Enlisted Mindset

From the get-go, we are given serial numbers throughout our time in the service. Your bed number in basic training, your DODID number, your IMDS number, the list goes on.

The point that many miss while they are young and new, and that many more miss as they progress through their careers, is that we are equipment. The second you understand that, especially as a maintainer, the happier you may be.

From my time as junior enlisted, I understood this, and it made the fact that I was expected to work 16 hour days and wish I had more time before my timeline expired meaning I had to drop everything and go back to base. Being 120 miles from the nearest E-5 in my chain of Command with no backup or input, making decisions every minute that actually impact national security, and being thrilled about it was something I was intensely proud of.

There's a fact that is relayed to the 21-year-old leaders in the field, that the Russians only involve officers in their nuclear posturing and maintenance. Many NCOs love to quote this to remind their juniors that even though it may not feel like it, they are doing work so important, that other nations wouldn't even trust an enlisted person to do it.

As one of those junior enlisted, it feels great.

As "enlightened" maintainers, it made myself and my team feel like we were the experts, which in some cases of newer tech, we actually were. It made us feel like we were the special torque wrench. We used to volunteer holidays so others that had families could be with them, while we took the 0200 phone call that said we had 8 hours to drive 80 miles and do 10 hours worth of work. We felt that we were qualified and confident enough to handle minimal on-base support, and if something went wrong, we could deal with whatever came up.

This same sort of thinking led us to believe that perception that we had where we became the tool. We would put ourselves into harm's way to make the mission go smoother. We treated ourselves like equipment. Some tasks required us to work without gloves because of fine motor skills needed while we were outside in -60 degrees. "We can handle it" we said, as our hands went numb and we couldn't even dial a phone if we needed to call for help. This ended up taking a toll on our bodies and we aged quicker than the other maintainers. We should have put aside some of that "old school" maintainer mindset long before our bodies told us we had to.

I don't regret anything, but I wish the job wasn't so naturally hard on our bodies because it was a hell of a lot of fun. One program that came into the limelight during my time in the service was the 'Spark' program for innovation. If they could make that part of their initiatives to make it so our stuff is durable, but so that not every box we touch is 100 lbs or more, that would be nice. Two Man Lift as a concept can only go so far.

If you, as leaders, can express how elite the troops are through both words, and striving to make their jobs physically easier, it would benefit benefit the force. I challenge you to go forward through your day and think seriously about what is required of your troops or yourselves, and how to make it physically easier so that your equipme-I mean maintainers aren't physically destroying their bodies by merely showing up to work and doing their job.