Spiritual Development of the Commissioned Officer

Junior Field Grade Officer

Captain John Hoyman, U.S. Army

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Part three in a series of five articles The purpose of this series is to provide a glimpse of what Christian military officers may face as they span the years of their careers, thus proving a tool to equip younger officers before they reach these stages.

Fifty-nine local OCF leaders responded to questions like these:
- Are there spiritual challenges that officers face at certain career milestones?
- Are there distinct opportunities, spiritually speaking, at certain stages along the way?
- If so, what are they and how can someone make the best use of those opportunities?

Entering the field grade ranks is both a blessing and a curse.
It is a line of demarcation between the short-term officer and the career officer. It is a step forward in rank, but one more step away from youthful energy and carefree innovations. The field grade officer has to be responsible. It has been said that field grade officers represent the institution. No longer can one say, “The Navy says this, but I say this,” or “Who made this rule? I cannot believe the Army does this!”
The field grade officer makes the service what it is, and one only needs to look in the mirror if he sees something that needs to be fixed. In a sense, the transition to field grade represents a transition from direct leadership—characterized by face-to-face, first line leadership—to organizational leadership, characterized by large staffs and sometimes confusing architectures working on systems and policies. This leadership culture shift is natural for some and difficult for others.

Promotion to the field grade ranks is a good time for a life course azimuth check. Most promotions to the field grade ranks occur a couple of years past the officer’s thirtieth birthday. At this point, most officers are reaching the midpoint of a twenty-year military retirement career. They may consider that they have “gotten over the hump” and the benefits of retiring from the military are looking better all the time.

This time period also coincides with what Daniel Levinson calls the “age-30 transition.” According to Levinson, “Life is becoming more serious, more restrictive, more ‘for real.’ He has the feeling; ‘If I want to change my life—if there are things in it that I don’t like, or things missing that I would like to have—this is the time to make a start, for soon it will be too late.’” One survey respondent said; “[this is a good time for] charting a course for regular and deliberate Christian maturity.”

For many men, this can be a time of settling down and establishing their niche in society. For female officers, this can be an unsettling time as the conflict of relationships and raising children are pit against the career ambitions to continue in the service.

Because officers entering the field grade ranks have considerable experience, they have most likely identified issues within the service that are systemic problems. For many, this is the first time that they have the rank to change the system to make it better, more humane, more effective. However, the temptation is to not rock the boat, to take the attitude of “well, I had to go through it.”

This indifference is not sufficient for Christian officers who must set the example morally, spiritually, and professionally. Officers at this level must critically assess the environments in which they work and make efforts to change them for the improvement of all involved. To blindly accept the status quo demonstrates lack of courage and initiative. Christian junior field grade officers should be agents for change in all environments they contact.

A new level of professional competition can be felt at this stage of an officer’s career. Most of the officers who are not pursuing a career have left the service, and the remaining officers vie for career-enhancing assignments. This brings additional strain to spend more and more time at work in order to achieve high marks on evaluations and efficiency reports, leaving little time for relationships and relaxation.

Of the nine respondents of the junior field grade officer stage, seven remarked that balancing work and family was their top challenge.

One respondent said, “[a spiritual pitfall is] taking marriage (spouse) for granted, and failing to set aside time to invest in real, meaningful friendships.” Another said a pitfall of this time period is, “over-emphasis on career and work to the exclusion of family spiritual development.” At this point, many families have children whose ages span from infant to junior high, thus the demands at home are great. Wise junior field grade officers devise creative ways to prioritize family without neglecting work, a constant challenge for the military officer.

Besides vital relationships at home, it is critical to foster vital peer relationships with other Christians, especially intimate friendships of the same gender. This time of life can leave officers without confidants with whom to share struggles and dreams.

Exhaustion causes some officers to stop reaching out. Because of the time demands of work and family, it may not be wise to try to juggle multiple social circles as well. However, developing and maintaining one or two mutually edifying, deeply satisfying peer relationships is critical for keeping perspective during this intense time of life. The bond between Jonathon and David in 1 Samuel 20 demonstrates the strength provided by such a relationship.

In some ways, junior field grade officers are in an awkward stage of their careers, thinking the best of their career is either before them or behind them. The temptation to not be God’s agent in the here and now is great. Christians are called to be salt and light at every stage in their lives, and as Jesus said in Matthew 6:34, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

1 Army Leadership, FM 22-100. Washington DC: Headquarters, Department of the Army, 1999.
2 Levinson, Daniel, The Seasons of a Man’s Life. New York: Ballantine Books, 1978.