You sound like a good officer. Leading by example is always the way to gain respect from your troops. Joining in on a shit job and helping them out makes you part of the team and your guys will go the extra mile for you.

I used to hate the officers that would lead only in the runs/PT and drop the ball in everything else (more than one got peered out of our units...). I thought for a while that the only thing taught in OCS was how to be arrogant and of course *running*

unrelated:

My earlier comments were made largely in jest. I served several years on active duty and it must have warped my sensibilities. I think it's great that she made it back, but I also see it as PR and a medal awarded for getting lost...I just consider myself fortunate that none of the bonehead things I did earned me medals The awards I got that were important to me were always the ones that we all got as a unit--those are the ones that count. I think that most soldiers would be tolerant of my comments knowing that I served in that theater along with many others. I am sorry if I offended any that haven't served