Archive for the ‘officer’ tag
7 Weeks and Weighty Questions
For those who don’t know, I spent the summer at Basic Combat Training at Ft. Jackson, SC. Basic training, for those who haven’t been, is both physically and mentally demanding but quite manageable. Basic for me was only a first step; I’m heading to Officer Candidate School…
…eventually. While training at Ft. Jackson, I fractured my wrist and tore a ligament. After graduating (yes, I was able to complete my training), I went on leave to heal. I’m on my way back to SC, hoping to get medical clearance to move on to OCS.
While at home, I’ve had a lot of time to sit around and get smart. I used my time to contemplate the responsibilities that lie in my future. To that end, I have been reading about Army leadership, military history, and the psychology of the most serious of my duties: killing.
As an officer, my primary duty will be not to kill; rather, my duty will be to order those under my command to kill. In that way, I can at least distance myself from the danger, but I know that the ultimate accountability is mine. I’m working to get as good an understanding of how to keep soldiers motivated and how to keep myself in the fight.
In the end, the best that I can do is to train my unit, train myself and trust in my men’s abilities.
