lessonslearned Cultivate Success A

After being asked for help, a direct support platoon commander becomes so excited to show off his expertise as a former missile technician that he misses an opportunity to teach.

After six years of enlisted service, I attended infantry offi cer candidate school and airborne training at Fort Ben- ning, Ga., in 1972. My enlisted service was as a Hawk missile technician, so it made sense to become a missile mainte- nance offi cer. My fi rst assignment was as a Hawk direct support platoon com- mander at Fort Bliss, Texas. I received a request for assistance from

one of my missile technicians who had heard I was a former missile technician. He and his partner were having diffi culty bringing a missile guidance package into proper specifi cation tolerances. He wanted to know whether I would take a look at it. Word spread that the “old man” (I was

26 years old) was in a shop van working on a console to repair a guidance package. Several other technicians crowded around the open door to see me at work. Eager to show off my expertise,

sergeant, who asked to speak with me in my offi ce. I kind of knew I was in trouble. Upon entering my offi ce, he told me

fi xing missiles was no longer my job. I explained the circumstances of my doing so — and then received one of the great- est lessons of my life. He asked me a series of questions that wound up being guiding principles for the rest of my career. He wondered whether I had asked the technicians what steps they already had taken to solve the problem, what resources in the form of manuals and equipment they had used, what steps they thought should be taken next, and what their logic was for thinking so. To all of this, I answered, “No.” The lesson learned was I

I instructed the technicians to hook up leads to capacitor C-10 and resistor R-198 (two common adjustment points for bringing a guidance package into proper adjustment). I instructed them to watch the oscilloscope and multimeter while I adjusted the attenuation of these two com- ponents. As I expected, the correct toler- ances were achieved, and I basked in the admiration of those who had witnessed this magnifi cent display of expertise. Just then, I felt a tap on my shoulder. As I turned, I saw my shop foreman, a master

68 MILITARY OFFICER FEBRUARY 2015 instruction

had truly given these technicians a “fi sh” but had done nothing to further their abil- ity to fi sh for themselves. I thanked the shop foreman, and from then on, I was always mindful of my respon- sibilities as a leader to instruct others rather than show off my own skills.

MO

— Richard C. Skillman is a retired Army cap- tain, a MOAA Life Member, and a member of the Aiken (S.C.) Chapter. He lives in Aiken. For sub- mission information, see page 6.

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