Army mentorship

Mentorship in the Army has one consistent feature. It's always "How you can be like me."

This works fine when you're dealing with 1.) people in the same branch, who 2.) have the same goals. In the Army's rotational job system, company grade officers have a set number of positions they can expect to be in.

Everyone follows pretty much the same path: platoon leader, executive officer, company commander, and battalion/brigade staff officer. Everyone has a similar job to someone else, and there's no penalty for product plagiarism, so you can get pretty far with nothing more than a wide network of peers.

With mentorship, the logic is similar. "Look at me! I got promoted, and you can too! Here's how."

But problems begin when you have people who either 1.) aren't in your branch, or 2.) don't have the same goals. For example, I'm a logistics captain, but I'm rated by an infantry officer.

The conventional wisdom is that -- as a major -- you have to be an S-3. It's a key developmental billet -- one of those jobs you have to do well in to make lieutenant colonel.

In most units, the S-3 slot is filled by a major. However, in logistics units it's a captain billet. Why?

Because logistics units have an extra section called "Support Operations," but battalions still only get two majors. One will be the executive officer; the other is either the S-3 or the Support Operations Officer. And while that S-3 in the maneuver unit gets to plan the training based on his own priorities, the logistics S-3's plans are only good in isolation.

By their very nature, logistics units' highest priorities are the things they find out last. In a sense, their existence depends on having their training cancelled and efforts redirected.

So while mentorship is great, getting all your subordinates together for a "how to be like me" session doesn't work. I has a session like this recently, and here's what I was thinking about the whole time:

I will never be an S-3 unless you're willing to release me from my current position and send me somewhere I can do it *now*. Are you willing to do that? No. So why are you talking to me about being an S-3? It would have been a waste of time, were it not for the fact there were two other captains in the room.

But then there's the issue of different goals. Of the two other captains on our team, one just got passed over on their first look (YG2008). The other one, like me, doesn't have a top block evaluation from their command time. Based on the most recent board results, there's a 75% chance that NONE OF US WILL BE PROMOTED. We were talking about "How you can be like me" because that's what the major wanted to talk about.

Don't get me wrong -- I appreciate mentorship. It's nice when someone takes time out from their schedule because of their desire to help you. But it's nicer to have someone who mentors you based on where *you* want to go, not where they want you to be.