While finding the article in the preceding post, I found this article by another child of a soldier that impressed me very much.
The time has come to present the winner of the 2010 Month of the Military Child Blog Submission Award.
And the winner is (drum roll, please)…Ms. Rebecca Sawler of Ft. Drum, NY. Below is Rebecca’s post about what it means to be a leader and how her father, SSG Sawler (currently deployed to Afghanistan) displays those characteristics.
The characteristics that I think an exceptional leader should have are responsibility, respect, and courage. The person that I believe has these characteristics is my Dad.
Responsibility to me means to be accountable for your own actions. It also means that you trustworthy to others. My dad is responsible because he is a squad leader in the army. He is in charge of thirteen to fourteen soldiers that are divided into four groups or teams. Each of these teams have different missions and therefore he has to watch over and make sure that they know where, when, and how to do their job. As a squad leader he also is responsible for helping his soldiers with their problems as far as health, deployment, their safety and more. On top of him leading these soldiers, he also has a family. He takes care of us by providing for us. He helps pay for food, clothing and a home. When he is home he makes an effort to spend his time with us. I see my Dad as the leader of our family and he proves this by taking care of his responsibilities.
To be respectful is to respect other’s ideas and not look down on them. Respect means to listen to other’s ideas, opinions, and decisions. My father has to respect his leaders and commanding officers. He does this by obeying their decisions and any opinions they have that he needs to follow. He also respects the soldiers under him. As their leader, he listens to their ideas and opinions. He also respects their decisions for work and their life even if he doesn’t agree completely with them. I came across this quote that expresses respect perfectly. “You can have a certain arrogance, and I think that’s fine, but what you should never lose is the respect for others.” –Steffi Graf.
I think that the meaning of courage is to face dangers fearlessly for your beliefs. This means to stand up for what you believe and also to put yourself aside for others. I know my dad has courage because he represents his country. He stands proud for his ideas and beliefs because he serves in our military. He sets himself aside for his family and protects us. Not only does he protect us though, he protects the foreign citizens around the world. A leader shows and teaches courage when he can still lead and not let fear get in his way.
“A leader is someone who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way”- John C. Maxwell. Like my dad, I use these important traits, responsibility, respect, and courage at school. First of all, I use responsibility when I keep all my papers and homework in order. Homework is also a responsibility of mine because I have to make sure that I complete it correctly. In school I demonstrate respect in every class. I do this by making sure I call each teacher by Mrs., Mr., or Ms. I also do not talk when they are teaching or pass notes during class. The other students in my grade are also people I respect by not bothering them during class, distracting them, or messing their work up. Respecting my fellow students is very important to me, because they can hopefully look up to me as a good example. Ignoring bullies and trying new things despite my fears, is one way I show courage at school. I am very lucky to have my father to look up to and I hope one day I can use these traits to become a good leader.
Congratulations Rebecca!! It is you and all other Army Children that make us Army Strong!!
Posted byashmccallunderArmy Family, Uncategorized, social mediamonth of the military child, social media, U.S Army| Comments (0)
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