Misson First, People Always

As you can tell by looking at my picture, I’ve been around a while. What you may not know is that besides having a civilian ministry I have also served for 27 years in the Army, with 20 of those years as a National Guard Chaplain. 

Just for the record, before I was a Chaplain, I was a platoon leader and division staff officer in the 25th Infantry Division on active duty, and a company commander and group staff officer in the National Guard. It was a long time ago, but I do still remember what it was like to be in charge of lots of Soldiers with lots of potential and lots of problems. 

When I was a company commander, we had a young Soldier who always seemed to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time, in the wrong uniform. I will call him “Smith.” My First Sergeant would correct him and say, “Smith, it isn’t rocket science to get this right.” 

One day my First Sergeant came to me a said, “Sir, you know Smith, right?” I said, “Yes. So?” Top went on, “You know how he is always messing things up.” I again said, “Yes. So?” My First Sergeant continued with, “And you know I always tell him that being a good Soldier isn’t rocket science?” I was starting to get a little impatient at this point and said, “Yes, I know that.” Top, who always liked to stretch out a good story said, “Well, did you know he is a student at LSU?” “No,” I snapped, “please get to the point.” My First Sergeant broke out into a huge grin and said, “Well, he’s studying aeronautical engineering.” I just look at him, and he said, “Sir, don’t you get it? He IS a rocket scientist!” I just shook my head . . . you can’t make this stuff up.  

As I think back to my days as an ROTC cadet back in the, yes, 1970s, I've been reminded of a poster I saw displayed in a Fort Benning, Georgia barracks back in those days. It was just a poster on the wall, but it has had a lasting impact on my life, my service in the Army, and my civilian ministry. 

That poster was very simple, and it only had 4 words: “Mission First, People Always”. It would be hard for me to describe the importance of those four words in my life and ministry, but let me try:  

Two Wings of the Same Airplane:

One of our biggest needs is for balance in our lives and in our work and our leadership. Airplanes have two wings for reason. They need both wings to be able to fly straight and true. 

When I was a young boy and I would get upset about something, my momma would always tell me to straighten up and fly right. Well you can't fly straight, and you can't fly right if you are out of balance and this idea of “Mission First, People Always” gives us the balance that we need in our lives and our leadership. 

This motto begins by reminding us that we have a mission to accomplish. In the National Guard, we are to defend our country from all enemies foreign and domestic and support the civil authorities in our state in time of crisis. If we don't accomplish this mission, then we have no reason to exist. We have a purpose and we need to carry out that purpose. The government of the United States and the government of our state and the citizens of our state need us to accomplish our mission. So, our airplane of life must place the wing of mission first. We must put our mission first. 

The idea of mission first not only applies in our careers in the National Guard but also in our personal lives as well. 

We have a mission to pay our debts; we have a mission to raise our children; we have a mission to love our spouses; we have a mission to provide for those who rely upon us. We must accomplish these missions too because people are relying upon us.

Although we must put mission first, we must also understand that we cannot accomplish that mission without people. The Army is the most personnel intensive of all the armed forces. We do have an abundance of high-tech equipment, we do have many installations, and many other pieces of equipment that we rely upon. But the core of our force is our people. We cannot do our job without our people. 

It is our Soldiers who drive our trucks and fire artillery pieces and operate the high-tech equipment in the cyberwar arena. It is our Soldiers who maintain our training areas and ranges and barracks and armories. Without our Soldiers we have no Army and we cannot accomplish our mission. In the civilian world, without employees, we can have no businesses, and without members we can have no churches. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to always take care of our people. And not only our people at work but our people at home, in our communities, in our churches, and our schools.

Taking care of people is essential so that we can accomplish our mission. It is also essential because it is the right thing to do. Did not God say we are to love Him with all our hearts, AND love our neighbors as ourselves?

Let me put it this way if we just focus on our mission then we become bureaucrats. If we just focus on people, we become politicians. We must have both wings to fly this airplane straight. This is not as easy as it sounds.

The Trap:

As a Chaplain, it would be easy for me to urge commanders to always put Soldiers first. I would like to note that there is a purpose for the vehicles we drive and repair and the buildings we construct, and the ranges that we maintain. All these things are there so that our Soldiers can have what they need to do the mission.  Everything leaders do affects the Soldiers in our formations, so would be easy for me to say that Army leaders need to focus solely on taking care of people because really that's the mission of the Chaplain Corps. 

A chaplain told me once about a soldier who looked at him with a smile and said “Chappy, you got the best job in the Army!” The chaplain was a little cautious and he asked the soldier what he meant. The Soldier replied with an even bigger grin, “It's because you get to take care of Soldiers for living!” That of course is a true statement. 

It would be shortsighted however to say that is all that we need to do and in truth there is a trap that leaders can fall into. Let me refer to a couple of well-known movies to illustrate this point 

In the move “Gettysburg,” Robert E. Lee makes a speech to James Longstreet that describes how hard it is to get this balance correct. He said,“Soldiering has one great trap. To be a good solider you must love the army. To be a good commander, you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love.”

In “Saving Private Ryan,” Captain Miller and Master Sergeant Horvath discussed this trap also. Captain Miller, said, “When you end up killing one of your men, you see, you tell yourself it happened so you can save the lives of 2 or 3 or 10 others. Maybe a hundred . . .  and that’s how simple it is. That’s how you rationalize making the choice between the mission and the man.”

 

Master Sergeant Horvath then replied, “Except this time the mission is a man.” Getting those wings balanced is hard!

Now I will admit that I saw on YouTube a video of a stunt pilot who was flying his airplane in an air show. During his display he lost at wing of his plane, but the engine of that airplane was so powerful that he was able to basically hold it on the prop until he could land. It was an amazing thing to see but it is the exception that proves the rule. Almost every other kind of airplane but the kind that he was flying would have crashed and burned after losing a wing. 

We've all known leaders that had one wing of their leadership much bigger than the other. 

We've all had bosses and leaders who focused so greatly on the mission that they didn't take care of people very well.  We've also known bosses and leaders that love to take care of people to the point where they forgot to accomplish the mission. 

Usually the tenure of these leaders did not end very well. The truth is we must put mission first, but we must take care of people always. We must pursue balance in both of these areas.

I also know that all of us have known bosses and leaders who had one wing more developed of their airplane than the other, but they seem to do OK. Maybe like that stunt plane their personalities were so strong that it was able to carry the day even though it should not have worked. 

We've all worked for bosses and leaders who by the force of their personality was able to accomplish the mission even though they didn't take care of people. 

We've also known bosses and leaders who took care of people so well that they overlooked the mission, but their people loved them so much that they went the extra mile to accomplish the mission for their boss. We probably don't see as many of the latter type of leader as the former but here is the truth, once you've worked for a commander or leader who is out of balance you never want to do it again. 

As the old saying goes, "It was real and it was fun but is wasn’t real fun!" And many people would decide to find other things to do after such an experience. 

There is no escaping this central truth: we must both accomplish the mission AND take care of people if we are going to be effective commanders and leaders in the Army and in the civilian world as well.  We must balance the airplane of our lesadership by making sure both wings our sound and well maintained. 

So how do we get this right? We need help, but the good news is that help is available to us! 

First Seek Wisdom:

As a Chaplain I would urge leaders to seek wisdom. James 1:5 assures us that, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

Without wisdom every leader will struggle to get their wings balanced. We’ve heard it said, “when in charge, take charge” and that is great advice to anyone in leadership, but I’d add this caveat: “When in charge seek wisdom, and when it is revealed, take charge and execute it!”

Second, do the Right Thing:

A colleague, when he was in the Inspector General’s office, often told leaders that “There is no right way to do the wrong thing," and a former boss of mine always said, “Do what’s right, even when no one is looking.” 

Both of these men gave great advice to leaders.

Next, Remember that Loyalty is a Two-way Street:

The first value in the list of Army Values is Loyalty. While leaders expect their subordinates to be loyal to them, we all must remember that loyalty is a two-way street. Leaders must be loyal to those whom they supervise just as much as they expect them to be loyal to their leaders.

During the Civil War, after William T. Sherman captured Atlanta, he cut loose from his lines of communication and made a bold thrust across Georgia to Savanah, eviscerating the Confederate war effort. In doing this, he accepted a huge amount of risk, but he could do that because he knew Ulysses S. Grant had his back. After the war, Sherman wrote Grant, saying, “Wherever I was I knew you thought of me, and if I needed you, you would come.” Sherman had the confidence to perform at a high level because Grant was a loyal to him as Sherman was to Grant.

If we want those whom we supervise to excel, we need to be as loyal to them as we expect them to be to us. 

Find a Mentor:

Another thing we can do is find someone who is living a balanced life and allow them to mentor us. We know that we should lead by example, but we should also follow those who set a good example.  I was fortunate to have some great mentors in my early career and when I imitated them, I discovered I could be successful. 

Paul told the church at Corinth, “Therefore I urge you, imitate me,” and 3 John 1:11 urges us, “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.”  Imitation is the greatest form of flattery and we need to imitate those who demonstrate that they are worthy of our flattery. Let us learn from those who keep their leadership in the correct balance.

Finally, Multiply Yourself:

Finally, let me remind us all that, our Army, our nation, our businesses, and our churches are only one generation away from extinction. It is up to us to prepare the next generation to take our place. 

None of us are going to be here forever, and if our institutions of life are going to thrive in the future it is up to us to prepare those who will take our places. As Paul taught us in Timothy 2:2, “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” 

We are not finished when we can implement “Mission First, People Always” ourselves. That's a big enough task, but we are really only Mission Complete when we help the next generation learn to balance the wings of their airplane as well.

Conclusion:

As I said from the beginning, I am an old soldier. I only have two more months before I retire from the National Guard, and I am facing the fact that there are many things I will never get to do again. 

I will never again jump out of an airplane or fly in a Blackhawk helicopter. 

I’ll never get to eat in a DFAC (or dining facility, and by the way, Army cooks are great!), or hang out with troops at the range. 

I'll never again get to lead a chapel service and pray with Soldiers on a regular basis.

My military record is pretty much written and pray that as I have been able to help others to live by “Mission First, People Always.” 

I commend that approach to you also. You know, it really isn’t rocket science after all.

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt