Learning to Lead

Over the course of my 24 year military career, I had the distinct privilege of leading Army units from Platoon to Battalion size. I don’t believe there is any greater honor or profession quite as rewarding as serving with and leading America’s best.

Each of these leadership positions had an important role in molding me personally and professionally. It is really hard to put into words the challenges encountered and the wealth of knowledge gained as a military leader.

In this week’s blog, I want to reflect on a somewhat unique leadership assignment that I was very fortunate to experience. One of the most impactful leader development opportunities in my career was while serving on the staff of the United States Military Academy.

In 2002 during my seventh year of service and towards the end of my tenure as a Battery commander, I applied for a position as a Tactical Officer at the United States Military Academy (USMA). A tactical officer serves as the legal commander for a USMA Cadet Company.

Although the cadet chain of command runs most day to day life at the academy, the “Tacs” as they are known, closely monitor, coach, and supervise the cadet leaders. Additionally, Tacs are ultimately responsible for guiding each of the 120 cadets in the company along their academic, physical and military developmental journeys.

I was very honored and humbled when notified of my selection for this important program in the fall of 2002. USMA sends selected Tac officers for one year to an Advanced Civil Schooling program prior to reporting for duty as a tactical officer.

When I went through the program , it was aptly named the Tactical Officer Education Program (TOEP). My cohort of Tacs completed a graduate program in Counseling and Leader Development from Long Island University in Roslyn, NY. In the current program, now called the Eisenhower Leader Development Program or ELDP, Tac officers complete Organizational Psychology degrees from Columbia University.

The report date for my cohort of Tac officers was early summer of 2003. There was just one small problem, many of us were deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom!

This was in the early stages of the war when the Army was still struggling through a Vietnam era individual replacement system versus the unit rotations it quickly adopted. I redeployed later in 2003 and thankfully accommodations were made for those of us who arrived late to get caught up on the graduate level academics.

In the autumn of 2003 I reported to West Point apprehensive about being charged with the leader development of America’s best and brightest. Equally concerning was diving into an academic environment with a cohort of fellow Tacs who were some of the most talented officers in the Army.

My Tac cohorts represented the best young leaders in the Army and were truly a great cross section of the force.   I quickly overcame my apprehensions and enjoyed the immersion into a rigorous academic environment. It was also a pleasure working alongside these remarkable professionals.

The TOEP program included an aggressive schedule of LIU led classes for the “counseling” portion of the degree as well as a number of USMA courses which accounted for the “leader development”. USMA faculty served as adjunct professors for the leader development courses while the LIU faculty taught the psychology and counseling material.

After graduation from the program in the summer of 2004, each member of the cohort was assigned to serve as legal commander for one of 32 USMA cadet companies.

I often tell people I learned more about leadership trying to keep up with the cadets at West Point than in any other assignment! It’s clichéd but these cadets truly are America’s best. I had preconceived notions about what West Point cadets would be like. Most of them were very wrong.

Just like the ranks of our nation’s military, West Point includes young people from literally every walk of life. That being said, West Point cadets have two things which make them stand apart. West Point cadets possess an almost insatiable appetite for knowledge and an equally admirable commitment to duty.

Yes, there are a very few bad apples in the bunch who make it through the screening processes and into the academy. As stated, West Point is a cross section of our Army and our nation. Thankfully, USMA as an institution is very adept at identifying those not ready to live up to the “duty, honor, country” code.

I could fill volumes about the young leaders who passed through USMA during the three years I served there. Even though I was a senior Captain recently returned from combat experience, there were many of those twenty year old cadets I would have willingly followed back into combat. They were just that good.

The cadets I worked with in the early 2000s went on to countless successes in their military careers and in post military endeavors. I hope I contributed to their leader development as much as they did to mine.  Some of those wonderful young leaders I served with at West Point gave the ultimate sacrifice not long after graduation. Each one was truly remarkable and remains in my thoughts.

My assignment as a Tac helped form me as a leader and I daresay set the conditions for me to successfully serve the remainder of my career. I will be forever be thankful for the opportunity to serve at West Point!

The academic instruction I received during the TOEP program was also an important part of my leader development. Over the next two blogs I’ll share excerpts from a couple of academic writings I completed that offer more insights to my experience serving on the staff of arguably one of our nation’s best leadership institutions.

Next week’s blog will feature portions of a capstone writing assignment completed for a graduate course entitled “The American Military Experience and USMA”. I chose to write about the impact of the Vietnam antiwar movement on USMA operations. Conducting research for this paper was one of the most interesting academic endeavors I’ve experienced!

The views, opinions and biases expressed in this blog are the authors and do not reflect those of the U.S. Army or the Department of Defense.

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