Military Accountability Essay

Being late does not make one important. Tardiness is a very unattractive quality when it comes to most aspects of one’s life: family functions, meetings, interviews, and especially a job. While a family may forgive tardiness, a job will not. Being late once or twice in one’s life is unavoidable. Being consistently tardy makes one unreliable and shows a lack of respect for other people’s time and obligations. Being late tells others that one person can be waited on, while everyone else can’t.

People do not like when their feelings were not taken into consideration, when they took the time to consider others.

Punctuality is a very important part of military life for several reasons. one reason is that if someone is late for a patrol or convoy that patrol or convoy might haveto leave without that person. Another reason is because it will make whoever your relieving have to stay at work for longer than they are supposed to, tired and sluggish because of that fact, giving a high chance that whatever work that person does would be sub par and not up to standards because of lack of sleep.

Punctuality also shows your chain of command that you are serious about your job and are ready and motivated to do said job to the best of your ability.

Being late to a convoy could lead to dire consequences. not to you but to your battle buddies you let down by not showing up. while they are on patrol, or convoying to another area, something could happen that could either need your expertise and training or they could just need another soldier to keep watch of their area. One of the big problems with being late is that your coworkers notice when you are late an even more so when you make excuses for being late in the first place. When someone is late they immediately make a bad image for themselves, especially when it becomes a pattern.

When this pattern occurs one will notice that they are being tasked out more for less desirable tasks in the workplace. Some people say one of the hardest things to do is make a good name for themselves after a bad image has been established. To often when your co-workers notice you are becoming a problem it becomes to late to recover. It is a burden on everyone you work with when one is late because they have to pick up the extra slack caused by ones absence. Some situations are unavoidable, but it is excusable when one plans ahead. Illness is normally unforeseeable.

Of course, schedules do not always run on time, especially with transport delays or perhaps lining up too many appointments. Life can be most chaotic. However, it is key to keep on top of one’s own diary and ensure that you respect the other person’s schedule. No one likes to be kept waiting. The notion of having someone wait shows a certain lack of respect. If one takes public transportation and the train is late. Or one is in a car accident. These are forgivable reasons for a lack of punctuality. These sorts of excuses are not insulting to someone, if the person giving them is not a frequent offender.

Those types of person’s apologies generally are not accepted because people know the apology or excuse is not sincere. That is simply insulting to one’s intelligence. Punctuality in the workplace is one of the most important times to demonstrate consistent promptness. Arriving early shows initiative. For all an employer knows, that person could have been staring at the ceiling, but arriving early shows planning skills and demonstrates respect for coworkers and positions in which people work. This shows loyalty and promise. Most of the great men in the world are known for their punctuality.

They knew the value of time and seized the opportunity to use it properly. They were aware that time does not wait on anyone. A punctual person considers every work as important. Punctuality shows discipline and trustworthiness. Time management is the key to punctuality. Knowing when to do certain activities by planning ahead can make a big difference as to whether or not one is late. If one is constantly late to work because there are too many things to do, such as shower, shaving, brushing teeth, making lunch, and so on. What could have been done the night before?

Punctuality is a habit. It’s a matter of creating the routine and sticking with the routine. Punctual people will be winners everywhere and will be one step ahead of the others. Planning ahead will contribute to being punctual, less stress, and the ability to navigate around unforeseen circumstances. This all helps avoid difficult situations as far as time is concerned. This show of respect will also command respect from others. Someone who shows, over and over, that they are the master of their time is someone who will be taken seriously in areas far removed from time management.

That foresight and adaptability that gets you where you need to be, when you need to be there, tells the people around you that you can handle whatever is thrown at you. When it comes to the military certain things are automatically expected of a person. One of the most important expectations is time management and being on time. Every day there are any number of places a soldier is required to be at a certain time and as the old saying goes, “if you’re not fifteen minutes early, you’re late no matter the situation. ” Some soldiers understand the importance of showing up fifteen minutes prior to an event or scheduled activity.

To others, it makes no sense at all. Extreme as it may sound, when dealing with the number of people that are involved and depending on the armed forces, allowances must be made for the unexpected. There will always be unexpected complications that arise; it is just how it goes sometimes and a part of life. That is why one cannot simply try to be exactly on time because what happens when something does happen to come up? Cushion time should be factored in for the unexpected. There is no reaction of time for you to adjust however needed to take care of whatever came up.

Just one person being late can set into motion a chain of events that can set back and throw any number of people’s days off schedule. This could take just as long or longer to recover from, but being fifteen minutes earlier would have cost one only a few moments. Let us say Specialist Smith has a scheduled eye exam and his alarm did not go off that morning. He was fifteen minutes late for his scheduled appointment. Some offices have a policy of skipping late patients, whereas some will allow a ten minute grace period. If the situation were the former, then Specialist Smith would have missed his appointment and time at work.

Now he will need more time from work for his rescheduled appointment. Now let us say Specialist Smith’s eye exam was at the Troop Medical Clinic. If he had been late for that appointment, Smith could have several consequences to face. First, he could have corrective training. However, if this was not Specialist Smith’s first offense, he could face legal action in accordance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice. In that case Specialist Smith could lose rank, be required to pull extra duty, and makes himself look undependable in the eyes of his chain of command.

One way to worsen an already complicated mess is the other scheduled obligations Specialist Smith was required to do that day that had to be pushed back due to his being late from the beginning. Suppose he had to pick up his child from school, but was detained from doing so due to the corrective training he received. Now, Specialist Smith has to complicate someone else’s day by asking for a favor of picking up his child from school. Most of the time, when one is late for something that seems so minuscule, it sets off a chain reaction that affects everyone else’s day as well.

The Army tries to instill many values and morals in a soldier, one of those being punctuality. Over the course of one’s career, it becomes second nature to arrive to a scheduled event, duty, appointment fifteen minutes early. This quality will help an individual progress in future endeavors as a civilian. A person being frequently late shows the chain of command that person cannot be trusted with anything important and shows complete disregard for respect of everyone else involved. Being on time is obviously important but what exactly does that mean?

Importance can be defined as the necessity of any soldier, place, thing, or action in reference to an individual or situation need or desire. In example, soldiers need water to stay hydrated and function in the desert without it they would surely fall victim to the enemy. Or let us say you are deployed and you are in a transportation unit and you have a set time to be at your vehicle and you are late. Now your chain of command have to coordinate how to find you, where you could or may be, and then it takes even more to write up the paperwork for you missing movement.

If a lower ranking soldier is late they basically hurt themselves. But when a team leader is late it affects the soldier. When a squad leader is late it affects the squad. When the platoon sergeant is late it affects everyone. So no matter how late any one soldier it always has an effect. Honor is defined as honesty, fairness or integrity in ones beliefs and actions. When it comes to being on time they should have the sense to be fair to everyone else around them by not wasting their time. Accountability: Accountability is the obligation imposed by law or lawful order or regulation on an officer or other person for keeping accurate record of property, documents, or funds. The person having this obligation may or may not have actual possession of the property, documents, or funds. Accountability is concerned primarily with records, while responsibility is concerned primarily with custody, care, and safekeeping. ” When employers and employees are mutually accountable to each other, employees can trust that their work will be rewarded fittingly.

Accountability between both parties, along with leadership integrity, can help provide employees with a sense of empowerment and belonging. Integrity allows employees to not fear retribution for their honest opinions and ideas. Accountability allows employees to exercise independence with the expectation that they will feel more invested in the company and, therefore, will perform better, more efficiently and more creatively. When employees active practice accountability and integrity in the workplace, they tend to feel more pride and ownership in the company.

It is up to managers to set the stage for this by treating employees like valued members of a team with integral roles in the effort. Accountability can have a powerful practical value to achieving our goals and or overcoming problems or issues. Being accountable takes a tremendous amount of character, courage and honesty, especially if you seek an accountability partner for a goal you desire to achieve. It is not an easy thing to do (being accountable) or ask for (accountability). Accountability can come in many forms. Without being mentioned it is expected in situations like your job or your family.

These are your responsibilities, things in which you are expected to be accountable for like showing up on time, fulfilling your job description or being faithful to your spouse. Where it is most powerful is when it comes from commitments we have made either with ourselves, someone else or an organization. Written goals are a valuable source when it comes to accountability. Once we have identified a goal and created a plan and made a commitment that creates a sense of responsibility. This can help create motivate and create guilt if a goal is not reached in an acceptable amount of time.

Another part of accountability is no more excuses. No more finger pointing. Accept on responsibility and exert control over your behavior through your choices. Accept consequences and take the good with the bad. One must meet expectations. There is not time for laziness when being accountable. Be ready to admit mistakes because they will happen. Confident people accept responsibility for their behaviors more easily than those with less confidence. There is more of a psychological payoff when a mistake is admitted and it shows trustworthiness and honesty.