"Be, Know & Do"

Sadly, tonight is our last night at Ft. Leavenworth... for now.

Tomorrow afternoon, our group is leaving for Ft. Leonard Wood in southern Missouri, but we will return to Ft. Leavenworth on Thursday.

In any case, today's events and briefings were amazing and educational.

We arrived at the Lewis and Clark Center (LCC), which is the home of the Command and General Staff College (CGSC). The Army takes great pride, as they should, in these programs, which offer college-level courses to Army officers. This is the "Intellectual Hub" of the Army -- the Army's version of "Harvard" as it were.

There are Army officers here from all over the country and all over the world, who are studying military operations, strategies, tactics, etc. at the CGSC. Today, as we were eating breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria, we saw soldiers from several different countries and all different branches of the US military.

Our first briefing, after an early breakfast at 0700 hours, was "Army 101." We learned the basic command structure of the Army, including the different ranks, and how to identify who someone is by their uniform.

I will say that as we were eating lunch later in the day, we started noticing the different battalion patches the soldiers were wearing and which rank they were based on their 'pin' (which is actually now a velcro patch).

After "Army 101," we learned about military (specifically Army) leadership. Our speaker, a colonel at the post, explained the standards of leadership that the Army holds its officers to at the CGSC.

One of the characteristics that caught my attention was "Character," and under that was something called "Warrior/ Service Ethos."

I asked about what that meant, and I read the part of the Army Field Manual about it. It is similar to a creed, and it says:

I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.


...I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life. I am an American soldier.

While our speaker said otherwise, I thought that (generally) these ideals could be applied to almost any leader or individual, whether civilian or soldier. Maybe the mission can't be placed first for every person, but I think the next three things could apply to anyone. And the last part about being a guardian of freedom--I am smiling at the thought--definitely applies to journalists.

Both the military and journalists uphold the constitution and represent American life to those of other nationalities. Clearly, we're not American soldiers, but I still believe that we uphold many of the same values that soldiers do. Perhaps that's why both parties must work together to form strong bonds that will ultimately help spread the military's stories to the rest of the world.

I asked our speaker about what the difference was between the leadership model of the Army and those in the civilian world. He said that in the Army, there was a "feeling of legacy." He and other officers acknowledge that they are eventually going to move on, and they must train others to replace them; whereas in the civilian world, he said, leaders tend to stay in place longer and don't necessarily care about who comes after them.

The Army's development model has three areas (in his model, it formed a tripod): training, education, and experience. As he explained it, I couldn't help but see that these models could--and maybe they are--be implemented in the civilian world. If you're a company leader, and you're grooming future leaders, you realize that they need to be trained, educated, and have enough experience to succeed in their duties.

So, I found that talk particularly interesting, but we had several other talks/briefings:

• the disciplinary barracks (USDB), which is the military equivalent of a high-security prison
• the infrastructure of the Combined Arms Center (CAC), which is also stationed at Ft. Leavenworth
• the garrison's (or the post's) internal structure/government
• the military judicial system and military law

The other highlight of the day, other than the leadership talk, was interviewing the officers and students of the CGSC. We had a panel of five students, who talked about anything--their experiences at the CGSC, their tours in Iraq or Afghanistan, social media in the military, and more.

I'll have to talk more on that later. The soldiers offered plenty of good story-material, which I am planning on using... eventually.

Later in the afternoon, more soldiers from the college came in and offered to be interviewed. That made it very convenient for all of us to get quotes, stories, sources, etc.

It was wonderful to see the journalists and the officers interacting so well. While we might not have the same jobs, freedoms, or life experiences, we do work together sometimes--and we share goals, ideals, and 'the American dream.'

Plus, everyone has been delightful. The officers we've met are all respectable, professional individuals and leaders. But, also, the journalists in the program with me are wonderful people, too.

You would think that when a bunch of journalists get together, they just grill each other with questions all day, because that's what they do for a living, and they're used to it.

So far, though, it hasn't been that way at all. Today at lunch, five other journalists and myself had nice conversations about political media, cultural issues, and stories we've covered.

Well, it's been a long day. We had a lot of downtime after dinner, and I got the chance to see even more of Ft. Leavenworth, including the old USDB. I'm looking forward to coming back on Thursday, but right now, Ft. Leonard Wood sounds very exciting, too.

In the meantime, all I can do is continue to build on the training, education, and experience I've received in this MilJo program.