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DETROIT – The U.S. military is a volunteer force and builds its next generation of leaders from the inside. Professional development is an essential directive for ensuring future leaders learn, absorb, and apply the lessons they endure through their careers. Motor City ‘24, a series of professional development conferences scheduled back-to-back in Detroit, Michigan, is bringing military leaders together from across the country to ensure this standard is met.
The Michigan National Guard Joint Leadership Conference started this past week as part of Motor City ‘24. The conferences include the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States, the Michigan National Guard Joint Enlisted Leadership Conference, the National Guard Association of the United States, and JLC.
JLC gives Soldiers and Airmen the opportunity to gain knowledge from senior military leaders at guest speaker panels, command insight presentations, and leadership development sessions. Guest speakers at this year’s JLC included U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul Rogers, Adjutant General of the Michigan National Guard, retired Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch, former Commanding General for Installation Management, and a collection of MING leaders who presented their first-hand experience in emerging war strategy.
“I think the Joint Leadership Conference has probably been a very useful leadership conference because it’s in conjunction with NGAUS and set up to talk about the future fight.” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Justin Bierens, Executive Officer, 63rd Troop Command, Michigan National Guard. “[We’re] starting at the highest level and walking that back through experiences [from leaders] in the state.”
Bierens stated that the opportunity to speak at JLC was a way for him and his fellow Guardsmen to tell their stories and lessons learned to a crowd of senior military leaders. He also expanded on how the lessons learned for company and field grade leadership, specifically, were given the chance to be passed on to those in the crowd it applied to.
“The change in the focus of the leadership conference is why this one is important and it sets the precedent,” said Bierens, adding on his point of importance for company and field grade leaders to attend JLCs. “We need to talk about the future fight, we need to learn from lessons from people who’ve had different experiences across the National Guard and we need to get this information out to more company leadership.”
The Michigan National Guard hosts the Joint Leadership Conference annually to give current and future leaders access to in-person professional development opportunities to ensure the future fight has leaders ready and capable.
“It was a really powerful experience,” said Bierens, “Not only just to take a look back on what we did learn, but also to push those lessons forward and help the future leadership of the National Guard.”
| Date Taken: | 08.27.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.04.2024 18:30 |
| Story ID: | 480105 |
| Location: | DETROIT, MICHIGAN, US |
| Web Views: | 708 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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