Pete. I agree with your premise but as we begin to downsize I think there needs to be a balanced approach to standards of excellence. Standards of excellence are very important but if we develop a generation of Soldiers/Professionals that fear taking risk then standards will not amount to anything because we will remain stagnant. As a FG officer, I know it is critically important to reward excellence and rewarding those individuals willing to go against the grain in pursuit of excellence. Going against the grain can sometimes lead to marginal results but the ability of our professionals to take risk is critical to remain mentally agile and professional development. I am committed to recognizing and mitigating.
**The views expressed in this are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy of the Department of the Army, DoD or the US Government. **

JR

Quote Originally Posted by Pete View Post
One of the things that has bothered me since around 1980 has been this obsession with "standards of excellence" and being "outstanding" all the time. It's not that I don't thing we shouldn't pursue those goals, it's that we're not there yet, in most cases have not been there, but pretending that we are can lead to a kind of dangerous self-deception and an atmosphere in which even to acknowledge that things could be better can come back on you for saying it in the first place.

We all agree that training in the U.S. Army should be better. But to admit that combat skills and overall efficiency could be better within an element under one's own control can be tantamount to confessing to professional dereliction of duty. Thus you better have a solution to the problem, or better yet, not say anything at all about it to any superiors. Just fix it as best you can, even if the solution is half-a**.

Thus these "standards of excellence" and this "outstanding" phenemonena can turn into a self-winding problem within the command atmosphere that leads to deficiencies not being resolved and things being covered up.

I remember around 1980 when U.S. Army Europe put a big emphasis on individual training in battalions while they were in garrison. The problem is the higher HQs sent so many inspectors around with clipboards with evaluation checklists that our NCOs and junior officers got stage fright and were afraid be torn a new one. Thus this conceit about being excellent all the time can prevent you from being even mediocre.