This is part rant, part LPT.

We all joke about that E7 we know who can't read, but really it isn't funny. It's unprofessional as hell, and people with these deficiencies need to make correcting them a high priority. We communicate by reading, writing, and speaking. If you can't do these things passably well, you cannot adequately function in a professional environment.

Use your TA; take classes to improve your skills. Other leaders: pull these individuals aside and address the issue. Yes, it's embarrassing. But if we don't draw attention to it, then it won't change.

A few easy ones for anyone who might make simple mistakes:

• Never use an apostrophe to pluralize a word or an acronym. It's "NCOs" not "NCO's". It's "the 90s" not "the 90's". Apostrophes are for ownership and contractions only.

• Read your slides aloud before you brief them. If you have to sound out words, don't use them or practice until you don't have to do that before you brief it.

• Their = ownership. They're = they are. There = everything else.