Army Leadership Philosophy

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FAMILY, COMMUNICATION, HONESTY

Leadership Philosophy: Family, Communication, and Honesty
SSG Zohfeld
SLC Class - 002

The best way to describe my leadership philosophy is with the word care. I have been told many times in my career that I care too much. The idea that caring about the unit, the mission, or your Soldiers could be a bad thing is absurd. The idea that I cared too much would become apparent while assigned to 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division. In this unit the things I believe are most important as a leader become apparent.
There were challenges from day one of arriving at Fort Benning. I discovered the section I was taking over was poorly training and we will be deploying in the next two months. There

This was a subject that none of my Soldiers wanted to hear about. While they trusted me, they did not feel really good about staying in the Army. Since I really did care, I had a really honest conversation with my Soldier that had an autistic son. He wanted to get out of the Army. I asked him a series of questions, trying to find out about his plan. I asked him what he wanted to do. He gave me an answer, then I told it really does not matter what you want anymore. I told him the only thing that matters is ensuring that his son receives the best treatment possible. He agreed, then I asked if he could afford that outside the Army. That conversation led to him reenlisting in the Army.
It should be easy to see that through my action I demonstrated how I care for my Soldiers. This also shows three attributes that I hold close to myself. Throwing the BBQ, showed the importance of family. By asking my Soldiers how their families were doing during the deployment, which showed the importance of communication. When I told my Soldier it did not matter what he wanted to do anymore, that showed the importance of honesty. My philosophy is family, communication, and