RSP Reflection

I realize that I have yet to make postings on the last two drills but I wanted to first do a posting on my general impression of the RSP Program since this month was my final drill before shipping to BCT. I will make sure to get the regular drill postings up as soon as possible. This may not be as interesting to most of you but I want it written down for my personal records.

I have learned a great during my eight drills with Bravo Company. I’m going to divide this posting into things that I have learned about the Army, things that I have learned about leadership and things that I have learned about myself.

First I want to comment on some of the things I have found about the organization that I was smart enough to join. One of the biggest things that I have noticed is that being in uniform and being at drill with everyone else led by competent people gives you the ability to be more than you normally could be. I now really buy into the idea of being strong vs. being “Army strong.” I’ve also been impressed with the variety of people that we take every drill and meld together to overcome fears and barriers and do a task. One of the things that I like is the efficient but stepwise manner in which we do training. In this last drill I was sometimes annoyed by the repetition of certain things as we went through different levels of training since we were doing things that I had done before. However, in the end I was impressed that we were able to take people who had just recently learned how to swim and who had a fear of doing so and had them jump blindfolded off of a seven foot platform into a pool in LBVs (Load Bearing Vests) and Kevlar helmets. That is an accomplishment. One of the things that MSG Gordeley told us was that one of the greatest assets we have in the Army is peer pressure and I have certainly found this to be true. One thing that I have also been impressed with is the professionalism and organization that is found in nearly everything we do. From collecting linens at the end of the day, to marching, to grounding gear there is a level of professionalism demanded of us that I really appreciate. However, one thing that has surprised me is the level of input the average soldier has in his own actions. Our cadre puts a lot more thought into our input than I would have imagined they would have and I am very glad of it.

Second I want to list some things that I have found about leading people, some of which were simply reaffirmed and others were new observations for me. The first thing that I found is that if you aren’t doing things yourself you have very little chance of people doing what you want them to do and doing them correctly and vise versa. I found that I’ve been able to have my squad overlook times when I’ve been screwed up because of taking fireguard shifts no one wants, waking up early, taking trash out etc. On the flip side I have found myself resenting a few of the guys in leadership positions who will simply delegate while sitting around BSing and acting superior. I have also found that you can’t get people to do things that they truly do not wish to do if you don’t have their respect first. Even with the advantage of being in a leadership position in the Army people are still people who will have trouble following orders of people they can’t stand. In all I’ve found that everything truly does reflect leadership and leading isn’t as easy as it may seem.

The final thing I want to list is things that I’ve learned about myself due to this program. I have found that I am far more capable as an individual than I thought that I could be. I have always thought of myself as mainly being an equipment operator. I have always been far less confident when acting personally than when acting on something. I have always been good at fixing things and driving things. I have always been far less capable when doing things physically as I don’t have as effective muscle control as some others. However, during every drill I have found that I can do far better than I had imagined I would be able to and that the biggest thing is simply being shown what to do. I’ve been happily surprised with my personal capacities and the more confident I become in my behaviors the better I have been getting. I have also found that I can generally gain the trust of my troops fairly quickly which has been nice. A couple of issues that I have found with myself are as follows. My main problem that I will run into is that I will frequently get so concerned with making sure that everyone else is squared away that I end up neglecting my own stuff and ending up jacked up. For example, last night I told everyone in my bay that the bottom bunks needed to have their pillows towards the aisle and the top needed to face the wall. I was on the bottom bunk and managed to then put my pillow facing the wall. Luckily one of the members of my squad corrected me and I was able to fix myself. Also, while building the fireguard roster I mixed up a man from another squad with a man from mine and ended up putting my guy down for fireguard twice simply because I got their names confused. Once again, one of my squad members caught my mistake. So luckily I have my squad to correct me at times. My other issue is that when someone does not follow an order or gives me trouble I don’t deal with it directly enough. I’m afraid I am often too anti-conflict which probably is not a good trait to possess in a military unit.

Overall I have found the RSP program to be invaluable to me thus far. I have gained far more from it than I would have believed I could considering the relatively short time I have spent actually with my unit doing training. I believe the effective planning of our leadership and the way that they present information is largely to blame. They manage to feed us an enormous amount of information and give us a great deal of guidance in a very short period of time but they do it in a manner that is efficient and clear enough that by taking a few notes one can easily absorb the info. Maybe instead of teaching degrees schools should start considering NCO ranks as a standard.

Goodbye Sergeant Walls

Today our company relinquished one of its greatest assets. This drill was our supply sergeant’s last with us. Sergeant Walls has spent three years with the RSP Battalion as supply sergeant for Bravo Company. She has guided some four hundred soldiers through RSP and IET and into their units. She has shown a dedication to her job and her troops that is truly admirable.

Ask anyone who has been to a drill or two or has taken the time to get to know her a bit. Sergeant Walls lives for her job. It is not uncommon for her to sleep on post because she’s busy making sure things go perfectly for us at all times. She gives her cell phone number to every new recruit and her number one rule that she reiterates every month is to keep her posted on everything that’s going on. Never in my time with the Guard have I called Sergeant Walls and not had her pick up within the first few rings. She has been available to any soldier who wishes to do extra PT with her on post and even took a group to do the Race for the Cure on her own time on Saturday. She has shown an impressive devotion to her troops that has done us a ton of good. As she gave her final speech at drill today she mentioned over and over again that she is still available as a resource for us and made it very clear that she still expects to be kept in the loop. Her tone was genuine and her track record proves that she truly does care and I have no doubt that she will still be around to help me if I need her like she said.

Not only is she a devoted NCO but an outstanding individual in her own right. She has energy and a demeanor that isn’t easy to forget and manages to command respect without demeaning her troops. When she took a group down to Race for the Cure I went down with her and even brought my girlfriend along. Despite my initial nervousness about introducing the two of them they got along very well and Sgt Walls is still a frequent topic of conversation and always in a positive way. I have greatly appreciated Sgt Walls’ contribution to our unit as a person as well as an NCO.

I realize that I am merely a PFC but I wanted to take the opportunity to thank Sergeant Walls for everything she has done for us and everything she has shown us.