A521.3.4.RB_MaceRoyce
In your Reflection Blog, recall two or three situations from your childhood or early adulthood that had a formative impact on you. Describe the situations and relate how they impacted you. Pick situations that have affected how you act and feel in an organizational or team-based environment.
Situation One: In my senior year of high school (2002-2003), I was a member of the varsity basketball team. Basketball was my favorite sport and since my family didn't have the money to send me college, I had hoped to get enough playing time in basketball that I could get a small scholarship for sports. My grades in high school were decent, but not quite good enough for an academic scholarship, so I concentrated on basketball.
As the season approached, I was excited for the new season and worked hard to get myself into the playing rotation. Although I wasn't a starter at the beginning of the season, I got some good playing time through the first couple of games. After this point, my playing time started to dwindle more and more as the season progressed. Although I was disappointed, I kept working hard in practice and decided not to give up. I came to practice and competed, withheld complaint, and set out to get better each day.
As the season came to a close, our team had a good enough record to get into the state playoffs. I was disappointed in the playing time, but was able to see the bigger picture during this time. I had helped get my team to the state playoffs! My attitude, perseverance, and competitive spirit had elevated the team to a level where we would be able to go to Portland, OR and compete against the best teams in the state.
In many ways, this was the beginning of my "service before self" spirit. Even as a young adult, this situation molded me to see the bigger picture in terms of accomplishment and undoubtedly become a "team player" despite my individual wants. This formative impact set me up well in the military as I do not seek out personal recognition, but rather invest my time and energy into helping my team and the organization as a whole.
Situation Two:
In June of 2004, I attended Air Force Basic Training. I was 19 years old and excited to join the military. Since I had always liked the military and considered myself a "militant" person, I thought it would be a great fit. During the first few weeks, I went from one of the trainees in our flight (we had approximately 50 males total) to an element leader (four element leaders supervised 12 or so trainees). About a week after a week as an element leader, I was then promoted to the position of "dorm chief". This was the guy in charge. He told the element leaders what to do and subsequently told the rest of the flight what to do. I think it fit me well and despite being nervous at first,
As week four of six came to a close, we had been instructed to strip our dorm room floor of all the old coating that laid on the surface. We literally did this with metal keys on our hands and knees for nearly three days straight. The last day came before we were supposed to leave for some outdoor training. We had been instructed to have all the floor stripping complete before we left. I knew we were behind schedule, but it wasn't due to a lack of effort. We had to leave for some other things during the day such as eating, marching, and working out as a flight.
As the buses rolled up to take us for our week long outdoor training, my training instructor had showed up at around the same time He took a look at the floor and became furious that we had not finished our task that had been set just days before. As the rest of my flight started to load up on the buses, my training instructor told me to stay behind and continue to strip the floors. I was devastated. I didn't want to be stuck behind I wanted to be with my team. After about five or so minutes of stripping the floor myself, I looked up to see one of my element leaders running through the dorm room door. He said, "Come on Mace, you're coming with us! You really thought we were going to leave without you?" I asked him about what the training instructor had said (he had disappeared after I started stripping the floor by myself) and he told me that the flight had told our training instructor that they refused to leave their dorm chief/leader (me) behind.
This experience proved to me that taking care of your people/subordinates will allow them to take care of you in the end. I had looked out for my flight and now they were going to make sure that they were going to take care of me. This was the true beginning of my leadership experience and it felt good/natural to me. I have tried to carry that same mindset and mentality ever since which has allowed me to take on many leadership roles during my 11 years of military service. It was the beginning of my leadership role as a United States Airman.
Situation One: In my senior year of high school (2002-2003), I was a member of the varsity basketball team. Basketball was my favorite sport and since my family didn't have the money to send me college, I had hoped to get enough playing time in basketball that I could get a small scholarship for sports. My grades in high school were decent, but not quite good enough for an academic scholarship, so I concentrated on basketball.
As the season approached, I was excited for the new season and worked hard to get myself into the playing rotation. Although I wasn't a starter at the beginning of the season, I got some good playing time through the first couple of games. After this point, my playing time started to dwindle more and more as the season progressed. Although I was disappointed, I kept working hard in practice and decided not to give up. I came to practice and competed, withheld complaint, and set out to get better each day.
As the season came to a close, our team had a good enough record to get into the state playoffs. I was disappointed in the playing time, but was able to see the bigger picture during this time. I had helped get my team to the state playoffs! My attitude, perseverance, and competitive spirit had elevated the team to a level where we would be able to go to Portland, OR and compete against the best teams in the state.
In many ways, this was the beginning of my "service before self" spirit. Even as a young adult, this situation molded me to see the bigger picture in terms of accomplishment and undoubtedly become a "team player" despite my individual wants. This formative impact set me up well in the military as I do not seek out personal recognition, but rather invest my time and energy into helping my team and the organization as a whole.
Situation Two:
In June of 2004, I attended Air Force Basic Training. I was 19 years old and excited to join the military. Since I had always liked the military and considered myself a "militant" person, I thought it would be a great fit. During the first few weeks, I went from one of the trainees in our flight (we had approximately 50 males total) to an element leader (four element leaders supervised 12 or so trainees). About a week after a week as an element leader, I was then promoted to the position of "dorm chief". This was the guy in charge. He told the element leaders what to do and subsequently told the rest of the flight what to do. I think it fit me well and despite being nervous at first,
As week four of six came to a close, we had been instructed to strip our dorm room floor of all the old coating that laid on the surface. We literally did this with metal keys on our hands and knees for nearly three days straight. The last day came before we were supposed to leave for some outdoor training. We had been instructed to have all the floor stripping complete before we left. I knew we were behind schedule, but it wasn't due to a lack of effort. We had to leave for some other things during the day such as eating, marching, and working out as a flight.
As the buses rolled up to take us for our week long outdoor training, my training instructor had showed up at around the same time He took a look at the floor and became furious that we had not finished our task that had been set just days before. As the rest of my flight started to load up on the buses, my training instructor told me to stay behind and continue to strip the floors. I was devastated. I didn't want to be stuck behind I wanted to be with my team. After about five or so minutes of stripping the floor myself, I looked up to see one of my element leaders running through the dorm room door. He said, "Come on Mace, you're coming with us! You really thought we were going to leave without you?" I asked him about what the training instructor had said (he had disappeared after I started stripping the floor by myself) and he told me that the flight had told our training instructor that they refused to leave their dorm chief/leader (me) behind.
This experience proved to me that taking care of your people/subordinates will allow them to take care of you in the end. I had looked out for my flight and now they were going to make sure that they were going to take care of me. This was the true beginning of my leadership experience and it felt good/natural to me. I have tried to carry that same mindset and mentality ever since which has allowed me to take on many leadership roles during my 11 years of military service. It was the beginning of my leadership role as a United States Airman.
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