Blog #8

A group that I was apart of that became a community was my last deployment team. We started off in the pseudocommunity because everyone got along with everyone and none had any problems as of yet.  Once we left for predeployment training I knew that this was probably the last time we would see all these smiling faces for awhile. Once we got to Texas we started Physical Training (PT) every morning at 0500, followed by 14-15 hour training days in the hot summer. You mix that with being around the same people 24 hours a day 7 days a week for 2 months and you start to grow intolerable of people.

Stage 2 or "Chaos" insued when people started have different views on the ways we should be going about doing things. Well for example, when it came to how to assault the village for training our senior leaders put us junior leaders in charge. There was 5 of us in charge of about 60 other troops that we had to lead. Well all 5 of us had our own way of doing it and we bickered back in forth until we came up with a general idea we could all agree on. This may have solved our accomplishing the mission issue however it only created more tension between us junior leaders. We started growing shorter and shorter with each other and ultimately came to a point where our senior leaders called us in a meeting and chewed us out. This lead to an emptiness feeling because we felt we let the rest of our team down because we couldn't lead them the way they needed to be led. In the military perception is everything and we didn't feel any lower then getting chewed out by our mentors.

Senior leaders then choose one of our group members and placed them in charge (because he had been in the longest) and said from here on out he's in charge. Although the rest of us didn't like it we all know how to follow orders so it made future missions end up being easier since we only had 1 voice to listen to. This helped the team come together and form a true community because for the rest of the training we knew who was in charge and who was giving the orders. That's the reason why a chain of command is so important because so often everyone wants to be a chief but no one wants to be an indian. Leaders can't make it without the support of the rest of the team.

Blog #7

2 target identities that ill be addressing is gender and race. Being a white male from a upper middle class family, I've lived a life that growing up most dream of. I feel fortunate for that however, growing up i feel it hindered me at times. Growing up in a house with two loving parents that financially were able to offer many things, to others I obtained the "spoiled" stigma. People saw me in nice clothes and thought I was stuck up and that couldn't have been more false. 

Race is an identity that I've been on the wrong side at times. I've been threatened by groups of individuals to get out of a certain area because I was white and didn't belong. Then I come back 2 weeks later to the same place but with a black friend of mine and those same people had no problem with me. Now i'm not ignorant and I know that race equality is definitely and issue when it comes to certain issues but it doesn't exclude any race. Discrimination is something that all races  have to endure as it will never fully go away and is based on that individual in position or empowered.

Gender is an identity and i'll give and example on how it is used in my military career up to this point. Women equality is becoming a bigger issue in the military and is currently aiming for opening special forces up to women. A lot of people have an issue with women in special forces, however I do not. I believe it you can meet the standards that are set in place for that course than you should be able to join. However the issue that is coming to light is that majority of women that are entering the special forces course can't pass the physical standards and are lobbying to reduce the standards. This is an issue I have because the physical standards are set for a reason, if a man or woman can't reach it then they shouldn't be accepted. 

A non identity I would say I associate with would be being male. Equality for men and women still has a little work to do. An example I would like to bring up is the Men's and Women's US National Soccer Team. The Women's soccer team has filed a wage discrimination lawsuit because although they have brought in nearly $20 million more revenue than the mens soccer team, they have been paid about a 1/4 of what the men have earned. This surprised me because you know discrimination happens at small businesses but when the Nations Sports players are being discriminated against you know we still have some work to do.

Blog #6 LPI

Honestly going into it I believe that modeling the way would have been what I scored highest in and encouraging the heart would have been my lowest. The reason I thought modeling the way would be my highest was because I always let people know my values and beliefs. My troops always tell me that I always lead by example. Whenever something is delegated for me to delegate down I always do it with my troops so that they know no matter what your rank, never think you're too good. Another way is that they always know where I stand on things, my beliefs never waver and it makes it easy for them to follow the standard I set for them. The reason I believed encouraging the heart would be my lowest is only because in my job it's about accomplishing the mission and don't make decisions based on your feelings.  Not that they don't matter but people tend to think irrationally at times when your feelings come into play.

My highest principle was enabling others to act. At first I didn't see how but after looking at what it meant it makes sense that Enabling others to act ended up number one. Being in the military everything is built on trust and by helping others establish themselves in whichever job they are in. Being someones direct supervisor you main goal is to help develop your troops. It's no longer just you accomplishing the mission, but it's more of helping your subordinates become the future leaders.

 The principle I scored lowest in was challenging the process. At first i didn't like that this was my lowest because it almost made it seem like I wasn't a risk taker. Then I started to ponder on it and I started to realize out of all the principle, it made sense that this was my lowest. It's not that I'm not a risk taker but it's just I tend to express the other principles more frequently. Job wise the military is all i've known since graduating High School and it's more of a following the standards set in place. Now every now and then there comes a time to step out and take risks but for the most part it's not. Therefore after thinking about that it makes since to be my lowest principle.

I plan on working on my lower principles by slowly start applying the suggestions given to us with the "how to improve your leadership style" handout given to us in class. I'll start incorporating all leadership principle and eventually be a more well rounded leader.

Random Act of Kindness

For my random act of kindness I decided to donate to a charity of my choosing. I know a lot of people who have suffered from the impacts of war so I know how important it is to have a organization who cares and wants to help you. The donation I made will go to help them create experiences that hopefully shed some light on their lives and ultimately give them hope to continue to fight and persevere. I've learned that sometimes it's thought that counts, no matter the monetary value. Knowing that someone cares to help is all it takes sometimes.

Blog Post #3

For my first I took the Race IAT. My results said that I suggest a moderate automatic preference or European American compared to African American. At first I looked at that and was confused because growing up most of the people I knew were African American and I feel completely the same wether i'm hanging around European Americans or African Americans.

The second test I took was the Age IAT. My results stated that I was have a slight preference for young compared to old people. I believe this to be true because although I feel age doesn't matter we all know it does. If I went to a party I would hang with someone my age rather than someone, lets say 50. This test conclusion didn't tell me anything I wasn't aware of already, however it does make you think.

The third and final test i took was the Gender IAT and results were a moderate association of male with science and female with liberal arts compared to female with science and male with liberal arts. I wouldn't say I believe one should go towards the other however you do see a majority of men with science degrees and women with liberal art degrees. I would say majority of the reason is due to what interests a certain individual.

Something that may have been an issue is the fact that when taking these you try and finish as fast as you can and make mistakes. You are judged off those mistakes and therefore I don't necessarily think that this tests are more correct then not. These results won't change the way I go about things however it makes you think. Majority of people won't come out and say "hey I like thin people better than bigger people" or vice versa. Tests like these are put together in a way that force people not to think, just record what they see. In the end it shows what your answers say of you, even though it may not be your belief.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIvRkjOd1f8

This clips is from the movie Braveheart. Before William Wallace (Mel Gibson) leads his troops into battle he gives an infamous speech. In the year 1314 the Scottish are trying to earn their freedom from the English. His people are down because they do not believe they can beat the English because they are heavily outnumbered. He starts out with a joke about they "myth of William Wallace" to lift his people spirits. He then gives them a feeling of self worth and purpose by saying that he sees his people willing to stand up to tyranny. He then  goes on to challenge them, asking them if they are going to run from the enemy or stand up for their freedom. This rings loud with his people as they begin chanting as they feel they have a leader, who is willing to lead from the front and take them into battle.

William Wallace was a great leader because not only did he motivate and make his people believe but because he was willing lead from the front. He empowered his people giving them a purpose to fight, a reason to LIVE. When you have a leader especially in war taking charge it's very inspiring. Knowing that he may face death yet is the first one out there says a lot about the person he is. Many people live but not many live with a purpose. As they went into battle William Wallace subsequently died however his people continued to fight and won their freedom from the English.

Hello Everyone! My Names is Chris Dehart and i'm from Richmond, Va. Upon graduating from High School in 2006 I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do in life. About a year after graduation I had decided I wanted to join the military so on my birthday I took a trip the the recruiters office to see what it was all about. After talking to the recruiters I had decided to settle on joining the Air Force. I left for basic training in 2008 and here I am almost 8 years later and still in. I love the Air Force and couldn't be happier with the decision I have made.  I've been deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan (x3) and Jordan. The Air Force has given me a lot. It has provided me financial stability and a family away from family.

In the the military we have something called the Route 5/6. it consists of members of all branches in the ranks of E-5 and E-6. In Afghanistan I was the Vice President and we lead many things on my last tour. We lead runs in which we raised money to make a 13,500 donation to the Wounded Warrior Project we helps provided assistance to our brothers and sisters who have been wounded in action.

Another leadership experience I have had in my life would probably be my latest tour to Afghanistan. In Afghanistan I was the Lead Patrolman and RTO (Radio Telephone Operator) for the Commander. I was the direct link between the troops on the ground and our Commander back at headquarters. When we would get attacked I would respond, assess the situation, and direct other responding forces as well as emergency personnel. The Commander trusted me to make the decisions on his behalf because he felt I was capable of leading the forces. The trust of my military leaders has meant a lot in the development of my leadership.