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Enhancing Air Force and Army Military Leadership (Part 1)
By M. Shea Young
Poor leadership is ranked amongst
one of the most cited reasons that quality military members are getting out of
the service today. The Air Force and Army must take a closer look at its
leaders and evaluate the amount of leadership training that is given, as well
as the standards that leaders are being held accountable to. In this two-part article, I will illustrate
the differences between officer and enlisted personnel. I will also discuss the
demands placed upon military members, mandatory leadership training, problems
associated with poor leadership in the military, and solutions to enhancing Air
Force and Army leadership.
In
this article I will refer to the Army and Air Force as the military. The
biggest difference between the military officer and the non-commissioned
officer is a four year degree and of course, the pay. According to Andrews and Cantrell, “to
command, make war-fighting policy, and be accountable for accomplishing the Air
Force mission represents the challenges posed to and accepted by Air Force
officers upon commissioning” (p. 2).
Officers are required to have a four-year degree before getting
commissioned into the Air Force and Army. Some career fields within the Army
allow members to get a commission with a two year degree. However, they must
complete their four year degree within a certain amount of time. Before getting their commission, an Air Force
officer must attend
Enlisted
personnel are not required to possess a degree of any kind to join the
military. However, if they do have a degree or some form of education, they may
enter the military with a higher rank. Enlisted personnel must complete Basic
Military Training. In the Air Force this is a six-week program. This program
helps to break Airmen down and then build them back up. These six weeks include
intense military discipline and physical training. Army Basic Training is a
very intense nine-week course.
According
to (www.armybasic.homestead):
Not
only will you learn the basics of how to look and act like a soldier, you will
slowly but surely become a soldier. You will become physically fit,
self-confident and willing and able to tackle anything that comes your way!
After
completion of the basic military training for both officer and enlisted in both
branches of service, members must complete additional training, according to
their career field. Besides the intense basic training that members must
complete, they must be prepared for the many challenges and demands that they
will encounter in their future careers.
There
are many demands imposed upon Air Force personnel. For example, many members
may be deployed on a regular basis. Deployments require members to be away from
their regular jobs for at least three months. Deployments require members to go
to different countries because of humanitarian, combat-related, or other
political efforts. Also many members may
be required to go TDY (temporary duty assignment). It is possible for a member to be TDY from
one day up to two years. An individual may be in school or have some other
mission. Generally military members are
required to move every two to three years. If they have families, that means
they must move their children to another school, find a new home, and spouses
must find another job in the new area they live in, if they work. Moving
usually creates some expenses that members are not compensated for. Some
members are required to go on remote assignments; these are usually one-year
assignments. Members are not allowed to take their families. Once a member
joins the military, he or she is committed 24 hours a day, seven days a
week. One cannot just call in sick to
work. If you are sick, you must go to sick call, which is usually at
If enlisted members plan to stay in
the military and retire, there are certain leadership classes they must
complete. For example,
In
order to have a better understanding of the military, one must understand the
rank/grade structure. Military grades for the enlisted start at E-1 and
continue through E-9. Military grades for the officer start at O-1 and continue
to O-10. E stands for enlisted personnel
and O stands for Officers. Generally rank and grade are equivalent. For
example, In the Army an E-1 is equivalent to a Private. In the Air Force an E-9
is equivalent to a Chief Master Sergeant. An O-10 is equivalent to a Four Star
General. The grade is used to determine the pay a member receives according to
the military pay scale. Generally,
military rank determines the amount of authority a member has.
Air
Force enlisted members must complete the following professional development
courses in order to be promoted.
There
are three levels of Air Force officer professional military education; Squadron
Officer School (SOS), Air Command and Staff College (ACSC), and the Air War
College (AWC).
According
to (www.acsc.au.af.mil):
This
course is geared toward teaching the skills necessary for aerospace operations
in support of a joint campaign as well as leadership and command. ACSC focuses
on shaping and molding tomorrow’s leaders. The College’s academic environment
stimulates and encourages free expression of idea as well as independent,
analytical, and creative thinking.
The
In
the Army on the enlisted side, soldiers must complete the Primary Leadership
Development Course in order to be promoted to sergeant. In this paper it is
important that you know that the abbreviation MOS stands for Military
Occupational Specialty and CONUS stands for Continental United States.
According
to Kates (1989):
This
non-MOS-specific leadership course emphasizes how to lead and train and the
duties, responsibilities, and authority of the NCO. This
four-week course conducted at NCOAs in CONUS and
overseas open to all enlisted MOSs who have
not previously attended a primary-level leadership course. (p. 59)
The
next leadership course is the Basic Non-Commissioned Officer Course (BNCOC).
This course is designed to train non-commissioned officers to lead and train
soldiers in combat. This course varies in length according to the different
military occupational specialty. Soldiers selected for promotion to E-6 have
first priority. Also, those soldiers who already hold the rank of E-6 have
first priority as well. The last
professional development leadership course is the Advanced Noncommissioned
Officer Course (ANCOC).
According
to Kates (1989):
These
courses stress MOS-related tasks with emphasis on technical and advanced
leadership skills and knowledge of military subjects required to train and lead
other soldiers at the platoon or comparable level. Course lengths vary with the
requirements of the particular MOS. The E-7 ANCOC selection board evaluates
personnel for attendance. Successful completion of this course is required for
promotion to master sergeant. (p. 61)
There
are many other functional courses the Army has to offer its soldiers. However,
the previous three mentioned are essential leadership courses the soldier must
complete in order to be promoted. Keep in mind, in the Army, there are other
factors that weigh in as far as promotion goes. For example, a soldier must
meet the required physical fitness test scores in order to be promoted. The U.S. Army Sergeant Major Academy (USASMA)
is the highest level of enlisted professional military education in the Army.
This course prepares first sergeants and master sergeants for staff and troop
assignments throughout the defense establishment.
According
to Kates (1989):
The
course’s objectives are to prepare students to assist in the solution of
command problems, to improve senior NCO capability, to develop and maintain
discipline, to instruct students in tactical, administrative, and training
operations, to update them on contemporary Army problems, to improve their
communication skills, to develop intellectual depth and analytical ability, to
increase their understanding of military management practices, to sustain high
physical conditioning and appearance standards, and to prepare students to
develop and train physical readiness training independently. (p. 62)
This
course is 22 weeks long and it paves the way for ultimate selection to command
sergeant major. This is the highest rank attainable for the Army enlisted
soldier. There are many additional training courses that soldiers may apply
for. However, they are not necessarily leadership specific. Many of these
courses are job related.
There
are many courses Army officers may be eligible to attend in their career path. The
following are the bare essentials to leadership courses. The Basic Course helps
to prepare new commissioned officers for their initial duty assignments. This course concentrates on the fundamentals
required at battery, company, or troop level.
Army officers will attend the Advanced Course at the time of
selection/promotion to Captain. They must also complete this course prior to
commanding at the rank of Captain.
According
to Crocker (1993):
This
instruction prepares them fully for assignments pertaining to the heavier
responsibilities of command, to include company command, and for duty as staff
officers at the battalion and brigade level. Completion of this course is a
prerequisite for consideration for the Combined Arms and
Next,
the Combined Arms and
The
lack of leadership training creates many problems within the workforce. The Air
Force Chief of Staff conducted a survey as to why Air Force members are leaving
the service. The second reason Air Force members gave for leaving the Air Force
was inadequate unit leadership. General Gregory Martin, the USAFE commander,
explains how continuing professional education and compassionate, competent
leadership are two keys to a strong Air Force.
According
to Hoffman (2000), General Martin explains:
First,
you have to survive. You have to be there tomorrow for your people. That means
physically and mentally taking care of yourself so you can help your people.
Second, know the rules. Winging it doesn’t hack it. Third, plan ahead. You need
to take five minutes and figure out what you want to do and where you are
going. Finally, win. There is no reward for being the second best Air Force.
(p. 1)
Poor
leadership creates low moral and a lack of trust. The most damaging thing a
leader can do is lose the trust of his or her subordinates. How can Air Force
and Army members be effective leaders if they are not properly trained? The Air
Force and Army have lost and will continue to lose quality people if it does
not take a closer look at this problem. The military is centered on effective
leadership. That is why it is damaging to look at the whole picture, from the
lowest grade of E-1 to the highest grade of 0-10.
In
1999, the
There
are many examples of poor leadership in the military. One active duty
Lieutenant in the Army was called to his commander’s office. His commander
asked, “why
have you missed PT (physical training) for the last seven months”? The commander intended to give his soldier a
letter of reprimand. The Lieutenant told his commander, ”I am not going to answer you. If you
were doing your job as a commander you would know why I missed PT”. The Lieutenant had been TDY (temporary duty
assignment) to another country for the previous seven months. He was on a
military mission. His own commander did not bother to keep track of him (J. J.
Young, personal communication,
According
to Major General Newman (1981):
It
became an article of faith with me never to be isolated from those who serve
under me, but to establish a feeling of contact by talking with individual
soldiers. But how well a commander avoids isolation and fosters this feeling of
contact between himself and his men is, in a very real sense, the measure of
him as a leader. (p. 129)
When a commander isolates himself
from his troops it creates low moral and a lack of trust. In today’s military
life it seems many commanders only make an appearance when something is wrong.
While on active duty in the Air Force I found this to be very true. I served
eight years on active duty in the Air Force.
My last assignment was at Patrick Air Force Base in
If
a supervisor does not have integrity, chances are he probably has poor
leadership skills as well. An active duty Army Major is the head nurse for an
Intensive Care Unit at
The
military has become very political over the years. I am referring to positions
as political. It is as if some members of the military have acclimatized to
using the buddy system, “you scratch my back and I will scratch yours.” The civilian society has put pressure on the
military. Military members want to be compensated to a similar degree that civilian
employees are. The only way members can
be compensated more is by getting promoted.
Therefore, this ideal can lead to many integrity issues which in turn leads to poor leadership. According to an active duty Army
Lieutenant (M. A. Rivera, personal communication,
Part 2 of this article was
published in the August 2003 issue of weLEAD
Online Magazine!
Comments
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About the author:
M. Shea Young recently completed her B.S. in Management degree
at
References:
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H. L., & Cantrell, J. C.
Where Does the Air Force Need Officers? Why Send an Officer to do an NCO’s job? http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/andrew.html
(2002, March 22).
Crocker, L.
P. (1993). Army officer’s guide. Mechanicsburg:
Stackpole Books.
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J., Jumper, J. P., & Roche, J, G. (2002). Air Force
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E. M. (1985). Before the battle: a commonsense guide to leadership and
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A. (1985). Military incompetence.
Garcia, C. Professional
Military Education.
http://www.randolph.af.mil/12ftw/12sg/12mss/edcenter/PME.htm
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T. (2000).
General Martin challenges leaders.
http://www.usafe.af.mil/news.html
(2002, March 09).
Kates, C.O. (1989). The NCO guide.
Newman, A.
(1981). Follow me: the human element In leadership.
Selves,
M. L. (2000). The
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Army basic training? http://www.armybasic.homestead.com/basic~ns4.html
(2002,
October 8).