I stopped one of my subordinates a few weeks ago and reminded him to blacken his damn boots. It was a little faded and unproffesional looking . He said, "alright man, ill get on it," and walked away
with a bemused look probably saying under his breath of how much of an asshole i am. That look caused me to reflect a little on my own way of doing things. Did he
understand my reasoning why i needed him to do such a simple task, I thought, why the hell such a small thing was that important to me?
My company commander back in 2000 for some mysterious reason thought it was extremely important. I
remember getting my ass beat on account of my boots being smudged. In dive school, getting the fucking shit kicked out of us on the grinder for not looking the same. Uniform regulations insist on it, and my periodic marks holds me
accountable for it. Why does this shit matter in the big picture? if there
is a little white on that toe or heel? i fucking hated when people use to tell me to do simple stuff. I thought i knew better and wondered why they didnt have better shit to do than to mess with me with some mundane bullshit. Well I am older now and much wiser, much handsomer (if that is even a word), looked towards as a leader and symbol of hope for others to follow. Is there some significance beyond
mere appearance or am i just being a douchebag.
Is there a reason such a simple task gets neglected? It doesn't take
much effort - a little boot polish, a rag and about five minutes of your
time. You can even buy shit today that won't scuff up! But you can go to any unit and find at least a small handful of people with their fucking boots not blackened. It's human nature to want to neglect the small things -
especially if no one else seems to give a flying fuck.
So why did I stop that lad? If I had let him walk by, I'd be implying
that it's OK to let some things slide. Don't sweat the small stuff.
Concentrate on the things that are really important. I would have led
that young operator to believe that he has some discretion as to what
regulations he will or will not abide by.
Perhaps in the near future, when he is supervising his own operators, he'd
notice they are not wearing proper eye protection. They're wearing
sunglasses that dont properly wrap around their face, though, that's almost as good right? Maybe one day he'd be doing CQC. No need to properly ensure him and his brothers plates and soft armor are in and the rest of their gear is in order, he reasons; it
was all checked yesterday. Perhaps he'd be the Firearms instructor teaching new shooters basic marksmanship, for a quick familiarization shoot. No need to get a proper self check and 4 count buddy check. He knows how many rounds are going to be shot and told his shooters how much ammo to load. Easy day right?
They're all small things. Truth of the matter is operators are getting killed because of the
small things. Not just in the military but also with our law enforcement brothers and sisters. Then the entire fucking service undergoes a safety stand down because of the
increase in poor weapons handling. The brass are scratching their heads, trying to
figure out where the problem is. This is not a policy problem. Nor does
it reflect the desire or abilities of our people. It is simply and
irrevocably a fucking leadership problem. We have senior enlisted pussy wooped group of dipshits out
there that wouldn't stop that non-rate and insist that he wear his uniform properly.
I've seen chiefs walk alongside an officer and not jump a junior
member's ass that decided he wasnt going to render a salute. I know fellow E-6s that will complain
about the poor job done by one of their subordinates but will not take
corrective action or show proper examples on how to be. And I know officers that are aware of these
shortfalls and sit behind their desk with a dumbass look on their face like deer about to get hit by a fucking car at night. Come on fuckers its not that hard.
It appears that, as an organization as well as a society, people have become afraid of
confrontation. A big bunch of pussies. No one wants to be that guy that steps up to the plate and address what needs to be addressed. People would rather just stand idly by and negotiate that it wasnt really a big deal. This needs to end or sooner or later motherfuckers are going to die. We need to begin holding our peeps as well as ourselves accountable for the way in which we do
the kings business. We have to insist on professionalism - not just during
standard operating procedure stuff or everyday military work; we must do it
always, every day, every minute, at work and in our personal lives. It's the small things that create fuckups. a wise old operator once told me. Two things that get motherfuckers killed....Complacency and Indecision (more on that later) It's the habit of neglecting those small things that kills people. Our senior members are responsible to ensure that those shit
habits do not develop. I myself am responsible to ensure that those shit habits do
not develop. I stopped my fellow brother to save his life. You can fucking count on it.
As you can tell by reading this, Attention to detail is a pretty sensitive subject to me. Whoever does take the time to indulge my writings... read it again and Try to practice this in your everday life. Believe me, follow this simple thing and you wont be that dickhead that wasnt ready when the badguy came in through the front door and harmed a fellow friend or family member, cause you didnt pay attention to the simple things.
Word to your mothah!!!!
