The contemporary issue I chose for the Army falls into the category of leadership. The Army today is adapting to a multigenerational force and has distinctly different learning styles and motivations. We went from a workforce that really wanted to work with a strong work ethic to one that wants everything handed to them. Recruits arriving today rely on technology rather than analog, as many senior executives were accustomed to. That said, many leaders are afraid of making waves. We must train our young Soldiers to be leaders and NCOs, not sergeants, because they are the future of the Army. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay We went from a workforce that really wanted to work with a strong work ethic to one that wants everything handed to them. This creates a strong challenge for leaders in getting the same level of work output from millennials as their older colleagues. Young people today tend to sit around waiting to be told what to do and when you look at the older young soldier, they took the initiative to find work to do. It seems like the younger generation prefers to sit and play on their cell phones instead of looking for things to do, which is a real challenge to change since they are so habitual of being on their cell phones. Recruits arriving today rely rather on technology than analog, as many senior leaders were accustomed to. Young Soldiers rely on Google and the wonderful F-control to find answers rather than reading the specific manuals and learning more. While convenient, this doesn't help you learn the whole story versus just the specific answer. I asked the Soldiers to try to "cite the rulebook" but they ended up only reading the subparagraph they wanted instead of the entire section, which proved them wrong. We as leaders must train our soldiers to read everything instead of just what they want to "check F". This may seem simple but it is quite a challenge since they are so used to taking the easier left and not the far right or something more in depth course of action. Many leaders are afraid of causing a stir. They simply do what has always been done. Even if it's wrong, they don't question it and continue like this. We are a constantly evolving army, some leaders don't like this and I think some are afraid of it. How we address today's problems is critical to our success as an organization. We can't just use an old solution for a new problem, we need to focus on new solutions. Will old solutions work on new problems? In some cases I would have to say yes, but in most cases I think no. The reason is due to the difference between generations as younger soldiers will have a different perception or vision of things and how they go. I should also say that it's not just about the younger generations, but also about the individual. As I performed my duties as a drill sergeant, I found that you could yell and scream at trainees all day, but it would only fix some individuals but not all. It is a challenge for leaders to find the right way to treat each individual Soldier. Moving on to the latest and greatest generation, what some tend to call the “entitlement” generation. Soldiers will be angry that they were not allowed to attend college during duty hours because they should be entitled to. I explained this to the junior soldiers that duty hours are duty hours and they can take classes in the evenings or reenlist.