Experiencing What You "Need" the Most

It has often been said that the experiences you get are what you often need the most.  There may be a client that walks into your office with a problem that you had been struggling with for a while and finally find resolution while working with them.  Or you may have a difficult encounter that breaks you out of your everyday rut.  Deployment is no different.

I spent the last two and a half years in a training position.  My schedule was dictated for me.  My position was created.  I was a literal work-horse and due to being rated quarterly and having so many things dependent on how nicely I played with others, there was little room to speak up for anything.  I learned for two years to literally bend over and take it.  Deployment has given me that room to get outside that realm of just accepting what was proposed.

My clinic is working under my license; therefore, I make the decisions to what people are allowed to do and how much room they have to grow based on their skill level.  Unlike what I had been through in the past two years, I wanted to leave a very open line of communication with my techs to make sure they can see where I am coming from and asking them to do.  I have stated multiple times that I trust them, but if they feel something is over their head, please tell me and I will take the patient.  I want to model how I supervise from the supervisors that made the most impact on my training; not the ones I dreaded walking into supervision or did not want to staff a case due to the personality and attitude of the supervisor.

While I was an officer in my previous clinic, I was not in a true leadership position.  Being a leader for fellow captains is much different that being the officer in charge for the clinic.  I have learned so much since arriving that I never dreamed was possible.  I have developed a backbone so to speak, that has allowed me to really say what I expect to see happen.   I have been trained to be an officer through the ROTC program and throughout my time in the Army, but there was little room to use those skills.  Some cannot be taught, but just must be learned as time goes on.  I have been grateful to have two fantastic NCOICs (one here and one at my home station).  They are completely unaware, but each has helped me to develop into that role.  I can sit back and think about my last two years of training, and I knew walking into this environment that I was prepared to be a clinician in almost every setting (one scenario still threw me for a loop, but I knew who to contact for additional resources).  The best training I got did not happen until a few months before I left.  My NCOIC helped to show me exactly what I could expect from the 68Xs (behavioral health technicians) and what I could expect from my NCOIC.  In little ways, she was able to guide me toward that team approach with which I was unfamiliar.  I was used to doing all projects by myself, but she gently guided me to asking some of the techs around me to help.  I came here, and my NCOIC is picking up right where she left off.  He’s continuing to guide that path to form the command team. It’s already a small team for the clinic, but I now understand what is possible.   I know where my lane begins and ends and where his lane is as well.  I do believe the NCOs job is the hardest.  They are responsible for so much more than people give them create.  They look out for everyone below them and above them.  They make everything run, and anyone who does not give them credit for that is a fool!

I have also learned during this process how to stand up to those higher in rank than I am.  I have listened to multiple soldiers over the years tell me that they don’t really respect the higher ranking soldiers, they just see the rank.  I completely understand that right now.  I have always had good people in those higher positions.
Sometimes I wondered where they based their decisions, but I knew they made it to that rank for a reason.  Being deployed, I have learned that may not always be the case.  There are ways to stand up and say that what is proposed is not appropriate.  There are ways to hold one’s head up and keep driving on to fulfill the overall mission, not just the small momentary distraction.   It was not an easy lesson, but I learned that one quickly.  Everything must be learned quickly in this environment.