sophomore essay 1st sem

8/7/2019 Sophomore Essay 1st sem

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Jeffrey Smith

10/29/2010

My Leadership Observations

My sophomore year in the Corps of Cadets has really started showing me what it

takes to be a leader in the United States Military. Even before I actually became a fire

team leader it was a little strange to have the respect to be given by the freshman.

When walking to classes, being called sir throughout campus by the new freshman

really made me feel the respect that being an officer in the Military would bring to me. I

have never been called sir in my entire life and have only said sir to my elders and

freshman year, so when I heard myself being considered a sir, I felt it was my

responsibility to take on the respect they were giving me to show the respect I had for

them.

For the Ironman Competition during Corps Lab, we had a freshman of Training

Company two-three run the Ironman portion, where he had to go through the entire

course. Only one person from each company was able to run the entire course and

Cadet Henriksen was who I was spotting while he ran it. He had only gone through the

O-course once before the Ironman Competition and we also had no rucksack which we

needed for the run with the sandbag. So I watched him go through the O-course,

pushups, and sit-ups, then I quickly looked everywhere for a book bag so that it would

be easier for him to carry the sandbag. Running with him showed what motivation from

someone can do, because Cadet Henriksen was really getting tired, but I would tell him

to keep going and look for the next person to pass. He did very well in the competition


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and I really started to understand that motivation from a superior can really influence the

ability of your subordinates.

After the Caldwell March, I was extremely excited to talk to my freshman for the

first time to tell them what I expected and to get a basic understanding of who they were

and what they wanted to get out of the Corps of Cadets. As Lieutenant Colonel Joseph

Doty says in his article Humility as a Leadership Attribute, you must emphasise how

significant the soldier is. This is completely true, because if he feels that he doesnt

really matter in the squad or the company, then he will not try as hard as he could. The

purpose of the Corps of Cadets is to see the potential that you have when you are

pushed to your limits and have certain tasks that need to be completed. The first time I

was checking my freshmen in the hallway before formation, I could feel the

responsibility that I now had from being an upperclassman. I was able to spot correct

some of the small faults that my freshmen had in their uniforms and look to see if they

corrected it that day. Checking my freshmen rooms let me talk with them and tell them

what they needed to fix in their rooms so that they could be within standards of the

Corps. To be able to tell them what needed to be fixed and to watch them fix their

uniforms and rooms really gave me the ability to change my freshman into better

cadets.

When checking my freshman, I made sure that my uniform was looking freshly

ironed, crisp, and highly polished. When I was a freshman, I did not like when my fire

team leader had a bad uniform and was telling me that I needed my uniform better.

That is why I made sure my uniform was looking good for my freshman to see. To lead

by example is the most motivating way to lead, because they can see firsthand what is


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acceptable as a uniform. If you do not have your own shoes or boots shined, you

should not be able to tell your freshman that they need to shine their shoes and get on

them. If you get on your freshman for that, you are a hypocrite, and hypocrisy does not

make a good squad of motivated cadets.

I have also learned that if you are not in a good mood, or something is not going

the way that is planned, you cannot show this to your subordinates. I have seen several

sophomores show their anger or gripes about certain things that happen within the

Corps, and I see the freshman start feeling the same way. To have a successful team,

the morale must be high within the unit. In the article S mall Unit Leadership , written by

Lieutenant Raymond Foster, pep talks (2) are extremely important in motivating your

subordinates. Instead of griping about certain problems that are occurring, give a pep

talk to your subordinates to keep their morale high so that they can complete their jobs

and be better cadets. As Lieutenant Raymond Foster says, You dont have any control

over outside influences (5). I have learned to not let outside influences affect me while

I am trying to lead my people. A prime example within the Corps in when dragging got

taken away from the freshman within the halls. Almost every upperclassman in the

Corps did not like this new rule at all, but they persevered and found other ways to

make the freshman experience teach other good traits, such as becoming better at

marching, and calling cadences. The world that we live in is always changing, and as a

leader, we must be ready to change our plan of leadership as well.

Leadership on the NCO level is slightly different to lead from then a fire team

leader mainly because there are many more people that you must have account for and

look over. As the level of Platoon Sergeant or First Sergeant, you must have the ability


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to give pep talks to a larger crowd and influence everyone, not just the freshman.

Freshman in the Corps have a sense of listening to what the upperclassmen say,

whereas the new upperclassmen has started to feel that they cannot be told what to do.

This can make life a little more difficult as an NCO, but you still have the responsibility to

your people to run a successful platoon and company. I feel that motivation is key with

most things in the Corps, and that the most motivated company is usually the most

successful. If I were to get these jobs, I would try to keep morale high and motivation at

the highest level that I could. I would set the goal of getting gold cord, and then tell my

subordinates what specifically needs to be done to get gold cord. I would also makesome spot corrections where it seemed necessary.

sophomore essay 1st sem

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