Developing an effective training program represents a challenge for any unit. At the brigade level, simply resourcing and synchronizing a training program that creates capable subordinate formations easily consumes nearly all available time. Further, necessarily weighting the predominance of available training time and resources at the company level and below to maintain small unit proficiency constitutes another essential demand on a brigade’s organizational energy.
In the end, commanders often find their brigade and battalion staff training programs treated as an afterthought. They neglect the very individuals we hold responsible for translating guidance into coherent orders, tracking and ensuring our unit’s mission preparation activities, and synchronizing the execution of operations. Due to a myriad of competing demands, some staff training programs often devolve into a series of brown bag lunches and tactical decision exercises. While these types of sessions may help a staff, they lack both the depth and breadth of a holistic training program designed to train our staffs to plan, prepare, and execute operations simultaneously.
In an environment dedicated to training decisive action (DA) in a large scale combat operations (LSCO) construct, the primary indicators of unit’s success at the National Training Center (NTC) are simple. First, good units arrive trained at the Company level and below in the fundamental tasks for which their formation was designed. Essentially, these small units demonstrate mastery of fundamental tasks. Second, good units arrive with battalion and brigade staffs proficient in assisting the Commander in the operations process. While no staff will ever win a battle, un-trained staffs often doom operations to failure by failing to perform their fundamental tasks. To succeed when called upon, battalion and brigade commanders must plan and resource their staff training programs just like any other unit.
Modern Army doctrine briefly covers staff training programs compared to previous doctrine. Instead of separately describing staff “battle tasks” today’s doctrine simply portrays the staff as another unit that requires individual through collective training in order to accomplish a wartime mission. Similarly, our formal command guidance regarding staff training and preparation often lacks the detail needed for commanders to truly understand how to train a staff. While there may be exceptions, on average, brigade and battalion staff training programs boil down to attending a CTC’s Leader Training Program (LTP) combined with the execution of some brigade or battalion level home station training event. Most often, staffs get two to three repetitions executing all phases of the operations process simultaneously, normally focusing on one or two METs for the BCT. Our companies and platoons (and below) at the tip of the spear need us to do better.
This document describes a methodology for developing a brigade level staff training program in preparation for a mission to conduct large scale combat operation against a near peer threat. Adapted for staff size and capacity, the same methodology can be applied at the battalion level. Additionally, this training program can be accomplished within a unit’s normal training cycle, without decrementing the reps and sets dedicated to training company level and below formations.
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THIS NTC OPS GROUP DOCUMENT, BUILDING YOUR BRIGADE STAFF TRAINING PROGRAM
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