While combat arms battalion commanders and company commanders maneuver their units to accomplish battalion level objectives, the Brigade Support Battalion (BSB) Commander and his or her company commanders must maneuver their units to enable the breadth and depth of the entire Brigade Combat Team’s (BCT) operation. The BCT’s maneuver battalions fight to achieve BCT tactical objectives, and the Fires Battalion and Engineer Battalion shape for the maneuver battalions. Only the BSB, however, continually supports all seven organic battalions within a BCT.
The employment of an Armored Brigade Combat Team’s sustainment units is born of the necessity to ensure an unbroken chain of supply across time and space. The Brigade Support Battalion (BSB) and Forward Support Companies (FSC) must keep pace with their supported units in austere environments and over difficult terrain. Sustainment units must accomplish this with vehicles, equipment and materiel that require a vast amount of space to employ and emplace. During Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO), this will require the BSB and FSCs to integrate and synchronize simultaneous sustainment operations over great distances while protecting themselves from the enemy.
In order for a BSB Commander and company commanders, to include the FSCs, to find success during LSCO, they must begin synchronization and integration with their training plans at home station. To be successful, the BSB Commander must have the trust and confidence of the maneuver commanders to allow him or her the latitude to do so.
Trust and Relationships
Often the first time the FSCs and BSB participate in combined training is during a Brigade-level home station exercise. Sometimes, it is even a CTC rotation. At this late stage, working together can meet with resistance; even with total buy-in, it is incredibly difficult to integrate the teams. FSCs must participate in BSB training early on. From there, relationships form, and sustainers at all echelons gain proficiencies that will guarantee success in LSCO. This approach requires emphasis from Brigade Command Team leadership and buy in from maneuver battalion commanders. Trust in home station training leads to trust on the battlefield.
Successful units demonstrate the following when it comes to executing sustainment operations on the battlefield:
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- The Brigade Commander exhibits trust in the BSB Commander as he or she executes her role as the Senior Logistician within the Brigade.
- The relationship between the BSB Senior Enlisted Leader and Senior Enlisted Leaders across the Brigade encourages NCO leadership during the execution of sustainment on the battlefield.
- Shared understanding between the BSB Command Team and Supported Battalion Command Teams of the requirements to train and development the FSCs.
These relationships will enable decisions to be made at the speed of war and allow maneuver commanders to shift focus to their tactical tasks while having the confidence in their sustainers to have the right stuff, at the right place, at the right time.
The Senior Logistician
“The brigade support battalion (BSB) commander is the BCT’s senior logistician. The BSB commander is responsible for sustainment synchronization and execution across the BCT’s area of operation.”
The BSB Commander should be viewed as the BCT’s lead sustainment coordinator in the same manner as the Field Artillery Battalion Commander serves as the Fire Support Team Coordinator (FiSTCOORD). In both cases, these battalion commanders serve as the BCT’s subject matter experts (SME) for their warfighting function, and exercise oversight over the soldiers who execute it.
Within the BCT, the BSB Commander uniquely has the resident knowledge to direct technical and tactical training, as well as managing the talent of sustainers throughout the BCT. The BSB commander sees the BCT’s entire sustainment warfighting function holistically. Therefore, he or she is best suited to task organize, technically develop and provide recommendations on the training plan for sustainers across the Brigade. Successful BSB Commanders spend more than half of their time focusing up and outwards to the brigade level to ensure systems are working and sustainers remain at their maximum state of readiness. LSCO and its speed of operations across great distances will demand this degree of focus in order to sustain the brigade while in contact with a near-peer enemy.
“The BSB commander must understand the supported commander’s plan and then execute support so the supported brigade maintains freedom of action and maneuver. Synchronizing current and future support requirements with the supported brigade are the hallmarks of successful support.”
Interviews with rotational units at the CTCs suggest the training plan for sustainers is often neglected due to competing requirements at home station. Once arriving at the CTC, many BSB
Commanders are held accountable for any lack of training and development of sustainers across the brigade. As the Senior Logistician, it is the BSB Commander’s responsibility to ensure all sustainment units within the BCT conduct the required training and professional development. A BSB commander must put forth the same amount of time and effort to develop the FSC leadership as he or she would with the base companies. This means unit level training and professional development programs at home station, but also ensuring sustainment systems are established and enforced across the BCT.
The BSB Commander cannot accomplish any of this alone. Successful Support Battalion Commanders put forth extreme effort to establish a relationship that is built on trust with their peers. To completely ensure BSB Commander’s success as the Sustainment Coordinator, the Brigade Commander must provide command emphasis on sustainment readiness and sustainment talent management, and empower the BSB Commander to oversee and execute them.
Without the BSB Commander assuming the responsibility of sustainment operations on the battlefield, the burden of sustainment falls directly on the FSC Commanders. Observations at the NTC show FSC Commanders simply don’t have the requisite knowledge and experience to execute BCT sustainment on their own. They have difficulty anticipating all requirements, and do not have the experience or perspective to visualize operations. FSC commanders which lack the benefit of BSB coordination, integration, and synchronization often see the culmination of their supported battalions, and potentially the brigade.
The BSB Senior Enlisted Leader
The importance of the Sustainment NCO Corps cannot be understated. The key to establishing sound Senior Enlisted Leader relationships within a Brigade Combat Team (BCT) starts with the relationship between the Brigade Support Battalion (BSB) CSM and the BCT CSM. This relationship is the foundation on which all other BN CSMs will build their relationships with the BSB CSM.
Trust established between the BCT CSM and the BSB CSM allows for a number of things to follow, including successful sustainment manning management. The BSB CSM managing FSC manning is key to successful sustainment for the brigade. Successfully executing this process will ensure not only key personnel being placed in the right positions, but that personnel are distributed appropriately across the battalions. If the highest echelons of the brigade place emphasis and support here, then the correct relationships across NCO leaders will form because the Senior Enlisted Leaders demand it.
The BSB CSM has the added responsibility of a command relationship with the FSCs. FSCs work directly for their supported battalions, and so fall under the leadership and oversight of their supported battalion CSMs. Interactions between all battalion CSMs must be established early and formed on mutual respect. Poor and unprofessional relationships among these senior NCOs potentially risks the entire battalion and brigade support structure. A balance must be reached between BSB leadership and the supported battalion leadership in order to ensure clear guidance is given to the FSC command team. Business practices and lines of responsibility should be spelled out in a written memorandum of agreement or SOP. There is home station training and relationships that need to be established amongst these FSCs, the BSB, and the supported battalions in order for the sustainment trains to be successful in combat.
Strong CSM relationships within a BCT also increases the level of shared understanding. Having an understanding of what challenges the other battalions face and a general knowledge of their warfighting functions is very important when it comes to anticipating what is needed on the battlefield. Being able to anticipate each other’s needs and the common issues seen during combat will lead to the ability to solve issues before they become problems. As an example, knowing there are heavy maintenance issues within a certain maneuver battalion allows the BSB CSM to emphasize placing the right mechanic talent within that battalion to ensure the maintenance program is properly managed from the start.
The BSB command team will also be able to work with supported command teams to make sure the right combination of Officer and NCO talent is spread to each of the supported battalions ensuring each battalion is manned appropriately. Actions such as this help form trust amongst the CSMs and other senior leaders.
Training and Developing the Forward Support Company
The FSCs are considered the link from the BSB to the supported battalions/ squadron and are the organizations that provide the BCT the greatest flexibility for providing logistics support. In order for FSCs to survive on the battlefield, it is imperative that they are allowed time to train on their sustainment tasks. It is also imperative they are allowed to train on their tactical tasks, warrior tasks and battle drills as much as their supported units.
Sustainment training takes place at echelon. As examples, fuelers must know the standard for grounding their vehicles, distro platoons must understand how to execute the BCT’s standard for an LRP, and FSCs must be accustomed to drawing supplies from the BSB’s companies. Much of this training can, and should take place within the course of sustaining supported battalions. The critical point is that the BSB provides standards and expertise to inform the FSCs and that sustainment execution realistically matches the BCT’s SOPs for distribution and maintenance. This includes the role of the FSC commander as the battalion or squadron senior logistician. Supported units who allow the FSC CDR to administer and train their unit but treat battalion sustainment in garrison as primarily the responsibility of their XO and S4 are units who lose the opportunity to train tactical systems.
Tactical tasks include significant training requirements such as weapons qualification and proficiency, Mounted Machine Gun Gunnery, Convoy STX Lanes, LRP/LOGPAC operations and participation in a Brigade Support Area Live Fire Exercise. These training events cannot be minimized to ease supported unit maneuver training. Supported maneuver units who understand their FSCs must be as well-trained as their combat arms soldiers at employing their weapons and reacting to contact will ensure their FSCs can survive and sustain in LSCO.
The training and professional development of FSC leadership is a shared responsibility between BSB leadership and the supported battalion’s leadership. The most successful combat arms units ensure their FSCs’ professional development and treat them the same as their organic companies, batteries, and troops, ensuring FSCs understand and can support how their supported battalion fights. The BSB command team provides technical guidance, mentorship within sustainment career branches, and helps the FSC understand and manage talent internally in a technical manner that a maneuver battalion commander cannot.
In many cases, BSB Commanders are reluctant to provide guidance and direction to FSC Commanders because they do not want to create unnecessary friction with their peers. Even in the most tightly integrated BCTs, the BSB Commander may lack visibility on the FSC’s day-to-day activity because of the geographic separation unique to the BSB and FSCs. This means FSC CDRs have to take the initiative, and seek professional growth from their BSB Commander.
In successful units, supported battalion commanders encourage the relationship between the BSB and their supporting FSCs without hesitation. Supported battalion commanders should not fear that the BSB Commander is trying to assume control of their FSC, and BSB commanders should give them no reason to think otherwise. Good commanders of all branches understand there need for solid working relationships.
Maneuver commanders must ask themselves:
- What does tactical readiness mean for the sustainers?
- Who is responsible for the training and developing the sustainers across the brigade?
- How do I define sustainment readiness within the BCT?
- Who is responsible for tactical sustainment readiness at echelon within the BCT?
- Am I setting the same training expectation for my sustainment crews as my maneuver crews?
Routine observations from the NTC include units neglecting the training requirements of the sustainment organizations to focus attention on sustaining maneuver training at home station. Many have a role in the training and professional development of their sustainers. But the BSB Commander must be provided the latitude to train and provide professional development of the sustainers in the BCT. This latitude starts with empowerment from the Brigade Commander and ends with the professional and trusting relationship between all Battalion Commanders across the BCT.
Leaders at the tactical level must understand the readiness of their people and equipment, to include the readiness of their supporting organization. Sustainers must be able to support and execute their warrior tasks and battle drills to standard. They must be proficient on their weapon systems and their sustainment platforms. Finally, they must and have a general understanding of the tactical tasks and endstate dictated to their supported unit. Without this understanding, they will be unable to nest their sustainment plan with the scheme of maneuver. Sustainment plans which synchronize with the scheme of maneuver will ensure tactical organizations can survive and win in LSCO.
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This is part of a series of posts focused on Leader Development in Contact. Click HERE for the rest of the series. Footnotes are annotated in the PDF version found on the Series homepage.
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