Being a new legionnaire of GDS, likely one who is prior service in your home nation's military, one of your largest concerns might be what your commanders and senior leaders will be like.

I'd like to first address a few areas of concern, one of which is accountability.

Within GDS, the standards to which an individual is held become stricter the higher their rank. On that same note, the punishments and consequences become greater as well, with the harshest penalties being applied to leaders and commanders who have failed the legionnaires placed under their direction.

To list out only a handful of the consequences a commander, officer or leader will face should they be found at fault for failing in their responsibilities:

• Hard labor/penal detail (minimum six months to one year)

• Termination of all pay (minimum one year)

• Immediate reduction in rank (minimum two to three levels)

• Withholding of full pay (minimum 50% withheld)

• Removal of all command rights for an indeterminate amount of time.

• Assignment to enlisted squadrons as an assistant (minimum six months), to be under the supervision of that squadron's commander.

• Re-entry to conditioning training, requiring graduation (six months)

• Execution by the legionnaires they failed (this has never occurred, but is allowed in situations of grievous failure or incompetence)

The enforcement and adherence to these greater standards requires more than just leaders calling each other out; it requires an already existing cultural basis and an innate desire to meet those requirements.

A leader that does not uphold the expectations placed upon them should see it not as "you are guilty of an infraction". This implies that the issue lies within the breaking of a rule, a standard, or guidance which is not the focus of why we bring such punishments down upon them.

Rather, it should be seen as "you have failed the legionnaires placed under your care, you have failed your peers, and you have failed yourself".

In your previous life, perhaps you have served or worked under leaders who only scrutinized those below them. The type of leader who will bring their subordinates and charges to task for small infractions yet exempt themselves from those very same standards as their role is "more important" or "has different demands".

You are no longer in such an organization, and any leaders who begin to import that rot will be corrected on the spot. The relationship between leaders and subordinates within GDS is guarded culturally and by regulation to prevent any instance of favoritism, nepotism, or what I can only describe as "lobbying".

Those who formerly served in their nation's armed forces will recall their former commanders or officers looking to their bosses as "this person can advance my career", leading to sycophantic behavior and appeasement. This would often take the form of dog and pony shows at the cost of their subordinates' time, sanity, and dignity.

Within GDS, your commanders and leaders look to their own commanders as "this person can help me solve issues", "this person can give the push I need to help my legionnaires", and so on. No legionnaire in GDS can advance their role or position through the actions or words of others. We place that responsibility solely on the legionnaire and no one else.

Let's look at how your leadership within GDS will be with some scenarios.
As stated, commanders and leaders (SNCOs, chief SNCOs, senior officers, primary officers) are all held to a constant standard. One form this takes is that they are expected to be the authority in their work, and not just from a theoretical standpoint.

We expect commanders in the Mechanical Legion to be under the vehicles alongside their squadrons, and to dismiss them at the end of the day while they continue working if it becomes more complicated than expected.

We expect commanders in the Administrative Legion to be sitting right beside their squadron as they work through mountains of approval forms, and to dismiss them on time if the work goes beyond their expected workday.

We expect Aeronautical Legion commanders to be right there in the aircraft with their squadron, taking fire all the same as those who report to them.

We expect that commanders will continue to serve as experts in their field on a continual and ongoing basis, and if that expectation is not met then consequences will follow. At no point within GDS should a leader act as a "resource" that merely sits in an office, answering "yes" or "no" to questions while their subordinates take on all of the work. That is something that we will not tolerate in this organization.

Altogether, the position of a commander or leader in GDS would seem to be extremely daunting, strenuous, and altogether undesirable position to most people. As an E-4, the thought of missing a step in your job and ending up on a yearlong penal detail would be ridiculous. Outside of the pay increase, the only thing a position as a commander or leader gets you in GDS is extra responsibilities and harsher consequences for failure. And it's because this type of position is so undesirable for most people that we keep it such.

The only type of person who would step up in such a situation are those who accept the burden placed upon them while working towards the betterment of those they are tasked to oversee.

Our commanders lead by example, or they do not lead at all.

-FrW Hansuke Ito