I wrote this at least 12+ months ago. I initially wanted to write a longer-form piece on Delta Force, a special operations force in the US Army. I’ve lost that inspiration to continue this article, but surprisingly, after re-reading what I’ve written…I am very happy about the ideas laid below. I think it is great stand-alone.

Thinking of individuals who spent around 5-10+ years in a military position and are promoted to a reputable rank commensurate with their time (say, 60% percentile or above).

I predict anyone who spends more than 1 or 2 years in a military environment, whether basic/mandatory training or in a specific branch, will have built an initial foundation of principles that influences their mindset.

I am inclined to focus on individuals with more experience, 5-10 years, particularly for two reasons.

One is they have had (more) real-world exposure on deployments.

Two is they have potentially some solid base and/or more experience in leadership and organization than just following.

I think it is vital that you have a few reps of directing a group or making decisions vs. just following.

I will admit, however, that even if one spends 2 years, and doesn’t have autonomy or authority to MAKE decisions, but is exposed to situations as a consequence of OTHERS making decisions, that that individual will think to themselves

“Well, they did X, I (agree/disagree) because of a, b, and c reasons, and I saw the outcome was Y, which was (good/bad) because of a, b, and c reasons”.

That isn’t worth nothing.

So now a focus on those with multiple years of introductory and say, intermediate experience, who have exposure to a wider set of environments and boundary conditions, and potentially reps of decision making/leadership/authority.

This area is really where learning is so enhanced.

You aren’t too senior/old to where you have forgotten the details/how the nitty gritty works…

nor too junior to not have the broader context and simply training data to start being creative.

What do I mean by this?

When you are young, you know the data/nitty gritty/granular detail but you lack training data to inform both multiple boundary conditions on how that data changes. You are never given authority or decision making capability so all of that learning is passive/observed.

You gain more context day-by-day, so that happens over time, and isn’t easy to speed up.

compared to…

When you are senior, you don’t remember the data/nitty gritty because you have spent much more time in the bigger picture, which can lead to becoming disconnected from the details (you rely on the juniors which creates one step removed vs. you knowing it yourself).