The Broken Backbone

As long as I have been in the military I have known that the NCO is the backbone of the force. This concept spans all branches and components of the military. You may ask what does that mean? I’ll explain in different terms. In a large corporation you have different tiers of employment. The same is true of the military. Let’s use a fast food chain as an example. You have the CEO’s (Officers in military) that make all of the big decisions and put rules in place. Then you have the specialists or consultants (Warrant Officers) that manage the computer systems, software, marketing, etc. Lastly, you have the “regular employees” (NCO’s) that serve, manage, cook, cashier, and keep the chain running. Without those “regular employees” the system doesn’t work, the company fails. The same is true in the military. All three categories are important and play a role, but the NCO’s are the bones of the organization. The decisions the officers make will no doubt affect us in some way, but we still hold the power. I think that this is often forgotten in times of hardship in an organization. 

All organizations and units go through changes, for better or worse. You will be subjected to poor leadership, excellent leadership, mentorship, complete jack asses, and leaders that will leave you speechless. Through all of that, the job you have to do does not change. Yes, how you complete the task may change, who you report to may change, how the unit looks will change, but your job will not. The core function of your job never changes. Whether you have a leader who knows all, or one who knows nothing, your experience only continues to grow. Lack of what we consider good leadership or mentorship is not an excuse for performing poorly. As NCO’s we often hold the same job for several years, gradually moving up in our field. This makes us the subject matter experts. A new comer may not see it that way, but as time progresses, you should see that leaf turn. It seems as though once new leadership arrives, we often wait to see what they are going to do. We stall. Rather than showing them how amazing we are, we retreat. I don’t quite understand this mentality, although I too have gotten caught in that web. The problem is that you can’t continue in that mode, if you do you will simply regress. Once you allow yourself to get stuck in that mode, you are no longer the strong NCO and that begins to trickle down the line. Slowly you ease into work a few minutes later, leave a few minutes earlier, socialize a bit more, put projects off longer, stop caring about the quality of your output. The members below you, aspiring NCO’s, who once admired your tenacity and thunderous pride, have now lost their quality mentors. All of this because you waited on leadership to do something.

I’m not saying that morale isn’t important for unit cohesiveness and effectiveness. I am, however, wondering why we place our morale in others hands? Yes, leadership plays a role in fostering high morale, but as NCO’s, so do we! Negativity spreads like wildfire and misery loves company; I find that people tend to want others to hop on their bandwagon of gloom. Why not hop on the happy train? Even in the face of adversity, if the core can remain positive, that too will spread. Not only will it spread through the masses, it will create a more cohesive team. 

What if you’re already stuck in this rut of negativity? Take a moment, look in the mirror and self evaluate. Have you truly been living up to your potential? Have you been providing good solid to mentorship to those around you? Have you ensured that your work is of high quality? Self reflection is one of the most important pieces of growth. You must be able to look at yourself and be honest. Once you determine what you need to work on, with no excuses, you start to put a plan into action. There is always room to grow and learn and as NCO’s we should never stop striving to do so. If we are continually looking at improving ourselves, everything else will fall into place, Old habits and methods may not work anymore, thus a need to re-evaluate. 

Ultimately, you cant be the backbone of the organization if you don’t have a back bone. Exercise your knowledge, your expertise. Allow your voice to be heard. Make the decision that you know is best for all parties involved. Implement new ideas. Fix your own shit before you call someone else on theirs. Accept constructive criticism. Participate in healthy passionate debates. Come together and reignite the power of being an NCO in a world of naysayers. The future is yours, but only if you want it.