Expose, not change when it comes to core values

A certain 1stSgt wrote to me about a visitor to their base. Now this was special, not only because the person had come all the way across the world to a sweltering island with nary a strip of natural vegetation, but because of a solution in a talk he gave. The guest spoke about the very heinous behaviors of sexual assault, and harassment. You can imagine the veins throbbing in the 1stSgt's neck, the multitude of phrases --entire paragraphs running through his head as he viewed the evidence of acts carried out by service members against one another. No matter how many times he has heard talks on sexual assault or harassment, they are extraordinarily upsetting for someone who embodies the values of Honor, Courage and Commitment. Imagine him hearing a young service member that yes, while he got the values, in the rest of his life there was stuff on the side.' Stuff on the side? There is no room for extraneous values that run counter to Honor, Courage and Commitment. The solution given to rid the service of such abhorrent behaviors? The visitor said the military must experience a cultural change by changing its values.

So he wrote me because he knew I had heard the same speech when I went to a conference for female veterans. I heard same statistics, listened to women and men who had been raped, intimidated, threatened, and disparaged at the hands of others in the service. All of these acts took place in the presence of poor and indifferent leadership. I was appalled and upset not only by the egregious behaviors, but dismayed by any leader who would allow morale to fester into selfish acts against another person's humanity.  By 10 AM, one person stood up and proclaimed the military as a breeding ground for sexual assault and humanity. The solution given at the conference? Cultural change.

Allow me to digress in the way of the much missed BabaTim. Going back to the 1990's, the buzz phrase that led a revolutionary change in business (and therefore society) was paradigm shift. Speakers flew around country speaking to businesses, non profit organizations and civic groups giving long winded speeches about paradigm shifts. No one knew what a paradigm shift looked, or acted like, but books were being written, people were flying into conferences gave it the veneer of credence. It was a very exciting time, even though no one knew what they were talking about.

Flash forward twenty years, much of this non-specific babble fed into the softening of perspective that overlooked and even rewarded already unscrupulous dealers on Wall Street, the dismantling companies that manufactured goods, and even the end of private medicine as we knew it. Perhaps a walking, breathing example of a paradigm shift is Bernie Madoff.

Back to the matter at hand. I felt for our 1stSgt. I'm afraid 'Cultural change' is akin to the 'paradigm shift' of the 21st century.

So I pointed out the obvious: our service members aren't grown in a Petri dish.
Behaviors such as the ones reported are a reflection of the culture at large, the one we live in and often do battle with everyday. Or let me have Jon Kabat Zinn explain it:

"Change the location, change the circumstances, and everything will fall into place; you can start over, have a new beginning. The trouble with this way of seeing is that it conveniently ignores the fact that you carry your head and your heart, and what some would call your "karma" with you. You cannot escape yourself, try as you might. And what reason other than pure wishful thinking, would you have to suspect things would be different or better somewhere else anyway?"

While recruits are exposed to the core values, not all are able change to the extent it modifies their behavior and mindset on a consistent basis. Not all will embody the values. The 1stSgt pointed out this is why strong, consistent leadership is vital.

The unatrractive embodiment of selfishness

So after a lot of writing back and forth, it became apparent the values of Honor, Comitment, and Courage will stay. Rather, than change, the outside culture should be exposed for what it is. Popular culture is a sugar coated brutality carried along the airwaves and cables. Turn on any reality TV show and one can easily find self centered people getting what by acting out in ways  tantamount to abuse. A point made by flinging a table on the ground, a fight, threat or lie is fine as long as they get what they want.  This is the culture our service members come from, and this lack of values must be exposed for what it is: selfish, immature, crass and cowardly. And while there will be enlisted members and officers who behave like a reality TV housewife, much pressure must be brought upon them to either embody the core values or get out. Working to expose the outside culture is far harder than order a change, yet this is the challenge the best accept and work tenaciously to employ.