there are two lessons that i should've learned by now:

a) be careful what you wish for because you just might get it
b) no good deed goes unpunished

i've been in the army in some shape or form now for just over 12 years (my anniversary was the 8th). without a doubt this current group is the smarted group of soldiers i've worked with in my career, especially the junior guys. many of these kids work in highly technical fields, are members of management and almost all of them are either in college or have their degrees in hand already. sometimes this is a great thing. it's nice to be standing in front of a group, explaining something mildly technical about the radios and see heads bobbing up and down instead of a glazed over look in the eyes. it's great to have them grasp some relatively simple concepts on the first pass. but usually it's a huge pain in the ass.

a couple years ago i was with a different unit and this one came looking for me. they knew they were going overseas and wanted a seasoned communications guy with them. they made it very clear that i was just tagging along for the trip overseas and then i'd have to find a new home upon our return because officially there wasn't a slot on the unit's roster for me. i came into the slot as a somewhat unknown entity. i was the only communications guy so i didn't have a "team" working for me and there were some other guys in the platoon that outranked me, so i went downrange with no direct reports and little responsibility. most of the other guys in the platoon hadn't been on active duty before and hadn't been downrange before and it wasn't long before i was giving gentle guidance or outright taking over jobs to make sure things were getting done. by the end of the trip it became pretty apparent that we weren't doing proper professional development of some of our younger soldiers and we were just perpetuating problems. i was advising and making suggestions for improvements and by the end of the trip i spoke for the commander or the first sergeant but for political reasons official leadership changes weren't made.

when we got back i found out the my security clearance had been screwed up by the guys who'd stayed back here while we were overseas and i wasn't really able to switch units until that was sorted out. by the time it was straight, this new trip popped up on the radar and i kinda got slated for it and now all of a sudden the changes have been made and i'm the guy in charge of the little group. it's time to put my money where my mouth is and prove that i know what i'm talking about. i've got a solid year + to try to make improvements and make this work. the good part is that my boss knows what i'm trying to do and has faith in me and is a good source of support and knowledge when i need it. and he'll give me a swift kick in the ass when i need it too. one of the guys who was downrange with me last time and who i consider a best friend is going with me and in alot of ways we're interchangeable. technically he'll quasi report to me and the majority of the youngsters will report to him. and he understands what i'm trying to do and i'll have his support as well.

i've got my hands full though. of the guys that are going down range, i'm second oldest. all of them but one other failed their last p.t. test. so that's gonna be a big problem. there are some smart kids. once i get them to realize that a) they're not as smart as they think they are and b) smarts are great but at a certain point you have to move out and do the job they will be some awesome soldiers. right now they want to question every order or come up with a "better" way of doing things. the don't realize that there's the right way, the wrong way and the army way and sometimes (when you're really lucky) the right way and the army way are one and the same, but usually they're not. and usually the army way is the way to do it for a reason. sometimes that reason is really stupid. but sometimes it's something that a guy who hasn't been downrange before can't see in his head yet. until we leave i'll have three people in the group that technically outrank me but that i've been placed over, and they've already started to grumble. downrange a couple of them were more than happy to stand aside and let me do the work, but now that we're home they're embarrassed by it. so it'll be fun in a pain-in-the-ass/what-did-i-get-myself-into-way if it works and a huge disaster if it doesn't.