The Importance of Accountablity and the Leader Army

In the army accountability is a very big deal, it lets the leadership know where you are and who they have there to do tasks. Missing a accountability formation can not only jeopardies your career but can also jeopardies the people around you. Accountability is not always just being accountable for yourself but also being accountable for your peers and knowing where other people are as well as yourself. In accountability and the leader army essay the importance of accountability is discussed. 

Formations help leadership at the lowest level figure out if they have everyone or everything they are supposed to and helps streamline that information to the highest level. Being accounted for might not always be you might have to account for personnel gear such as weapons, ruck, or an extra pair of boots. The US Army values soldiers that are accountable for their actions. Being accountable means being dependable; arriving to work and appointments on time, meeting deadlines, being in the right place at the right time and doing the right thing at the right time. Morning formation is the most important formation of the day. It is made to get accountability of everyone and to put out any information that needs to be addressed. Without having accountability there is no way of knowing where soldiers are or what's going on. Not only does accountability matter in formation, but it is also imperative to have accountability if all of your weapons and sensitive items.

To continue the importance of accountability in the army essay lets discuss what does it mean: accountability is an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for ones actions. Now for the Army, it becomes an obligation more than 'willingness” while you have to be willing to do it as well. Those that are unable to be accountable are the ones that jeopardize the combat readiness of any unit. Basically it is the understanding that from the bottom up. Top down and laterally everyone is going to do and is willing to do the right thing even when no one else is looking. This is practiced at your home base where everyone is assigned tasks and details not only including your own job that you are expected to do and do right but hold others accountable as well as a system of “check yourself, then check your buddy.” Doing the job correctly and ensuring others do it as well and do it safely are all part of accountability in the military as one does not have to experience combat to understand that just being in the military is inherently dangerous given the types of equipment and weapons that are used to train and deploy with. It does not look well on them if they can not complete this task. This actually shows thats the soldier can't be depended on when they are needed. This also hurts them when they are being looked at for promotions or any favorable actions. As a soldier you want to always make a great impression on your leaders, and not being able to make it on time is not acceptable to them. It would make things run alot smootherif everyone was on time all of the time. If no one was at the right place at the right time, it would set what ever mission you have back. It also makes a negative impact on your leadership. However, when I was writing this essay on accountability in the military, I also understanded that as leaders, they should also realize that things may happen with the soldiers. Whether its being late to formation, missing an appointment due to some circumstance, as long as the soldier doesn't make it a habbit then forgiveness should be granted on that instance. As an example any live weapons range you go to part of the safety brief is “everyone here is a range safety” meaning anyone can call a cease fire if they observe dangerous behavior or a situation regardless of rank and it can be a Colonel or a brand new private, does not matter. As such in that event everyone becomes accountable not only for the operation of the range, the mission objective to have everyone qualify but do it in a safe manner as well. When I used to teach this class I would use this analogy

To show an example in accountability essay, army in Germany in order to obtain an operators permit or drivers license everyone must go through six months of driver education as well as pay what is I believe today is around three thousand dollars to include any vehicle on the road must pass a state inspection which is far from a cursory look at the fenders. Now with that they take driving and safety very seriously given the open ended speeds on many of the autobahns but the bottom line is they go through such lengths to ensure only safe vehicles and safe operators are on the road making the Government accountable to the citizens to ensure that happens. On top of that anyone that operates a vehicle in Germany does so with the understanding that everyone on the road is accountable for their actions. Sure you still drive defensively but much of the “risk” is taken out of the equation as every operator goes with the expectation that the other guy or gal is going to act responsibly as well, not just you. So, in the military the same thing goes. We spend thousands of dollars for each person to be trained and when ready, the expectation at your permanent party duty station is that you are going to be accountable for your actions and you as an individual operate that everyone around you is going to do the same as that is what is not only taught but is expected. That and you train like you fight. Fire discipline, knowing who is to your front, left, right and rear and the mission itself right down to the last private with the understanding that when your direct supervisor is taken out then it is up to you to step up and complete the mission. That is being accountable for yourself, your actions and the actions of others as well.

In conclusion to army accountability essay, military leaders should develop accountability as it is very important because it allows for your chain of command to know where you are at at the moment.. It is also important because it tells the unit commanders how many personnel are available to perform certain tasks. If a leader does not know how many troops are available then he/she will not know who is available to do what. Gear/equipment is also to be accounted for to have the 'readiness' numbers and to make sure that the enemy is not getting a hold of your gear. Everything must be accounted for, from food, to rounds, to troops, to vehicles, to fuel, etc etc. It is very crucial; to know what is available at all times. .