Thursday - June 09, 2005
Who's in Charge?
"Who's in charge here?" I asked. The answer was
not quite what I expected. "Sgt X is in charge." But then the answer changed
almost as soon as he gave it. "Well, really the corporal there is in charge, he
does what the sergeant needs to get
done."
About then the sergeant came
walking up from a distance. He had been coordinating something at the COC. I
recognized him. Nice guy, more likely to hand out lollipops to the little muj
kids than to kill their parents. A good, well meaning guy that is inoffensive
and most people would like. And as often happens in the Marines, the wrong guy
for the job, and everyone knew it.
It happens at all levels in the Marine Corps. A
guy gets rank and he gets to be the boss. The people above him get to pick and
choose subordinate leaders to a certain extent, but when the number of people
available is limited, sometimes we're obliged to go with someone that can't
quite do the job. And this is by
design.
One of the things that I didn't
catch onto when I was going through initial training is that it is usually
arbitrary who is in charge. In our six weeks of Officer Candidate School and
our six months of The Basic School, our peers for short periods of time would
rotate in and out of leadership billets. At the time I thought this to be so
arbitrary and unrealistic, but now I understand that this is crucial in our
training. It is vital for all of us to change our loyalties at the drop of a
hat, when ordered. It is vital for all of us to give unswerving obedience and
attention to whoever is in charge, whether for five minutes or five
years.
The more we practice changing
the guy in charge, the more our teamwork improves. This sergeant may not have
been a great leader. He won't likely be the best organizer, maybe he won't even
take care of his men as someone else would, but he's in charge. And his Marines
will adjust and take care of him in one way or another. In this case, they knew
to take much of the burden off of him and lean on the corporal. The corporal
knew to stay loyal to the sergeant, advise him and help him. And the platoon
will thrive.
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