Presentation by Old Boy Scott Gray
“I'm Lieutenant Scott Gray, currently the Executive Officer of Wellington East Coast Squadron, Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles. We are the premium warfighting unit of the NZ Army, and longest serving unit, being formed in 1864. QAMR is the Armoured Regiment of the NZ Army, consisting of 2 Sabre Squadrons of NZLAV.
I was a student at Palmy Boys from 2010- 2014. Wasn't a high achiever or anything, and wasn't someone much for School in all honesty, but I had a goal in life and that was to become an Officer in the NZ Army. In 2014 I applied to become a General List Officer in the NZ Army. After passing my testing and Officer Selection board, I then attended the Officer Cadet School of New Zealand. OCS NZ is a one year course that takes you from civilian to junior officer. Within this year I deployed to Brunei for our Jungle Phase and Australia for our final testing phase. I then graduated at the end of 2015 into the Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps.
In 2016 I attended my Corps coursing including my Infantry Platoon Commanders Course, NZLAV Crew Commander Course and NZLAV Troop Leaders course. By the end of October 2016, I was qualified to command up to 6x NZLAV's with a platoon of infantry in any operating environment. This year was one of the best of my career having gone through challenging testing and finally being able to work with professional soldiers outside of the OCS environment.
Immediately after completing my coursing, I was fortunate enough to take a Troop to San Diego, California, to embed with Diablo Coy, 1st Light Armoured Reconnaissance, USMC. This saw me command four USMC Lav 25's and two sections of recon troopers. This was a nerve racking experience coming straight out of coursing to the world stage as a very young Troop Leader amongst the USMC, but very rewarding to showcase our countries combat effectiveness. ! was able to command with helicopter gunships in support of me and conduct large scale live fire. Was an awesome experience being only 20 years old.
In 2017 I attended Exercise Talisman Sabre in Australia as part of the New Zealand led Combat Team, alongside the Australian Army, USMC, and island nations. I then attended Ex Southern Katipo in the South Island as the sole NZLAV Troop and Armoured SME. This saw Canadians and Australians embedded into my Troop. We worked very closely with the Combined Island Nation combat team and Australian Combat team.
Since then I have been the Executive Officer of Wellington East Coast Squadron which sees me as a LO and SME when assisting with other units, and commanding the Squadron Command Post.
In my 4 and a bit years in the Army I have been to:
- Brunei during OCS
- San Diego California, and 29 Palms in the Nevada desert.
- Australia 4 times
I have commanded Professional soldiers from NZ, Australia, USA and Canada. I have had Apache Gunships and F18's in support of me and my objectives. There is no job more rewarding then leading Combat Soldiers. I could never have imagined the experiences I have had as a young officer, coming straight out of High school and into a command role as a 19 year old.
Looking back now at Palmy Boys, I cherish my time at the School and the experience and networks I gained. Palmy Boys is a great stepping stone into the Armed forces, and sets you up with skills most schools could not provide. Leadership is a big part of this school, and that is what sets the student of Palmy Boys apart from the rest. Everyone is a leader in some way shape or form, but you can be given the tools and experiences required to become a good leader. And you have all made a giant step towards that by coming to this school.
But Leadership starts with yourself. Now you don't have to be a prefect, or the lst XV captain. I never was. Leadership starts by being able to lead yourself. This could be as little as making your bed in the morning, to having a regular exercise regime that you follow to achieve your goals. But you can't lead others, if you can't square away yourself and walk the walk. When I say walk the walk, you need to be able to represent the skills required for whatever you have chosen to do. For me that means I must be able to not only command the rest of my Troop, but command and fight my own vehicle, as well as be able to fight on the ground side by side with my soldiers. This also means being seen to do the hard yards with your people. Being humble. Being seen on the shop floor servicing the vehicles, cleaning equipment and staying late to get the job done. This will set you aside from just being a boss.
My last point on leadership is understanding you don't have all the answers, and you can't achieve your outcomes by yourself. You achieve these as a team. More importantly your command team. I use the analogy of driving a vehicle together. Some seniors may have done this before. You and your mate on a hot day get some ice creams from your local Maccas, but you're driving a manual car. You combat this by your mate changing the gears while you steer and work the clutch. In a command team, the Troop Sergeant changes the gears, and makes sure the car runs, where as a Troop Leaders will steer the direction of the Troop to his intent and our objective. Troop Sergeants do the technical work and has the experience to ensure we remain a well-oiled machine, and I, as the Troop Leader, will make the tough decisions and ensure we remain on track.
Leadership doesn't have to be a one man thing and definitely shouldn't be that way all the time. You are not the be all and end all of knowledge. A leader is about his team and not himself, but a boss is one who works alone and thinks he/she has all the knowledge. Be the leader, and work for your people not yourself.
Everyone in this hall is a leader, be that in your academic pursuits, or your chosen sport or hobby. Lead yourself, and the rest will come with experience.
Thanks for having me, it's great to come back to the PNBHS lines and relive my high school days which were not so long ago."
