Tag Archives: Career Progression

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4 Keys to a Successful Military Transition

by Robert Gowin

It’s not easy to plan your post-military life in the waning days of your active duty time. Deployments, field training, family time, and the normal everyday challenges stand in your way as obstacles. The time you have is usually filled with friends, loved ones, or just focused on you. For me, it was easy to get caught up in the “bubble” I lived in – if it didn’t have an impact on my world, I didn’t give it much attention.

I separated from the Army twice – the first time after four years and the second after twenty. There was a huge difference in how I approached each of those transitions. There were no transition assistance programs available during my initial transition, but I’m not sure it would have helped me much due to a terrible economy. The lessons I learned and the struggle I experienced following my first transition made me aware of the challenges ahead and how I needed to overcome them before I planned my second transition.

transition

U.S. Air Force illustration by Airman 1st Class Jensen Stidham
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Achieving Effects with Your Boss, pt. 3: Decision Time

So far in the Achieving Effects with Your Boss series, we’ve covered how to make the right first impression and how to engage your boss with intention. Now that you’re comfortable with the leadership environment your boss has established, it’s time to discuss how to influence their decision making to achieve effects for you, your team, and the greater organization.

Boss

Secretary of the Army John McHugh listens as Commander of the Combined Arms Center Lt. Gen. David G. Perkins briefs during a visit at the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, April 20, 2012 at Joint Base Langley–Eustis, Va. U.S. Army Photo by Staff Sgt. Bernardo Fuller.
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The Post-Active Duty Leadership Environment – Part 3 (Developing Leaders)

My goal is to contrast leadership development in my current environment with my experience on active duty in the U.S. Air Force’s Air Mobility Command (AMC). The thing is, I didn’t really experience much formal leadership development during those 12 years on active duty. So what do I want to share?

I’ve settled on this: The active duty Air Force is purging leaders that were developed the hard way over a decade of constant war and other contingency operations, while nearly exclusively retaining candidates who developed their careers and resumes according to official timelines and benchmarks. There is a need for both types of leaders and I want to close this series by advocating for a compromise. Strong leaders, in any stage of their careers, should be considered for positions that have come to be reserved for career development.

leaders

U.S. Air Force Capt. Chance Hansen, a C-130 Hercules aircraft pilot with the 36th Airlift Squadron, visually locates another C-130 over Japan Oct. 22, 2013, during a large-formation flight. (DoD photo by Yasuo Osakabe, U.S. Air Force/Released)
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The Post-Active Duty Leadership Environment – Part 2 (Leadership)

This is the second of three posts by an Air Force Major discussing the organizational changes he experienced after leaving active-duty to fly for the Air National Guard and a civilian airline. Read the first post here.

In part one of this series, I described my transition from active duty flying in the US Air Force to my current job as a civilian airline and Air National Guard pilot. I addressed how I found my concepts of service and excellence to be more aligned with my post-separation life than my active duty experience.

I also asserted that many leaders I encountered focused more on serving their careers than serving their subordinates and that this mentality has become a cultural issue within the Air Force’s Air Mobility and Training Commands, if not the Air Force itself.

Today’s post compares the active duty and civilian/National Guard leadership environments that I experienced.

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A Career of “Career-Ending” Jobs – Eisenhower’s Wavy Path to Success

If you haven’t thought about it from this perspective, consider this about a diminishing military:  we can’t expect that leaders will reduce mission requirements when there are fewer service members  – “Do more with less” sounds appropriate.

And a subsequent effect is that the service members who remain will have less of a say in their assignment choice, as “personal preference” cedes ground to “needs of the Army.” Some officer and NCO leaders will receive assignments to perform unglamorous duties in less-than-optimal locations. And they’ll think their career is over because of it.

The Making of a Leader: Dwight D. Eisenhower by retired Army Colonel Robert C. Carroll in the 2009 Edition of Military Review, shows how General Eisenhower’s career had a similar tone. Carroll recounts Ike’s string of “not-so-elegant jobs that many might consider career-enders, but would later pay huge dividends.”

Supreme Allied Commander U.S. Army Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Courtesy: Wikipedia.