw their support of American policy and sometimes do. Americans are also free to withdraw their support of American soldiers and, I believe, never again will. I think that is why being thanked for serving has become so common – and sincere.
But I wanted to thank the soldiers with whom I served because I had shared this uncommon experience with them and knew, better than anyone, that their excellent work was done amidst struggles and sacrifices. I’ve had the advantage and privelege of position most often serving as a quiet listener and as their interested leader. I overheard challenges with kids, struggles with schedules under a single-parent roof and saw tears of sadness when a loved one passed and no leave or plane or plans could get someone home in time to pay one’s respects. There were days when a Soldier came into my office, shut the door and asked for some time off to get through something that was upsetting or unsettling. There were stretches of long hours brought on by harasssing rockets and even one complex attack. May 19th, the day of the “BAF attack,” will always mean something for those in that conference room. No award, no evaluation report, no public recognition really, in my estimation, means as much as sincere appreciation from someone with whom you have served and have shared so much. So I looked into the eyes of those assembled and jokingly thanked them for assembling at a mandatory meeting. And then I thanked them….as sincerely as I knew how. As a group – one last time.
As much as I hope my Soldiers felt my sincerity, it is even more important that they understand how significant their serivce has been. So I shared with them some of the same language Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has been using in speeches to highlight a few remarkable statistics describing our all volunteer force. On September 30, 2010, Mr. Gates spoke to students at Duke University and said that, “The Iraq and Afghan campaigns represent the first protracted, large-scale conflicts since our Revolutionary War fought entirely by voluteers.” This volunteer force represents less than one percent of our Nation’s population based on approximately 2.4 million men and women in uniform of nearly 300 million countrymen and women. It is not even true to suggest that anyone could serve by raising his or her hand to become a volunteer which would suredly mean a deployment to a combat zone. According to a survey conducted by Mission: Readiness, a Washington-based non-profit organization, three out of four people between the ages of seventeen and twenty-four years old are ineligible due to poor education, obesity or other physical ailments. Even among those who have a high school diploma, many fail the military’s entrance exam known as the Armed Forces Qualification Test. A majority of Soldiers, I suspect, are unaware of their historic statisitical significance volunteering to join a minority tasked with securing a nation’s freedoms. I thought that hearing this message from me, someone with whom they have persevered daily since late 2009, would be a lasting claim to carry with them as they enter airport hangars and terminals arriving to a grateful reception.
There was one final point I made to my Soldiers and it focused on the responsbilitiy of their significant service. Despite terrific benefits for those who serve, I wanted my Soldiers to think about not being entitled, but being enabled. I told them to never let the deployment, as disruptive and sacrificial as it may have been, to become an excuse not to do something that you really want to do. Rather, view your significant service as an enabler – each one of my Soldiers has grown and developed over this deployment. It is especially pleasing to see the self confidence and self esteem in young Soldiers rise because they embraced an uncommon experience. It will be enjoyable to learn about Soldiers who return or enroll in school, pursue Officer Candidate School or ROTC, or attend Army schools to further their skills or leadership.
The Army is far from perfect and, like any organization, I observed performance, discipline and attitudinal behaviors derailing a Soldier’s potential. But like any adverse opportunity embraced well, most of these Soldiers grew and matured all the while serving something larger than self. To thank them wasn’t required, it was simply my honor.
RVA
Credits
Lecture at Duke University (All-Volunteer Force), As Delivered by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Durham, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 29, 2010, www.defense.gov/speeches/secdef.aspx
Girding for an Uphill Battle for Recruits, by Christian Davenport and Emma Brown, Washington Post Online, November 5, 2009
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