You may remember when I had been reassigned to the 227th Maintenance Battalion at Yongsan, Seoul, Korea, to take command of the 305th Supply and Services Company. Or even about my change of command and how some unexpected guests popped in for the change of command. I briefly mentioned that if my senior rater had been keeping a tally sheet, I would have scored a strike with that performance. However, that is not necessarily the type of performance that you want to be recognized for, especially during your first day on the job. Definitely not a good portend of things to come. Perhaps you recall an event that managed to reward me with a second strike. When I successfully removed my First Sergeant for cause. The reason that event rewarded me with a second strike was that my First Sergeant was my senior rater’s pet. Oops! Sorry about that shit. My bad. Now, when I took command of the 305th Supply and Services Company, I promised my soldiers that I would never needlessly waste their time by having them work after hours doing what I called “make-work” projects. I told them that I couldn’t promise them that there wouldn’t be days where they would have to work extended hours. But I also promised them that, if there were days where they had to work extended hours, I and my entire leadership team would also be working extended hours right there beside them. I promised them that there would be no “do as I say not as I do” bullshit during my command. Just a few short weeks later, I made good on that promise when the soldiers in my unit were selected to participate in the first ever repatriation of US war remains from the Korean War. During that event, my soldiers had to work some extremely long hours. Essentially, they lost an entire weekend, and the Memorial Day holiday. However, my entire leadership team and I also lost an entire weekend, and the Memorial Day holiday. I still felt like I owed them a great debt of gratitude for that event. I wanted to do something to thank them. But more importantly, I wanted to use the thank you gesture as a morale boosting event. I wanted to start to make the 305th Supply and Services Company feel good about itself and to be proud of itself for something it had done. But I wanted to make that tangible. Talking doesn’t make something tangible. You can pat people on the back all day long and tell them what a great job they did. You can even issue three-day passes here and there. Those things will help. But they won’t bring lasting results. I needed something that would set them apart. I called all of my officers and NCOs together to explain what I wanted to do. It involved a morale boosting party. Since we didn’t have any money in the MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) fund, I told my officers and NCOs that I would look into buying refreshments myself. When they heard that, a few of my lieutenants and NCOs offered to chip in some money. I also indicated that my plan was much bigger than just a party. I described what I called the “Wow” factor. My executive officer came up with the idea for the actual “Wow” factor. The idea was a dark blue T-shirt emblazoned with the 305th Supply and Services Company logo and a little three-word phrase that I had adopted as a quick “atta-boy” to pat my soldiers on the back for a job well done. Those three little words were, “Ya Done Good.” My Executive Officer noted that I used that phrase almost exclusively when praising my soldiers. She said that I used the phrase even if I was just talking with a soldier one-on-one about something that I had observed him or her doing. Those blue T-shirts were going to come back to haunt me, but that is another story. This story is about a morale booster that started with a party and a T-shirt. The whole idea was to reward my soldiers for a job well done during the first ever repatriation of US war remains from the Korean War. I even asked my wife to get involved. I told her what I had in mind, and when I planned to pull the whole thing off. I asked her to provide her delicious chocolate chip cookies and cinnamon rolls. I asked her how much time she would need to prepare enough cinnamon rolls and cookies so that each soldier could have at least one cinnamon roll and three cookies. She had to start baking three days ahead of the date of the party, and I had two of my lieutenants help her with the logistics of bagging the cookies and wrapping the cinnamon rolls in plastic wrap. We also purchased chips and dips to serve at the party with the beverages. The party was a huge hit. My wife hit a home run with her chocolate chip cookies and cinnamon rolls. The soldiers absolutely loved their T-shirts. I had hoped that the “Wow” factor would work. It worked even better than I could have ever imagined. That was good because I had even bigger plans for those T-shirts. Of course, there are always a few stragglers and no-shows that don’t get the word. So, there were a few members of my northern Detachment that were not at my morale booster party. When they heard about my wife’s cookies and cinnamon rolls and the “Wow” factor T-shirt, they were upset that they missed out. Naturally, it was my fault that they were no-shows. Go figure. I personally alerted my driver, Kato, and we hit the road to deliver T-shirts to my northern Detachment. When I delivered the T-shirts, they asked where in the hell their cookies and cinnamon rolls were? I told them that if they wanted the whole package, next time they needed to be where the action was. I told them that I was delivering the T-shirts out of the goodness of my heart as a feel-good measure. I also said that if I could take money out of my pocket to pay for a party, the least they could do was to show up for that party. I think I humbled them a little that day. When I left, my soldiers in the northern Detachment were happy and that was all that I was concerned about. I had gone through a great deal of trouble, but no exercises in futility to host a T-shirt party for my soldiers.
by 
by 