Military

In the first part of this article I covered how there has been a Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) concerning responsibility in the Canadian Forces (CF) over the past generation. The working environments of lower ranking non commissioned members (NCMs) has drastically changed, with junior members being entrusted with more complex taskings and increasing levels of responsibility. This shift came about for a variety of reasons previously discussed in Part 1, and is arguably here to stay meaning that new recruits to the CF are increasingly expected to perform above their rank level.

This may at first sound like nothing more than more headaches and responsibility for these junior members, but as Winston Churchill once said, “An optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”.  Here are some points to keep in mind if you’ve found yourself doing the job of a higher rank, and how it can benefit you.

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The 442nd Regimental Combat Team, hiking up a muddy French road in the Chambois Sector, France, in late 1944.

Recently NPR aired a segment regarding the huge influx of Asian Americans joining the ranks of the armed services.  However I was very angry at the comment she made that more Asian Americans are joining because of prominent soldiers who “look like them.”

Thus by huge almost cosmic coincidence I was reminded by my late night Wikipedia searches and James G about the 442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team.  This was an entirely Asian American fighting unit that served with distinction throughout World War 2.

21 members of the unit were recipients of the Medal of Honor.  With a total of 9,486 purple hearts, one of its components the 100th infantry battalion was aptly dubbed the Purple Heart brigade.

Composed entirely of Nisei Japanese these second generation Japanese American citizens saw their families interned in relocation camps following the xenophobia as Japanese Americans were seen as interlopers.

Even in the face of such discrimination when the army asked for 1500 volunteers from Hawaii and 3000 from the mainland, nearly 10000 from Hawaii alone stepped forward to answer the call to arms.

Click Here to Keep Reading 442ND Infantry Regiment – Go For Broke >>>

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More responsibilities are being pushed on non-commissioned officers in the Canadian Forces

A trend that is increasingly taking hold in the Canadian Forces (CF) is the downloading of responsibilities onto more junior members. Duties that used to be the domain of commissioned officers are now done by senior non-commissioned officers (NCO’s), and tasks that they would carry out are now commonly pushed down to the junior ranking non commissioned members (NCM’s, or “noncoms” for the Americans here).

There are many reasons for this shifting in responsibility down the ladder, and what it means is that even the lowest ranking members of the CF are expected to display the qualities that a generation ago would have been associated with much more seasoned soldiers, sailors and airmen.

This is a two part article, with the first article examining the engines that have driven this change into being. The second article will cover strategies for taking advantage of this new environment and how to avoid being overwhelmed. These are written with the CF in mind, but can directly translate to any western military or most corporate environments.

Click Here to Keep Reading Buck up Private, You’re in Charge Now! >>>

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