Army Leader vs. Musical Director

I am in Basic Officer Leadership Course (BOLC) right now at the U.S. Army School of Music in Virginia Beach, VA. My buddies who are infantry, artillery, armor, or transportation officers are at their respective BOLCs, but nobody really knows what Army conductors do in BOLC. Well, here you go…

Here at the U.S. Army School of Music, we don't learn anything about music because my colleagues and I already know music—that's why we were chosen for this job. Instead, we learn a ton of non-musical subjects that are useful to us, like audio reinforcement, drill & ceremony, concert programming, copyright compliance, and unit cohesion/team development. Beyond that, we learn Army-important things, like supply procedures, how to prepare Army briefings and correspondence, fundamentals of joint operations, IED identification, soldier resilience, and a ton of regulations.

But the real subject of study here at BOLC is leadership, and it’s very interesting to learn the Army perspective on leadership. According to Field Manual 6-22 (Army Leadership), “An Army leader is anyone who...inspires and influences people to accomplish organizational goals. Army leaders motivate people...to pursue actions, focus thinking, and shape decisions for the greater good of the organization.” Hmm. Sounds like a music director. FM 6-22 also says that Army Leaders have three attributes—character, presence, and intellectual capacity—and Army Leaders essentially do three things—lead, develop others, and achieve results. Just like a music director. We Army leaders are expected to be agile, adaptable, and competent subject-matter experts who bring a team together and rely on the competence of others to accomplish a common goal. Wow. That sounds just like a music director.

Military leader vs. musical leader. What's the difference?

Now that I think of it, the Army's idea of a leader rhymes pretty well with what I've always thought a great musical leader was. As I begin my career as an Army Conductor, I am thinking a lot about how to incorporate my pre-conceived ideas about musical leadership into my military work, and I hope my military studies will help me improve my civilian musical work, too.

More soon...

I am a U.S. Army Officer! Hooah!

I just finished 6 months of Army immersion training – 3 months of Basic Combat Training and 3 months of Officer Candidate School. I won’t bore you with every detail, but here is a short synopsis:

Basic Combat Training (BCT) was a lot easier than I expected. I performed very well. I discovered that I like firing weapons and performing battle drills, and I excelled at both. The terrible part was being cut off from friends, family, and society. For ten weeks, we had no access to phones, email, or internet, and mail service was spotty. Also, I didn’t like being called “retard” (and worse), but it is all part of the game. Overall, the training was fun and easy (everyone who started with me graduated), and along the way I met some interesting and colorful characters, to say the least.

[click here to see a slideshow of my Basic Combat Training]

Officer Candidate School (OCS) was completely different. Designed to identify the best qualified soldiers for Army officership (and to eliminate the rest), the 12-week course was crazy difficult, psychologically stressful, and physically demanding. We ran miles and miles, and were tried physically and mentally, put under constant stress, and deprived of sleep. About 45% of my class dropped out (or was kicked out). Only the best of the best made it. OCS was the hardest thing I ever did in my life, but on July 28, 2011, my father, retired Lieutenant Colonel Rob Huff, swore me into the Army as a commissioned officer. Hooah.

[click here to see a slideshow of Officer Candidate School]

In my last week of OCS, the Fort Benning newspaper (The Bayonet) wrote this article about me: "Officer Candidate Strikes a New Chord in the Army"

Now I’m in Virginia Beach attending the US Army School of Music. It’s wonderful being with musicians again and learning how to run an Army band. I’ve recently learned that my first assignment – starting in November 2011 – will be as the Executive Officer and Assistant Conductor of the TRADOC Band (TRADOC = Training and Doctrine Command) at Fort Eustis, VA. The “TRADOC Band” is an amazing unit consisting of a concert band, marching band, jazz ensemble, rock band, Dixie band, brass quintet, trombone quartet, woodwind quintet, and a salsa band. I am very excited about this opportunity, and I look forward to blogging a little more frequently on musical and conducting issues.

As the 1-34th Infantry Battalion (where I did Basic Training) says: “Always forward!”