[lovemycountry]

Originally Posted by bandycpa

I was reading through my PM's from COL Jack and came across this story he shared with me. I had asked him about his leadership style and methods. He was always kind enough to answer questions like that...even from a civilian like me.

I miss him.

The Story goes as follows:

"I was always approachable and I was always tested by each unit to which I was assigned. For instance, in the second SF company I took command of I had a senior NCO come up to me, take out his knife while saying, "Hey Sir, I see you are a mountain climber cause you got that big old rope hanging from the patch on your sleeve" As it was, there was a thread that I had failed to notice that was loose from freshly sewn on patches which is normally something that folks get "gigged" for in inspections as a lack of attention to detail. This sergeant was going to show me that his standards were higher than mine, and that I wasn't going to be able to get away with such an "infraction" of his standards. So I told him, "Damn, you are right! Why don't you remove that rope and while you obviously share that same level of interest in mountaineering by being able to identify that object as a climbing rope, after you remove it, take it over there to that hand rail and properly store it for me by securing it with a bowline knot and don't forget to throw on the safety half-hitch" Well you obviously cannot tie anything that is 2" long around a 4x4 railing. After the change of command was over, he sheepishly came into my office, apologized for being a jerk, and invited me to come over to the team room to relax with the team and share some of my goals for the unit. The bottom line is that you can never take yourself too seriously, you have to maintain your sense of humor, and never let anyone think you are not in charge. But you also have to clearly lay out to all the mission and vision you see for the organization, what your expectations are of them, what they can expect from you, and who exactly you are and how you are going to operate."

WOW, I just came upon this thread. What a Man. Reading this sends chills. I missed this all but what a great site to catch up and remember or even introduce a great person to new people. This site is as great as this Man.

LMC