A small thread to put down initial thoughts on finding meaning, exceptionalism, career, life, surviving loss/trauma, leaving and their applicability to the military.
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A common, more often in men but not limited to, definition of success is exceptionalism in a field. Getting to the top of a ladder. Dominating your area of expertise.
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From the outside looking in, the Armed Services unconsciously supports if not promotes this definition. Rank. Be the Best. PME. Yadda yadda.
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For some this is ideal. If it is what you want, dedication to a field is to be applauded and supported. If it is meaningful to you.
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On the flip side it is understandable for the organisation to promote this, even unconsciously. They want the best. They want exceptional. It's fair to say they need it.
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A big problem here is that word: Exceptional. If you want the exceptional, you need to draw from a pool. A pool may be of varying quality but the higher the average the greater likelihood and level of exceptionalism produced.
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A theory: Promote the pool, encourage the exceptional... by exception.
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A shift towards towards Meaning in personnel rather than this unconscious/conscious drive for exceptionalism may be necessary for the MOD.
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A feasibility model for thought: Promote five pillars (in no order)...
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1) Career: An individual has chosen to serve for a meaningful reason. Provide them with the tools, education, security, future and freedom that they need to deliver the level of work and effort for the organisation.
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2) Family: Leave. Harmony. Visits. Married accommodation. Paternity/Maternity. Adoption support. Advice. Communication. Social interaction, but not "forced". Encourage personnel to foster ties.
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3) Friends: Similar to family but expand to include close, distant, best and extended families. Ship/Regiment/Squadron Associations. Merge when the "active" units Merge/Disband. Keep veterans in touch with recruits. Museum projects.
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4) Hobbies: Meaningful activities outside of the Career. Cross-service secondments and/or simply clubs, in areas of interest. Sports. Allow time. Enable means to arrange, organise and communicate.
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5) Personal development. PME but also civilian style PDP's. Also ask what happens after Service. That may include more Service!
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From this environment, the exceptional will rise to the top. Some straight away, some over time. Now we're a smaller Armed Services, deal with this in an ad-hoc, personalised manner.
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Will an exceptional member of the RAF benefit from a stint in Poole? Does the Senior Service have a course that meets that persons forte? What if this person were also trained to lead a Battalion?
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It's not as if Air Force Officers commanding Army Corps has been combat proven to be beneficial...
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These Five Pillars should be considered to be a Combined Arms approach to Service rather than the single "All Tank Army Doctrine" of the unconscious Exceptionalism approach.
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Not only are they hugely beneficial toward giving meaning and, hopefully, happiness/enthusiasm, to those serving, the loss of any one pillar will be less devastating to the individual.
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The end of the Career, joining 1 Civ Div, death of a family member, betrayal of a friend, obstacles in Personal Development, setback in a hobby: All should be more survivable; PTSD less likely or faster to recover/deal.
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Clearly this is a Twitter thread on a vast topic involving theory, psychology, organisation, a cast of hundreds of thousands, doctrine, resources, course, secret sauce and squirrels. Plenty to consider.
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Managed to break the thread here, it picks up with this attached Tweet:
Also managed to break the Thread here, it picks up again with this attached Tweet:
Apologies for the breaks. Could you unroll please @threadreaderapp?
