The weighty Chain of Command (or) Is it just me or is something Rank

[SPQR]

I think I want to name all of my threads with two different names like they did in Rocky and Bullwinkle.  That would be funny.

I had a red hat tell me the other day that he couldn't take charge of a project because his rank did not carry the necessary authority.  When I read the PM I came up out of my desk chair like my pants were on fire and launched my doughnut across the room, such was my terrible consternation. 

I saw another post the other day where someone listed IIT through to Master Instructor as a "rank".   Rank?


In Appleseed there is only one rank: Rifleman


Everything else we label ourselves with, my friends, is a JOB.

Instructor in Training is a job.  Instructor is a job.  Senior Instructor is a job.  Master Instructor is a job.  National Director is a job.  Applecore is a job.  Some people do their jobs better than others.  I have seen Red Hats who couldn't carry an Applecore's clipboard.  I have seen IITs who carry the weight of the world.  No one Appleseeder is bigger than the Mission.  With that in mind, though, remember that every Appleseeder is mission critical.  Every Seeder matters.  Every Seeder is important.  Rank doesn't enter into it.  The titles we carry, they are job titles.  Our job is to push the ball a little closer to the goal line, to the rally point.  The Mission is work.  The work can be fun, sure, but the work has to get done before we can go home.  So it goes with a Mission.

That isn't to say there isn't a Chain of Command.  When I conduct the IIT Primers (see, my title as Indiana Training Coordinator is not a rank, as HQ repeatedly reminds me, its work I have to do) I write out the Chain of Command for you guys and gals to see.  It starts with all of us and goes to our State Coordinator, then to our Regional Coordinator, then to Head Regional Coordinator, then to the National Director.  I then show my cell phone, which has a phone number for each person in that chain to show you how easy communication in this program can be.  (The last time we actually called Fred, and he turned out to be at an AIBC in Colorado.  He actually answered and asked if I would comment to the attendees on how to be better at Promotions.  I thought it would be funnier if I just did my Fred impression, which is pretty good.  Fred didn't think it was funny but I heard laughing in the background.  Thanks for getting it Colorado.)

The weird thing about that chain, though, is that the titles in that chain are Job titles too.  SC, RC, HRC, Fred.  Its all a job.  One of the 800 pound gorillas in the program that we all see and don't like to talk about is that some of those jobs aren't getting done.  Yep, we got a lot of SCs and RCs who hold the title but are having trouble doing the work.  (I am not going to keep going and suggest that we got a lot of Freds who aren't good at Fredding because there are enough folks who like to complain about Fred, me included, that they can post their customary replies below.)

What happens when Yellowhouse gets tired?  When he gets distracted?  What would happen if he ran out of ideas?  Would he sit on his rank like some bloated potentate of some backwater fiefdom?  Is that what he would want, to hold us back in hopes of preserving rank?  No, of course not.  He would look to us to get the job done.  The job done.  If you can recognize that a job is not getting done then it is your job to get in there and lean on the jack.  That is what the rank of Rifleman requires, and we are all Riflemen.

[Fred]

     

       

       

[Orangedotfever]

Well said. Just don't put me in charge of putting your pants out next time they catch fire. 

[Foppish Dandy]

HERE HERE! 

[Barbie]

Everything else we label ourselves with, my friends, is a JOB.

Well said sir.   

[RustyRed]

Well Said !!
And Thank You

[Uncle Davey]

I am a IIT 1 and I have never felt like a PFC on Paris Island. Then again I live in Indiana and we have been blessed with great instructors so I'm spoiled! They have prepared us well and I thank all of them!

[Cooper]

HOOAH!!

[colycat]

Good to see you back online coop

[R1SGx2]

Nice Post -

Cooks and Rifleman - thats it.

my pants were on fire and launched my doughnut across the room

Hope things have cooled down, now go pick up that doughnut and get back to work, we got a lot of work to do.... We have a commitment to meet, saving our nation...

Thanx for all you do,,,,

[GoldFish]

Nice post Stud (especially like the dual title); it sums up a number of conversations we've had.   

Work needs to be done, and there are a lot of people in this program who don't enough...or any.  Not singling anyone out, but you know who you are.

That isn't to say there isn't a Chain of Command. 

"Even the cheerleading squad has a chain of command."


Oh, and for those of you who haven't heard it, Ol' Huffer's "Fred voice" is pretty darn good.  He can do a really good imitation of slim's voice too; when Huff did both of these, he had me and ItsanSKS laughing so hard, we couldn't swallow our pizza.  But I digress.


Get back to work ya'll, so SPQR can get back to his doughnut.