I’m *still* trying to get caught up on emails and questions from nearly a month in the field, traveling and training with you folks out there. Two huge classes in two great parts of this nation- and the fact that I’ve got an inbox the size of Grand Teton is an honor. My mission is to make you better.
With that said, I’m always interested to hear some of the feedback I get on my own attitude. For me, I’m just happy to be alive and doing what I do. But I am normally taken aback when I hear the treatment others receive. For example, I got this as part of an email inquiry about two courses:
I sit in front of a computer mostly for work and I don’t want to fail/suck by not being physically adequate when I train with you.
To which I answered:
I will NEVER, under any circumstances, talk down to anyone who finds their own physical limits. Ever. To do so would be undermining your own development and personally I wouldn’t be doing my job. We build one another up. My job is to help train you and a major part of that is you learning where you are now and points of improvement. The fact that you’re out there training is what’s important. If you can’t tell, some of these so-called trainers I’ve heard of singling out people in class is a major pet peeve of mine. I pride myself on a positive environment and camaraderie between all of my students.
The job is to build everyone up. You know where you’re weak and it would be wrong of me to point out anyone’s faults. I had a 1SG once who confronted some mild hazing by saying “your job as NCOs is to build your teams, not break them down”. That’s an attitude that stayed with me forever.
Unfortunately every so often such an attitude manifests in the community. Its certainly a free market, and you should train where you get the most for you, but also know that there is a difference between pushing someone to their limits and being a shithead.
Go out and do good. Build one another up. We’re all we’ve got.