A Time to Speak

Tuesday all E-5 personnel are required to attend CO’s call. It’s the one time we’re given carte blanche to ask or tell the CO anything we choose. The questions don’t have to be pre-approved and there isn’t any pressure to keep our mouths shut. I feel like it’s a good opportunity, and a civic duty along the lines of voting, that I don’t want to miss. But choosing something to say is overwhelming: I want something important, witty, topical, and challenging in my arsenal. And then I want a backup plan, in case my primary line of questioning suddenly doesn’t seem so pertinent to me. It’s akin to going to a neighborhood restaurant knowing you want the penne aribatta but filing away that the chicken Caesar would also be a fine choice if the pasta suddenly doesn’t sound so good.

I have until Tuesday morning at 0715 to decide what I’m going to say and as it stands now I think I want to talk a bit about the perception of gender differences that surfaced in our command EO survey. It fits three of my four criteria: important, topical, and challenging. As for the fourth, well… I hate to plan wit because it never translates to the audience the way it plays in your head. True wit requires both a grasp of the moment and a little spontaneity.