Key note speech to Junior AFROTC Dining Out – February 9, 2007

Thank you for this opportunity to address you this evening.  It is a great honor to I have been asked to speak to you tonight, especially being a retired naval officer, given the rivalry between the services.  But part of the reason the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines squabble among themselves is that they don’t speak the same language. For example, take a simple phrase like, “Secure the building.” If a Navy lieutenant, and Air Force, Army and Marine captains were told to make list of how they would secure a building:

The Navy Lieutenant would call his Master Chief and say:

Tell those swabs to:
-- Unplug the coffeepots
-- Turn off the computers
-- Turn out the lights
-- Lock the doors and leave the building unoccupied

The Army Captain has his list in his notepad:
-- Assemble the company
-- Assign guard posts and a Sergeant of the Guard
-- Take control of all exits
-- Make sure no one gets into the building without a pass

The Marine Corps Captain writes down his steps on the palm of his hand:
-- Assemble the platoon and supplies
-- Approach the building along three axes
-- Bring the building under mortar and SAW fire
-- Assault the building under covering fire
-- Establish lanes of fire
-- Repel counterattacks
The Air Force Captain types his list into his laptop:
-- Contact real estate agent
-- Negotiate 1-year lease
-- Be sure to get option to buy

But one thing that all of the services have in common is the need for leadership and I believe that the keys to leadership are common across the services.  Some of you are taking on leadership roles tonight and some have held them since the spring.  But there is a difference between being in a leadership position and being a leader.  So the first question that you have to ask yourself is, “do I want to be a leader?”

LTC (RET) Dave Grossman, a West Point psychology professor, wrote a speech based on an analogy that a Vietnam era vet had told him.  He said[1]:

"Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident….  I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful.  For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators….Then there are the wolves," They "feed on the sheep without mercy…. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.”

"Then there are sheepdogs," They “live to protect the flock and confront the wolf…..  If you have no capacity for violence, then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If someone has a capacity for violence and no empathy for their fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path.“

“The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in republic such as ours.”

“Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, "Baa."  Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.”

“Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be.  Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be…” 

The speech continues but I the point that I wish to take from this is that I believe a large part of being a leader is making that choice to be a sheepdog.  You rarely find sheep leading the sheep. 

And that choice comes almost every day.  You get to choose whether you take leadership in your school, in your classroom, on the ball field or in your unit.  There may be some days that you choose to be a sheep and not get involved, to let things happen.  To just hang in the crowd.  There is nothing wrong with that, on occasion.  Everyone needs a break, but recognize that for what it is – a conscious decision to be a sheep.

In taking on the uniform that you wear, in accomplishing that which bought you the awards you will receive tonight, in accepting positions of leadership, you have shown that you are capable of making that decision to be a sheepdog.  To dedicate yourselves to protecting the security of others.  To Lead.

So now that you have decided to be a leader, what kind of leader will you be?  One advantage of being in the military is that you get to see all kinds of people in leadership positions.  You get to see good leaders, bad leaders and those whose men follow them strictly out of a sense of curiosity.  Again, I believe that you can choose what kind of leader that you are. 

The form of leadership that I thought was the best is one where a leader looks after his people.  Some call this servant leadership.  These leaders focus on the people they are leading.  They ensure that the needs of their people are met, that they have the tools and opportunity they need to succeed.  That they have an opportunity to try and fail, as long as they learn from their mistakes.  They protect their people from senior leaders that may be looking for someone to blame.  To be sure, if you wish to progress in any organization, you must be aware and respond to the needs and desires of your senior leadership.  While you make your best argument to the leaders above you for what you think is the best thing to do, once they make a decision, you carry it out.  You might even have to bring what you believe to be an incredibly stupid order down to your people for them to execute, but in looking out for your people, you must model for them the behavior that will most benefit them.  That includes obeying orders with which you disagree and carrying them out to the very best of your ability (as long as they are lawful orders of course).  This is the harder form of leadership.  You have to trust your people and some may let you down.  When your people make mistakes, it may hurt your image to senior leaders.  But in the long run, your successes will out weigh the rough situations.  Your people will do whatever they can to make you look good.  The loyalty that you generate will amaze you.

As a naval flight officer, I spent quite a lot of time onboard aircraft carriers.  I had a commanding officer during my tour on the USS Midway that loved to talk to the crew.  Everyday when he went to the bridge, he would get on the 1MC (the full ship public address system) and tell the crew what was going on.  He made sure that the guy in the engine room knew how he was contributing to the flight operations that he almost never saw.  The skipper developed this relationship with the crew and along with other actions that he took, we knew that he cared about us and was looking out for us.

Jet engines do not function well when anything solid goes down their intakes.  It causes what is called foreign object damage or FOD.  To prevent this, carriers have what are called FOD walk-downs.  A call is made for people to come up to the flight deck to walk side by side from the front to the back of the ship to look for and pick up anything that could be sucked up by an engine and cause FOD.  Usually the Air Boss, who runs the flight deck, has to plead and threaten to get enough people just to stretch across the deck without being so far apart that you might miss something between two people.  One day an E-2 was coming back to the ship with one of its engines failed.  As it landed on the deck, the remaining engine disintegrated, throwing small pieces of metal all over the flight deck.  We were in the Indian Ocean with no place for the remaining airborne aircraft to go, but to the carrier.  They could not land safely until the FOD had been picked up.  The  captain came over the 1MC and let the crew know what was going on.  Then he asked the entire crew to come up on the flight deck if they could.  And the crew responded.  There were guys up there that had probably never done a FOD walk-down in their entire life.  Initially everyone was just picking up everything they found.  Eventually the air boss had us line up across the deck.  There were too many people for one line, so we broke to form a second, there were too many people for two so we formed a third.  Three lines of men wedged shoulder to shoulder across the back of the ship.  All because the skipper asked the men to respond.  I was convinced that that crew would have followed that captain anywhere and through anything because we knew that he was looking out for us.

That is the kind of leader I wanted to be, that is the kind of leader that I encourage you to be.

Once you decide that you are going to lead and what kind on leader you will be, you must decide how you will lead.  How will you get things done? 

The US military, from its inception, has been different from most militaries throughout history.  The Continental Congress and General Washington both demanded that the newly formed Continental Army conduct itself in an honorable manner. The late historian Stephen Ambrose once wrote about World War II: “The most terrifying sight to most civilians was a squad of armed teenage boys in uniform.” Whether it was the Red Army in Warsaw, the Japanese in Manila, or the Germans in Holland, this sight always meant trouble. There was one exception to this rule. “Everywhere in the world,” Ambrose wrote, “the sight of a twelve-man squad of GIs brought joy to people’s hearts.” Why? “Because the sight of those American kids meant cigarettes, candy, c-rations, and freedom. They had come not to conquer or terrorize but to liberate.”

This has been demonstrated time and time again in recent operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.  There are countless stories of troops doing special things for the people and especially the children of those two countries.  The media may report on isolated events of the bad apples that every organization has, but after hundreds of thousands of men and woman stationed in Iraq you hear about a handful of people shifting over from being a sheepdog to a wolf.  And you hear about them because they are being investigated by the US military.  We set a standard higher than the rest.  We hold ourselves to that standard when those we are opposing do not.  While they hide behind women and children, or kill them as terror targets, our soldiers go out of their way to protect them. 

The Air Force’s core values are Integrity First, Service Before Self and Excellence in All We Do.  The US Military motto is Duty, Honor, Country.  The Marine’s is Semper Fidelis – Always Faithful.  The Navy Creed speaks of Honor, Courage and Commitment.  These are great words and wonderful ideals, but they are meaningless unless there are leaders that follow them.

It starts with the leadership.  A leader who lies ends up with men and women working for him or her who lie. A leader who cheats will have people who cheat.  A leader who stands up for what is right will have people who do the same.  The men and women who you command will know how you operate.  The people you work with will know how you do your job.  When you choose to follow these principals, then you are choosing to be a leader.

Many of you will continue in the service of your country in one form or another.  For those who choose to serve in the military, this torch of integrity, honor, duty, faithfulness and courage, carried by generations of American fighting men and women, will be passed to you.  You will have to decide whether you will carry it forward or let it die out.  It is not the easy way, but it is the better way.  It ensures that we do not become like those we are trying to stop.  It allows us to be the sheepdogs when the sheep are accusing us of being wolves.  It ensures that the United States has the best prepared, trained and equipped military in the world.  That ensures the security of our friends, relatives, neighbors and loved ones.

You may have noticed a trend here.  I am challenging you to take the more difficult path.  It is easy to hang back in the crowd.  It is easy to look out for just yourself.  It is easy to take the moral short cuts.  But then who will you be?  Will you be able to look at yourself in the mirror?  Will your people look up to you?  The path less traveled is often more difficult, but the rewards are much sweeter.  Because no matter what the outcome, you will know in your heart that you took charge, that you looked out for your people and that you did it in a manner that you will never be embarrassed if it is reported to the world.  Because you never know when you might run for school board.

Decide to lead

Lead by taking care of your people.