Now I am no expert in leadership.  My leadership journey, specifically as an Officer in the US Navy is really just at its beginnings.  But one thing that I have to keep reminding myself of, sometimes daily, is that there is no one key, no cookie cutter example of the perfect leader.

Today, I attended the Change of Command and retirement ceremony for my Commanding Officer, a Captain that has honorably served in the US Navy for 26 years.  He is retiring with a long list of achievements and accomplishments.  My new Commanding Officer, a Captain that has served in the US Navy for 23 years has a very different personality than the departing CO, and naturally, a very different leadership style.  But you know what?  That’s ok.

So often, I find myself trying to fit the mold I see of other Officers.  This never works completely, though.  It is because I am different.  My personality, my life experiences, my whole self… is different.  But, lucky for me there is a difference between the quality of leadership and personality type.  Just because two people have similar personalities does not mean that their ability to lead is the same.  But this common sense fact seems to escape me a lot when I look at someone I would consider a quality Navy (or Military in general) Officer and see how different we are.

“Wow, his Sailors really respect him.” or…

“Look at the way she is able to interact with her Sailors, very friendly but professional.” or…

“Those Sailors are really doing their best to help their Division Officer succeed.”

I see a situation like that and then feel lost at how I can earn that same respect with the Sailors I lead because I am not as outgoing as her or I am not as intelligent as him.  But that mindset is wrong!  I have to remind myself (and this is the point to this post if you haven’t already figured it out) that sure I can and should learn from the example of other leaders, I should learn the good and the bad, but learning from and emulating is completely different.

If you completely emulate someone else you are being fake and you really can’t be fake with your Sailors.  They are too smart for that.  But just like my new Skipper told the Wardroom today (and I loosely quote), “Sure they have to salute you, but they don’t have to like it.  They should be proud to call you their Division Officer or Department Head.”  While the Captain was stating this with reference to Integrity, it is really a statement that can be taken into all aspects of leadership.  A salute is really just a courtesy.  A monkey can salute and there wouldn’t be any meaning behind it.  Restating what the Captain was saying is that as a Navy Officer you should aim to make that salute go beyond a courtesy and to be a sign of respect.

Bringing this back to the original point of leadership styles, my take away from not just today, but from watching other Officers successfully lead Sailors every day is making sure your Sailors know that you are really there as a Navy Officer for only one reason, them.  It really doesn’t matter who the leader is, whether they are boisterous or bashful, giving respect is the best way to receive it.  We could argue the details, but it really comes down to the phrase that every Navy Officer hears over and over and over again…

“Take care of your Sailors and they will take care of you.”

Should be simple, right?  Well I just made a cookie cutter statement about how to lead.  How you go about taking care of your Sailors is the part specific to you and your personality.  And yes, we just made full circle…

Congrats to the outgoing CO and welcome to the new CO.  Let the journey continue!

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There are two major issues with this hotel room in particular, though.  One is that their boiler seems to have a mind of its own.  Some days the shower will be perfect, some days you can only set it to a temperature range and just dodge the water when the range gets to the scolding side, and some other days (most recently) you just won’t have any hot water.  Today they are turning off the boiler to work on it.  No hot showers today, but here’s hoping for a normal shower tomorrow.

The other major issue with this hotel is the Internet.  They provide what they call dial up through the telephone in each room.  I am not sure it is truly dial up as the speeds are probably a little bit faster than 56 kbps, but not by much.  So Melissa and I can both use the Internet at the same time, we hooked up our router (also for wireless printer).  There are also two iPhones that can be connected to the router for Internet at any one time.  This spells disaster for connection speeds.

There’s a speed test I ran just a few minutes ago.  Pretty, huh?  Really I can’t complain too much, though.  We’ve been able to video chat through GMail with Melissa’s parent’s.  I’ve been able to screen share through iChat with my Brother.  And I am typically able to load a flash video in an OK amount of time, just not instantaneous.  I spent MANY years on dial up, so this really isn’t all too foreign.  Sure makes you appreciate high speed, though.  I’m not even going to attempt loading any of the shows I watch on Hulu.  That will just have to wait for another Internet connection.

The bed is comfortable, we have lots and lots of TV stations, we are real close to the Commissary and the BX, jets fly over our hotel throughout the day (which is awesome), and I have my wife here with me.  Not really too bad.  Like most things there is a good amount to complain about, but again like most things the good things definitely outweigh the bad.

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So here we go…

I went into OCS with the full knowledge of most of the evolutions that took place.  I knew about Wake Up Wednesday, Outpost, RLP, ORLP and the Academic phase.  I knew about the sand pits and the remedial physical training sessions and drill.  I knew that OCS would have some extreme physical and mental challenges.  I did countless hours of research before heading off to Rhode Island and I knew various people’s personal accounts from both perspectives of flying through and struggling through (in some cases quitting).  Basically, I knew about as much as I felt I could know about what OCS was before showing up that sunny Sunday morning.  And honestly, for the most part, what I knew was spot on.  What I had learned about the various evolutions was pretty near what happened in my time there.  The big surprise was how I personally reacted to all the evolutions.

I thought myself fairly squared away mentally for OCS.  I worried a bit about my physical preparedness, however.  But if you asked me again at the end of week one, I would have said my worries were the complete opposite.  I did not realize how much of an emotional rollercoaster OCS would be.  The day’s events had the ability to take you emotionally to heights and valleys within minutes.  And the crazy thing about the journey was I was full aware of them taking me on this journey.  There was no post emotional breakdown when I realized what the staff of OCS were doing, in plain sight (and most of the time they tell you what they are doing) you see how OCS works.  They don’t try and disguise the method to their madness.  But just through the struggles and trials of each day, pure exhaustion mixed with a good bit of homesickness led to a rather stressed out me at times, teetering on an emotional edge.  Thankfully I had a great roommate who struggled in many of the same ways I did (thankful for the roommate, not that he had struggles) and provided an ear when needed.  Also so very thankful that I have a wife and family who wrote supportive letters that helped me through the ugliest days in more ways than they will ever realize.  Honestly, I owe a lot of my success at OCS to them.

As for the physical parts of OCS, wow it really sucked at times, hah.  I have heard of (and seen) other classes that had a much more physically challenging OCS than we did, but even still, in no way were the physical demands of OCS anything less than brutal.  There wasn’t as much group PT as I thought there would be.  Every morning we would PT as a regiment from about 0530 to 0630.  Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday we would do runs (about 3 miles) and on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday we would have strength and conditioning.  Yes, on Saturday we would do the 3 mile run with intermittent stops to do strength and conditioning.  But beyond that hour in the morning there was no organized group PT.  Naturally there would be a bit of remedial physical training (RPT) and that was tough, but no more scheduled times for PT.  As for the RPT, this was what made OCS a physically challenging place.  There were a few sandpits around that the Drill Instructors would use to aid our physical progress.  For 5 or 10 minutes at a time (or sometimes more) we would be ordered to do various physical exercises with no rest.  It may not sound too bad to someone who hasn’t gone through it, but I promise you it is.  People’s arms would be giving out, their abs would be burning all while trying to sound off and yell at the top of their lungs to make a Drill Instructor just stop the pain, haha.  Good times.  I was by no means the strongest at OCS, but I was by no means the weakest either.  I used this mentality to help make it through an RPT session.  I knew that someone was going to hit the ground before I did if I gave it my everything, so I always found more to give.  Easier said than done.

The physical and mental challenges of OCS basically sums up what the entire place is.  I’m convinced there is really no way to prepare yourself 100% for what you are about to experience if you are on your way to Newport.  Depending on who makes up your Class Team, the time of year you are there, and what random restrictions for candidates have been recently set in place or lifted, you stay at OCS will be very different (or similar) to mine.  Even between the classes that were there at one time with me, at times I was jealous of others and other times I’m sure classes were jealous of ours.  I have heard from lots of people to not really take any of the gouge you read about OCS seriously.  I say that is stupid.  I think you should read and learn as much as you can about the place and talk to those who have gone through, just keep an open mind about the experience you will have.  Don’t come in expecting your OCS to be like my OCS.

The one other challenge of OCS that I think is worth mentioning specifically is Academic Phase.  This was four weeks that were spent in class some 8 or 9 hours a day trying to stay awake.  You take four classes: Sea Power (Naval History), Engineering/Weapons (High School Physics concentrated in weapons systems), Naval Operations and Seamanship (Maneuvering Boards), and Navigation (Charts).  From my perspective (Computer Science major, but by no means an engineer) the classes aren’t too difficult.  The difficult part is staying awake and retaining the information.  Taps is at 2200 and you generally wake up a 1/2 hour before reveille (0500).  So we are talking at most 7 hours of sleep each night, but more likely somewhere between 5 and 6 hours.  I tried to close my eyes at 2300 and woke up between 0400 and 0430 each morning.  I know of people that did sleep at taps and wake at reveille every night, but I don’t know how they managed it.  I was extremely tired my entire way through OCS.  This was one of the biggest challenges for me.  But during Academic Phase, you spend two weeks learning material, take a midterm, spend two weeks learning new material, take final exams.  Rather stressful, but manageable if you spend your time wisely.

The rest of OCS: Drill, Chow Hall, Wet Trainer, Fire Trainer, Gun Range, High Ropes, Inspections, Inspections, Inspections… among whatever else I’m not thinking of at the moment are just various ways for the staff at OCS to help raise your stress threshold while teaching you a little bit about life in the Navy and being a Navy Officer.  I could write pages and pages about the details of every little thing that happened over my 12 weeks at OCS, but really that’s not necessary.  My short few sentences of advice about OCS would be as follows:

1. Get as much sleep as you can.  You need as much as you can get.
2. Find a time to de-stress.  I personally used my time in chow hall to block everything else out and relax.
3. Make friends with whom you can be normal with.  Talk about what’s going on around you and talk about home.

I guess I will end with what surprised me most about OCS.  The people.  I am really not sure what I was expecting of the people that I was going to go through OCS with, but they were some of the most normal, nice and down to earth guy and girls I ever met.  I think I was expecting the stereotype of high school band vs. high school football player in a sense to continue at OCS.  I will never think of myself as someone that is physically strong and/or good at sports, and I just kind of assumed that the jocks that no doubt became Navy Officers would poke fun of the band geek.  So wrong.  Once at OCS, everyone is on the same playing field and more importantly on the same team.  It doesn’t really matter where you came from, just that you are working right alongside everyone else.  The teamwork and camaraderie between everyone in our class couldn’t be beat.

Simple as that.  OCS is no fun, I would never want to go through it again.  But it sure is quite the adventure.  Happy to be “DONE SIR DONE” and I sure am glad to be wearing my butter bars

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We’ll see!

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“Stay strong.” ~Grandpap

PS. Happy birthday to me.

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Yes, I am in Newport, RI and at Navy OCS.  And no, I don’t have access to my blog to write new posts.  But here’s one anyway!  It is a few days before OCS and I’m scheduling a few posts to be published throughout my stay at OCS.  I have written at least one post each month on my blog for a few years now and I’d like to keep that up as long as possible.

So today is August 1st, 2010 and I reported to OCS this morning.  Let the adventure begin.

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Eh… the wait for my official orders is frustrating, nerve racking, and uneventful all at the same time.  While my processor, who my orders get sent to me through, is doing her best to get me my orders, she tells me that whether I have them or not, I am required to report Sunday morning, otherwise I am UA.

I continue to have this nagging feeling, though, that when my orders do arrive, they aren’t going to have report on August 1st written on them, but instead, a later date.  I guess we’ll find out on Sunday morning!

Melissa and I left Cincinnati last Monday morning and spent a day driving to Washington DC.  We then spent a day quickly seeing as much of everything we could in DC since Melissa has never been there before.  It was kind of a fly-by sightseeing tour of DC.  We saw all the major monuments/memorials, but didn’t really stop or spend too much time at any one of them.  One exception, however, was Arlington Cemetery.  We spent the morning until noon there.

Our first night in DC we stayed at the Navy Lodge on Bolling Air Force Base.  The Navy housing looked very nice there and the view across the water to Ronald Reagen Washington National Airport at sunset, phenomenal.  Both Melissa and I really liked that base.  The second night we were suppose to stay in the Navy Lodge again, but due to some construction they had going on, they put us in a Quality Inn over near Andrews Air Force Base.  And maybe I’m biased cause the Quality Inn had free WiFi … but the Quality Inn definitely trumped the Navy Lodge.

We then spent the next day (yesterday) driving from Washington DC to Boston.  This was the day of driving where we really felt the lack of A/C in our car.  A few sweaty hours in traffic later, though, we made it to Boston.  I love Boston.  My brother and sister-in-law live in a city called Waltham, and it is very pretty.  Melissa and I went out for a jog this morning around the city while it was raining, lots of fun.  Last night we went and saw Inception at a local/smaller movie theater.  The movie was AWESOME and I think I spent most the night last night dreaming about it (which was a nice change from dreaming about OCS, haha).

So we have the day today in Boston, not sure what to do yet, something inside most likely with the rain. Then driving to Newport, Rhode Island tomorrow where we will spend the day, meet up with some people in my class and stay the night at the Navy Lodge there.  Melissa flies home on Saturday and I report Sunday morning.

YIKES!

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.  The level of nervousness is the fluctuating part, however.  At times I’m not worried about it at all.  Bring it on, let’s get this party … errr… started.  But other times I am pretty much terrified, hah.  Thousands of kids have gone through this program before me, many of them just like me, I’m sure.  One week at a time, one day at a time, one meal at a time, and 12 weeks will be up before I know it.

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I have no real complaints about change.  In fact I welcome it.  If every day were the same as the day before, it would not be a happy life for me.  I like and welcome change.

Today, I was up at my parent’s house cleaning out my old bedroom which they are converting into a nursery for future (starting August (not mine)) grandchildren.  And of course I got all those nostalgic feelings while looking through old school projects, ribbons from the “Olympics” in elementary school, or some random object that I remember so many details about its inception.

A few of the items such as some favorite elementary school projects, awards, and yearbooks made it into a box that has a space in my parent’s basement, but a lot of the items I uncovered did get tossed.  If I had no memory of working on whatever item I was contemplating the fate of, it was gone.  Time to move on.

I’ve done no research in the area, but I wonder if there are other animals beyond humans that are nostalgic.  I believe I once heard that elephants visit the grave sites of family when on journeys.  But what really is the huge deal about keeping random items from the past?

When working at Apple, they refused to celebrate any anniversaries.  Their vision was set on the future, not on that past!  Or at least that’s the story I heard.

And now working for the Navy (even though I have little to no actual experience) there is tradition in every minute of every day, it seems.

Finding a middle ground of knowing who you are and where you’ve been in equal importance to where you are going seems more like the optimum combination.

I love new adventures and am looking forward greatly to the Navy, but I have to say, for the first time ever, my heart was a little saddened at the thought of really moving on from the city of Cincinnati.  I knew Cupertino, California for Apple was temporary, but the Navy is a little more substantial than a 6 month co-op.

Melissa had a number of days off work this past week which we coined “adventure week”.  We started off by going to the dog park, then on a hot air balloon ride, and the next day we went horse back riding and skydiving, and the next day we drove up to Columbus where we went scuba diving and camped that night.  What a week!!!! I know every week wouldn’t be like that if I weren’t going into the Navy, but that week sums up a lot of the difficult emotions that will most likely be abundant when I head to OCS in August.  Missing spending and enjoying time with my wife.

Three months will be quick enough, though!  Enjoying the time I have now and looking forward to the time I have coming up in the future.

Cheers to that!

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For those that don’t know, John McCain, yes the Republican presidential nominee of 2008 comes from a high and mighty lineage of top brass in the Navy.  Both his father and grandfather were admirals and John McCain, in his time, was an advancing Naval Officer, himself.  In his time as a Naval Aviator, John McCain was shot down and captured as a POW in Vietnam where he remained for a number of years.  The majority of this book is recollections of his time in captivity.

The beginning of the book, however, does take time to tell the story of his grandfather and father in their Naval careers.  It is called “Faith Of My Fathers” after all.

One major aspect of this book that I really enjoyed was the personality and intimacy that was communicated throughout its pages.  You really felt like you were sitting next to a vet, just listening to him tell you his story.  Through all the good times and bad, there is a level of blatant honesty that is surprising of an autobiography from such a well known person.  Many times throughout the book I found myself wondering if the events that were unfolding truly happened the way that they were being told.  Such unbelievable events and actions taken by not only the author but also by others and only told through the author are littered throughout the book.

While reading, I had many of the same thoughts as while reading, Lone Survivor.  ”Is the author exaggerating or leaving out bits of information to make himself look better?”  That’s a tough thought to get over when reading autobiographies.  This autobiography (or even non-fiction at that) phase that I’ve been going through lately is completely different than my major interest in fiction prior.  I have not previously had much experience with the urge to question the author and his story as I have had in these books.  In fiction, it is just a story, the author has the freedom to move the story how he or she pleases.  But these autobiographies are about true American heroes that have lived during and through some truly unbelievable moments in time.

John McCain, however, tells his story well.

There is a bit of repeat in his story and a whole lot of jumping around in the chronological timeline that gets to be a bit annoying.  But it feels as though the stories are following a train of thought.  He isn’t just recounting everything that happened, but telling the story as well.

After finishing the book, I thought for a bit about my feelings towards John McCain before reading the book and now my feelings towards the man after reading the book.  In the end, I decided that the feelings were no different.  I have always respected the man for who he is and his accomplishments, but hearing in detail, from his voice, the story of his youth and years in the military, doesn’t lead me, in any regards, to admire or despise the man.  I feel more educated about his story and I admire his ability and determination to tell the story.  In the end I just feel better acquainted to him as a person.  More than just a political figure, I now know a little bit about the person behind the campaign.  In the book he discusses at times, regrets from years past and struggles that he had both in and out of the military.  Overall, the book glorifies his human aspects more than him as an American hero.

This book is not about politics and only makes mention of politics a handful of times.  This book is really just about an American family put in extraordinary circumstances.  Go pick up a copy, you won’t regret it.

ps. happy 300th post

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Overall, it was a very quick read.  The book reads in a very personal fashion from Luttrell’s perspective.  He makes no attempt to hide his opinions about politics, news corporations, nor how awesome the Navy SEALs truly are.

The aspect I enjoyed most about his retelling of his story is that he includes more than just the facts of Operation Redwing.  He talks about growing up, surviving BUD/S and touches on a few other missions him and his SEAL team went through.  This in addition to his personal account of Operation Redwing, when his team was MIA, he tells the story of his family and friends back home, that he only found out later upon returning home.

Many times through the telling of his story, especially in Afghanistan, I found myself questioning the details of his story.  ”How could this possibly have happened?  How is he not dead right now!?!”  But a lot of these questions go by the wayside when you remember the training they went through.  He only touches the surface of the amount of training he had, and it is seriously impressive.

The story isn’t all that “deep” really.  In fact, it is really just the story with one man’s opinions on paper.  Don’t expect to be analyzing the mental state of US Navy SEALs nor the Taliban or al Qaeda, but do expect to be entertained, captivated, and appreciative.

Here is the summary from the back of the #1 National Bestseller, Back Bay Books, Paperback edition:

On a clear night in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous Pakistani border. Their mission: to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader. Less than twenty-four hours later, only one of those Navy SEALs remained alive.

This is the story of fire team leader Marcus Luttrell and the desperate battle in the mountains that led, ultimately, to the largest loss of life in Navy SEAL history. But it is also, more than anything, the story of the men who fought ferociously beside him until he was the last one left. Luttrell recalls their valiant efforts in one of the most powerful narratives every written about modern warfare – a stirring tribute to his teammates, who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

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