Personal Narrative: Deployable Team Leader

1. Define leadership: Webster defines leadership as “the power or ability to lead other people” that sounds easy, but for most, there’s a lot more than that. Leaders must inspire their people to complete the mission or task. As a Deployable Team Leader (DTL) at Taclet South as a BM1, a position usually attained by Chiefs or junior officer. I was charged to ensure that my eight member team was well trained, and ready to conduct an important counter narcotic mission. As the DTL, I was the face of the Law Enforcement detachment (LEDET) to our DOD counterparts and allied navies and by leading from the front and taking a more challenging position above my pay grade. I inspired my folks to follow me by being the example of what they wanted to be on such a small team of professional law enforcement expert.
2. As I mention in our week one discussion under, my personal best leadership experience, witnessing the Officer in Charge of a small boat station removing his own coxswain pin off his tropical blue shirt and handling it over to the young BM3 receiving his first coxswain pin. Events such as that were like watching the torch being passed as the tradition continues. And inspired me to recognize a member’s accomplishment that he or she so hard to acquire.
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Reviewing my Leadership Practices Inventory Assessments and feedback, under challenges are. Do I experiment and take risk, even when there is chance of failure. Some of the ways I have challenged myself as a senior enlisted leader is first attending the Senior Enlisted Leadership Course to better myself and for professional growth for a challenging assignment as either command master chief or rating force master chief. I also acquired a mentor who is senior enlisted leader not in my rating to guide me and to look outside the box from different views. I’ve also stood by for the CMC at Sector Lake Michigan while member was on leave, and substitute for him for two personnel issues that arose during his