Blooming Leadership

June 13, 2010

A good call from Josh today, we talked for almost an hour and covered many topics.

He qualified on his M4 rifle last week as a sharpshooter, he was happy about his rating...many of his platoon members just squeaked by with minimum qualifications. He also got to fire three different type of machine guns too...he said that was really fun...pistol training will happen when he gets to AIT because MP's carry side arms.

He was on a four hour pass this afternoon and just walking through the Fort and hanging out under a shady tree making some calls. He was telling me a little about the Fort, they have a Burger King, Pizza Hut and a few other fast food places like we do, he doesn't really frequent them, he's staying away from junk food...

The time is going by quickly for him as he looks back from his days in reception. He said he can identify the new troops as they arrive and march through the Fort, he feels that he has really made progress.

Most of what we talked about today was his growth and his leadership skills starting to emerge. Many of his platoon mates are 18 and just out of high school, this is such a contrast from Josh as he will be turning 25 next month. He has had some life and leadership in his job at Harkins, he is at point now where he speaks up when he sees something that is wrong and isn't afraid to do so. Last week four of his platoon mates broke the rules and the whole platoon was punished in such a way that it was obvious to other platoons that they had done something wrong. He was genuinely embarrassed to be part of the punishment.

He has the maturity of introspection and is learning to see the value in each and every exercise that they have him perform.

Today's phone call fro Josh marked to me a real turning point in his maturity, he is strong and confident and not afraid to do the right thing. He is really getting the most out of everything they are exposing him to...I have been proud of him since he enlisted but, today, if it was even possible my pride has soared to a new level.

Josh isn't just going to be OK...Josh is going to be great!