How to vacation properly when in the military
People, this is serious. We have an epidemic on our hands. Way too many service men and women are completely screwing up their vacations. They're answering phone calls and texts. They're checking emails. They're essentially telecommuting to work when they should be relaxing instead. And as a result, they're crippling themselves. This blasphemy shall not stand. Don't worry though, I'm here to save you. Follow the steps I lay out below and you just might make it out of your vacation alive...
But first, let's examine WHY vacationing is so important.
one of the benefits of having a professional photographer for a wife...
There is not enough time to do all the nothing we want to do – Bill Watterson
When I say "vacation", what I'm really saying is "rest". Rest is many different things to many different people. I'm a fairly active guy, so my form of rest might be doing some single track riding on my mountain bike or visiting sites and restaurants in a city (editor - he means breweries and pubs). My wife's version of rest is a sandy beach and a book. Regardless, our different versions of rest achieve the same end result: It recharges us. We aren't the Energizer Bunny people, no matter how many Monsters you consume every day. We can't keep going and going and going. Humans need time for recovery, where they step away from their typical responsibilities, away from the grind, and refill their batteries. This recharge is physical, emotional, and spiritual. And it's absolutely necessary.
No rest? No recovery? Shit performance. Simple as that. Failure to recover only ensures continued sub-par work. We leaders are horrible, HORRIBLE, at realizing this. There is a deeply ingrained culture of work-addiction in the military that abhors the idea of vacation. We are brainwashed into thinking that whoever stays at work the longest, or works the most days of the year, must be the best soldier. Bullshit. Our performance isn't one steady, flat line. We all have our ups and our downs, our highs and are lows. Rest is how we ensure there are more highs then lows, and that our highs last longer (no, not that kind of high). For too long, we leaders have paid only lip service to the idea of getting rest. We encourage our people to maximize their time away, to have some family time, but it's a farce. The Army gives us 30 vacation days a year. That's a friggin month! How many soldiers actually use all 30? Maybe 20%? Less, probably. Time to put our money where our mouth is.
I'm declaring vacation-taking to be a leadership responsibility. That subordinate of yours that chain smokes, freaks out over the slightest issue, and stays at work until 7 pm for no reason whatsoever? Order him to take a vacation. This isn't a game, people. It's not something to get around to, or try to fit into a crammed schedule. This is serious business. Here's what to do:
How to vacation correctly:
No work-related email, texts, or calls. Period.
Re-read #1
"But there's a briefing on the 22nd to the commander about blah blah blah..." No. You're resting. Get rest. Stressing about various work-related issues during your vacation completely negates the recovery you're trying to achieve.
If you absolutely must respond to something work-related, keep your responses blunt. Yes or No answers, nothing more. I sincerely doubt that you're so important to your unit that they cannot operate without your help. They'll be okay. If they aren't, then you've got to do some serious examination of the flaws in your organization. Do that once you're back from vacation though.
Re-re-read #1.
How to let your subordinates vacation correctly:
Issue clear guidance to the rest of the unit not to bother them while on vacation.
Give the similar guidance to the person on vacation: They shouldn't attempt to do anything work-related while they're gone.
Take their absence as an opportunity to evaluate your unit's performance without them. Better? Worse? It's a rare opportunity to remove just one variable in an otherwise extremely complex equation. Their absence gives you a chance to understand how that individual impacts the unit. If you're crying with joy when they return, a promotion is in order. If you're dreading their return, it's time to have a serious counseling session.
Be totally jelly of their sweet tan when they get back.
let there be no doubt: When it comes to rest, I lead by example