Junior Army Essay

There is a huge problem facing junior enlisted Soldiers today. Leadership styles of today’s Army are immensely different of those my squad leaders and team leaders employed when I joined. For most of my career, I have been in a small flight company with nine enlisted Soldiers per platoon. The operational tempo was fierce which resulted in long days and plenty of missions that took us away from our families for weeks to months at a time. At times, members of the unit frustrated from work load and homesick never doubted the leadership had a vested interest in their welfare. Today’s leaders grew up in a military at war, usually deploying every other year multiple times. They have grown accustomed to the relaxed enforcement of standards that occur …show more content…
Taking care of a Soldier mentally, physically, spiritually and taking care of their families, improve morale and welfare of your Soldiers. Allowing your Soldiers to shirk their responsibilities for any reason contradicts the Army Values and disrupts good order and discipline. The rift growing between senior and junior leaders is compounded by lack of trust we as senior’s have in the junior NCO’s. Tasking’s are either not accomplished properly or in most cases not completed at all. For me, this is unfamiliar territory. I have grown accustomed all members in the unit contributing to ensure the mission was complete. This attitude is passed on to the junior enlisted Soldier that will one day join the ranks of the NCO Corp, and become the next generation of Army leaders. Junior Soldiers have lost confidence in leaders at all levels. Conversations that were thought to be confidential are often publicized throughout the ranks destroying any trust the Soldier had in their leadership. Professional development counseling’s are generic or worse not done leaving Soldiers to contemplate their worth to the unit or how to advance in their