1-on-1 with the new CXO

Photo By David San Miguel | James B. Balocki, command executive officer, U.S. Army Reserve Command, shares his first impression of the command's workforce during an interview with the public affairs staff, Feb. 3, 2014, at the USARC Headquarters, Fort Bragg, N.C.  

FORT BRAGG, NC, UNITED STATES

02.03.2014

Story by David San Miguel 

U.S. Army Reserve Command

EDITOR’s NOTE: The U.S. Army Reserve Command Public Affairs Office had a one-on-one conversation Feb. 3, 2014, with James B. Balocki, USARC command executive officer, who shared his first impression of the command’s workforce and a number of issues affecting the Army Reserve.

USARCPA – How have your previous assignments prepare you for your present role as the USARC command executive officer?
JBB – I’m not sure anything can adequately prepare you for the breadth of opportunity that leadership in USARC offers, but the broad nature of assignments I’ve had, even as a civilian, have taught me three things: ask lots of questions in order to understand; trust your people – they are critical to your organization’s success – and, be yourself, be genuine – the values and behaviors that have brought you to this point continue to serve you well.

USARCPA – In several articles published in the Federal Times, you provide several strategies to the workforce for advancement –what do you advise for the new federal employee? The new soldier?

JBB – First, learn your craft. Find others who are experts and learn from them. At first, this may be difficult, but you’ll quickly learn the key folks you’ll want to seek out and emulate.
Second, ask questions. One of my own great regrets earlier in my career is that I didn’t ask enough questions so that I could truly understand what was expected of me.
Third, be open to new ideas. Moving an organization to achieve success requires new ways of looking at problems. Frequently, a fresh set of eyes, even from the newest members of the team, can suggest a different path forward.

USARCPA – The active Army is drawing down, troops are withdrawing from Afghanistan – how does this impact the Army Reserve?

JBB – The Army Reserve will continue to be a key element of the Army’s formations. By design, its life-saving and life-sustaining capabilities fulfill essential elements of our nation’s security needs. The Operational Reserve will be as relevant in the future as it has been in the recent past, and there will be many opportunities for our soldiers to serve with distinction.

USARCPA – Any first impressions of the command that you’d like to share?

JBB – I have observed an incredibly talented and professional staff, working hard seven days a week to serve soldiers, families and an Army they believe in. I am both proud and humbled to serve alongside these selfless soldiers. I’ve seen our leaders face a number of challenges in my first few weeks. They’ve done so with passion, commitment and desire to get things right. I’m impressed.

USARCPA – How important are community engagements to the Army Reserve?

JBB – The Army is drawn from the fabric of our communities all across the nation. Reserve soldiers and their families are a part of the communities where they live, work and serve. The Army represents just a small fraction of the nation’s population, so telling our story in the community is incredibly important. Engaging with those communities, their leaders and institutions, is critical to maintaining an understanding of what we do and why we exist.

USARCPA – In previous articles, you mentioned the importance of the Family – can you elaborate?

JBB – I’ve tried to balance my own life around family, fitness and faith. The most important of these for me is family – they provide strength, love and support. I’ve been blessed with an incredibly strong family who grew up and grew together all over the world. They were held together by these important bonds: the knowledge that we always had each other, and I just can’t imagine something more important.

USARCPA – What is the Army Reserve doing to address suicide?
JBB – This is incredibly challenging – it’s really a scourge on our formations. I define it often as a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
I think the Army and the Army Reserve in particular have done a lot, certainly as we focus attention on it.
It’s not just unique to the Army Reserve. It’s a societal problem. It’s in all of our formations, but that doesn’t mean we should look the other way or dismiss it either. We’ve stepped up to make resources available. The one thing that I think we probably can do is help families. That reinforcing bond exists for every young woman or man and that’s a part of our formations. Help them to be a partner with us in preventing these suicides. We’ve stepped forward with some of the best medical and mental health professionals that are available. We’re talking to people in ways that we haven’t talked to them before.
Any loss of life, whether it’s accidental or it’s a person taking their own life, it’s just tragic. Life is too precious. There’s too much that every one of us has to contribute.
We’re asking men and women to go into harm’s way to do our nation’s bidding on behalf of the citizenry of this great country, and for folks to be willing to sacrifice their life in this noble pursuit and not have the support of a family member or another soldier when they’re in a time of trouble to me is just a devastating thought. So, I don’t think that we could do too much to help these folks get through this temporary situation.

USARCPA – What is the Army Reserve doing to combat sexual harassment within its ranks?

JBB – First and foremost, like the suicide issue, we raised the awareness and made the point throughout the command more broadly and more deeply about our unwillingness to tolerate. It shouldn’t be tolerated. It’s not being tolerated. We’re raising awareness by educating our formations. We’re providing specialists to help folks understand the tools that are available to enable them to teach and carry the message.
We’re asking these young men and women - these soldiers - to do some of the most difficult work there is and to have to hide under the cloud of harassment, whether sexual or any other reason, is just intolerable. We’ve got to work collectively as leaders, collectively as soldiers, civilians and family members to eliminate it from our ranks.

USARCPA – How does your role as CXO affect Soldiers across the force?

JBB – I’m still trying to understand this, but I’ve already seen the important role the CXO plays in our formations – as a member of the command team and partner with the commander.
The civilians who are a part of our formations are incredibly important enablers to the soldier. They perform key functions throughout the command whether it’s being unit administrators, whether it’s being a CXO or whether it’s working at an AMSA shop or processing pay, whatever those functions might be, are critical to ensuring that our formations and our units are capable of performing their mission.

USARCPA – What are your priorities as CXO?

JBB – My first priority is to understand what’s going on in the organization and to embrace the priorities of the Army and the chief of the Army Reserve, because I need to be pretty much lock-step with these guys. It’s too difficult to get into an organization and have too many priorities, because then nothing is a priority.
The other thing that I would say – a personal goal – is to ensure the capabilities we’re providing are what’s needed, when it’s needed and where it’s needed. Those enablers that I’ve just described, our unit administrators and military technicians, are in fact the right capabilities, and they’re serving the needs of soldiers and families.

USARCPA – Are there any particular issues you’d like to address?

JBB – The areas where I need to place emphasis are going to be driven largely by my understanding where that emphasis is needed. So, though I have a deep personal interest in some areas that may or may not be where the command and the organizations in the Army Reserve need for my emphasis to be, I’m going to take my cue from the soldiers, from their families and from the leaders in our organizations as to where that emphasis ought to be.

USARCPA – Given your extensive civil engineering background, how will that come into play as you execute your job as CXO?

JBB – Technically, not at all or maybe just a very little. The interesting thing about having an engineering background is having a way to look at and frame problems or opportunities, how to solve those problems and, maybe more importantly, the ability to take those proposed solutions to create consensus.

USARCPA – Are there any hobbies or interests you’d like to share?

JBB – I do enjoy running and part of this goes back to family. I introduced my three sons to physical fitness. My other hobby is weightlifting and my goal is to out lift my son. It’s not going to happen, but you have to have a goal. My youngest son can dead lift 600 lbs., so I know that’s not going to happen.
Photography would be another hobby.
I’m delighted to be here. I’m excited to be here. I look forward to getting out to the command and meeting with folks.
What happens at the headquarters is interesting, but the real important work in what gets done in the Army Reserve is down in our organizations that are charged with missions.

USARCPA – During this time of budget constraints and reductions in force, do you have any words you’d like to share with the workforce?

JBB – The one thing that having a few grey hairs and a few wrinkles allows is the fact that I’ve seen it before.
What I offer folks is that we’ll get through this. Again, part of this is the angst of making tough decisions. We’ve gone through a period of 12 to 13 years where we’ve had significant and nearly unlimited resources. We should be thankful for the American people that we were able to do that and prosecute the war as we saw fit, but now the priorities of the American people, as shown through their elected representatives, has changed.
We have to be responsive to that. What that means is that the department is going to have to shrink.
This is not new. It happened after every major war.
So we just have to make tough decisions now. The leaders that are a part of our formations, the CAR, the chief of staff of the Army and the secretaries will help guide us, but at the end of the day, we’re going to have to work together collectively to decide the things that are important, which I would call enduring missions, and capabilities from the things that are urgent. These are the things we are dealing with today. We’ll make those decisions. It’s not going to be easy, but that’s okay. Nothing worthwhile should be easy.

• Date Taken: 02.03.2014
• Date Posted: 02.28.2014 11:35
• Story ID: 121325
• Location: FORT BRAGG, NC, US