Blog 20: Exit Interview

Content:

(1) What is your essential question and answers?  What is your best answer and why?

• EQ: What makes an effective Marine military leader?
• Answer 1: The Marine's foundation for leadership is self improvement through modeling the official 14 Leadership Traits and 11 Principles.
• Answer 2: A Leader must make use of team building in task-oriented groups.
• Answer 3: As a military leader, you must embody service leadership
• My best answer is to self improve by modeling the 14 leadership traits and 11 principles because in a study conducted by Erich W. Randall, approximately 2.5% of soldiers surveyed from July 2003 to December 2005 determined they would reenlist based on their leaders attitude on the team.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

• My first answer came from my first interview with my mentor, Captain Hankle. He really stressed how important it is for an officer's to improve on themselves.
• My Answer 2 came from a common theme I saw throughout my research and observations. No matter where your assignment is, whether you're in an office or in the field, you'll always have a team there with you.
• My third answer came from a variation on an answer I made up with my dad.

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

• I had a hard time finding mentors and a hard time getting mentorship hours done. My first mentor was hard to meet with and I was rarely able to complete hours with him. I ended up getting 2 other mentors to compensate for my first mentor. This in turn helped me to getting my mentor hours on their way to getting done. 

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

• The first source was "The West Point Way of Leadership" by Col. Larry Donnithorne. This book covered all three of my answers and put into perspective why they were important.
• Another significant source for me was my mentors. I was able to learn a lot from them and gain a lot of military and personal perspective from them.

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

Content:  

LITERAL
      (a) I, Samantha Cooper, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
      (b) Cooper, Col. Dewell J. Mentor/ Personal interview. 2014.
      (c) Provide a digital spreadsheet (aka log of the 30 hours).   Post it next to your mentorship log.
      (d) I helped my dad complete the preliminary work for starting what will eventually be iPoly's military explorer program. I helped him brainstorm ideas, process paperwork, convert that paperwork to PDF format for headquarters, make calls, and prepare for an information session to be held at school. 
INTERPRETIVE 




      The most significant parts of my component were the research for the unit and preparing for the information session for the school. I really think the hands on experience of the program would be a perfect fits and really gives a great way for me as an incoming officer candidate to take initiative for the school.
       Below are samples of what I was able to complete:

My readmit from this  morning's meeting with Mrs. Flores

Adult Application
Participation Application
Paperwork for Establishing a Unit
Youth (Cadet) Application

 

APPLIED
      This component helped me to solidify my second answer. As I looked into the inner workings of how the unit is run, it really showed me how essential working in a team is in a military environment. Being able to have this opportunity for our school will also help with other's leadership skills.
How did the component help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped.