Profiles In leadership: Pete Alvarez '79

&emsp;&emsp;Leadership is an aspect of the Virginia Military Institute's foundation that has culminated in countless alumni, such as George C. Marshall, who have exhibited this quality, recognized all the way to the national stage. There is no doubt that VMI's expertise in molding citizen soldiers comes to define the legacy of the Institute serving the nation and the communities of the United States. One such alumni, Mr. Pete Alvarez, VMI Class of 1979, has built upon this legacy by earning the Career Intelligence Medal, one of the Central Intelligence Agency's highest awards for career service. His career of service and achievement would come to be defined by his lessons learned throughout his career, and especially those during his time attending VMI. What lessons can the Corps of Cadets learn from Mr. Alvarez's exceptional career? What held him to live by the slogan "You may be whatever you resolve to be"? Mr. Alvarez was familiar with the military and VMI growing up. With his father serving in the Army, Mr. Alvarez soon came face-to-face with the Institute at the age of eleven, while his father, a senior instructor in the Army ROTC detachment, taught cadets and future platoon leaders of his experiences in the Vietnam War. Inspired by the uniforms and mystique of VMI, Mr. Alvarez knew he would forge his own path in the United States military just like his father, unaware that his aspirations would land him right back at VMI in the years to come. Constantly moving all his life, Mr. Alvarez soon found himself applying to the United States Military Academy from the Panama Canal Zone, which at the time was still a US territory. While he was not accepted, he still maintained a desire to serve, so, like many cadets, he decided on a military school that was able to offer much more: the Virginia Military Institute. Leaving his family in another part of the world and entering as a minority, Mr. Alvarez matriculated in 1975, facing more challenges than some of his Brother Rats. However, he entered with experience many did not have, including the ability to adapt by virtue of being a military brat. Always being the new kid at school allowed him to hit the ground running, whether he liked it or not. With no roots and a general overview of the ratline from childhood, Mr. Alvarez adjusted to reality and tested his resilience during the ratline. Soon, Mr. Alvarez would break out, and go on to lead future rats as an Echo Company ranker, achieving the ranks of Echo Company 1st Sergeant and Platoon Leader. Besides learning to "run for the rack," Mr. Alvarez also wanted to try the different flavors VMI had to offer. He learned many lessons while acting as the president for the International Students Society and working on The Bomb staff, as well as being the managing editor of his class's Ring Figure magazine. Mr. Alvarez reflected that all of these things were done because he wanted them to remind him of what he did after he left. In terms of how Mr. Alvarez would come to serve his country, his idea was to become an Army aviator, looking to VMI's aviation program with the University of Virginia with high aspirations. Just as he had done before attending VMI, he was forced to adapt when the aviation program was canceled before he could even get a taste. With this, Mr. Alvarez changed course once again, leading him to resolve to become an intelligence officer. Upon graduating from VMI with a degree in history, Mr. Alvarez was a different man. VMI prepared him for the future by imbedding self-confidence, pride in his resilience, clarity in action, resolve for his future, and humility in his life. All of these would come to define his career. Mr. Alvarez was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) upon graduating from Fort McClellan's Military Police Officer Basic Course. Mr. Alvarez would make great strides in his career serving the intelligence community of the United States. After four years serving in the United States Army Reserves and National Guard as a military police officer and then a counterintelligence officer, he would transition to the Naval Reserves as an Air Intelligence Officer. Here, he would find a new passion for intelligence work for the next 12 years. He served as a watch analyst in the Pentagon's National Military Joint Intelligence Center, the Intelligence Plot for the Chief of Naval Operations, and the order-of-battle cell at the Atlantic Command in Norfolk. Mr. Alvarez recalled fondly his three-year tour with VFP-206, the Navy's last RF-8G photo reconnaissance squadron that included a deployment aboard the USS Eisenhower in 1985. However, Mr. Alvarez would come to retire from the military after his distinguished service with very little transition adjustments. Working for the CIA while also serving as a military reservist blended his national security work with support for the warfighter. Highlights from his CIA career include a tour as the Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Conventional Military Issues where he coordinated Intelligence Community assessments on global military issues. He then served as a Presidential Daily Briefer, compiling daily, high-level all source information and analysis of national security issues and delivering it to top policymakers including the Vice President of the United States as well as the Top Four leaders at the Pentagon.. His last assignment would be to the Sherman Kent School for Intelligence Analysis as an instructor and course director. Here, his work in the CIA and his lessons from his history major at VMI would be used to influence the legacy of CIA analysis after 9/11, designing and leading a program strengthening analytical capabilities for the future. This is who Mr. Alvarez was, what he did. These are not what he wishes to pass onto the corps, however. There was a reason Mr. Alvarez was awarded the Career Intelligence Medal upon his retirement, and it was the lessons of leadership and perseverance he learned throughout his time at VMI, and his career. Firstly, despite debate swirling around post this past year, Mr. Alvarez never held feelings of contempt for the Institute even when he experienced forms of persecution. Mr. Alvarez said: "I dealt with it the best I could and knew to suck it up most of the time." But he also stressed the importance of knowing the point where sucking it up is not necessary. Whenever Mr. Alvarez felt a harassing individual had gone too far, he used the VMI chain of command and the individual was disciplined to his satisfaction, more times than not. The point being stressed in Mr. Alvarez's experience is yes, there will be people who look down upon you for the way you are, that is life and sometimes we must learn to take it. Yet, Mr. Alvarez wants every cadet to know that there is a threshold where someone's inappropriate actions are unwarranted. During those times it is important to use the proper means to deal with these persecutions. Going through the Institute taught Mr. Alvarez the importance of being flexible with your leadership style, for there is more than one way to lead. As a ranker, Mr. Alvarez had a hand in molding ratlines, directing, and teaching the rats each year. Yet, it was the distinct difference between directing and teaching that influenced Alvarez the most. Occasionally, whether during his ratline or after, Mr. Alvarez saw some members of cadre focusing too much on directing, yelling, being aggressive, that rats did not learn anything by contempt for them. This was not leadership to Mr. Alvarez and motivated him to be a better cadre member for the rats. Mr. Alvarez recognized there was a time to be stern and direct rats, but more often was the time to be firm and teach rats to become better. Leadership is more than just criticism; it is about constructive criticism. As a second classman and the 1st Sergeant for Echo Company, Mr. Alvarez found dealing with the old corps required a different form of leadership. Mr. Alvarez recalls that during his time at VMI, the 1st Sergeant oversaw the guard roster that some upperclassmen were unhappy to fill. When a First would come to him upset to be on guard, Mr. Alvarez would sit him down and explain: "look, this is my job, and this is your responsibility." As many leaders do, Mr. Alvarez found that explaining the why to others is important for them to accept your authority and leadership. Some Firsts were not content with Mr. Alvarez and would approach their brother rat company commander to avoid duty, only to hear the same thing Mr. Alvarez explained to them. As a leader, you also must know your job and its responsibilities well. Leadership is being able to persuade others to respect the authority of your responsibilities. If not, you risk making unnecessary enemies, something Mr. Alvarez learned you may have to face in the future. Collaborating with others is a level of leadership as well, Mr. Alvarez learned this through his efforts as President in the International Students Society (ISS) and beyond VMI. At VMI, Mr. Alvarez worked with students from across the world with different perspectives and experiences. Transitioning between the Army, Naval Reserves, and the CIA, Mr. Alvarez supervised teams of analysts working together to compose intelligence reports for policy makers. Learning to be a leader is knowing how to work well with others with different objectives, perspectives, experiences, because you cannot be a leader, or if you are not a leader do your job well, without collaboration. Advising the upper levels of policy making as an intelligence officer taught Mr. Alvarez to not only build upon his lessons learned at VMI but also develop new ones. One he learned was about providing intelligence directly to key decision makers. Mr. Alvarez's responsibility was briefing these officials who had very little time and patience for unsubstantiated assessments. Here Mr. Alvarez learned the value of communication. As Mr. Alvarez put it: "It was never how much you knew, it was how well you could convey what they needed to know." Cadets should learn the value of quality over quantity in expressing themselves, because you may find yourself wasting someone's time and your own if you are not concise and clear. At the Sherman Kent School for Intelligence Analysis, Mr. Alvarez took his experiences in leadership during his career to teach future CIA analysts, and now VMI cadets. Coming into the Kent School as an instructor, Mr. Alvarez put his teaching and persuasion skills to the test with each class of aspiring analysts. He found that younger students were easier to teach because they were eager about the course and integrating within the analytic culture. Yet, older students, sometimes retired military officers starting a second career, proved often troublesome in class. It was difficult, but Mr. Alvarez eventually could persuade these students that just because they had prior military experience did not mean they had the experience required to be a CIA analyst. This is something VMI always tries to teach, and which cadets should always remember: No matter your background, accomplishments, or experiences you will not know everything. Keep an open mind and be willing to learn from others. Mr. Alvarez was always willing to share his personal experiences as an analyst with his students to impart lessons learned throughout a three-decade career. For example, he once was relating experiences to explain how the intelligence community gets a bad reputation for its failures because outsiders do not appreciate the complexity of predicting the future with often limited, ambiguous, and contradictory information. One student chimed into the discussion saying "Wow. You've had a lot of failures." To which Mr. Alvarez quickly replied: "Yeah, and so will you." The student was taken aback because she, like many students and cadets, thought she was invincible because of her youth. This is what both students and cadets must realize: we will undoubtedly make mistakes and should prepare to learn from them to avoid repeating past mistakes. Mr. Alvarez's advice is simple: "Learn from past mistakes. If you make mistakes, make new ones, and then learn from those." The parting advice Mr. Alvarez has to offer goes to incoming rats, upperclassmen, and alumni is this: "Take the long view." As a rat, during hellweek doing morning runs with his M14 or during his sweat parties, there came moments where Mr. Alvarez thought he could not last another minute. In the end, he persevered, and no matter what you go through you will survive too. How Mr. Alvarez survived was remembering those words in Jackson Arch: "You may be whatever you resolve to be." Alvarez resolved to be an intelligence officer and more, and with clear ambition he learned that he could always make it if he just held on a little longer. Find what you resolve to be, look to the future, and do not get stuck worrying.