JLBC: Leadership

JLBC: Leadership

Typical artifacts in a cadet company include spirit banners, the appearance of the barracks in general and individual rooms in particular, the personal appearance of individual cadets, the collective appearance of unit formations, announcements, and cadences, and unit mottoes and symbols. Officers should make sure that the artifacts in their organization are professional, positive, inclusive, and encouraging.

The core values of The JLBC are honor, duty, and respect, but officers must also be aware of competing values held at the unit and individual levels. In cases of conflict, the officer must remember that their commission requires serving the interests and values of the source of the commission, which is The Citadel. Because of the social realities of peer pressure, friendships, and barracks living, this is no easy task. The cadet officer must mentally prepare him- or herself for this challenge and understand the difference between a moral temptation and an ethical dilemma. Every cadet officer will have the chance to feel "the loneliness of command" and to exercise the moral courage and strength of character to rise to the occasion.

The prescribed methods of dealing with most situations and problems a cadet officer routinely encounters are found in the Blue Book and White Book. These documents provide the transparency, consistency, and predictability that mark a culture that defers "the rule of law" rather than "the rule of man." Officers need to avoid bureaucratic management in dealing with personal situations. Still, they also need to create an environment where the organic nation's members share expectations of similar treatment in similar cases.