Building, maintaining morale not just commander's job

  • Published
  • By Maj. Herb Meadows
  • 71st Security Forces Squadron
Vance Air Force Base, Okla. --  It was the summer of 1989 in the hot muggy woods at Fort Polk, La.
I was a private first class assigned to the 199th Support Battalion and going through one of our two-week training exercises. The mosquitoes were classic Louisiana flying swamp birds that swarmed around in the 90-degree southern heat.
I was a power generator operator and worked shoulder-to-shoulder with vehicle mechanics every day. The days were long, the work was exhausting and we seemed to always sport oil-stained fingers and the occasional rip in the uniform.
Often during a lunch break or prior to bedding down for the night, one of the NCOs in my section would begin telling Louisiana Cajun jokes. The NCO had the thickest Cajun accent I'd ever heard and could tell the funniest stories in the world. He would have us in stitches for a good 10 minutes before we headed off to our sleeping bags and prepared for another long day of work.
But during those 10 minutes we forgot about the logistical challenges we faced on a daily basis, the smoldering Louisiana heat, and yes, even the Pterodactyl-sized mosquitoes for a while. He was an awesome NCO who understood what it took to maintain high morale within a section that was often taken for granted and seldom thanked by leadership for its efforts.
As an Air Force officer in 1997, I experienced the enormous impact junior NCOs could make toward flight morale during a Foal Eagle exercise at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea. It was about 2 a.m. and I began making my rounds in the flight area to check on my Airmen. Our sector was quiet for a change; we saw a lot of opposing forces action the previous night, and I knew a lull in activity could easily bore the Airmen and make it harder for them to stay alert. To my surprise, the security forces members were in great spirits and biting at-the-bit to get back into a fight.
When I asked them why they were in great spirits -- not that I was complaining -- they all contributed their morale partly to my radio telephone operator, or RTO, who would call them on their field phones every 30 minutes to ensure they were doing all right. During their discussions, the RTO ensured orders were executed and situation and logistical reports were taken, but also joked with them about everything from the smell of the rice paddies in their fields of fire (every Osan or Kunsan veteran will know what I mean), to the ineffectiveness of the kerosene heaters inside their defensive fighting positions to keep them warm from the Korean cold.
Because of the actions of my RTO to keep the Airmen in high spirits, they remained alert and their combat effectiveness was nothing short of phenomenal. Most important, my RTO didn't take these actions because I gave her an "order" or because it was in a checklist or combat field manual. It was leadership in action and the end result was a motivated and energized combat team that successfully resisted every enemy penetration attempt during the exercise.
Fuelling morale and motivation often requires just sitting down for 15 minutes with one of your Airmen and listening to an idea on how to make a process more efficient and cost-effective or visiting one of your shops just to see how its members are doing and talk about their favorite National Football League team for a few seconds.
Obviously, there are often unit morale challenges that become extremely complicated and will demand calculated solutions and decisive actions such as funding, extensive planning, special attention from leadership, corrective actions, hiring, firing and so on. As a commander at a northern-tier base, I had the opportunity and privilege of spearheading wing-level efforts to move my hardworking Airmen out of embarrassingly dilapidated, substandard facilities into newly renovated and professional work centers that met Air Force standards. The morale level of the unit immediately shot through the roof as you can imagine; productivity increased tenfold, Airmen stayed after work longer and I began to notice an instantaneous increase in pride for their particular specialty and unit.
I continue to learn valuable lessons from senior and junior leaders alike about the art of maintaining high morale within a military organization. The maintenance of morale is considered one of the fundamental "Principles of War" and despite its intangible nature, leaders at every organizational level must be cognizant of the very tangible elements that can positively or adversely affect it. The mission depends on it, our Airmen deserve it.