Thanks for posting this AAR. I love reading on the ground (real world reports).That was a very smart idea about the Lt. taking his helmet off while talking to people. Almost everyday there is a picture in the newspaper of the military wearing helmets and alien eye sunglasses talking to the locals, that is a good way to alienate people. If it is tactically sound to do so taking of your helmet and sunglasses is a good first step in building rapport.
I agree 100% slapout,Originally Posted by slapout9
Thanks for posting this AAR. I love reading on the ground (real world reports).That was a very smart idea about the Lt. taking his helmet off while talking to people. Almost everyday there is a picture in the newspaper of the military wearing helmets and alien eye sunglasses talking to the locals, that is a good way to alienate people
rapport is crutial. Taking off your kevlar, and sunglasses while talking to someone is allwoing you to gain their respect. Noone respects someone if they act holier than thou. This LT has more than just a hat rack above his neck. again, wish we had more like him.
Excellent interview. That Lt. definitely knows the score. And, as has already been said, I love that kind of boots-on-the-ground perspective. The average American needs to read more accounts like this one. I wish I could get my brother on this forum and have him share some of his experiences as a Marine infantry officer in OEF and OIF...
Fantastic interview. Hopefully just one in a series of products we're beginning to produce in the Infantry and Armor BOLC III courses.
I don't believe he is the exception either...
This interview is consistent with the type of behavior I saw from my platoon commander and other junior officers in Iraq. Time and again they were not only able to assess a sitution from a tactical standpoint but also apply that assessment to a highly refined awareness of not just the enemies trends and TTP's but also the macro level affairs of geo politics.
A first lieutenant such as this is truly unstoppable when you consider he is probably leading and training a platoon's worth of the elusive "strategic corporal."
Welcome Ender. Very glad to have you as part of the forum. Please join and add input to the Marine Corps Gazette forum as well (http://www.mca-marines.org/forum/). Lots of the same issues, but sometimes more focused on internal USMC "stuff". It's just getting started so please pass the word.
You couldn't be more correct on the need for "strategic" lieutenants to mentor/develop the hundreds of "strategic" lance corporals, corporals, sergeants, etc. in our Corps. I had lance corporals and corporals serving in most of my team and squad leader billets in my rifle platoon. Come to think of it, in my 60+ man CAAT plt, I had 1 Gunny, 3 Sgts, and 10-15 corporals and the rest mostly lance corporals. These are the warriors making the decisions, interacting with the Iraqis and killing our nation's enemies all at the same time.
Not a topic for this forum, but I'm definitely interested to hear why "future 0203" rather than aspirations to be a "future 0302".
Look fwd to reading your posts and learning from you. Semper Fi!
Thank you very much Maximus. I have been looking for a resource like this very one for some time but was never quite able to articulate to Google what I was looking for. I think I found the site off of a MCWL link late last night before bed and six hours later I was still here so...yes, very, VERY glad to be here!
I look forward to learning from you all as well and sincerely hope there is some small part that I may contribute from my experiences in exchange for the miles of information that is to be gleaned here.
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