TheMaverickSergeant

Conquer This. “ A soldier will fight long and hard for a piece of coloured ribbon.” - Napoleon My sodden combat assault boots pound the tarmac one by one like the sound of a war drum as I double through a seemingly airless, hazy country lane in the five-miles between me and the finish line back at the Commando Training Centre. I grimace with each step as the build up of lactic acid in my muscles burns as I move forward. My soul yearns for me to break into a walk and allow my heart and lungs to catch up and I despair at the impossibly thin air as I draw it in, hopelessly trying to satisfy my body’s crushing demand for oxygen. We’d set off in groups of three at the start point and over the initial two miles of tunnels, mud obstacles and water obstacles through woodland terrain I managed to lose the other two in the distance to my rear. I’m alone in this fight and although it is an individual test I looked at it as a race with these men. My   overly competitive natu

It was a searing hot and dry day. I still hadn’t acclimatised to the overwhelming heat yet and even after four days I couldn’t believe how intensely bright the sunlight made the desert sand seem. Sunglasses and shadows were my new best friends. I felt as though the air just wasn’t dense enough and at forty-three degrees celsius the heat was easily the highest I had ever experienced. If only I was wearing shorts and a shirt instead of combats, body armour and kevlar helmet. Camp Bastion’s air strip was a furiously loud and busy place. In the waiting area it was only too easy to tell whether the soldiers around me were coming in or going out by their facial expressions, by their kit and how they carried themselves. Some pairs of eyes stared a thousand yards away into nothingness. Their minds were further still. My face harboured the obvious signs of an outward Chinhook flight; fresh faced, clean-shaven, pasty white skin, focused and receptive of all around. However eager and con

“In doing what we ought we deserve no praise, because it is our duty.” - Saint Augustine   Introduction This is an article about shifting and maintaining focus from compliance through to commitment, about investing time and taking the (nearly always) slow and sometimes difficult route. It’s not about developing soldiers; it’s about setting the conditions where soldiers can develop themselves. Why? Effective leaders foster and maintain genuine trust in order to nurture commitment… not mere compliance. Because committed followers begin (or continue) their shift from being your follower to a future leader. The Task Recently, I was tasked with developing a subordinate in order to deliver a presentation to senior management within the workplace which would qualify him as a competent tradesman. This thirty minute presentation is the culmination of twelve months of field army trade training as an electro-mechanical engineer. It allows the presenter to showcase theoretical and practical ex