What category of deployed person are you?

Southwest Asia -- In deployed environments, we all have the pleasure of interacting with personnel from across the entire spectrum of the Air Force. The people may be military, civilian, contractors, government employees or non U.S. personnel. No matter what status a person is, they usually fit into one of four categories and from just a brief encounter, you can usually figure out what your interaction with them is going to be like.

I am going to describe these different categories of people we encounter every day and want you to consider which one you and/or your peers can be most closely related too. I also want you to consider how we can best deal with these different types of people.

The first category is complainers. Did you ever meet a person who always finds something wrong with someone or something? You can also describe a complainer as a "naysayer" as nothing is ever good enough. These people will very rarely volunteer to participate in an activity, yet they have the ability to have negative comments about it. When they do volunteer or give a little extra, they expect something in return. A complainer may also think they have bad luck or someone has it out for them.

Next is the gossipers. Good or bad, correct or not, these people have the juicy info. This type of person propagates rumors without verifying the details. They only consider one side of the story and don't bother to find out the other information. Gossipers spread their information, even about their friends or acquaintances. Gossipers tend to get their information from any source available, even if it is not trustworthy. Feelings are often hurt by gossipers. Sometimes complainers and gossipers are one and the same.
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Thirdly are the status quoers.These are the people who just get by. Most of these individuals will attend a function, but not volunteer to set up or take down. Status quoers are sometimes referred to as takers since they want to be part of the action, but don't want to do anything extra to make it succeed. These types of people will go the extra mile, volunteer or help organize only when asked and they often expect something in return.

Finally are the doers. These are the people who get things done, often at a personal sacrifice. They volunteer and participate without asking. They are willing to chair or organize events that benefit others. These people sometimes do things themselves without asking for help to know it gets done. The activities that these people make happen are what the other three categories benefit from. The do'ers are often the subject of gossipers and complainers. Doers usually make things better and ensure actions are followed up on. Doers usually become the go-to people when a job has to get done.

Not only do we encounter these people every day, we have these people in each of our units. Which one are you? What are the types of people you associate with? If there is a problem in your unit, are you willing to help fix it and be part of the solution (doers) or are you just going to complain about the problem, spread bad information and/or ignore it? Depending on which category you or a peer is in, do you deserve special recognition or even a medal for your actions? Did you leave this place better than you found it? Did you get (or not get) a firewalled EPR or LOE? How we carry ourselves, especially in the eyes of others, says a lot about who we are. If you or a peer fits into a category that could be considered negative, what are you doing to fix that?