MAJ Megan Spangler, U.S. Army

 

I grew up as an Army brat in a dual military family, and as the time came for me to select a college, I found myself realizing that I would miss the environment and the structure that I had grown up in as a community my whole life. When I made the decision to attend West Point as a 17 year-old high school senior in 2001, I did not know what the future would hold, but I knew that my parents had instilled in me a value of service to our country, and I grew up with their example my whole life. I only knew the Army as a place of community, extended family, and traditions, and I knew that I wanted to be a part of that.

I remember at my bar pinning ceremony when I commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, my father spoke about how proud he was that I was carrying on the family tradition. My grandfather served in the Korean War, and my father served in Viet Nam and Desert Storm – both as Military Police. My father talked about how this country gave our family, recent immigrants, everything, and it was such an honor to serve her. Now, three deployments later, his simple words still resonate with me. As a company commander, I remember the night in Afghanistan that one of the Soldiers in my truck was shot, and seeing the change in the other two Soldiers in the vehicle from the beginning of the mission to the end of the mission. In a very close call, the bullet only hit his vest, and the Soldier was not injured, but that round impacted all of us. I literally saw two young men age in just hours that night, and because of just inches everyone walked away.

Although it’s not a memory of my time in uniform, one of my earliest memories as a child, which was pretty continually reinforced, was watching my dad get his boot polish out at night and polishing his boots to a high shine. (My mother, as an Army nurse, wore hospital whites.) But I remember sitting on the floor, cross-legged and eye-level with the boots and watching the brush go back and forth, and smelling the boot polish, and that was the Army to me.

In Kandahar, a Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Devise (VBIED) detonated near the Afghan Police Station I was partnered with. There was some structural damage to nearby buildings, including a collapsed wall (Afghan construction is not awesome) but I don’t remember there being any Police casualties. My patrol arrived on scene minutes after the VBIED detonated and I was talking with the police chief outside the station shortly after, as we surveyed the damage. There was a very emotional man running around outside, yelling, and we couldn’t figure out what the commotion was about. My police chief motioned to have the man come over to us, and through my translator, I found out the man was looking for one of his children who went missing. The chief and I looked at each other, looked at the three feet of collapsed wall, and, without talking, immediately ran over to it. Within seconds, we had Afghan Police, locals, and my Soldiers all working together to quickly move the destroyed wall. I really expected the worst. Amazingly, we found her beneath it, still alive. Our squad medic performed first aid on her before her father took her to the local hospital. Working together with the Afghans to pull this little girl out of the rubble was an emotional experience for everyone. That was a good day. That day, we made a difference.

I think that one of the challenges I’ve personally faced has been being more comfortable with myself as a leader and building that confidence in the decisions that I made.

Part of that is shaped by a leader that influenced me as a very young lieutenant that I was supposed to trust, but I do not think had my best interests, or those of our unit, at heart. Much of my training up to that point reinforced that we were supposed to trust our people and our team, and realizing that I could not always rely on others, and that I needed to step up and depend more on my own judgment first was an important lesson. So, my leadership challenge was to have confidence in myself as a leader, and also to know when I could trust in others.

I have been very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with some of America’s most talented leadership in uniform. I am very humbled that these leaders saw something in me that was worth investing their time in to improve and develop. Some of the most poignant leadership lessons that I have learned have been when a mentor has shared with me their personal thoughts about a decision that they made that affected the lives of Soldiers, even if they thought that decision had a mistake or flaw in it.

From that, I learn that there is more to the lesson than just that decision, but also the humility of the leader in recognizing and admitting their mistakes or shortcomings, even if it’s just a perception, and even if it’s painful to admit. That kind of trust and investment that they placed in me really inspires me to do more, act more, and personally be the type of leader that is worthy of the faith that they have placed in me. That helps me to build my confidence and that makes me a better leader.

I honestly don’t like to dwell too much on the “what ifs” of other choices.

I probably would have started out at a civilian school and made a lot of other decisions that would made me immediately happier in the short run, but I don’t know if they would have been better for me in the long run. I would not have had the experiences that I have had, and I would like to think that my experiences and my participation in this life has made an impact in the lives of others. Maybe I did stumble on to Robert Frost’s enigmatic “road less traveled,” because for me… for me, it has made all the difference.