What do You Say?

I read that a former senior commander of mine passed away.  Like most obituaries, it was a report of a highly decorated and respected guy.   What most people didn't know was that he was a lunatic that who was so in love with the sound of his voice that he ran rough shod over all of us that really gave a damn and tied to do our best. 

Once upon a time, my dinning facility manager asked me if he could take our mess section to camp early and serve as the Advance Detachment mess to feed those that arrived early to camp.  Darrel was a full time member of the Guard and well respected. Soon after this event, he was diagnosed with Cancer and died almost at his desk.  Of course I said yes and off he and his team went.   I had no idea that he and his men were so put upon by the lack of planning that either you loved what they did or it made you mad at the guys who didn't plan for the events as they unfolded.  This was one of the first years that the majority of the soldiers went to camp by Bus.  They were put on a bus and in one day transported to Ripley Minnesota.  They were given one meal ticket and arrived at Camp tired and hungry one full day ahead of their units.  My advance mess team worked out a way to collect food from the other mess halls and feed upon arrival everyone that came to eat.  Not only that, the next morning almost 1000 men came to the mess hall to eat as there was no where else to eat.  My guys pitched in and fed them all.  It wasn't fast and it wasn't pretty but they managed to cook all night and most of the next day.  It was such a great job, that the State Guys told me that they had recommended my guy for a medal and they all deserved a pat on the back.

When we all gathered to hear the General pretend he was George C. Scott playing Patton, I was dumb struck when the big leader stood up there and told us that the commander of the unit with the Advance Detachment Mess hall  should be relieved because the mess hall was such a dirty place that his guys wouldn't eat there.  My guys worked their asses off to feed people and he wanted chunk of my ass?  Guess who was standing by the door to meet and greet that ass hole as he left the auditorium?  I told him that he had the facts all wrong and if he doubted me, he needed to check with the State Staff as to their intentions to not only be proud of what my team did, they were to be decorated.  I wanted an apology for being singled out before my peers.  The General said, "Oh Captain, I was just trying to make a point and that all mess halls need to be made better."  I think he believed it and I went back to my area in full boil mode. 



Diapers like some leaders need changed from time to time.  Most for the same reason

Clearly this guy did not have any concept of Leadership that inspires people to do better.  Punish in Private and Praise in Public is like one of the opening chapters in the Leadership manual.  As I reviewed all the information, I found out that the General walked into his own mess hall and found the cooks preparing their own breakfast.  When he asked them why, they told him that the Advance Detachment Mess was too dirty to eat there.  In fact, they had not shared any of the provisions they had and were just too lazy to stand in line like the rest of the troops.  I was pissed off so bad that I went to the Brigade Headquarters and demanded an audience with God.  When I got in to see him, I restated my case and told the General all the facts.  He told me that "Soldiers eat with their eyes" and he was just making a point.  I told the general that I had just taught a Leadership Class at the Military Academy to the soon to be appointed 2nd Lieutenants.  I told him that soldiers aren't motivated by pretty mess halls, they are dissatisfied when they aren't fed.  I offered to teach a Leadership Class and help the unit do better.  I was told to go have a beer and simmer down. 

If you think that in the spirit of reconciliation I will go to that funeral, you are wrong.  While I won't be petty and install a pay toiled on his grave like I threatened, I just will bite my tongue and not go to the funeral.  Oh by the way, there was a time that owning a pay toilet on that guy's grave would have made the concessionaire a rich man.  Most of the guys that hated him are either gone or their memory has softened by now.  One or two of us are still angry for good reason.

I once heard a story that illustrates the weakness of some leaders.  A young 2nd Lieutenant was entering the pearly gates after being killed in WWII.  He saw a Field Jacket there with two Stars on it. He said to Saint Peter, "I didn't know that General Patton had been killed."  Saint Peter shushed him with, "Oh that's God's, he thinks he is General Patton."

MUD