You may only get to do this once. Make sure you do it right. Some of your peers only want to survive the tour. Make sure you thrive in command. Make it EXTRAORDINARY !
Command
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Musings, leadership tidbits and quotes posted by a retired Navy Captain (really just a high performing 2nd Class Petty Officer) who hung up his uniform a bit too early. He still wears his Navy service on his sleeve. He needs to get over that. "ADVANCE WARNING – NO ORIGINAL THOUGHT!" A "self-appointed" lead EVANGELIST for the "cryptologic community". Keeping CRYPTOLOGY alive-one day and Sailor at a time. 2019 is 84th Anniversary of the Naval Security Group.
I Like The Cut of His Jib 
Wow,I loved my command tour, granted there were times when you certainly realized that you had your own back, but it was undoubtedly the most rewarding tour I have had to date. Command at Sea was the most exhilerating experience of my life. The authors tome makes it seem like a dank anf dreadful place. It is not
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From 1991 to 95 I was Officer in Charge of a Land Craft Utility (LCU), with NEC 0171. I had a 10 man crew, berthing, messing, armory, magazine, supply room, paint locker, two main engine rooms and an anchor engine room. Other than making fresh water we were an independently operating unit within a deployed Amphibious Ready Group. We embarked into well deck capable ships for use in theater as needed. Our main mission was putting Marines ashore, but were also used as a support platform for SEAL, EOD and Diving units.I was a newly pinned Bos'n Mate Chief with no prior Amphib experience. I had to learn the mission, plus the rated people working for me that were not Deck types. I had EN, EM, SM, and MS Petty Officers and Non Rates. I didn't fully grasp what I had gotten into until I got my first evaluation. The beginning line in my Duties & Responsibilities read: He is INESCAPABLY responsible for the 200 ton,…..We often anchored away from the \”mother ship\” while deployed. I had to run my own liberty policy inport if we were tied up pierside. I was never able to fully sleep during that tour just because of the \”what if\” factor.I learned early that if I deviated from my normal policy with one crewmember, that I had actually just changed my policy. It was always a juggling act with chainsaws. What made things easier was that the crew more readily accepted my non-UCMJ justice, rather than the real thing which would stay with their service record.But for all the downsides it was a great experience. It was as close as an enlisted man can come to being a CO. When I attended a pre-assault brief or planning sessions prior to deployment I was treated the same as all the other embarked CO/OICs. There was no better feeling than being called upon to perform a tasking that we'd never done before. I'd be asked if I thought we could do it, and my decision would be given full consideration up through Phib Group level.Only after I left there and had time to ponder all that I'd done, did I fully appreciate what all my past COs had to deal with. I also understood why they made many of the decisions, that at the time, I thought were the wrong ones.Thanks for your service to our country!
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Thanks for the outstanding point-counterpoint responses. You are right, as I believe I am, too. Our differneces lie in margins of command experience, and in poetic license used to express one's awed view of the balance between Authority and Accountability. A wise mentor once remarked that a commander's authority balances on the razor edge of Power and Accountability. Command is legallly-sanctioned power balanced by legitimate responsibility – and that the \”power\” component ALWAYS faces a \”liability\” Janus face for failure. My command tour (ashore) was a singular experience and I tried my best to fulfill suoperiors' expectations and all the while to be a role-model for subordinates – from E1 to O4. \”Dark and dreadful\” possibilities – that other Janus face – kept me trying hard not to fail the Crew or my own sense of exemplifying JP Jones's definition of a Naval Officer.
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\”A wise mentor once remarked that a commander's authority balances on the razor edge of Power and Accountability.\”Or as a BUPERS bureaucrat once said to me a little less eloquently when I called to get a policy read, \”Sir, you can do anything you want, as long as you can justify it.\”
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Ah, the French. So well known as purveyors of great leadership tips.
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Anonymous,May 7, 2012 11:52 AMThere was a time in our struggle for independence that the French did actually intend on helping our cause. That was some time ago though.Respectfully,Navyman834
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The French were the first on the scene in Aden, Yemen when USS COLE was attacked. They rendered aid and evacuated USN sailors to their hospital in Djoubiti, mean while the USAF refused to send a medevac flight to Aden until the USN could guarantee complete safety.
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More great wisdom. Too many COs are content with ordinary, thinking a tour is successful merely because there is a ceremony at the end of it. For that reason, they continually MISS opportunities to lead, connect, and grow with their peers, as well as those under their charge. Those who care enough to be extraordinary care enough to CREATE opportunities to do all three.Oh how I yearn for another opportunity to be extraordinary in command. Until then, I'll do my best to be extraordinary as an AO.
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IMHO far too much emphasis is put on achieving \”Command\”. I have seen as many successfull suboridnates lead their leaders (yes to include COs) as I have seen successful \”Commanders\”. Bottom line here is to simply lead wherever you are, no matter the position, no matter the personalities, no matter the circumstances. Ideally if you do this you will be afforded a leadership platform, but don't get hung up on \”Command\”, it is mearly a title.
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I think you have to pick extraordinary leaders/people to create extraordinary opportunities for your people to succeed. The best example CAPTAIN(ret) Larry Schaffer.VR CDR WIlkes
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Well said, Anonymous 0748.
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