Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Spence | Capt. Heath Kennedy, 1-409th Brigade Engineer Battalion Alpha Team Observer, Coach and...... read more read more
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RADCLIFF, Ky. – Extremism took center stage on Jan. 6 when homegrown insurrectionists stormed the United States Capitol.
In response, on Feb. 5, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III released a memorandum calling for a Department of Defense-wide “stand-down” to occur within 60 days. All Soldiers and Army Civilians were ordered to stop unit activities for a period of time to discuss the topic.
Soldiers with 1-410th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 4th Cavalry Multi-Functional Training Brigade, held a portion of their stand-down at Saunders Springs Nature Preserve on March 9 to facilitate small group discussions on the meaning of the oath of office and oath of enlistment, impermissible behaviors, responsibility to report and case studies.
Sgt. 1st Class Justin Nation, Alpha Team non-commissioned officer-in-charge, agreed. “Extremism can be real damning to a formation,” he said. “We all have opinions, that’s what makes us as people unique. It’s when those opinions have extremist connotations, then there’s a problem and there’s no place for it in the military and we can’t allow it to undermine our team. We are a very diverse group of people across the military and we need to learn to embrace those diversities and not allow those outliers to use our differences against us.”
When asked what he considered to be the polar opposite of extremism, he responded with love.
“Love everyone no matter the differences in their beliefs,” he said.
This may just be the beginning of the conversation and Kennedy thinks there is more than one solution to the problem, but acknowledges one way that commanders are able to measure their effectiveness right now.
“Soldiers just have to be honest in their command climate survey, sharing what they see in the organization and the experiences that they’ve had in it,” he said. “If they know that, commanders are in a better position to identify and right the ship.”
| Date Taken: | 03.19.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 03.19.2021 11:58 |
| Story ID: | 391845 |
| Location: | RADCLIFF, KENTUCKY, US |
| Hometown: | FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 62 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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