Combat Leadership Vs Garrison Leadership

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Combat Leadership vs. Garrison Leadership MSG William J. Bullard United States Army Sergeants Major Academy, Class 64 SGM Stoeltje / CWO Cartier August 22, 2013 Over the past twenty-three years I have seen a huge swing of leadership types. I entered the U.S. Army in October 1989 and then there were very few combat veterans that were still in the ranks, you would have the occasional Vietnam veterans but overall about 75 to 80 percent of the Soldiers, NCOs and Officers had no combat experience at all. In 1990-1991 you had Desert Storm, shortly after that was concluded the Army started with reductions and all that experience left for the civilian sector and we basically started at square one. Until September 11th the concentration…show more content…
You trained your team, squad or platoon on their tactical jobs moving as a team, actions on the objective and many other basic movement techniques. Many times you used your technical expertise by creating a PowerPoint presentation to teach your peers and subordinates to give them a visual picture on what was required to properly perform the tasks and establish what right looked like. On Mondays you always conducted in ranks inspections checking haircuts, uniform cleanliness and serviceability, I.D. tags and cards, general military knowledge questions were usually asked. You were expected to demonstrate a high level of military discipline and you exercised military customs and courtesies at all times. The garrison adage was look like a Soldier, act like a Soldier and you were a…show more content…
As the United States shifted its attention to combat operations. The priorities concentrated on battle drills, physical conditioning and as time went on the military started promoting people quicker to keep Soldiers in the ranks and prevent them from ETSing from the military. This was to keep leaders, good or bad in the ranks. Basic Training, AIT, and NCOES courses lowered the standards to keep the flow of Soldiers coming into the army and graduation rates at an all-time high. This caused a ripple effect in the army as we promoted inexperienced Soldiers to Sergeant, these leaders were now training new Soldiers, this led to Soldiers not getting the proper leadership and not conducting inspections and other basic soldiering skills like haircuts, cleanliness & serviceability of the uniform and ensuring that good basic discipline was being upheld at all levels. As long as the combat mission was completed many times the leaders weren’t worried about how it got

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