One anonymous NCO who frequents Reddit\u2019s Army forum received quite a shock when he opened his secret Santa gift Monday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inside the box was a copy of \u201cWe Were Soldiers Once \u2026 and Young,\u201d<\/a> a Vietnam War memoir by Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and Joe Galloway<\/a> that recounts the 1965 Battle of Ia Drang<\/a>. The book was accompanied by a challenge coin and a short note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The gift \u2014 while nice \u2014 isn\u2019t what led the Reddit user, u\/kkronc, to post a photo. It was its sender: Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSSG [redacted],\u201d Grinston wrote in the book, \u201cI hope you enjoy this book. I also wish it can help guide you to build cohesive teams that are highly trained, disciplined, and fit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a phone interview with Army Times, u\/kkronc, a staff sergeant with 11 years in uniform (who asked that Army Times withhold his name and duty station), said he was \u201cgrateful and humbled\u201d by the unexpected gift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When asked who his favorite SMA was, however, he didn\u2019t hesitate: \u201cIt\u2019s gotta be [retired SMA Dan] Dailey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through his public affairs adviser, Grinston has had an active presence in the Army community on Reddit for more than six months. He\u2019s branded himself by having a more personable social media presence across several platforms, where he solicits feedback from the force and discusses Army policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Army forum, a \u201csubreddit\u201d in Reddit parlance, has more than 203,000 subscribers, though not all of them actively post. Although it\u2019s had to expel extremist members<\/a> and report them to the Army in the past, one of its top leaders thinks the Army subreddit is a uniquely suited forum for a leader like Grinston to take the force\u2019s pulse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have a lot of people that are willing to talk Army and are looking for \u2026 community without it necessarily being by name, by rank,\u201d explained u\/Kinmuan, a former soldier who is one of the forum\u2019s moderators and handles external relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the site\u2019s users post under pseudonyms, which allows for a more candid exchange of ideas, he added. The community\u2019s rules ban much of the harassing conduct that some associate with anonymous posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe big difference we\u2019ve seen with Grinston [as opposed to past Army senior leaders] \u2026 is that they are willing to go where soldiers are \u2014 even if what they have to say is not what the Army wants to hear,\u201d u\/Kinmuan said. The site contrasts from others where people \u201cplay Rock, Paper, Rank all the time,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s likely why Grinston has solicited feedback from the Army Reddit community on several occasions. In July, he hosted an online-only Q&A session<\/a> for the service\u2019s birthday. And during his initiatives briefing at the Association of the U.S. Army conference in October, he took audience questions submitted via Reddit<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The moderator also explained that \u201cwhen you look at Facebook and Twitter, you\u2019ve got character limits, and it\u2019s not set up for a real discussion, [whereas] on Reddit, you are able to have constructive feedback of multi-paragraph formatted responses\u201d with hyperlinks and resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes Grinston or his public affairs adviser will chime in when users ask them questions about the Army or leadership, even outside of the designated Q&A posts. And it\u2019s that informal participation \u2014 to include secret Santa \u2014 that leaves users confident Grinston is making the most of their feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s like an open-door policy for mentorship,\u201d said u\/Kinmuan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The soldier who received the package, u\/kkronc, agreed \u2014 though he worded it a little differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe fact that they\u2019re willing to take the time [to engage] \u2026 is so much better than a lot of high level leaders have done in the past,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s like \u2026 you guys might actually care \u2014 hold on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n What\u2019s SMA doing on Reddit?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\n SMA was my secret Santa, apparently. Holy crap.<\/a> from\n army<\/a>\n <\/blockquote>\n