The Importance of Accountability
This is an essay that is a combination of my personal experiences, definitions, and examples of how responsibility and accountability are important to surviving in today’s Army. Responsibility is increased when soldiers have a single, clear set of rules that apply to a specific event. When the guidelines are unclear, or when more than one set of rules seems to apply to an event, responsibility is decreased. One definition of responsible says it is the obligation for the proper, custody, care, and safekeeping of property or funds entrusted to the possession or supervision of an individuall. For example, it was my responsbility to follow up with SSG Steadman to about the time of my departure and wheather I would still need to come in or not. By not doing so, and assuming that I didnt, it made me look irresponsible, and therefore conflicted with her haveing accountablity of her soldiers.
One definition of accountability ( from usmilitary.about.com) is "the obligation imposed by law or lawful order or regulation on an officer or other person for keeping accurate record of property, documents, or funds. The person having this obligation may or may not have actual possession of the property, documents, or funds. Accountability is concerned primarily with records, while responsibility is concerned primarily with custody, care, and safekeeping." Being accountable in the US Army is another very important aspect of being a good soldier as well. Being accountable means being dependable-arriving to work and appointments on time, meeting deadlines, being in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing at the right time. Morning formation is the most important formation of the day. It is made to get accountability of everyone and put out any information that there needs to be dealt with.
Without having accountability there is not knowing of where everybody is or what's going on. As a result of me showing up...