Advice Upon Entry
Written for my nephew, who starts Navy boot camp this week.
These words are intended to serve as a guiding light for you as you enter the service. Some of it is immediately actionable, some of it won’t apply until a few years from now, and some of it you will have to learn first hand. My goal is that in 10 years you will look back on these words and say “yep, that was good advice.”
Part I: Duty
Duty Description
“Doing your duty is simply doing what ought to be done, when it should be done, on your own with a spirit of service.” It is the sense of obligation that motivates one to do, to the best of his or her ability, what is expected at all times. One should neither anticipate a reward nor fear a punishment as motivation to do one’s duty, but do so out of an internalized sense of responsibility.
This is from the West Point cadet knowledge book that is drilled into cadets during their first summer of training. Over the years it has been simplified in my mind to “doing your duty is simply doing what needs to be done, on your own, with a sense of service.” The key piece of this, to me, is for you to possess a full understanding of “what needs to be done”. This will take years to fully develop. It means both technical proficiency and ethical fortitude. And what it really means is that you are so competent that any variance from “what should be done” subconsciously triggers something in you that makes you leap into action.
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“Doing your duty is simply doing what needs to be done, on your own, with a sense of service.” Memorize that, internalize it. It will guide you in everything you do.
“The Moment”
Vince Lombardi once said that an entire football game is only decided by two or three plays, the only problem is you never know when they’re going to happen. The nature of truly doing your duty in a military career is much the same — there will be long days full of repetitive tasks, but there will be a handful of make-or-break moments that will test the culmination of everything that you have learned and everything that you are. More often than not these moments are of an ethical nature (technical problems rarely balloon to a point where they are that dramatic). There will be a moment, and you will absolutely feel it in your bones, where there is something that SHOULD be done that you personally do NOT want to do — the difficult, harsh truth will need to be told when no one else will tell it, or an officer or NCO will be in the wrong where people will get hurt — it is in these moments where you must subordinate yourself to doing your duty, and step forward to do what should be done. This is not a license to act like Captain America and be dramatic over every small thing, rather it is something for you to prepare for, because those few moments are waiting for you where you least expect them.
Honor, Respect
You will do good things, and you will be given medals, ribbons, coins, and recognition for doing so. Your uniform will start off bare, and soon it will fill up as your experience grows. Most people use the words “respect” and “honor” interchangeably, but this is false. RESPECT is what someone gives you — recognition from your peers, an award, or a title. But HONOR is about who you are. Honor is not something someone else gives you, nor is it something anyone can take away from you. It is only something you give or take away from yourself. Honor is being the one who will do what needs to be done. Sometimes that will result in receiving respect from others, but many times it will not. In my limited experience what you find in the wake of exercising your honor is not fanfare or recognition, but the silent satisfaction where you know that had you not taken action the outcome would have been far worse for others.
Part II: Individual Excellence
Whether you stay in uniform or get out after your initial commitment, the two things that you will be able to carry with you for the rest of your life are self-discipline and the ability to read people.
Self-discipline
Self-discipline comes back to doing what needs to be done: self discipline is about following THAT as your reason for action rather than your own desires (those desires will include everything from ego to fatigue). The military uses cheap, accessible means of forcing self-discipline on you: mostly via uniform and barracks standards. When I was young I found this frustrating and petty, as I felt it produced someone who could shine their shoes perfectly but was not competent in warfare related tasks. Now that I am more mature I see that all of that was for building a foundation of discipline from which all else can grow. In the military self-discipline will often manifest itself in you being able to place your own needs as the lowest priority — you need to take care of your immediate tasks, look out for those on your left and right, maintain your equipment, maintain your body (through hygiene. Your body is equipment!), and then finally you can tend to relaxation.
Reading People
This is something that is both difficult to describe, and unfortunately something that you must experience firsthand. In the service you will be exposed to both trustworthy and untrustworthy people — the problem is that many of the untrustworthy ones work hard to lure in your trust. You need to go through a few experiences of trusting someone and getting burned — it will sting but as long as you pay attention it will be well worth the lesson. The closest thing I can provide in terms of reading people are: 1) If someone is overly nice to you, especially an NCO, that’s a warning sign. You want someone who is looking out for the greater good, is humble, and has far better things to do than be your friend — an NCO who tries to be your buddy is often buttering you up to eventually cover for their shortcomings (this is how substandard people stay afloat). 2) Learn to see the inner child within each person: look in their eyes, see what is driving them. Deep down we are all still children, we just act like adults when we have to. Are they kind? Are they clueless? Are they harsh and heartless? Seeing these things in someone lets you understand them, which means you’ll already know how they will behave in a given situation, and that is a powerful thing.
Physical Fitness
It is a cultural reality of the military that maintaining an extremely high level of physical fitness will pay dividends for you no matter where you go. You will get higher ratings, you will be given more benefit of doubt, you will be chosen as a leader amongst peers more often, and most importantly you will be less fatigued than your peers allowing you to help them when they’re dragging. Pay attention to what people in your unit respect — if it’s running fast then train for a marathon to become a great runner; if it’s weightlifting work on your deadlift and bench press. Everyone has their own numbers out there, but I believe a decent standard to maintain is to be able to do more than 16 dead hang pull-ups, run 5 miles in under 35 minutes, deadlift twice your body weight, and bench press your body weight for 10 repetitions. If you can maintain all of those simultaneously you are on top of your game, anything beyond that is a bonus. You will never, ever hear someone say “they’re smart, diligent, and responsible… but unfortunately they’re in great shape.”
Being A Good Teammate
Never, ever make yourself look good at the expense of a peer. It is the mortal sin of the military. Others will do it, and unfortunately they may even get rewarded for doing so, but that is the wrong way to do business. Use your excess aptitude to help your teammates — you will have shortcomings and they will do the same for you, and you will all be better for it.
