Editor’s note: This month, around the United States, cadets at service academies and ROTC programs are commissioning and taking the next step in their careers as members of the profession of arms. We originally published this advice for new lieutenants from Gen. Tony Thomas in 2018, while he served as commander of US Special Operations Command.
1. At your first meeting with your first platoon sergeant:
Shut the door, tell him or her, “I think I’ve had a pretty good preparation to be a PL, but before I do anything, how about you tell me what you expect of me?” If they are good, and most of them are very good—and you aren’t the first or last PL they’ll have the privilege of serving with—they’ll say, “Be our leader, make the tough decisions, don’t try to be our buddy (we may eventually like you, but that’s not the objective), enforce the standards.” (And, while they may never say it, you can take to the bank that they will strive to never let you fail). You may be an LT, but you are their LT.
2. Care for people.
They are our most precious resource—the decisive, competitive, comparative advantage.
They are more important than hardware.
If you don’t really know them you won’t really care for them.
Active mentorship: Who are your “12 Disciples?”
3. Effect change. When in charge, take charge.
4. Strain to listen: make your transmissions count.
5. Control your emotions.
6. Interact.
7. Be accountable.
8. Invite dialogue and constructive criticism.
9. Be the example—intuitively, as the professional, but less intuitively as the person.
Strive for balance. If you don’t have a life, neither will your subordinates. Take leave. Don’t work ridiculous hours. Think about the ripple to your people.
10. Make it your mission to make your subordinates more successful than they are already going to be. Relish their success.
Give them credit.
Take the blame.
Embrace your mistakes.
11. Don’t let dysfunction and bad experiences frustrate you. Make it better—row harder.
12. Enjoy the ride. If you are having fun as a leader, your people will as well.
13. Keep the long view in mind—the final objective—the things that matter most when it’s all said and done.
“Peacock to Feather Duster”: You will leave command and the Army one day. Have your life, health, family, wits, and a sense of having left it all on the playing field.
Keep the long view while you embrace the moment.
Gen. Raymond A. “Tony” Thomas III is a retired US Army officer who served from 2016 to 2019 as the commander of US Special Operations Command.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the United States Military Academy, Department of the Army, or Department of Defense.
Image credit: Tech. Sgt. Angelita M. Lawrence
Discussion overheard between a new Lieutenant and his platoon sergeant at that first meeting.
“You ask me to help you understand your role Lieutenant. Well, think of yourself as a concert violinist. I will schedule your performances, rehearse the orchestra, ensure all the instruments are in tune, advertise the concert, sell the tickets and make sure your violin is ready…..but you Sir are the only one who will stand on the stage and play it!
It would seem that the PSG in your story misunderstands both his role and that of of PL. The PL is in charge of the collective training and everything that the PL does or fails to do. His role is not simply to "stand on stage and play it [the platoon]." This is an unsurprising – albeit false – view given the blurred lines of NCO and officer duties and responsibilities in the post-GWOT army.
Being in command is not being in charge. In charge is NCO business, and may well mean actively executing. The role of officer is never that comfortable to be 'in charge' of day to day activities (which, again, is NCO business), you are only in command. Meaning it's all your fault if it goes wrong, or you get to credit your Joes if it goes right. In command is not the same as in charge. When PVT Magillicuddy is actively forging checks in the PX, that LT is still in command of him. But he is not actively executing the task with the PVT (in charge) and as such is required to dispense with active control of the situation… though he will certainly have to answer for it. Likewise, a Support by Fire is under the purview of the PL, but the PSG controls it and executes. The task of leadership rarely allows for the luxury of complete control of one's subordinates. Further, a PL freshly assigned to a PLT has neither the experience base (the PL only has book learning, while that PSG has been executing METL tasks on the ground for a decade) nor the time to take charge of collective training from a competent PSG, which by the way is effectively relieving that PSG of his primary duties. If he is required to do so something is very broken in that PLT.
Tony delivered many of these points live to a class of Firsties at West Point shortly before graduation. I watched it on YouTube and it was a superb lecture. I took notes. I think 4, 5, 9 and 10 are most salient. We train officers to give orders but spend less time training them to receive orders. I’d add that “straining to observe” goes along with it. You won’t always hear regardless of how hard you try but your eyes may hear things too.
Ltc Herbek, I like your orchestra analogy, but with a different take. I have the Lt, not as a soloist, but as the conductor of the orchestra, his senior noncoms as the principals…ensuring their section's instruments are properly tuned; musicians trained and ready to perform. The Lt is not the soloist … he/she is leading the orchestra and the troops are prepared to follow that lead.
Late to the party, but I see nothing wrong with LTC Herbek’s analogy.
The PLs as the first chairs of their various sections and the Company CDR as the conductor (the simile can scale with echelon). Their NCOs and junior enlisted will range from supporting players to all the stuff that happens outside of the performance, with NCOs stepping further away from the stage as they advance.
Now, I’ve no orchestra/philharmonic/symphony experience, so I don’t know if the lead violinist is held responsible if his section is set up improperly… but the analogy need not be perfect to deliver its point.
Yes!
This then to be a better military, that is from officer to enlisted and from enlisted back to the officer; both serving this nation and its people, thus taking care of each other.
The most important, lead by example.
Everyone is always watching.
Another lesson is put your bifocals on when typing on a tablet.
Caps Lock is not your friend….
You are 100% right!!!’n
In Caesar's journals when he was in Gaul fighting the the tribes.
"There is no more done for encouragement then when the head Centurion draws his sword and says follow me.
There is nothing worse than when a Centurion says attack from the rear of a Cohort"
Already did.if ya lost it. Your loss
This is exactly how we make horses from mules!
I think it works the other way around
Good advice from an old soldier – Pride and Excellence.
This is excellent advice considering that the rank of lieutenant among the officer ranks gets the most face time with the enemy as well as those we seek to liberate. This has been especially true in Iraq and Afghanistan and will continue to be the case in modern warfare around the globe. What a young officer lacks in experience must be made up with integrity, courage, humility, and conscientious engagement. On the enlisted side of things, good leadership knows no boundaries or rank and the savvy lieutenant will know the difference between when it's time to lead, follow or just get out of the way. Thank you General Thomas!
I have enjoyed watching Tony lead since I served with him at DELTA as the unit doctor. His advice now is as wise as always. Success is experience based.
Failure is s building block too.
My New book on navy SEAL He'll Week explores this further.
Six Days of Impossible Navy SEAL Hell Week
Hooah Tony!
This is equally applicable to the civilian world. I interviewed for a job in health care a few years ago and a hospital site director started out by telling me how long her hours were and how she occasionally had to work on weekends just to keep up. I couldn't tell if she was boasting about her work ethic or just trying to give me a sense of the workload. But as she was talking, all I could think of (per bullet 9 above) was what a terrible leader she must be – she must have been bad at delegating and really poor at organizing her own workload. No one likes martyrs, and I was happy not to be asked to come work for her.
1) Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun
2) Sun Tzu
3) von Clausewitz
4) You are a manager, not a supervisor. Do everything in your power and within your authority to provide your troops the resources they need to accomplish what they have to do. Know the difference between what is wanted and what is needed.
And, to that end . . .
5) If you don't know what it tastes like, you have no right to serve it. You don't have to be an expert at every task your troops are required to perform. But; you do have to have a solid familiarity with what it takes to perform those tasks and how each skill set interacts with and supports the others.
Three simple rules to Leader ship
1. Listen
2. Learn
3.Lead
From Danger 79er: The Life and Times of Lieutenant General James F. Hollingsworth SWJ book review, "Holly attributes his successful initial steps “in the art of soldiering” to “five great professors” – as is often the case: non-commissioned officers who, more or less, broke him in."
Very Insightful – much appreciated – 1LT Murphy
I was only on active duty a little over 7 years, with rifle platoon, weapons platoon, Scouts, battalion staff, R&d assignments. Looking back I wish I could have spent all 7 years as a rifle platoon leader.
1. Don’t lead where you wouldn’t follow
2. Don’t promise what you can’t give
3. Don’t lie to men
A long time MSG who attained the rank moving up from PVT in about six months during the Korean war told me, "When in doubt, take charge". It's worked out pretty well.
Leadership at every level of command demands integrity,humility and courage. At. More senior levels one my rely more on experiences gained o er years of practicing your profession- at the beginning relying on an able and practiced NCO and being open to advice is going to gi e the professional leadership edge to decisions that must come more from theory for a new LT. At every level a successful Army is a tram and while you must share your authority you can never share your responsibility!
J.Holmes Armstead, J.D.,Ph.D.,LL.D.,D.Litt.,D.H.L (hc)
Former professor , NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCH, US NAVAL WAR COLLEGE, Distinguished visiting professor VMI, etc.
Interesting pointers…
I would also like to mention AFTER time in the Service in that how well do these officers turn out to be in the civilian workforce? From my lessons learned and my experience:
* Don't always delegate down when the officer should be the best one to do the task him or herself, especially when it is so important
* Don't step on your subordinates just to get promoted or ahead in life
* Communicate and communicate well and often. Subordinates can't read your mind wherever the officer is
* Combat cliches. "Work smarter, not harder" could be "Work harder instead of being a smart-alack all the time." And, "He is just a Grunt" could be turned to "We're all Grunts…some just grunt harder than you." And, "It's not personal; it's business." In war, it's always personal no matter how Business-like one wants to make it, or else it wouldn't be war as a last resort because it just got too personal.
* Watch for morale. Yes, subordinates will follow orders and leadership, but that doesn't mean that they will always like it or won't question it (such as the Colonial Marines in the movie ALIENS).
* Retreat when necessary to save soldiers instead of achieving the "Mission Impossible" for Command. Failure is ALWAYS an option and failure's attitude depends on the leadership.
* Sometimes eat with your soldiers instead of always eating with your officers to understand your soldiers and subordinates better (movie ALIENS again: "Guess the new Lieutenant is too good to eat with the rest of us Grunts.").
* Always pick good Chain of Command followers and subordinates because in case you fall, the entire platoon doesn't fall apart and go into panic-mode retreat (movie ALIENS again…LT and Sgt. Apone were "gone.").
Yes, movies aren't Real-World life, but the movie ALIENS made in 1986 shows important Leadership Lessons even before many of these new Lieutenants were even born.
Every LT needs a senior officer to be his or her mentor – Preferably not in the LT's chain of command. A god mentor in addition to coaching, will open doors for the promising LT.
Oops. Spell check got me. Meant "good" not "god". Even though every soldier needs God as their Mentor.
As a project for one of my own children, I polled my West Point class of 1979 for "new 2LT recommendations." What resulted was a four-page list of items, too long for a posting here. Happy to pass on if anyone wants it. gbanner@cox.net Greg Banner, LTC, SF, USA (ret.) USMA '79
Under the subtitle of what not to do:
Some 50 years ago, a new 2LT came into our office for a few weeks to learn our operation and how we did things. Our major and the NCOIC had to both go to some meeting and no sooner had the door closed when the 2LT stated, "I'm in charge!"
Funny how forgetful everyone suddenly became when the phone rang, etc., over the next couple of hours.
I would tell a new 2nd Lieutenant what my Staff Platoon Commander, a Captain, at The Basic School told me. Know and fully understand your 14 leadership traits (JJDIDTIEBUCKLE) and 11 leadership principles, as well as your troop leading steps (BAMCIS). That stuff is not bullshit, it's time tested and there for a reason.
And then I would add that you must learn how to make it your own. You can't lead like somebody else, you have to lead from your own center. You have to be genuine in everything you do, or your Marines will see through you in a heartbeat.
Remember your NCOs and SNCOs are there to help you and they have a lot of knowledge and you can learn from them, but you are in command. You are the bottom line and the ultimate responsibility for everything that does or does not happen in your command. Colonel Ripley once told me, forget all that balderdash about NCO'S being the backbone of the Corps, no, company grade officers are the backbone of the Corps; they are the ones who make sure what needs to get done gets done and they hold the line when everyone else would rather quit.
Lead, be confident, but not arrogant. A useful barometer of your attitude is the Marines prayer. It will keep you humble and on the right path.
Remember that everything you do is to prepare your Marines for combat. Don't be afraid of hard work. LTG Hal Moore used to say that when getting prepared for war, there is always one more thing. Don't leave anything on the table and wish you had trained them better or more. Once you are deployed it is too late.
And one last thing, when the bullets start flying they will look to you, they will watch how you react, and you'd better be the coolest cucumber in the bunch. Concentrate on the mission and the job and get it done. When it comes right down to it leading Marines is simply about making sure what needs to get done gets done.
LtCol Shaun FitzPatrick,,USMC, ret.
LtCol, I must respectfully disagree. See as a Navy Chief, I know the Chief's Mess can get that ship underway on time and on target smoothly with or without the officers. The only Officer I ever saw any enlisted man look to in times of extreme stress was our old XO. He was a mustang and every member of that crew respected and revered. The people I always saw the junior enlisted looking to when things were getting real, were the NCOs. The Chiefs. This includes the 8.5 years spent in NSW. There is a reason why the 9's run that community. While the O's hit their milestone assignments, the enlisted guys are going from platoon to platoon and deploying. A SEAL Chief is the most tactically and technically competent member of that platoon. Why? While our OIC was doing his Joint Tour or wearing the aigullette as an aide to some GO/FO, his Chief was holding the last 300M of US diplomacy.
In combination, the initial advice with the comments made to this point provide a good sense of the frame of reference for new platoon leaders as they begin their journey leading a unit. Every point made by the author and the commenting professionals, from experience leading five platoons as a lieutenant, has relevance. But it is a personal journey with companions that will have its own unique quality…and it will require original thought.
We need to remember that there is a reason why we have company COMMANDERS and platoon LEADERS.