I’ve not written in a couple of days, so I owe the blog this. I have a few thoughts floating about in my head, so…why not?
Having read some Wendell Berry, this article caught my eye quite easily…and reminded me that I’ve got to get back to reading Wendell Berry. I’m sure I’ve written a bit about him before. I bought The World-Ending Fire at the recommendation of my brother, ad have yet to finish. The good thing about Berry, though, is the wealth of short pieces he’s written (and have been put into several collections — just take your pick). His work can be quite refreshing and always thought-provoking (for me, at least). He invokes a sense of simplicity when I read him. I could use that sometimes.
There’s so much to like about the article I’ve linked — the distinction between nurturing and exploiting to begin with, and then the path to nurturing through memory, discipline, hope, and affection. It reminded me that I do have his book The Unsettling of America, and I should get to that too…
…as soon as I finish A Confederacy of Dunces, which, if I’m honest, has taken a back seat to Lonesome Dove. What can I say? I really have a hankering for a good western novel. Yeah, it’s not Louis L’Amour, but then again, who is? And at least it’s a Pulitzer Prize winner…so it must be pretty good. I get the feeling though that I’ve either read it already, or that I’ve at least seen parts of the mini-series. But I don’t remember seeing the mini-series.
I got to recall my experience with a great leader today — my former Commander in Texas, Colonel Kim Sievers. When I arrived at the unit, I had just gone through a PCS that was tough on the whole family, and I was considering retiring. And I told her as much at our first feedback meeting (she was also my direct supervisor). She noted my sentiments and, without making me feel like she was discounting them, proceeded to give me the distinct impression that she still expected great work out of me. The thing is, she both empowered me to do the work, and then held me accountable for the results.
And about a year after that meeting, she presided over my final Air Force reenlistment.
My memory of this was part of a lamentation — that today’s leaders more often than not leave out both the empowerment and the accountability. There were things I got to do as a Master Sergeant (let alone, Senior Master Sergeant) that I don’t think the Senior NCOs of today’s Air Force get to do. In one tour, I served as the Chief of Operations Training, Stan/Eval, and as the Superintendent of Mission Support for the Squadron — all positions now either non-existent, or at one time replaced by officers…and then made non-existent (an irony when you think that “Stan/Eval” became a dirty word somehow, and yet here I am lamenting the Air Force’s lack of accountability). Opportunities to actually lead and contribute meaningfully are dwindling for the enlisted, and their authority is being short-circuited by senior leaders who are too eager to please the up-and-coming generation of kids (and I use that term intentionally). There’s a new way of handling business in the Air Force — based on all the latest research and social experimentation — that forgets some of the key tenets of serving in an organization that is supposed to be asking of its members pretty much everything up to the “ultimate sacrifice.”
The word that comes to mind is “coddled.” I was reminded even more of this when told that the members of my unit, after having most of the last two weeks off, would also be getting next week Friday, the following Monday (the only actual American holiday in the bunch), and then the Monday of the week after off.
All a far cry from the accountability that was asked of me for the work I was expected to do under Colonel Sievers. It really is too bad, in more ways than one, but most importantly in that we now have a military which is, quite clearly, massively unprepared for the most important job they’ve got — defending us all.