Frank Watson: The Importance of a Command Presence

Several years ago shortly after I had been assigned my first command, I was called out late at night to a tense situation. All I knew was that the issue was in my squadron. As I walked up, a security policeman asked me who I was; I told him, and he loudly addressed the crowd, “It’s okay now the commander is here.”

I immediately felt a great burden of responsibility.

I spent the next several years trying to justify that security policeman’s statement: “It is okay now the commander is here.” I had to develop what I call a command presence; an aura that exudes confidence.

It is not something that you are born with. It takes a lot of work to develop. I have known some great commanders who had it. My first aircraft commander in combat exuded confidence. When he advanced the throttles and raised the landing gear, I had no doubt that he would bring me home alive. I have known others who are commanders in title only. I tried to stay away from them.

The president is the Commander in Chief, not just of the military but of the country as well. His very presence needs to give us confidence that the country is on the right track.

Some past presidents were better at it than others. From what I read, Truman had command presence. “The buck stops here” Ronald Reagan was the best I have observed. The country had no doubt that as soon as he was inaugurated, the Iranians would release our embassy staff and our national pride would be restored. President Reagan was even admired by his enemies.

President Trump needs to work on his image.

I’m glad that he won the election, and I agree with him on many issues. We need to secure our borders. We need to quit exporting our jobs and wealth overseas. We need to make America great again.

I sincerely hope he is successful, but I don’t have that confidence that I would like to have in our Commander in Chief.

If I can be so bold I would like to give our President some advice from the heart of an old commander.

The first thing I would advise is that he gets rid of his tweeter. Good commanders don’t tweet. It gives the impression of shooting from the hip without thinking. President Trump has been mocked as the Tweeter in Chief. Good commanders aren’t mocked. They don’t make themselves vulnerable. They realize that everything a commander says is analyzed and screened for deeper meaning.

Meryl Streep’s comments at the Golden Globes were inappropriate.

John Lewis was out of line, but a good commander doesn’t trade insults in tweeter messages.

He takes the moral high ground and stays above the muck.

He allows his lieutenants to present his side, and the people will admire him for it.

Mr. President give your phone, or whatever you tweet with, to an aide.

You shouldn’t even be making your own phone calls.

When you make a statement, make sure that it is staffed and says exactly what you mean.

Good commanders don’t think out loud.

Every time you have to retract a statement, your followers lose confidence in you.

Don’t provide ammunition to the media that they can use to attack you.

Use your public information experts to your advantage.

Good commanders never, never, never badmouth their troops. I don’t care how much you disagree with your intelligence agencies, you don’t say so in public. Good commanders surround themselves with the best people they can find. They are generally strict taskmasters. When one of your subordinates falls short of your expectations you let them know – while letting them maintain their dignity. Some of your people will not be able to do the job you want them to do. You will need to replace them in such a manner that their agency is motivated to do better. When you bad mouth the agency, you cultivate disloyalty.

A confident command presence takes time to develop. I am willing to allow you to grow in the job, but I would like to see evidence that you are working at it.

Good luck, Mr. President. I wish you success.

(Frank Watson is a retired Air Force Colonel and long time resident of eastern Washington.)