Tag: JAG

A great leadership discussion on Wednesday has led to more ... and less.  I was very excited to share some of my small-group leadership discussion with the rest of the world on Wednesday.  We were talking about the challenges of leading warrant officers, enlisted paralegals, and civilians as part of our series of seminar discussion about leadership in the JAG Corps.  (I used the #jagcldrship hashtag, so you can check out the discussion on Twitter -- and keep it going.)  The big take-away from the discussion was that there was a lot of uncertainty in the room about the role of our warrant officers, our legal administrators.  The judge advocates in the room all had some assumptions about what legal administrators should and shouldn't be responsible for, but our collective experiences lacked any sort of coherence in terms of actually understanding their role.  On paper, the guidance available doesn't seem to provide much actual guidance, and a few bad experiences have colored much of our judgment of legal administrators, generally.

As expected, there wasn't much participation in the conversation via Twitter.  Part of that was my fault - I was using TweetDeck from my laptop and kept posting from the wrong account and dropping the hashtag; being involved in the conversation in the room kept me from complete focus on the (limited) technical requirements of writing it down.  Part of it was a lack of interest, awareness, or time to participate -- really, of the handful of people reading this blog, how many have time to stop what they're doing on Wednesday morning for an hour and tune into Twitter?  But we did get a few comments (most of which didn't include the hashtag, so they won't show up in the hashtag link above).  And more important, the discussion was available to read long after the conversation was over.

Yesterday, I got an email from a friend of mine (warrant officer in the JAG Corps) who said she was interested in the leadership discussion on Twitter.  It was clear to her that I/we didn't really have a good grasp of the warrant officers' role in the JAG Corps. She offered to school me - and I've taken her up on it.  Even better, she's sent that conversation on to some other warrant officers within our Corps and I think our little one-hour discussion on Wednesday is going to be a catalyst for some re-thinking about where we are the JAGC, whether our actual "corporate culture" matches our hopes and expectations.  I know I need to know more, and I suspect I'm not the only one who will get some value out of the larger discussion that's started.

But there is a downside.  (But at least it's a pretty minor one.)  While that was the first of our leadership discussions I'd planned to live-Twitter, it will unfortunately be the last.  Sharing what's happening here at school via Twitter (or this blog) is ok; doing so during class, not so much.  So, going forward, I'll recap the conversations as accurately as possible and will share them here.  But this means that YOU have a bigger contribution to make!  Instead of just 'listening' to me write or tweet about leadership, we need to actually have a conversation.  Leave a comment here, or, better yet, comment on Twitter.  Just remember the hashtag (#jagcldrship)!

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Well, for those who were waiting for last week's leadership discussion, I apologize.  A last-minute trip to the doctor for some recurring low-back pain kept me out of school for the day.  Luckily, leadership training continues!  Today we'll be tackling: Leading Legal Administrators, Paralegals, and Civilians.  This should be an interesting discussion - particularly as regards civilians. 

I'll be live-Twittering the discussion, using the #jagcldrship hashtag.  Feel free to listen in or -- even better! -- add to the discussion.  We'll be starting at about 10:15 (in just 30 minutes!) and it will last about an hour (or a little more).  Come check it out.

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This past week has seen a lot more classroom with all the focus now on Criminal law.  We are breezing our way through the UCMJ and the other 8 books we've been assigned and there is A LOT of lecture.  We've been assigned our trial memo which is supposedly going to take 10-15 hours to complete, but having done one before, and this one only being 3 pages long, I would say more like 2-3 hours (although it does count for 50% of our criminal law grade).

We started our "experiment" with run group 4 on Monday and it was WAY better than normal PT training.  We immediately went with our Colonel and did our own PT which consisted of pull-ups, push-ups, and sit-ups (in that order) with sets being 1  2  3 reps (in the order specified earlier this sentence),  2  4  6 reps, 3  6  9 reps,  4 8 12 reps....10, 20, 30 reps.  We used a partner and were supposed to go to muscle failure.  I luckily got paired up with a former army ranger who is in great shape and he and I made it up to the 10th set in 13 minutes and then back down to the 6 set when we were told we could stop as most of the group had reached muscle failure. 

The next day, Chief was gone so air assault met up with airborne who was supposed to run o-hill but instead did a 5.5 mile run at our own pace.  Later that day we learned that Thurs and Fri were going to take a diagnostic PT test.   We informed Colonel of this to try to get an easier Wed workout but he just laughed and said "its just a diagnostic."  Regardless, the majority of our run group didnt have to show up for the Wed workout as they were doing their test on Thurs.  The 4 of us who remained got a mixture of 400 yard sprints with 50 squats between each one and no rest. On Thurs, group 1 took their test and came back with an average of 252 (a recent JAG school record which isnt bad for 50 + lawyers ranging in age from 25-40.  My platoon went on Friday and got the luck of having to test in the rain (as it had rained all night and during the test).  I personally hit 87 push-ups and 77 sit-ups in 2 minutes, and a 15:20 two mile in (which is easily a personal best if you haven't read my earlier posts about hating distance running).  Our average was 248 which was good considering we were soaked and there are 2  90 degree turns on this track.  It was more like running a steeple chase as you were sometimes ankle deep in water.  

Later that night we had our first formal, our Blues reception.  Everyone was in their Army Service Uniforms and had to go through the meet and greet line (which was remarkably fast considering there was over 160 people in that line to meet the 2 honored guests).  The best part about it was there were tasty beverages upstairs and down.  It was a great time, til all of it was gone, and we couldnt leave for about 30 more minutes.  Although, that little break didnt stop the 181st class from basically invading a bar about an hour later with over 50 of us!     

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So this last week has seen a lot of different things happen at JAOBC.  We had 2 short papers, 3 seminar classes (get a practice problem and answer specific questions or point out errors in it), and our first exam.  Although it sounds like a lot of academia, it really wasn't to bad as we have good instructors, reference materials, and they don't hide the ball on the exams (they tell us what we need to focus on).  Unlike lawschool, our exams were graded and returned to us within 2 hours (everyone passed), and then we went over them instantaneously.

We also just started the criminal law stretch of our JAG introduction, and the pace has changed immensley.  We now have a lot more reading assignments but many of them our just skimming as we go over the main points in class.  Dont worry, for all of you potential applicants, there is still PLENTY of time to go out and have fun.

Everyone is starting to get into their routines so it is easier to get out and experience Charlottesville, the restaurants, and bars.  That being said, my routine is just about to change.  Our first day of air assault, Chief set-up 12 different stations that were about 30 seconds each (no rest in between).  It involved different kinds of push-ups, chin-ups and squating/lunges with weight.  While nothing terribly bad, some of those definetely would prefer a long run (not me though).  Airborne group ran their 5 mile run which had to be completed in 45 minutes or less.  They lost 2 more people who couldn't make the time (I know one was injured but tried). On Wed. we had our first company ruck march with weight which took forever with 110+ people walking around the hills of Charlottesville.  We only had to use 20 lbs but I put in 35 so I can get used to it for the Air Assault time rucks.  Then on Thurs for Air Assault, we used weighted vests (20 lbs.) and climbed a rope, did chin-ups and push-ups, and then had really races up the 5 flights of stairs.  Stadium steps is definetely something I can do better than running.

Wed afternoon my run group (4th run group--"they call us 4 because we never do less than 4 miles"-1Lt Heaser),was called before the cadre and told that we are going to be part of an "experiment."  Just for a little background, our run group leader is a Lt. Col. who is a little older but a hard-core worker.  We always run at a faster pace than the groups ahead of us (except group 1), we run farther, and we always have some muscle exercise afterwards.  Our experiment is that the cadre wants to see if conducting PT in smaller groups (say like the size of our run groups) will be more beneficial then having 50+ people of all different abilities together.  So essentially, the LT COL volunteered our group to do extra with him and be the experiment.  After group stretching we will fall out and he will take our run group (now of 13 soldier) and do our own PT that he comes up with.  You can tell he has the reputation for being really hard as both first Sergeant and Chief smiled as they broke the news to us.  I'm excited about it because now he may run us a little less but PT us a little harder,

Speaking of physical fitness, I am finally getting back into the weight room consistently (during our 1hr and 30 min lunch).  That's one great benefit of living at the school, no traveling to shwoer or change, and I can use the weight room at lunch and get a good lift in.  Its a little small but it has everything you need.  A lot of people have signed up at the UVA gym or used the contract the school has with Gold's Gym (about 2 miles away) and work out for free.

So thats essentially life at the JAOBC for a week.

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Alright everyone, so zero day has come and gone and it was a ton of fun.  Like I said previously, we were outside at 0435 in the morning in our ACU's and boots.  When the cadre showed at 0450, we started a run that was probably about 3/4 of a mile or so to a parking garage area.  Before the run was over, we had one person drop.  Once there, we lined up and first sergeant pointed out that there was hot chocolate and donuts for anyone who wanted to quit (and that they wouldnt have to do regular pt, they could go home and back to sleep).

We started off with 112 overhead claps (224 since everyone 1 is really 2) and then a lot of other shoulder/ push-up exercises for about 20 minutes.  Mind you, its continous with no real breaks.  When they did allow us to get water, it was on a ten second count down.  Another few dropped out/ were kicked out because they couldnt keep the pace in overhead arm claps or they bent their arms.  After about 20 minutes of that, we about faced and had Chief to initiate our legs into zero day.  She hit us with a lot of abs, lunges, and other activities.  At any point in time, if either of them yelled go we would have to get up, run up the parking garage and back down and then continue (there was a lot of go's).

About 45 minutes into, we started doing lunges and if she passed us from behind, we would be done.  That, and lots of flutter kicks.  Then we about-faced and first sergeant gave us a minute to go to the van and pull out blocks.  As he counted down and we trampled each other and threw them out of the van, you couldnt help but laugh that our colleagues are doing boring legal research.  We got back and did a variety of push-ups using the blocks to go lower (one block under each hand).  After another about face, we went back to the van to get 15 lb medicine balls.  We had to start squating them and sprinting with them.  Its hard to go into detail about everything thats going as we were out there exercising for more than 2 hours continously.  Only about 10-15 people dropped out of the original 40 or so (rough estimates) but those who werent injured and came in decent shape made it through.  It actually became easier (to me) as we went because I am more leg and power oriented and since there was no long distance running, it helped me out.  By the end, everyone was cheering for the slower ones and it brought everyone else together.

Needless to say that our ACU's needed a good washing after that since people were sweating through them in 25 degree weather.  But everyone was pretty stoked about making it through.  Then we had to walk/ run back, unpack the van, shower and get to class in about 35 minutes.  It was funny seeing everyone an hour later as their bodies tightened up and people could not walk up stairs or get up from their chairs.  Im still pretty sore in my quads after 3+ days and that wasnt helped out by the fact that the next morning (friday) my run leader took us up (and down) Observatory Hill (O-hill).  Despite being extremely sore, we made the 6 mile round trip up the mountain (tallest hill I've ever seen) with some extremely steep grades.  Lets just say afterwards that everyone was ready for the weekend.

On the academic side, we have had a couple of practice exercises and have a take home exam due on monday, two papers due this week (drafting reprimand letters and other things) and our first real exam on Thurs!  On a better note, we finally got paid!!! 

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We are quickly proceeding through the first week in Charlottesville.  Monday was a little inprocessing and meeting some staff in our big classroom with all the 181st getting assigned seats.  Im in the back corner of the room right next to two cool guys who like to laugh and even though it will definetely be DPP (death by power point as Ive been told), its been great so far and very informative.  Essentially our schedule is this:  0550 we have PT til 7.  We have divided up into run groups and M/W we have either push-up or sit-up and then about 30-45 minute run.  Fridays are long runs of 5+ miles.  Tue/ Thurs will be air assault/ airborne at that time and for those who dont get past 0 day (or who dont try out), they have student led pt those days.

After 7 we get til 0810 to be in our seats and then have power point lectures (although so far the faculty has made it fun with videos/ funny stories) with a 10 minute break every hour.  Lunch is 12:10-13:30 and then we have more lecture or seminar/practice exercises til around 1530 (3:30pm).  Then its free time to do some work or whatever you like.  We get allocated $51 a day for food (even if we dont use it we get it) so we have been eating out a lot.

Tue was weigh in and as predicted, I, along with 20 other people or so had to be taped.  If you dont make the height weight chart they have, the army then does a measuring of your neck and navel area (girls do hips as well) and they plug it into the equation to see if you are overweight.  If you are, you get to do REMEDIAL PT which is on top of your regular pt in the morning (remedial is in the afternoon at 1600).  I had to be taped but was under the required ratio (almost all athletes have to be taped because of muscle weight from what I hear and a lot of the more muscular were being taped). 

Today I thought they would take it easy on us since 0 day is tomorrow but NOOOOOO!  Besides doing a killer ab circuit this morning, we got into our run groups and today just happened to be sprint day.  My group (group 4 which is essentially a 15:40-16:10 2 mile time) jogged a mile to the track and then proceeded to do 400 meter sprints with a minute rest between each one.  Other groups did sprints/ runs up a hill.  As a sprinter, I know how bad most people will feel tomorrow in terms of soreness (and hopefully it wont effect me as bad). A lot of people who are trying out seem to be limping around with shin splints or bad heels from the boots.  My advice is to get your DSCP boots early and break them in good!

So, Im off and the next time you here from me you will here a recap of 0 day Im sure.  We have to be there, stretched and warmed up, at 4:50 am in our ACU's (army combat uniforms and boots).  Let me end with this:

Twas the night before 0 day,

and all through the dorm,

not a soldier was scurrying, because we had to be up at 4:50 in the morn.

Our ACU's were laid out on the floor with care

With hope that the cadre, would be a little fair.

And I with my knee, and others with their shins

had just figured out about the S**T we were in!!!!

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The 181st Judge Advocate Officer Basic Course arrived in Charlottesville on Friday. They’ve been training since Super Bowl Sunday at Fort Lee and are now beginning 10 ½ weeks of academic training here at The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School. Today was the first day of PT here at the School. As we’ve done for the last two OBC classes, MAJ Montas and I are running a few days a week with one of the run groups. We’re not the fastest group, but everyone seems motivated, anxious to enjoy themselves and to get ready to head out to their units.

This was the first day of PT for me in about 2 months. I sprained my back while shoveling some of C’ville’s record snow in December. (Nothing like throwing your back out to make it clear you’re not as young as you used to be.) It was absolutely great to get out running again – a clear, cool morning with a deep red rising sun. Beautiful!

Now it’s back to writing (and class, of course). The research paper is due in about 2 weeks, so it’s time for the final push!

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The last few days at Fort Lee went by really fast.  We did a mock PT test (2 minutes of push-ups, sit-ups, and 2 mile run).  We had to do this because the confidence course that was scheduled had to be cancelled due to weather (this is the obstacle course that we always see during basic training on television shows).  I was impressed at how good some of the athletes were (again, army athletes not power athletes :) ).  We had people getting sub 12 minute two miles (only 3 or 4 though).  We are using these run times to seperate into run groups when we get to Charlottesville so we can train with people at our speeds. 

I think what was more impressive was that some of the girls hit upwards of 70 push-ups and 65 sit-ups (it may not sound like a lot but sit down and try it right now :).  But there are also people running 19 minute 2 miles and only getting 17 or 18 push-ups so there is definetely a full spectrum. 

Mostly, the last 2 days were out processing and a lot of free time to get ready for the 1.5 hour drive to the JAOBC (Judge advocate officer basic course).The night before we left we had a social event (open bar!!!) at the officer's club at fort lee which to my surprise was a real bar with big screens and all!  That helped with the bonding but I have to say, some of the LT's and CPT's may be classified as light-weights.  But dont worry, we all had designated drivers as they wont let you even think of driving after one drink.

C-ville is awesome.  The JAG LCS (legal center and school) is awesome.  Its located directly next to the University of Virginia law school and we have rooms on top of the school (which will be good when we are waking up for PT at 5:15 instead of 5 in the morning.  These are nice dorm room/ hotel type rooms with flat screens and balcony's (for free :) ).  Some of the married individuals who have family coming to stay are staying at the residence inn (getting tons of marriot rewards pts too) and have about a 5 minute walk to get here.

We definetely got out and explored the city last night (which is great) and are heading to buffalo wild wings later tonight for some sports watching.  This week we have a lot of inprocessing and starting the admin law sections.  0 days for airborne/ air assault school is thursday which is essentially where we try out for a paid spot at airborne (only 10 slots) or air assault (only 5 slots).  Right now there is probably 50 people thinking of trying out so 0 day is essentially where they make people quit or kick them out when they cant go any farther (true muscle failure, sprints, and other exercises designed to BURN!!!).  If we clear 0 day, we get to train tue and thurs for our respective class and then have to do a 12 mile ruck (march with gear) for air assault or 5 mile run for airborne that are both timed.

Im excited about the competitive nature and pushing yourself and your team so this is going to be fun.  Im only concerned how my knee will hold up because I dont see myself breaking mentally.  Just another observation, everyone here (especially prior service) is really helpful.  Its not a competitive environment in the runs/ lifts; its more that if someone is struggling, others come to pick them up, train with them, or help them understand what they need to do.  The team mentality is great and im sure that other firms wish they have the bond that we get from doing PT, living together, and working together! 

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Yesterday was another great discussion about leadership here at the Grad Course.  Because this is more than 'just' and LL.M. program, we are spending time talking about leadership.  The goal is to make all of us more ready to take charge of our corners of the JAG Corps when we head off to our new assignments this fall.

This semester, our Professional Development Program includes a series of small group discussion with some of the senior officers on the faculty.  It's an opportunity to sit down with about a dozen classmates and talk about what we've seen in our previous assignments and what we hope to do when we get back out to the field.  In the first four weeks of discussions we've talked about: the levels of organizational leadership; authority and influence; organizational vision and culture; and team building.  The exchange of ideas and perspectives has been great; we don't always agree, and that leads to some great back and forth. 

For yesterday's discussion, I live-Twittered via my Twitter presence, @MAJGrimes.  I ran it by my group's 'mentors' and they've given me the go-ahead to do so for the next couple weeks' conversations.  So, if you're interested in what sort of thoughts go into the building of JAG Corps leaders, tune in.  To make it easy to follow, I'll be using a hashtag (#jagcldrship).  Or better yet, offer some thoughts I can share with the group!   I hope this will be an interesting opportunity for everyone involved.  Our next meeting will be on *xxxxxxxxxxx*, from 1000-1200.  Tune in!

(By the way, the hashtag I chose has some significance.  It incorporates the Judge Advocate General's Corps' initials (JAGC) with the acronym we use for the Army Values (pronounced: "leadership"): Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honesty, Integrity, and Personal Courage.)

UPDATE: Next leadership discussion (#jagcldrship) will take place on March 10th, 1000-1200.

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16 Feb. 2010—The one thing I learned today is that breathing in gas really gels the unit together. Today was the gas chamber so after PT at 5:50 we had to show up at 9 to go to the chambers. Once there, we had 4 different 45 minute stations about detecting chemical/ biological/ radioactive/ or nuclear agents, maintaining and cleaning your mask, decontaminating yourself and gear, and how to properly wear your protective gear.

After that, we got to enjoy our MRE’s and sit in the sun (as today was ridiculously cold). Luckily the vegetarian lasagna tasted exactly like spaghetti so I got it down. I usually pack a sandwich too just as a midafternoon snack as you can get hungry being out there so long. We stripped down to just our ACU’s, no gloves, no patches, no hats and some of us got masks (others had to wait for some to come out and clean theirs).

When it was finally our turn, ten would go into the chamber at a time with masks on. We ran around in a circle for about 30 seconds and a few others and me were cheering and laughing it up as the mask helped filter everything. Then we had to break the seal, put the mask back on, clear the agent out, and continue to exercise (jumping jacks). Some of my friends had trouble getting a good seal again and therefore breathed in a lot more than I did. After that we got into a line, took the mask completely off and had to yell our name and numbers out before we could exit. I got through my name before my voice sounded like I was a 95 year old smoker.

Once out, everyone cheers but you cant really see it as your eyes are watering like crazy and burning. your skin is on fire, you have snot running down your face, and you are coughing. Because the agent sticks to you, you cant rub your eyes (and believe me you want to). After about 5 minutes the effects had warn off and everyone was laughing. I don’t think anyone puked but there were some awesome stories. One of the prior service guys who is about 40 and a former ranger (real bad ass) walked through the chamber and out like it was nothing, he probably enjoyed being out of the cold and in the chamber more than being outside! Afterwards, everyone had a great bond...there is something about seeing someone at their worst (snot running, coughing, red eyes, skin burning) that brings you closer together. Considering the effects only lasted about 5 minutes at the most, it was a lot of fun and a good laughing experience!
 

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