Lessons I've learned from ROTC

From watching our cadre lean on the walls and casually chat while we sweat, puke, and cry during PT, then yell at us to get off the walls when we lean against them for a breather, I’ve learned that leadership by example should be taught, but really doesn’t need to be practiced.

From watching our cadre leave early from PT because they don’t feel like sticking around until we’re dismissed, knowing full well AFROTC regulations require them to be present until PT has concluded, I’ve learned that regulations can be ignored when you don’t feel like following them anymore.

From being teased constantly about the size of my nose and how the shape of my profile reminds them of Franklin the Turtle; from constant jokes about my roommate’s hometown of Eupora and his status as a bonified redneck while they imitate his accent and then laugh, all while in uniform and during duty hours within the detachment, I learned that the private lives of subordinates may be used as joke material. 

Once I mistakenly assumed that the aforementioned lesson meant that casual joking between cadre and cadets was permitted and I and a few other cadets put a pink toilet and sink in one officer’s yard and a pink bathtub in another officer’s yard before Christmas.  The higher ranking officer’s first reaction was to pick a few cadets who weren’t on his good list (incidentally, none of whom were involved or even knew what had taken place) and instantly place the blame on them.  From this I learned to assume first, blame second, and ascertain truth when it’s convenient.  His second step was to tell these cadets that they had failed his class and an F would be placed on their transcript.  Failing any Air Force class is grounds for a Form 17 counseling; three of these will eliminate you from the program and make you forget any chances of commissioning.  I learned from this that after assuming and blaming, a good officer will threaten the careers of those under him to get what he wants.  When he finally found out that the prank was not conducted by these cadets after hauling them in one at a time and interrogating them, he announced that he would hold their grades hostage (the grades of cadets he then knew were innocent) and not release them until the perpetrators came forward and confessed, threatening Form 17 counselings for those who had performed this dastardly act.  When my roommate and I were hauled into our lieutenant colonel’s office that night we were told that we had crossed a line and that our actions were “unbecoming of an officer candidate” and we were lucky we weren’t being punished.  My confused thoughts instantly turned to the Franklin the Turtle theme song being sung to me by a commissioned officer as I walked up the stairs to the detachment and wondered where the line was drawn.  I finally determined the lesson I must draw from this is that power gives the right to determine where the lines are drawn; teasing and joking are fine as long as the one performing the actions is holding the power and is inflicting it on those without power.

When my commissioning slot was placed in the wrong year because our head personnellist refused to change a single date in my file for six months after I asked her to, I learned that laziness is fine as long as it affects others, not you.

When I found out a year late that I could have changed my commissioning date to the correct year with a single form but that the aforementioned personnelist didn’t notice even though I had asked her repeatedly if there was anything I could do to fix the mistake, I learned that if someone doesn’t have the power to threaten your job, they don’t deserve your time and effort.

When I walked into this same person’s office and requested paperwork that had been ordered by my commandant of cadets be given me, this enlisted individual looked at me and questioned repeatedly why I needed it.  When I answered each question with a logical answer, she finally responded by telling me she didn’t want to and to come back later, as she clicked through the next bid on her online spades game.  I learned from this that duty hours mean hours you’re required to be at the place of employment; they don’t mean actually doing your duty if something else is more appealing.

When I reported in to my commandant of cadets’ office to report that this NCO had disobeyed a direct order and outright refused to give me my paperwork because she was in the middle of an online card game, he calmly looked up from his casserole without missing a beat and told me he would talk to her when he got a chance.  From this I learned that those of lower rank only have rights when it doesn’t interfere with Hamburger Helper or Yahoo! Spades.

From my numerous attempts to visit our uniform & supply specialist during duty hours (9-5) and constantly encountering a locked door while he’s gone, from observing him coming in to work as late as 10:30 and leaving as early as 2:30, from watching two hour lunch breaks as the norm, from encountering his refusal to interrupt his coffee break to sign out a uniform to me on a class break; forcing me to make the choice of either skipping class or coming back the next day, I learned that no matter how many individuals one’s job affects; if the ones who are affected aren’t ranked high enough to do anything about it… eh, it doesn’t really matter.

From our secretary, who gossips more than any woman I’ve encountered in recent history, who directly eavesdrops on private conversations between cadets and cadre members in cadre offices, who has lost paperwork entrusted to her and refused the blame, dumping it on to cadets so that they’ll be punished and she’ll be spared; from her I’ve learned that no matter how incompetent one may be, if one can gain some type of niche in a system one will never be forced to change or leave.

When I got back from Field Training and entered the ranks of cadet officers, no one in our class was taught how to make the switch from cadet enlisted.  Because of this mistakes were common, but instead of being corrected on an honest mistake and instructed on how to lead properly, our entire class was hauled into an office and made to stand at attention for almost an hour while various higher ranking cadet officers took turns condemning us as the worst class that had come through this detachment and how our mistakes were unforgiveable, pointless, and absurd.  As I stood there for the better part of an hour listening to each argument and illustration, I questioned myself on each and every one.  When I realized at the end that not a single thing that had been said applied to me; that I had committed none of the mistakes for which we were being condemned but was still being yelled at with the rest, I went to two of the highest ranking members afterwards and asked them about this.  Both confirmed that I had had nothing to do with any of the actions performed, but that I still needed to be taught a lesson.  From this I learned that when ineffective leadership is present, blame can be shifted to those of lower rank and the incompetent leaders vindicated.

When my superiors failed to inform me of a meeting that I was required to attend and then observed my failure to be present, I was hauled in to the wing commanders office and verbally berated by two separate cadet officers for my lack of responsibility and the terrible example I was purposefully setting.  When I pointed out that no one had told me about the meeting I was told that I was either forgetful or a liar, and the proof I offered wasn’t valid.  When I pointed out that I thought it wasn’t right to haul a cadet in and berate him when he had proof the charge wasn’t valid and they had nothing, one cadet officer leaned over the desk in my face and yelled at me, telling me I was a whiner and wouldn’t be able to stand the military, that I had no idea what military training was like.  I failed to point out that, having a father who was career military, numerous friends in military families, having spent the first half of my life on various U.S. and overseas bases I had much more military experience than both of these cadet officers put together; neither of whom knew a single person in the military or had grown up with any military exposure.  From this experience I learned that authority is always right, regardless of the facts.

When I called to find out where some scholarship monies that were due me and multiple other cadets from ROTC were, I found out that an officer had sat on the paperwork for over a week, keeping rent and grocery money from getting into the hands of cadets because filling it out would have interfered with his coffee breaks.  From this I learned that benefiting the lives of those under your command is only necessary when its convenient.

When the scholarship money came in and I sent out an e-mail to the entire detachment with the following words as the sole content: “Room & Board money is in.  Enjoy.” I was e-mailed back by my commanding officer and told that my e-mail was without tact and potentially offensive to multiple cadets.  The reason for this was that not all cadets were on the Room & Board scholarship, so they could have been insulted.  I thought back to two days earlier when two cadets were picked out of the lower ranks and awarded full scholarships (with an annual value of almost twice the room & board scholarship) in front of the entire cadet wing and congratulated on being above those around them by the same officer who had written me the e-mail, and wondered what the difference was.  From this I learned that principles aren’t universal, and that it doesn’t matter which instructions of yours you break as long as you only break them in front of those of lower rank.

When I found out earlier this semester that our commandant of cadets was specifically and intentionally breaking AFROTC regulations to force us to engage in more hours of ROTC required activities per week than was required, he clarified his opinion in front of a large gathering of cadets by specifically stating that his opinion on the decision was: “Screw y’all.”  From this I learned that regulations are only required when one feels like doing it, and if breaking regulations only negatively affects those under you, well… it doesn’t really matter.  They have insufficient rank to do anything about it.

When I was admonished in a tag-team fashion by two of the three officers in our detachment at the time for “bombing” an Air Force midterm (with a score of 88 out of 100) I told them the reason I hadn’t devoted sufficient time to study for this test was because I had had two tests and two papers due the day of and the day before the test.  I had averaged a low A over all of the projects, but was told that my efforts in class were substandard and I wasn’t meeting the requirements necessary to be a good officer; that I should have placed higher priority on my ROTC duties than on the rest of my classes.  Now, when all cadets are told multiple times every semester that they are a “student first, cadet second” I quietly laugh inside, knowing that what I learned that day was “student first, unless I feel like it, cadet second, unless I feel like it” and that the guidelines of authority are not the dictates of morality, but rather the factors of whim, situation, and circumstance.  Principle plays no part in the decision making matrix of a “good” officer.

I have lost faith in the system.  I’ve had personal friends lose field training entry allocations, pilot slots, and careers because of paperwork mistakes by cadre.  I’ve seen good cadets who happened to be white males removed from the program for simple mistakes and I’ve seen my cadre break written rules to allow a black female to commission.  I’ve had officers hand me official Air Force material designed to instruct one on how to lead effectively, and then deny every single bit of the publication in their daily lives.  I have come to the firm conclusion that good officers do not commission out of this detachment because of the system; they commission in spite of it.

My hope is that I will not be like the officers who have been put before me as the example; who have been specifically stationed to instruct me in the ways of effective leadership.  I have learned simply the abuse of power, a lesson I only take to heart to avoid completely.  My experience in AFROTC has been disappointing, but sad as it is, it is worlds better than most other AFROTC detachments and all ROTC detachments of other branches I’ve encountered.  What makes the difference here are the cadets; we are the ones who plan and execute the training, punishment, and curriculum.  It is here that we learn to lead in the absence of good leadership and the presence of bad.  I was once informed by a speaker that he had learned far more from the bad leaders in his life than the good ones because he had learned what not to do.  If this is true, then at this detachment we have had an excellent education, and I hope that we will be better officers because of it.

You know, I always joked about the day that this would come.  I just never thought I'd actually see it happen.  But it did.

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Watch this.