Bunker Mulligan "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." ~Mark Twain

August 4, 2004

Peer Spears

Filed under: General Rants — Bunker @ 6:50 pm

When I went to Officer Training School, I was 30 years old and an E6. That made me one of the oldest Officer Trainees (OT) and one of the most experienced. During the second half of the school, my roomate was another old guy, and we had a young running buddy who became our OT Squadron Commander. My roomie was in charge of our flight, and I was in charge of the “kids” in the class behind ours.

One of the wonderful aspects of OTS is the experience of Peer Evaluations, or “Peer Spears.” These are anonymous, and intended to give the evaluee some idea of his strengths and weaknesses as perceived by others in the flight. I wrote mine by hand, but some wanted desperately to keep their identity hidden and spent nights typing (remember typewriters?) every one.

We were each called to the office individually to be given our review by the officer in charge, our Flight Commander. I sat down and read through all of mine and he asked, “Any surprises in there?” I knew what he meant. “I guess I could be a little less demanding.”

He grinned. “Good point. But I’d rather have someone overbearing than some limp-wristed leader.”

I went back to our classroom to send the next person down, and tried to figure out how to react when I walked in. I opened the door, sent the next victim to visit the captain, then slammed my fist on the table in the center of the room. “I want to know who said I was overbearing!” And I stared at every person, one by one. A few of the younger guys were a bit shaken by my approach. My roommate slowly raised his hand. Our young buddy followed suit. When they did that, I had to smile, and soon everyone in the room had their hand in the air. I apologized, and promised to try and do better in the future.

My boys all felt I was pretty authoritarian when they were young. And a lot of people see me as a right wing nut job. So, I took the Political Compass survey. You will all be pleased to learn I am almost dead center on the Authoritarian/Libertarian (Social) and Left/Right (Economic) axes. On a scale of 1-10, I am at +2.32 (authoritarian) and +1.2 (right).

So there!

5 Comments

  1. Damn straight: you’re the centrist; I’m the commie anarchist nut job. But just a little bit.

    Economic Left/Right: -2.75
    Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.90

    Would love to sit down with you, a case of Shiner Bock, and a carton of smokes to go through that whole list to see where we can fix the loaded, misleading, or poorly-worded questions (and argue over the ones on which we differ).

    Comment by Bogey — August 4, 2004 @ 10:31 pm

  2. Deal. You decide when. Of course, 18 holes must precede the event, you loony lefty.

    This survey is a bit different as it is supposed to be an honest academic exercise. But, as with any survey, the wording is such that there often isn’t an answer to choose from which fits my opinion. That’s the primary reason I have little faith in any survey or poll.

    Comment by Bunker — August 5, 2004 @ 5:35 am

  3. Economic Left/Right: -2.88
    Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.31

    I really thought I would be more right…residual hippie, I suppose.

    Comment by AR — August 5, 2004 @ 7:51 am

  4. Well I am Economic left .38, and Social 4.46. Which puts me in between Pope John Paul and Hitler. Good job Pop in raising me the right way.

    Comment by birdie — August 5, 2004 @ 7:06 pm

  5. I am Economic -3.50, and Social -1.79, which puts me near Ghandi.

    Comment by Regina — August 5, 2004 @ 7:07 pm

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