Accountability In The Military

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Accountability for me, has different meanings as well as the ability to trigger different thoughts relating to time where it has been an important part of my life.. Coming from a military background that word has heavy feelings associated with it and touches home when thought about as it pertains to personnel. As a leader in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places, accountability of my Soldiers was, next to safety, the most important thing for me. As the highest ranking non-commissioned officer in my company I was solely responsible for my men and it was my duty to get them home safe to their loved ones. Many times during deployments my teams would be simultaneously doing different things in different places and coordination needed to be done …show more content…
Being accountable for people was not only making sure every one was present but making sure everyone was “O.K”. Always during my career I felt accountable for my Soldier’s well-being. Upon re-deployment I would sometimes need to refer Soldiers to the Behavior Health Unit, Drug and Alcohol Dependency clinic or sometimes just lend an ear and listen. To often do we merely accept that if someone is present that our job is done. Accountability is being responsible for more than just the tangible; it involves the intangible aspects of a human as well. The final example that I take pride in is accountability of my equipment. Not knowing where a piece of equipment is at anytime is both frustrating and detrimental to your work, or personal environment. Not only accountability for where it is but, not unlike the personnel example above, it’s condition. Many times throughout my military career I was personally responsible for million’s of dollars worth of equipment; sometimes up to and including, Top Secret documents and …show more content…
Upon arriving for the first day on the job I noticed that none of the equipment was accounted for or signed for. I brought this up to my supervisor and asked if I could fix the issue. I explained that I could make a simple spreadsheet and list the item(s) and their serial numbers along with a place for the date and each shift’s officer signature. By doing this if anything should become missing or broken we would then have a way of holding someone accountable for the incident. He agreed and this has now been put into our post orders and is being implemented with excellent