Episode 70: Character, Presence, Intellect: The Triple Threat of Army Leadership

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Ever wondered what truly separates good leaders from great ones in the Army? Forget the stereotypes about badge-heavy uniforms and drill sergeant voices. The secret lies in mastering three fundamental leadership attributes: character, presence, and intellect.

In this eye-opening episode, we dive deep into the foundations of Army leadership according to AR 623-3 and DA PAM 623-3, breaking down what these attributes actually mean in practical terms. Character isn't just about Army values—it's about building trust and accountability while maintaining empathy and discipline. Presence goes beyond looking sharp in uniform—it's about embodying professionalism, fitness, confidence, and resilience in everything you do. As SMA Weimer puts it, "audio has to match the visual." And intellect? That's your problem-solving ability, innovative thinking, sound judgment, and tactical expertise in action.

What makes this episode especially valuable is the actionable advice for documenting these attributes on your NCOER. We share concrete examples of powerful bullets for each attribute—bullets that demonstrate both quantitative metrics and qualitative impact. Whether you're preparing for your next evaluation or mentoring junior NCOs, these insights will help you showcase not just your performance, but your potential. Because at the end of the day, the Army promotes based on what you're capable of becoming, not just what you've already done.

Ready to elevate your leadership game and stand out in your next evaluation? Listen now, share with your team, and remember: you don't have to embrace the suck if you've got the right tools in your ruck.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Alright, listen up, I'm gonna need you guys to
follow me right quick.
Do you want to know whatseparates a good NCO from a
great NCO?
Do you want to know whatactually makes a leader worth
following?
Maybe someone that earns trust,someone that commands respect,
someone that actually getsresults?
The answer to the Army is notabout how many badges you wear,

(00:23):
how loud you can yell.
It's about the Army's coreleadership attributes, and those
are character, presence andintellect.
So those aren't just like yourregular old, like I don't know
how they say, like buzzwords orwhatever it is.
They're literally thefoundation of every successful
NCOER, every promotion and everymission success.

(00:46):
So welcome back to the RogerSarnt Podcast, where we talk all
things Army and I'm your host,sarnt Cruz, and today we're
diving into three Armyleadership attributes and I'm
going to break down what theyactually mean.
I'm going to break them downaccording to 623-3 and DAPAM
623-3 and what it expects fromyou and how you can document

(01:09):
them in your NCOER in order foryou to stand out a lot more than
the rest.
And stick around, because I gotsome bullets at least three
bullets per section to help youcrush your next evaluation.
So, first off, we're going tostart off with character, and
character is nothing other thanour foundation of what ethical

(01:31):
leadership is.
It means just do the rightthing.
It means holding up the armyvalues.
At the same time, you'refinding a way to build trust
with the troops.
Yeah, so if you look at anNCOER support form and you
scroll down to the bottom notthe first page, not the second

(01:52):
page, but the third and thefourth, the third and the fourth
page they're going to have alayout with everything that you
need to know on how to guide youto come up with these bullets.
But I'm going to give you thecrash course version and then,
in a future video, what I'll dois I'll bring up a support form

(02:14):
and I'll fill it out.
We can fill it out together soyou can see how it works.
So it starts off with the armyvalues, and we all know the army
values is leadership spelledout.
Another bullet point is empathy.
Then another bullet point afterthat is warrior ethos and

(02:35):
discipline.
So I'm gonna give you someexamples so you can have an idea
of what this section shouldlook like, right, and what to
focus on.
So the first bullet that I haveis a mix of Sharp and EO,
especially if you're rating anNCO that has those qualifiers,

(03:00):
it's going to help them a lotand it'll also I mean, it's a
mandatory bullet at the end ofthe day but it'll also show that
they're acting in that capacity.
So for that one, bullet numberone is going to be lead sharp
training for 125 soldiers with100% completion, reinforced unit

(03:27):
climate of dignity and respect,reducing EO complaints by 60%.
And you see, if you notice howI took and I mashed Sharpen EO
into one bullet, and I also madeit quantitative and qualitative
, qualitative, yeah.
So you have to do that in orderto have the best impact for a
bullet.
Bullet number two held self andteam accountable to Army values

(03:50):
, mentored three junior NCOs onethical dilemmas, resulting in
two successful early promotions.
Again, I have what I did and Ihave the impact of it and on who
it actually impacted.
Bullet number threeconsistently demonstrated

(04:12):
empathy and respect duringcrisis counseling, helped two
soldiers seek behavioral healthand return to duty.
So, if you can see, it has amixture of the leadership, the
empathy, the discipline and thewarrior ethos all mashed up in
those three bullets, whichcaptures that section.

(04:35):
And because that's a mandatorybullet that you have to have for
Sharpen EO.
It's the basics right.
You learn the army values inbasic training.
You learn the warrior ethos inbasic training.
So if you can be successful atthe basics, next you'll need to
work on your presence.
So presence itself is all abouthow you carry yourself.

(04:57):
It's all about how you displayyourself in front of others, in
front of your leaderships, infront of your peers.
And this one has four bulletsit's military and professional
bearing, it's fitness,confidence and resilience.
And Sergeant Major of the ArmyWeimer said it really good in

(05:20):
one of the interviews that hehas.
He says audio has to match thevisual, audio has to match the
visual.
I did a reaction video to thatsaid interview and I'll ping it
up here somewhere so you canclick on it.
But how you show up everysingle day nice uniform, haircut

(05:45):
, nails, clean, uh, boots,bloused and looking semi-fit.
You know you don't got to begoing to the gym like a gym nut,
but you got to look the partright.
And this is all part of thatsection.
And to drive the point home alittle further, I'm gonna give

(06:05):
you guys some example.
Bullets right, just as promised.
So bullet number scored 545 onACFT led morning PT sessions.
Weekly increased squad passrate from 70 to 100% in 90 days.
So if you're writing this forthe AFT, then adjust as needed.

(06:25):
But as you can see, I worked onmyself, I worked on the squad
which works on the platoon.
I worked on the squad whichworks on the platoon Okay.
Number two maintained impeccableappearance and command presence
during BCT inspection,recognized by Brigade Command
Sergeant Major forprofessionalism.

(06:46):
Again, when you have what wecall the dog and pony, show,
show up, everyone's going gonnalook good, the command hallway
is gonna be all swept and moppedand buffed and all that cool
stuff.
But when you have an inspectionby a set individual and you
show up and show out, typicallythey'll recognize you and that's

(07:08):
in some form of either a coin,it can be a AM certificate,
whatever it, even a handshake,but it's still a recognition, a
shout out.
All that gets captured on theNCOER Bullet.
Number three demonstratedmental resilience during 18-day
field operation led platoondespite adverse weather and 60%

(07:32):
equipment failure rate.
Think about that Everyone goesto the field, there's bad
weather and a lot of timesthere's a lot of equipment that
fails.
If you can still work throughthat and have a successful field
operation, you're doing yourjob and you're making everyone

(07:56):
else's job a lot easier, andsome of them you're making it
harder because you're showingthat it can't be done.
So it's a double-edged sword.
But I do have a question for youguys, though.
Have you guys been taught byyour leaders this, what I'm
doing right now?
If, if you were taught, wereyou taught before or after you

(08:18):
earned your stripes?
Do me a favor and drop that inthe comments below.
Do me another favor and likeand subscribe, share, um, if
you're on the podcast, download,leave a five-star review.
Be the resource you wish.
Yeah, be the resource you wishyou had when you were a junior

(08:41):
soldier.
And so, speaking of resources,you can show how you use yours
with the next attribute, whichis intellect.
So intellect in itself is yourability to solve problems, be
innovative and stay sharp.
So there are a few ways thatyou can crush this section, to
be honest with you, and you gotto understand what they are,
what the bullet points are, inorder for you to crush them, and

(09:03):
the first one is mental agility.
Then you have sound judgment,then you have innovation, then
you have interpersonal tact, andthen you have expertise, and,
like I said before, here aresome bullets that I'm giving you
guys.
I'm no expert at it, but hereare some bullets nevertheless.

(09:28):
Number one created a new med logtracker, reducing supply losses
by 35%, and was adopted acrossfour battalions.
So you made your section better.
Reduced losses, which lossesmeans money, so you saved the
army money and on top of that,four other battalions thought it
was so good.
They also took it.
Impact qualitative andquantitative Get it.

(09:53):
Number two displayed soundjudgment during a live fire,
emergency, evacuated casualtyand adjusted mission without
loss of momentum.
Now you're like well, there'sno numbers there, there's none
of that nature.
If you've been to any range, ifyou've been to any type of

(10:17):
training event, the last thing acommander wants to do is have a
stoppage.
And if you can take care of anycasualty, especially a real
world casualty, and that rangenot shut down, you've done
something.
Okay, you've done somethingreally good because you saved

(10:39):
them time, because everythingyou shut that range down for
four or five hours, you can losesunlight or daylight and now
you have to move that table toanother day, so it puts you
behind.
So that's the impact on thatOkay.
Number three trained 15 soldierson tactical combat casualty

(11:02):
care, which is known as TC3,resulted in four soldiers
qualifying as CLS providersduring JROTC rotation.
Now, as you're doing a rotation, right, you already know that
there's a lot of stuff going onand on top of that you manage to
train soldiers and now thosesoldiers can go sit at said

(11:27):
ranges and now it's lessmanpower that you're using from
your platoon.
So the attributes of character,presence and intellect are all
important because they reflectwho you are, what you lead with
and how you're judged.
When it counts and that's yourNCOER you can do whatever you

(11:48):
want, but when that pen hits thepaper it has to show who you
are, what your performance isand what your potential is right
who you are, what yourperformance is and what your
potential is right.
And the army itself promotesoff of potential, which is why
the senior raider bullet is soheavily weighted.
Okay, so they're going to seewhat you do and they're going to

(12:10):
see what you're capable of, andall of this time you're
building that resume.
So when it goes to adecentralized promotion board,
you they can see who you are asa troop, the full soldier
concept, right, and that's howthey make their decision.
So do me a favor share this withyour senior specialists, share

(12:32):
this with your nco so they canalso lead with a purpose and
never stop developing, becausethat's my goal.
And if you found this videohelpful, check out my other
video that I have on the ncoersupport form and it'll pin
somewhere around here.
And remember you don't have toembrace the suck if you got the
right tools in your rug.
I'm sarn cruz and I'll see youin the next one.

(12:54):
You can fall out now.
Peace.