Leadership « Feral Jundi

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Building Snowmobiles: The Scouting Movement

On my honor, I will do my best

To do my duty To God and my country

And to obey the Scout Law;

To help other people at all times;

To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. –Scout Oath

*****

Col. John Boyd On Grand Strategy

Evolve and exploit insight/initiative/adaptability/harmony together with a unifying vision, via a grand ideal or an overarching theme or a noble philosophy, as basis to:

*Shape or influence events so that we not only amplify our spirit and strength but also influence the uncommitted or potential adversaries so that they are drawn toward our philosophy and are empathetic toward our success,

yet be able to

*Operate inside adversary’s observation-orientation-decision-action loops or get inside his mind-time-space as basis to:

*Penetrate adversary’s moral-mental-physical being in order to isolate him from his allies, pull him apart, and collapse his will to resist.

*****

I am always fascinated by the power of ideas. Here at FJ, I am always trying to find those ideas, and study how they came about and what makes them so powerful. One of those ideas I want to talk about today, is the Boy Scouts and the Scouting Movement that was behind the development of the Boy Scouts.

First off, I am an Eagle Scout and I am very proud of my Scouting background. If you talk with some guys in the industry and military, you will find that there are quite a few of us Boy Scouts floating around out there. It is interesting to me that the military/police/firefighters/medical/security contracting industries all attract Scouts. It is equally interesting to find out how Scouting has impacted all these folks in their careers. From the camping and hiking, to the navigation, knots and fieldcraft skills, the Boy Scouts is pretty cool. Not to mention the social connections you make with others, the love and dedication of your country and the respect you garner as a productive member of a community.

But it goes beyond just being ‘cool’, because during my time at the Scouts, I was also introduced to leadership skills. Leadership, as you know, is something that I am totally concerned with in this industry, and that is what makes the Scouts relevant to this blog. Not to mention all the land navigation stuff or first aid stuff we did, and I look back on my time with the Boy Scouts as not just cool, but essential life skills for all of my career choices.

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Friday, September 11, 2009

Call to Action: Petition For The President To Award the Medal of Freedom to Cyril Richard Rescorla

Filed under: Call To Action,Leadership — Tags: 9/11, Call To Action, Cyril Richard Rescorla, Leadership, Medal of Freedom, WTC — Matt @ 12:47 AM

I think this would be a fantastic tribute to a man that gave so much and saved so many lives on that tragic day. Rick also exemplifies what true leadership is all about, and we should all take notice and be inspired. Rest in peace. –Matt

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“Men of Cornwall stop your dreaming

Can’t you see their spear points gleaming?

See their warriors’ pennants streaming

To this battlefield.

Men of Cornwall stand ye steady

It cannot be ever said ye

for the battle were not ready.

STAND AND NEVER YIELD!”

– “Men of Harlech”

Sung by Rick Rescorla in the Ia Drang Valley 1965 and in the stairway of WTC Tower 2 on September 11, 2001

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Thursday, September 10, 2009

Training: We Have Shooting, First Aid, Driving, and EP Courses, But Where Are the Leadership Courses?

Filed under: Leadership,Training — Tags: Afghanistan, courses, Driving, first aid, Iraq, Leadership, security contracting, shooting, Training — Matt @ 10:42 PM

Training: We Have Shooting, First Aid, Driving, and EP Courses, But Where Are the Leadership Courses?

09/11/2009

You know, I really dig all the action schools out there. That stuff is fun, and they are also vital to our core skill set for working in this industry. But something is severely lacking in the training industry, and that is leadership training.

It is not enough anymore to say ‘I was an NCO or Officer in the military’, or ‘I was a Police Sergeant at my old PD’. Nope, what we need is industry specific leadership/management training, and I just don’t see it out there.

Better yet, we need to see companies putting more of an emphasis on good leadership out there, by setting up training for their contractors, managers and regional managers. So much money these days is spent on shooting and all the other sexy stuff for overseas spin ups, but you see absolutely no training at all for leadership stuff. The companies make a god awful amount of money on these contracts, and the least they could do is spend the money for this training, and go over what they expect out of their leaders and aspiring leaders. To actually institute some system of management that will give the contractors out in the field, a better chance at doing well out there.

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Thursday, September 3, 2009

Afghanistan: U.S. to Boost Combat Force in Afghanistan

Filed under: Afghanistan,Industry Talk — Tags: Afghanistan, DOD, FoBs, Leadership, security contractors — Matt @ 9:28 AM

Most of the dozens of combat outposts and outlying bases in Afghanistan have soldiers or Marines assigned to gates or guard towers. But the Pentagon official said those troops could be shifted to more valuable duty.”They just stare out from the tower. So let’s bring in contractors,” the Pentagon official said. “Now you can have a thousand more troops in the field.”

Here we go guys and gals. Despite the negative news about security contractors recently, the military still has a mission to accomplish, and we are an important part of that mission. We are the ones that will be freeing up the combat forces, so that they can go out there and fight.

What we have to work on, is ‘being the guys that do it right when no one is looking’ and ‘having the courage to do what is right’. Be a leader out there. –Matt

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U.S. to boost combat force in Afghanistan

Support units will be replaced by up to 14,000 ‘trigger-pullers,’ and noncombat posts will be contracted out, Defense officials say. The swap will allow the U.S. to keep its troop level unchanged.

By Julian E. Barnes

September 2, 2009

Reporting from Washington

U.S. officials are planning to add as many as 14,000 combat troops to the American force in Afghanistan by sending home support units and replacing them with “trigger-pullers,” Defense officials say.The move would beef up the combat force in the country without increasing the overall number of U.S. troops, a contentious issue as public support for the war slips. But many of the noncombat jobs are likely be filled by private contractors, who have proved to be a source of controversy in Iraq and a growing issue in Afghanistan.The plan represents a key step in the Obama administration’s drive to counter Taliban gains and demonstrate progress in the war nearly eight years after it began. (more…)

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Saturday, August 8, 2009

Building Snowmobiles: PMC’s and the Streisand Effect

Filed under: Building Snowmobiles,Kaizen,Leadership — Tags: Blogs, Building Snowmobiles, Forums, John Gilmore, Kaizen, Leadership, private military companies, security contractors, streisand effect — Matt @ 1:55 AM

I know, I know, this is ridiculous and far to immature to pay attention to….. Or is it? We see PMC’s continue to try and hide stuff, along with politicians and celebrities and a multitude of other types of organizations and individuals, and that evil internet just keeps facilitating the discovery of wrong doings. The Streisand Effect (SE) is a prime example of how trying to hide stuff is sometimes not the best idea.

I wanted to put this together for the readership, to emphasize how important it is to the true Jundi-ist to ‘have the courage to do what is right’ and ‘be the guy that does it right, when no one is looking’. Especially for the companies out there who claim to have cleaned up their act or try to sweep under the rug any kind of wrong doing. Pay heed, you will be found out, and it will get all over the net, and especially if you didn’t want it to.

Companies have to know, that at one point or another, what comes around, goes around. If you treat an employee bad, or screw over another company, or damage the reputation of a customer, all because of your lack of Kaizen/leadership/customer service and satisfaction, then of course someone is going to tell the world about your crap. And the way they do it these days, is through the internet. You may want to censor it, but unfortunately for you, the internet usually finds a way. That is not a threat from myself or anything, that is just the reality of what we are talking about.

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