Tag: company grade

Cecil became a Paladin!

cecil at mt ordeals becoming a paladin

I like to think that making the switch from company-grade officer to field-grade officer is like when Cecil went from Dark Knight to Paladin.

You gained lots of experience as a Dark Knight and you actually became pretty good.

It was comfortable.

But in order to really matter, you have to reset the stats and start from Level 1.

There are new skills to learn. What you did before can inform your growth, but it’s a new journey.

Better start grinding.

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Company-Grade to Field-Grade: Introducing “Making the Switch”

soldiers planning in a tent
Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Robert Jordan, 382nd Public Affairs Detachment

Tell me this isn’t true.

“I’ve heard it said that if you do the things that made you successful as a Captain when you’re a Major, you’ll distinguish yourself as the best Captain in your unit.”

Company-Grade to Field-Grade: Introducing “Making the Switch” | by CoCMD & PLT LDR | Leadership Counts! | Apr, 2021 | Medium

What are the things that junior officers should be doing as they get ready to make the switch to field grade officer?

I’m looking for answers to the following questions.

For current (or retired) field grade officers:

  1. What do you wish you knew before becoming a field-grade officer?
  2. What skills do you wish you developed before becoming a field-grade-officer?

For current junior officers:

  1. What do you want to know about becoming a field-grade officer?
  2. What perplexes you about making the switch?
  3. What rumors do you want confirmed/squashed?

For NCOs:

I love this topic and I think there is a lot we can learn here. I’m looking for help. Please contact me if you have insight or would like to contribute.

  1. What do you expect from field-grade officers that is different from company-grade officers?

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Company grade work versus field grade work

I’m really enjoying this series on broadening over at FTGN.

I had a friend who was just promoted to LTC say: “I just pinned two weeks ago….when I turned in work as a major, people said “This is incredible,” but now they look at the same quality of work and say ‘Seriously?’”

The Responsibility of Preparedness: Choosing Broadening Assignments That Will Make You a Better Officer – From the Green Notebook

I’m becoming more interested in understanding the traits that distinguish good company grade officers (Lieutenants and Captains) from field grade officers (Majors and Lieutenant Colonels). I’ve heard it said that if you do the things that made you successful as a Captain when you’re a Major, you’ll distinguish yourself as the best Captain in your unit.

Yikes.

The linked post discusses how choosing a good broadening assignement can help build out some of those skills to better prepare you for the next job.

Consistent through the post was the important role of mentors in this regard. Mentors (to include those in your chain of command) will likely have a better idea of what you need to work on than you will.

It’s rare (in my experience) to see officers who want to take that OC/T assignment at Fort Irwin or Fort Polk – but that really might be the absolute best thing based on their current skill set and development needs. When choosing assigments, we all tend to focus on what we want versus what we need. Mentors can help cut through that.

Looking forward to the rest of the posts. Check it out.

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