Monday, February 05, 2018
Even Leaders Have To Learn
By: Donovan Baldwin
Even leaders have to learn.
In the army, an officer is a leader. A lieutenant is an officer...a very junior one, the first officer rank in the army A "butter bar", a 2nd Lieutenant, who wears a single gold bar to designate his rank, is the lowest of the low, among officers.
Enlisted men, not officers, love to tell stories about green 2LT's.
When I was beginning basic combat training, Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in 1967, I was assigned, one night, to buff an office floor.
There was a brand new 2LT still in the office, supervising us. I had never used a buffer before, and, despite his attempts to show me how to use it, I never quite got the hang of it.
By the time, after several attempts to demonstrate the technique of buffing a floor, he gave up in frustration, there was only a little bit left to do anyway, and he went ahead and did it....while I watched.
If he stayed in the army, and survived, as this was the Vietnam War era, and 2LT's did not have a good life expectancy, he may have wound up a General.
I hope he learned something that night.
I know I did.
If it has to be done and you won't or can't do it, maybe somebody else will. Husbands do this all the time.
I wonder if he learned that if you cannot teach, or encourage, or lead others to do something that needs to get done, you may end up doing it yourself.
Don't know if either of those lessons is valuable, but they are facts, and one of use learned something that night.
In the army, an officer is a leader. A lieutenant is an officer...a very junior one, the first officer rank in the army A "butter bar", a 2nd Lieutenant, who wears a single gold bar to designate his rank, is the lowest of the low, among officers.
Enlisted men, not officers, love to tell stories about green 2LT's.
When I was beginning basic combat training, Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in 1967, I was assigned, one night, to buff an office floor.
There was a brand new 2LT still in the office, supervising us. I had never used a buffer before, and, despite his attempts to show me how to use it, I never quite got the hang of it.
By the time, after several attempts to demonstrate the technique of buffing a floor, he gave up in frustration, there was only a little bit left to do anyway, and he went ahead and did it....while I watched.
If he stayed in the army, and survived, as this was the Vietnam War era, and 2LT's did not have a good life expectancy, he may have wound up a General.
I hope he learned something that night.
I know I did.
If it has to be done and you won't or can't do it, maybe somebody else will. Husbands do this all the time.
I wonder if he learned that if you cannot teach, or encourage, or lead others to do something that needs to get done, you may end up doing it yourself.
Don't know if either of those lessons is valuable, but they are facts, and one of use learned something that night.
Labels: army, basic training, donovan baldwin, Fort Jackson, lieutenant, South Carolina
