ERT and the Mustang Officer
In the US military, there are a ton of ranks. To explain them in simple layman terms for the average civilian (because believe me, it can get pretty complex and technical), the ranks can be split into two groups: officers and enlisted.
The officers are like the managers, directors, VPs, and CEOs.
The enlisted are the worker bees.
To become an officer, there are a few ways to do that... one can join the military and if they're qualified, they can become an officer right away. The other way is to join as an enlisted, put in your time first, and then go through college ROTC or Officer Candidate School (OCS). There are other ways but to keep it simple, those are the general avenues of becoming an officer.
And that second path? The one where you're an enlisted member first and then becoming an officer? Those types of officers are called "Mustang officers".
A loooong time ago, when I was seriously considering joining the military, one of my childhood friends was already in the US Army; he still is, matter of fact. Anyways, I was flirting with joining the US Coast Guard Reserves as an officer, which sounded cool to me at the time. (And if you haven't guessed it already, officers generally get higher pay than enlisted folks). But my Army friend advised me to enlist first.
Why? Because officers with prior enlisted experience usually gets more respect from the lower ranks. "Mustangs" know what it's like to do the "grunt work" that comes along with being an enlisted servicemember, and that also means they have prior skills & experiences. And generally, they're not - let's say - as anal about small stuff that enlisted folks do as an non-Mustang officer would be.
So in other words, Mustang officers have more empathy for the enlisted ranks. And when you're lower in the hierarchy, you appreciate that about the leaders above you.
To sum it up: The best leaders would never ask their subordinates to do something that they themselves would not do.
Anyways, I never ended up joining the Coast Guard Reserves (that's an entire another story). And while I get what my Army friend was saying at the time - about being an enlisted prior to becoming an officer - I don't think I truly understood what he meant until in recent years.
When I first started out my career in the medical device industry, at my first company, I volunteered for their Emergency Response Team aka the ERT. The ERT are essentially volunteer first responders at the workplace; if one of your coworkers in a nearby cubicle or a lab gets hurt and needs medical attention, as an ERT you're able to respond and help out. And with this company, I was actually there for 15 years. And during that entire time, I was always on the ERT. The ERT was - still is - my passion because I'm very much into helping other people in general.
Fast forward to Jan 2023. When I joined my new job and made a career change into EH&S, one of the reasons why I signed up for the job was because I knew I'd be a part of that company's ERT. I remember as part of my sales pitch to the hiring manager whom is now my boss, I said that when it comes to the ERT, I have 15 years under my belt. Therefore, I'm trained, I have experience, and I'm competent. And this was probably one of the few times in my life when I said it with 110% confidence. Not to be boastful or cocky or arrogant, but because I knew it all to be true. And above all else, again, I'm into helping others especially as a first responder.
So when I got hired, the very first thing my boss told me was that she was going to put me in charge of the ERT. My response was just one word: "Awesome."
That was music to my ears.
Now, I'm a little over a year-and-a-half in this job. I'm still leading the ERT which makes me one real happy guy. It's clearly the most favorite part of my job. My boss and Senior Director has confidence in me as being the ERT leader. I want to say I'm pretty sure the other ERT members do as well, although they haven't said it aloud (one has though, which I do appreciate). And our ERT trainer whom I've known for 17 years said at one of our classes - "Derek and his boss has a lot of experience, so go to them if you have any questions."
So yeah, I feel good about that.
Of course, I'm aware that I don't know everything and I haven't experienced everything emergency response related. Because let's face it - the learning never stops. But.... I have a pretty good grasp on it overall.
And just like anything else, none of that would've come to be had I not spent 15 years at my last company volunteering for the ERT. And not to mention my 6.5 years of volunteering as a first responder for the American Red Cross. And for the last 3 years, I've been working part-time as an EMT.
So, in a way, I'm a "Mustang Officer" when it comes to the ERT at work. I've put in so much time as a volunteer first responder at the workplace that now I've been leading the team.
And that, my friends, is something I'm truly proud of.