Photo By John Hughel | Washington Army National Guard, Assistant Adjutant General and Army Commanding General...... read more read more
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The Washington National Guard experienced a double dose of new leadership last winter, when both the Assistant to the Adjutant General for Air and Army, retired and changed command to new teams.
The new leaders, Brig. Gen. Gent Welsh, Assistant to the Adjutant General-Air, and Brig. Gen. Dan Dent, Assistant to the Adjutant General-Army, stepped into their new roles but presenting their leadership philosophies.
“The dual status nature of the National Guard ensures we train to fight our nation’s wars, and simultaneously stand prepared for domestic emergencies at the direction of the Governor,” said Welsh.
“Our Airmen want to be here, they want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. They want to be trained and mentored to grow. They want to feel like the organization has their best interests in mind always!”
Dent began his leaders’ summit with the sentiment that, “Overall mission demands on the Washington Army National Guard are at the highest level in recent history and I predict they will only continue to grow. While the growth of expanding mission sets presents challenges, it also offers great opportunity.”
Both leaders developed the tenets for which each branch should strive to achieve. They are listed here.
During the summit Dent laid out his six tenets and explained them in detail to the leaders.
Soldier first is our touchstone. This requires the belief in the individual readiness and connection to each Soldier to the powerful tradition of service in the US Army and our National Guard. Solider First requires a steadfast commitment to Army Values, standards and toughness.
Soldier centric is the way our organization behaves. Everything we do as command teams, staff and leaders must be framed by the critical questions, What does this mean to the Soldier and his or her family? Everything from planning to execution will be through the lens of the Solider. When we get this right, we will build trust.
Brilliance in the Basics is our approach to training. We train tough, ethical and professionally competent soldiers. We identify and prioritize the basic tasks we choose to execute and then master them.
Leader development. The CSM and I will lead the WAARNG in this endeavor. We train leadership at echelon. We develop leaders by trusting and empowering them to execute consequential missions. I want to instill authority and decision making back at all echelons down to the lowest level possible. This fosters ownership.
Disciplined Initiative within intent. We enable this by communicating precisely though echelon and by building mutual trust and shared understanding of commander’s intent. This forms the foundation of mission command, which enables us to accomplish all missions and exploit emerging opportunities.
Building Winning units. The CSM and I will define what winning means, our units are built with guardsmen who are Soldiers First and their units have such a powerful Army Identity, Soldiers are proud to serve here.
Welsh also provided the Air side with a memo regarding his guidance.
Build and Sustain Readiness. This means exceeding unit manning by having a wait list. Command and unit involvement in readiness training and reporting. Maintaining medical readiness and unit readiness above 80 percent. Having structured and meaningful training for Airmen.
Never fail an Airman. Build units and teams where our Airmen are proud to serve and want to return to every month. Treat Airmen like you would a family member. On time pay, promotions, evaluations, awards and benefits. The full time force exists to support our traditional Airmen.
Develop the Future. Stop treading water, are you still going to be working on the same problems in three years? A transparent force development and management. Constant evaluation of missions and facility relevance.
These leader philosophies will guide the Washington Air and Army Guard through their next stage. The hope is that by using these tenets members will feel resolved to stay in the guard and recommend it to their circles outside of the guard.
| Date Taken: | 05.01.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 07.14.2020 11:19 |
| Story ID: | 373869 |
| Location: | CAMP MURRAY, WASHINGTON, US |
| Hometown: | CAMP MURRAY, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 464 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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