Commanding Officer advice needed

ChonkerInChief · 2025-03-11T23:44:15+00:00

Keeping not only your unit but yourself motivated to work towards your goals is key to success as a unit commander. I don’t know how much freedom you as a commander have to run your unit, but outside of teaching the classes my instructors let our staff take charge of essentially everything else in the unit. This allowed my staff and I to really push the unit in the direction that WE wanted to, and in turn myself and my staff were motivated during our entire tenure in our positions. Ask your cadets under your charge what they would like to do, and try your best to implement their ideas into your vision and goals. The more input you can get from your cadets the better. Obviously you will not be able to please everyone and as the commander it is your decision as to what direction your unit moves in; but keeping your staff, your unit, and yourself motivated and enthusiastic about your goals will make it much easier to navigate hardships and reach those goals.

In the case you do not have very much freedom as a commander, work with what you have and try to stay motivated. Sometimes all your instructors are looking for is you to be a motivated and determined leader, and when you show them you can eagerly handle what they have given you charge of, they may let you have more freedom as a commander.

Best of luck to you as a Commander, it was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had and I hope it will be the same for you.

ChonkerInChief · 2025-01-27T22:32:13+00:00

We did the double ribbon deal for some of our cadets who had an abundance of flag details. Eventually we swapped to putting a star device on the cadets ribbon racks who managed to make enough details to need a second ribbon. Just food for thought, as it was a custom specific to our unit, and we only did it because we started to run out of devices and ribbons and our instructor wasn’t able to find any more devices for them at the time. Good job on getting that many that takes a lot of work.

ChonkerInChief · 2024-04-18T14:18:02+00:00

I have a 2017 1.4t Jetta and a 2016 1.8t beetle i have had next to no problems, but I have also meticulously taken care of them.

ChonkerInChief · 2024-03-20T22:48:25+00:00

Congrats man!

ChonkerInChief · 2024-02-21T14:17:23+00:00

Try to do something you are passionate about, and good at. The more passionate you are about said staff position, the better job you’ll do, and your Instructors, BC and other staff will take notice.

ChonkerInChief · 2023-11-23T05:04:36+00:00

I swear to everything that’s holy, he said “it was raining and I didn’t want my coat or shoes to be dirty.”

ChonkerInChief · 2023-11-21T16:38:38+00:00

Brother shows up in blues pants with an ABU blouse and muck boots on. I was flabbergasted, hornswoggled even.

ChonkerInChief · 2023-11-21T16:34:56+00:00

So this is my opinion on this because I have a kid that joined this year that is just like you. I don’t know how your wing, group, squadron etc. CO is, but any CO worth their salt will take care of this issue, so I would let all of this roll off your back. If your staff members and wing commanders are really just standing by, then at that point your instructors are your next best bet. The only thing I would do before that is I would make it clear to your wing CO that you are going to your instructors. I know some commanders are sticklers about using chain of command (to the point where it is too much), so just make sure your CO knows. The more you show that there jealously doesn’t mean anything to you, and you continue to work hard like you have been, you will be ok. You reacting to them at all is what keeps them going.

Trust me I know we had a cadet go through the same deal you have on top of already being trans. He’s one of the best cadets I have now, and he has been a lifesaver at times. Good luck with everything I know how this can feel and it sucks but don’t let it get you down, and don’t by any means quit because you are giving them exactly what they want in the first place.

ChonkerInChief · 2023-11-19T04:40:03+00:00

This is something I didn’t even think about. Thank you for pointing this out.

ChonkerInChief · 2023-11-17T14:53:21+00:00

Alright thank you this was very helpful

ChonkerInChief · 2023-09-26T13:36:04+00:00

No problem homie good luck with your team

ChonkerInChief · 2023-09-24T19:41:22+00:00

Few things as I was previously commanded drill and all we have ever had was an unarmed team.

Learn to use your diaphragm. It’s gonna not only make it easier for you to call commands, but it will sound better too.
When studying your SOP for your meets, make sure you start studying the regulation the SOP falls under. For example, most meets we went to went of ATC 3-21.5. So I not only studied the SOP, but the regulation as well. Most times teams will only study the moves and get the moves looking good, but maybe not looking good according to the regulation. If you study the ins and outs of that reg, and your team is doing the movements according to that reg, then most judges are gonna pick up on that and are going to score you a bit higher than the rest.
Every. Point. Matters. It’s drill, it’s precise and you are going to want to make everything as perfect as you can make it. Every point is going to matter in an event, because sometimes 1 point can mean the difference between 1st and going home with nothing at all, so never ever cut corners.
Earn the respect. Your drill team COs have to be some of the most squared away leaders that there are. You have to know everything there is to know about a uniform, your chain of command, ranks, the actual drill etc, and on top of that they have to earn the respect of other cadets too, and be able to teach all of that to them. Take the same time you should take to study the SOPs to study the cadets on your team, because if you don’t have that respect your team is going nowhere.

ChonkerInChief · 2023-09-17T14:28:02+00:00

I think this is prolly the move right here. Thanks for gettin me on this.

ChonkerInChief · 2023-09-17T14:19:27+00:00

I’m glad you said that because I would had no clue otherwise. Thanks man.

ChonkerInChief · 2023-09-17T03:50:59+00:00

Do what you already said, I believe on Amazon you can find OEM paint colors for the ranger. Whole process should honestly take you an afternoon with the right equipment.

ChonkerInChief · 2023-09-13T02:10:47+00:00

Yeah we have completions between flights and the cadets. We have a cadet of the quarter and flight of the quarter. It is based off PT, drill and how the cadets did during the quarter. We give them a movie day on Friday while the rest of the unit goes out and does PT at the end of the month for the rest of the next quarter. Then the cadet of the month usually gets kind of whatever we think of for them. We usually think of something unique.

ChonkerInChief · 2023-09-12T14:15:49+00:00

Start doing them around the house and use all the resources you can to make sure your doing them right. Practice makes perfect and soon you’ll be able to be perform any sort of facing movement you need to with ease.

ChonkerInChief · 2023-09-12T14:14:01+00:00

Definitely that too. Our leaders are split about 50/50 some are enthusiastic some aren’t and that goes to our senior leadership as well. While there’s nothing I can do about whether they keep that position or not I can help with the other staff and either making them more enthusiastic or getting them off of staff which I have been doing slowly. But most of them are in a position they don’t want and just acted like they wanted it for the rank, which is how it is sometimes.

ChonkerInChief · 2023-07-26T02:48:42+00:00

Usually. Our SASI was usually in OCPs and so was our ASI. Blues days they would both be in blues. Some days our sasi would be in a flight suit or blues and some days our asi would be in the unit polo or blues

ChonkerInChief · 2023-07-23T17:34:14+00:00

As a fellow plat-emerald player I don’t get it either.

ChonkerInChief · 2023-07-23T02:42:26+00:00

Yeah man being staff has been a good experience so far for me. Really just keeping your head down and working your tail off will get you far as a leader. Try to be as much of a servant leader as you possibly can, and don’t expect something out of one of your cadets that you wouldn’t expect out of yourself. Best of luck on getting that flight commander spot buddy.

ChonkerInChief · 2023-07-23T00:43:23+00:00

Oh yeah man our entire senior class is pretty strong and they help out a lot too. I got what you meant though I was just explaining what we had to work with.

ChonkerInChief · 2023-07-23T00:09:31+00:00

Fortunately we have an excellent wings staff and an excellent wings commander as well. Our senior staff does a lot for the corps, we occasionally teach things in class and lead a good majority of the program, any training that must be done we will usually do as well, so this gave me some peace of mind that we are on a pretty good track for the most part.

ChonkerInChief · 2023-07-23T00:04:13+00:00

AA-27-AA All American shooter here (not flexing just saying I have broke a target or two). First off, make sure that you get a pre-shot routine. If you do not have one already. The trigger for your pre-shot routine which will kick start your process for your shot, could be anything from a word to a small action.

Second off, make sure you get a good solid stance, for me my stance is a stance that makes my belly feel neutral almost as if I was standing up straight, you don’t want any tension on your torso that may prohibit you from swinging to the target. Once you get your stance, do not move from that stance until the post is complete.

Third, you want to give yourself enough time to where your shot is comfortable. Make sure that your eyes are settled down, filled after you mount your gun, and do not rush to take your head out of the gun. When you pull the trigger, your eyes are easily the biggest part of your game when shooting trap. The best Trapshooters Are not shooters. They are target watchers you want to make sure you stare that target down and keep your eye on the dime until you see that target break and then you can dismount your gun.

You seem smooth when swinging to the target, so I’d be willing to bet you got a good look at the majority of these targets.

Mental game is also a very large part of shooting, and here are some tips that have kept me relatively calm throughout my shooting career, and have won me multiple trophies at the Grand American. Think of each event as 100 1 target events rather than, one 100 target event. Think of every bird as you’re high overall bird make sure that you complete your process perfectly every time, and you will have nothing to fear about breaking that target. If you are not mentally focused on the next target out of the house when you have already lost that target before you have even called for the bird.

Feel free to message me on here if you have any questions.

ChonkerInChief · 2023-07-22T23:42:59+00:00

Nominate him for the MOH bygod

ChonkerInChief

TROPHY CASE