The importance of being on time in the military is basically a concept of discipline instilled in soldiers during their basic training.Seybolt (2007) describes discipline as the glue holding various units of soldiers together helping them accomplished assigned missions. Punctuality shows a sense of reliability, training, professionalism, responsible as well as is an expression of care towards the military rules and regulations (Seybolt, 2007). Being on time, however, does not only relate to accountability but also shows respect to the authority, unit, and command as well as to the organization as a whole. On the contrary, showing up late especially during the military training portrays an individual as rude since it obstructs all the others plans scheduled. The primary aim of this essay is to demonstrate and analyze the importance of being on time in the military based on an individual’s accountability in the military.
The first and primary reason for being on time in the military is depicting good leadership, loyalty as well as commitment. The military has an extensive and proud history when it comes to efficiency and good order (Swann, 1999). A basic mandatory and complete training is required to the enlisted soldiers within the United States military to instill a mindset, training, disciplines, and attitudes. Swann (1999) in his study describes these elements as the basics values that every soldier should uphold. This trainingis accomplished through a universal application of uniformed procedures as well as practices which involves an organized schedule (VanHorn, 2009). Consequently, activities involved in the training are methodically sequenced designed to challenge soldiers especially the new soldiers at a higher and different level of physical fitness. It is, however, notable that much emphasis is placed on the progressive conditioning of the body to ensure all the fundamental components (strength, mobility, and endurance) are embodied. Being in time incorporates all these activities to give a significant effect.
Secondly, it is the duty of a soldier to his or her country to be on time while showing up for the responsibilities assigned and instructed to them by their leaders and higher-ups. Soldiers should also show full dedication by being upstanding and reliable. For example, VanHorn (2009) during his study demonstrated a typical day of an army staff sergeant starts the day at 0550 when he is supposed to fall-in for accountability and morning training. Though the sergeant lives off his family at 0550 in the morning, his alarm was set at 0430 but snoozes the clock until 0450 and rolls out of bed at 0550. To beat the usual congestion during commuting every morning he is not supposed to leave any later than 0515 since he also needs extra fifteen minutes to squeeze in through the post gates (VanHorn, 2009). This means he cannot accomplish his given tasks in the time since he is already late which makes him inefficient. There is no accountability for lost attentiveness as well as stress-related fatigue that deprives soldier’s level of production (Bandura, 2017). In cases where soldiers are obliged to waste time, they also have to dissemble with “face time,” where they hide their bitterness at the systematic gross inefficiency of the military.
Punctuality of a soldier goes hand in hand with accountability. Accountability is also the essential aspect of being a good soldier. Poor accountability does not have negative impacts on just the solider but to the entire unit as a whole as well as their missions (Seybolt, 2007). Responsibility also ties into the basic concepts of being a soldier such as a discipline and values of the army. Poor accountability degrades and interferes with the readiness of the entire unit since the every soldier needs some extra time during both regular and off-duty hours (Seybolt, 2007).
Personal accountability is the other important aspect of the importance of being on time in the military. Personalaccountability is evident in the events of a disaster as well as in occurrence of a national emergency. Nevertheless, it is relatively easy to ensure a strict accountability policy within the military when supervisors are deployed to account for both the working and off-duty time. Civilians, on the other hand, are required to provide contact information while in a non-duty status as well as the Privacy Act which precludes all the soldiers from making mandatory requirements.
Lastly, being on time in the military brings out the benefit of flexibility. Famous researcher such as Seybolt (2007) mentioned that flexibility is the principal ingredient in any flextime schedule. For example, a soldier’s flexible work schedules –compressed training week, gives the soldier a sense of control. Flexibility dramatically helps soldiers in the military ease their work burden as they try to juggle between their work and their home lives (Swann, 1999). Previous researches indicated that soldiers as a whole unit are facing discipline problems struggling to balance valid family needs with the requirements of their mission. Creating such a suitable working environ with this level of time management and employee mechanism helps lift up the overall morale and elevates productivity. Swann (1999) during his study argued that flexibility within the military and the organization is most important of any employee’s work-life surroundings.
The military is already a flexible organization in many ways. The military already involves a culture that can quickly adapt a flextime system (Bandura, 2017). Research shows that the soldiers who are on time or arrive at work early accomplish mission-critical tasks first and still have some extra time to do last training events later in the day. This means higher productivity and the soldiers can leave work early.
