Emotional Intelligence Training in the Military

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Hum

n Relations

Human Relations in the Marine Corp

During World War II, Army Lieutenant General Patton was visiting a hospital in Sicily. He came upon a soldier named Pvt. Charles Kuhl on 3 August 1943 and upon examining him, there were no physical signs of wounds. The General asked him what was wrong and the private responded, "I guess I can't take it." He was diagnosed with psychoneurosis, battle fatigue. General Patton, enraged, smacked him in the face and called him a coward.[footnoteRef:2] This story shows the importance of Emotional Intelligence training in the military. [2: http://www.americanpress.com/Gen -- Patton-struck-two-soldiers-in-August-1943]

Mrs. Hodgson discusses in her paper, Training Marine Leaders; The New Challenges of the 21st Century Leadership[footnoteRef:3], the evolving concept of Emotional Intelligence skills in the Marines. The military as a whole regardless of branch is run as a machine, the unfortunate truth is that the bare minimum training is required to get men and women on the battlefield. As our military evolves after two world wars and countless counterterrorism missions, the Marine Corp has finally recognized that war can affect a person emotionally. It leaves obvious marks such as physical scars, missing limbs and more bodies than one would like to count. It also leaves another scar that is invisible to the human eye. Although we want physically strong and agile men and women on the battlefield, we also want a healthy and speedy recovery during post deployment, not just physically but mentally. [3: Hodgson, Valerie L. "Training Marine Leaders: The New Challenges of 21st Century Leadership."Marine Corp Gazette (2013): 61-64. Print.]

Marines tend to be a very proud branch namely because of their history and the way they are trained. This tends to set them apart from the other branches giving them warranted confidence as many Marines tend to be alpha type personalities, leaders. With this comes the male stigma that emotions are effeminate. Teaching Marines EI will allow them to feel more comfortable to connect with other Marines on the subject. It will also allow them to understand that stress is natural and that if you avoid it, it may just get worse.

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Educating our Marine leaders on the four components of EI will allow them to get through this cultural stigma and become the best leaders for their Marines.

The four main components of emotional intelligence are Self-awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness and Relationship Management. Self-awareness will simply allow a marine to understand their emotions and why those emotions are developing in whatever fashion. I think this is one of the biggest fears, when all of a sudden as a leader you are feeling 'weak' or somehow cowardly and not knowing how to express this or even feeling like you need to hoard your feelings. Self-awareness is very important to overcoming and growing as a leader.

Self-Management allows our Marines to control their emotions, instead of lashing out in anger. Self-management along with self-awareness will help our Marines to process this information and make sounder decisions. After a hard day sometimes we want to scream because you don't know how else to express yourself. Although this may be a fine way for one Marine to express himself, others may take it incorrectly and hoard those emotions.

Social awareness allows Marines to be more understanding and empathetic with their coworkers. This will allow our Marines to give emotional support, friendship and heartfelt care when a Marine is feeling lost, lonely etc., potentially connecting with someone else who is feeling the same.

Finally, Relationship Management refers to our Marines maintaining strong work relationships with their teammates. This is imperative to those Marines who go outside the way. Trust is imperative to the survival of every marine, and without good relationships, trust will be difficult to build. Counterinsurgency missions are unpredictable; though we plan for the best you never know what is going to happen. The military works as a team, the men and women struggle together and they succeed together. This allows each Marine to become closer, working more efficient. In between missions there is a lot of down time which allows for the Marines to get close personally and to ask questions about one another. They become so close that they….....

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