5 Lessons Learned From 5 Years in the Army – Part 4

2019 – Achieving your goals

2019 was an interesting year for our family. While Michael continued to attend schools and trainings and get lots of tasks completed at work, the two main goals we were working for in his career seemed to constantly be moving farther and farther away. With every one step forward we would make, the goal post would seem to move two steps back. One of the struggles of a hierarchical organization like the military is that you very rarely can solve a problem yourself. Almost everything is dependent on multiple layers of leadership, bureaucracy, and red tape. So the main lesson of this year, and part 4 of our 5 part series on lessons learned in the Army, is all about working towards your individual goals in an environment that isn’t designed for the individual.

At the end of 2018, Michael began the process of applying for an extremely prestigious advancement school. Little did we know that it wouldn’t be until early 2020 that his packet was submitted, and 7 months after that when we knew he was accepted. If you’ve been in the Army for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard the phrase “hurry up and wait.” That’s how government-run operations work. Everything must be done now, Now, NOW! But results, answers, start dates, paperwork that you’re waiting on from someone higher up…for all of that you must wait, wait, wait.

Things rarely happen at the time or in the way that you want them to in the military. Michael was eligible for promotion for nearly 10 months before his chain of command decided they had the time and energy to start the process. At the time, that was extremely frustrating for me. He was deserving of the promotion—I’m biased, obviously, but Michael is the hardest working, best soldier I know. But it just wasn’t a priority to his leadership, and every time a big push for promotions was going on, Michael would be away on TDY. The unfortunate reality is that a lot of timing in the Army is luck of the draw. You have to be in the right place at the right time with the right chain of command. And if the stars align, you make progress. Otherwise, the process can drag on and on.

That all sounds very pessimistic, but it’s important to understand that the Army (like all government-run operations) is a giant machine, slowly churning out soldiers. The machine never stops, it just churns and churns and churns. If you’re in the right place at the right time, you’ll get churned out to where you want to be with relative ease. But if you’re not positioned exactly right, you’ll get caught in the cogs rather than moving smoothly down the conveyer belt. It’s not personal, it’s just that large, expensive, bureaucratic organizations must function like a machine or they collapse.

As I talked about in another blog post, even though things will frequently feel like they’re falling apart it’s important to stay optimistic. Eventually, everything works its way back to neutral. No setback the Army throws at you is ever permanent. You may not reach a specific goal in the timeline you want, or even at all. But when that opportunity is missed, another one will be available down the road. You may feel as if you’re stuck and can’t make any progress, but ultimately you’ll look back and be amazed at how much you accomplished and how far you’ve come on your military journey.

It’s also important to realize that you shouldn’t take “no” as an answer. At least, not right away. Just because your chain of command says no to something doesn’t mean it isn’t possible or isn’t a good idea. Typically what it means is they don’t have the time or know-how to do it. So ask around; find someone who is an expert on what you’re trying to do. Just like I was saying before, the Army is organized a lot like an assembly line. Each task is specialized, and only the people who have been trained to know how to do that task know how to do it. Everyone else may know that task exists—they may even know who the experts are—but they won’t have the answers you’re looking for. If you have a question about finance, talk to the finance people. If you have a question about PCSing (making a Permanent Change of Station), talk to the transportation office. If you have a question about re-enlisting, talk to a career counselor. Your chain of command gives you permission to find out the answers, but they’re rarely the people who know the actual answers to your questions. So when someone says “no” or “that can’t be done” make sure you’re talking to the person who actually has the expertise to give you that answer.

Making progress towards your own, personal career goals can be slow and challenging in an organization designed for one-way traffic. But it can be done! You just have to be patient, understand that sometimes timing is just as important as ability, and then stick to it—even when it feels like an exercise in futility. Has achieving your (or your spouse’s) goals in the military been easy for you? Or have you taken a road less traveled? Tell me more in the comments!