Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a fantastic new year! I know I did - nobody got hurt, nothing went wrong during patrols, everything went as normal on our internal posts, and things here are starting afresh! We are starting NCODP's (Non Commissioned Officer Developmental Program) through our First Sergeant! Which is something that Sgt Harcey, and I have been pushing for. There was one point 'last year' (hehe) that our Platoon Sergeant tried to get it going, but it fizzled out after the first one. Our First Sergeant has now caught wind of it, which he also has been learning about all the other communication issues among other problems, and he is taking the initiative this new year to get things moving!

What NCODP's are is a chance for the junior leadership (me) to be taught from our senior leadership (First Sergeant) about how to properly discipline, counsel, uphold standards, etc. I'm really excited, because of how things have been going here, with our platoons getting split in half and not really interacting with half our leadership, it has really put a strain on things, and now we have a chance to learn from those mistakes, develop ways to deal with these issues, and become better leaders. Hopefully, HOPEFULLY, this keeps going, and things continue to get better, because, frankly, things have been fairly de-motivating. Which isn't good because my soldier pick up on that attitude and portray it themselves.

But hopefully, because this is a new year, it will motivate our leaders to do away with the old and bring in the new. I hope everyone has had a fantastic winter thus far. Keep warm, lift with your legs not with your back (in regards to shoveling), and throw a snowball or 2 for me!

Brandon