A Blog about A Book

We Were Soldiers, Reading IV

2009-11-15T10:37:00.000-08:00

The Warrior Ethos is for us and all US Army Warriors, a reminder of what is important. There are four things that we should always (or never) do. In this reading, the easiest and most clear example of a soldier that embodies this, and I think my fellow cadets will agree with me, is Crandell. Running in and out, through incredible danger to self, he brings more soldiers in to the battle and evacuates casualties. That sentence alone sums up all for points of the ethos. No thoughts of surrender, he never quits, he places the mission first by bringing these men into battle and never leaves a fallen comrade, taking back the casualties. This man is a hero in every sense of the word, and the entire mission depends on him.

We Were Soldiers, Reading III

2009-11-15T10:25:00.000-08:00

There is a quote in Chapter 10. "No commander ever knows all that is happening on the battlefield." This sums up the chaos in this chapter, and would, I imagine, come close to capturing the intensity and confusion felt by anyone, especially someone new to command. This is why the decentralized command is so important. Even if the commander does not know what is going on with all of his men everywhere, he can trust in his NCOs to know what is going on with their men, and so is able, indirectly, to know and affect far more of the battlefield than he would be able to otherwise.

Towards the end of this chapter, we also see Moore wrestling with the problem solving method, in trying to determine how to best defend his men for the night. He IDs and studies the problem, looking at the strength of each company, the need to defend the chopper landing zones, enemy routs of attack, and the rest. He looks at every aspect of the situation and uses them to come up with a plan, rather than rushing through the planning and doing whatever comes first.

We Were Soldiers, Reading I

2009-11-15T10:16:00.000-08:00

In this first section of this book, we see several very crucial examples of what it means to be a good leader, through LTC Moore's example. First and possibly most important is his theory of "decentralized command", as he calls it. By giving more responsibility to the NCOs and alloweing them more freedom of action, he is maximizing the flexibility and adaptability of his command, which is especially crucial since he knows he is going to be short-handed, both in manpower as well as in other resources, such as his Hueys. Moore is clearly in command, and well respected by his men, which also will be crucial, because as we begin to see, the intelligence theyve been given is not the best, and this respect his men have for him will be tested as his men struggle to adapt to the unexpected. Essentially, Moore is giving his men the flexibility they need to adapt to situations, while also inspiring a confidence in his men that will give them the decisiveness of action to follow through on his plans, even in the face of unknown odds.

We Were Soldiers, Reading II

2009-09-20T17:50:00.001-07:00

Throughout this reading we are shown over and over again how Moore and the men of 2nd platoon maintain their cool under extreme circumstances. They really fall back on to their training, they talk about how their training really shows. They drop to the ground and take down anything that moves. They know what to do in this situation, they have the instincts to fall back on. They know who is in charge, even when the first three men in the chain of command for the platoon die. These displays of control and coordination show us as cadets what we hope to become by the end of our years in ROTC.

Mission Statement

2009-03-15T20:27:00.001-07:00

My mission is to do everything that I do out of love for God and love for my fellow man, and do it to the best of my ability. My mission is to keep faith with my friends, family, and acquaintances, and to be there to help a fellow human being if at all possible. My family comes before all but God, and my duty to them is the most sacred duty I have. I believe in altruism, and heroism and valor, even if unmarked, are never wasted. Gentility towards the gentle and ungentle alike is always called for. To everyone who I know, be trustworthy and understanding, and most importantly be there for them. Sophistication and gallantry are the hallmarks of a gentleman, and a Heights man.

To fulfill this mission:

I view every person through their own eyes, and see where they’re coming from, without passing judgment or giving advice unless asked.

I give of myself and my possessions to those who need me: family, friends, or acquaintances.

I set an example for those around me without being pretentious. I live my life loving others and try to show others to do the same.

I reach out to everyone around me, and try to leave the world a little better than I found it.

My roles in which I work to accomplish this mission are

Student: My studies at this time are my priority and life, and as such take precedence over the other roles.

ROTC Cadet: My studies as an ROTC cadet are a foundation to build my future Army career on, and as such also take on a huge part of my life, taking my studies very seriously in an attempt to better my leadership abilities.

Brother: My siblings can come to me with anything going on in their life and I will do everything in my power to help them however I can, without passing judgment.

Friend: My friends are like family, in everything except blood, and I would sacrifice and die for them as soon as for my family.

Son: My parents have given me so much, I want to make them proud of me and show them that I have used what they have given me to the best of my ability.

Employee: My boss will come to me when he needs something done efficiently and well, my coworkers will come to me for help, and I will endeavor to make myself invaluable to whatever organization I work for.

Think Win/Win

2009-03-15T19:17:00.000-07:00

This Chapter is all about the Win/Win situation, obviously. In every walk of life, you have the opportunity to take advantage or be taken advantage of, and the point of this chapter is that you should do neither. You want to be able to present a situation where both sides genuinely come out on top, and if you can't reach that point, then you should walk away. Win/Win or No Deal, like the musical mother of that family of musical children. Having the Win/Win or No Deal takes the pressure off of everyone so no one feels like they have their back to wall and would have to cut their losses and be taken advantage of. They can walk away and be no worse off, or they can take a Win/WIn deal, and Win. To accomplish this however you need to genuinely want the other person to win as well as yourself, and that takes genuine mature independence, and at least the beginnings of interdependence.

Paradigms of Interdependence

2009-03-15T19:05:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, everything from here on out in the book, Covey makes clear, can only come from true independence. Private Victory precedes Public victory.

The first example Covey gives, of the man who goes away on the trips and always gets grilled by his wife, is a powerful example of how this works. When Covey says "You can't talk your way out of problems you behave yourself into." He's saying actions speak louder than words. Character is the most important thing, eloquence can only get you so far. He even goes so far as to say that there is no quick fix for character, you have to take it a step at a time. That personal integrity is what I feel is the most important thing to keep in mind going into this latter half of the book, as he pushes this integrity as a critical part of independence and of the maturity that comes with it.

The Third Habit. Just Do it.

2009-02-22T20:43:00.000-08:00

Quadrant 2. Quadrant 2. This whole chapter focuses around quadrant 2. Its important, by definition. But its not urgent. What's important without being urgent? Our values, what we believe in, what we want to be and become. It makes you think, if the important and urgent things weren't urgent, would they be important? People let urgent things dominate their lives, but if all you do is deal with the urgent, Covey points out, then you're running around from point to point across the road and making no real headway. The non-urgent things give you direction and purpose, and give the urgent things a reason. And while we're looking at the urgent things through the lens of the non urgent things, we see some of them become a whole lot less urgent.

Beginning With the End in Mind

2009-02-16T09:17:00.000-08:00

Alright. I feel like this chapter is also a really self-explanatory chapter, and once its explained to us, we feel this sudden realization of "Of course its going to work that way." Many people don't realize, and I was one of them, that the steps to improving your life really aren't complicated, aren't hidden secrets or tips and tricks. They're just simple concepts.

Begin with the end in mind. Really easy sentence. Know where you're going before you get there. Look at a map before you take a trip. Read the instructions before you start to play the game. But I for one never really thought of applying this to my personal development. Having read this chapter, however, it makes me wonder how I was planning on getting anywhere without it. You need a personal mission statement so that you can embark on your personal mission. To have a mission statement, you need to know what your modus operandi is, you need to know explicitly what principles are important to you.

This is one of those chapters that if you take this book seriously, you're going to want to come back to again and again, as sort of a checkpoint and to see if you are still on track. A very well written chapter.

The First Habit: Proactivity

2009-02-08T21:07:00.000-08:00

Alright, so now we're getting to the good stuff of this book. Covey breaks out his secrets to becoming a highly effective person, and what he breaks out seems so simple, and yet is so hard for many people to realize on their own. The trick to this chapter is to be proactive, not reactive. Control what you can, and let go of what you can't control. Everyone has a Circle of Concern, and a Circle of Influence, and the trick is getting what you Influence to be larger than what concerns you. If your circle of Concern is larger than the circle of Influence, you are worrying about things that you cannot affect, but if you expand your Influence, a little bit at a time, you can tackle everything in your circle of Concerns, and beyond, like in Covey's example of the office worker with the dictatorial boss.

Pretty straightforward chapter, but at the same time, its something so incredibly necessary to move forward at all, I think.

The Seven Habits--- An Overview

2009-02-02T09:27:00.000-08:00

"Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny."

With this quote Covey opens up this chapter, which is appropriate, since this seems to catch the entire direction this book is trying to take us in. And since each habit we have goes into the composite of our character, and at the same time our character is affecting our habits, in a sort of spiral, you need to work on all of your habits at the same time if you want to work on your character. You can't have one without the other because the other will pull you down.

He also talks about the different stages of maturity in life: dependence, independence and interdependence, and I like the distinction he draws here. He says that yes, independence is mature, but it is not the most mature, because the fact is that society works because of people relying on other people. The goal of this book is to help you become physically, emotionally, and intellectually interdependent; to realize the importance of other people in our lives as people, not as tools or responsibilities or obligations.

he talks about the P/PC balance, and the Goose with the Golden Egg Fable, telling us that we can't focus on the ends without focusing on the means or else we lose the means of our effectiveness, and we can't focus only on the effectiveness or else we lose sight of what it is we were aiming for from the start. It requires balance. Much of this book is all about balance.

It makes me kind of see that in order to be a mature, effective person, all we need is balance, and the point of this book is to help you achieve that balance.

Let Me Lay It Down For You

2009-01-27T16:26:00.000-08:00

The Book?

The 7 Habits of Highly Affective People (hereafter known as "7"), by Stephen Covey.

The Reason?

Graded Assignment.

The Message?

Here's where it gets interesting...

The message that I got from this first chapter of "7" is that Covey wants us to realize that his book is different from self help books. Fundamentally so. Where the other books try to treat things like time management deficiencies, intimacy issues, and other relationship problems like they are the main problem, Covey points out that these things are the manifestation of the real problem. He gets back to something which this author thought had long ago left the scene in this day and age. A little thing called personal responsibility and strength of character. He tells us that we make who we are, and since this is the case, we can change who we are for the better. When we make ourselves better people, we can interact with other people better as well, because other people will take notice.

Thats all I got for this one. I don't know if this is what the CPT is looking for, so we'll see.