NCOs and officers work for years to achieve the privilege of leading a company of soldiers. For many, the opportunity to shape the culture, operations, training, and leadership of a company is a career highlight. Few up-and-coming leaders, however, aspire to lead a Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC). This phenomenon is understandable. HHCs present unique challenges and leadership dynamics that are unfamiliar and uncomfortable to many leaders.
Similarities with Line Companies
Unique characteristics aside, leadership of a headquarters company requires similar leadership skills and priorities as any other command. Training, particularly for individual, crew, and lethality-based tasks fall squarely on the command’s shoulders. Management of maintenance, supply, and health of the force functions requires significant leader emphasis. As with all formations, the company command team is the face of the organization. The relationships that you build internally and externally significantly impact the reputation, trust, and effectiveness of your company.
Front and Center
As an HHC command team, you live in your bosses back yard. For every PT session, sergeant’s time training, or master resiliency class, you should count on the commander, executive officer (XO), or command sergeant’s major (CSM) showing up. You don’t have the luxury of keeping friction and inevitable SNAFUs conveniently out of sight. Embrace it- there are upsides to living in the belly of the beast. As the command team that is sure to get the most “face time” with the bosses, you can help shape their opinions and decisions.
Remember that the hallway from the command and staff offices to the company headquarters works both ways. Making the rounds to see the soldiers at work in the shops is vital. Use these trips to stay abreast of what the headquarters is working on. Providing input on sustainment requirements or taskings is as valuable for the staff as it is for you. Battalion staff sections are full of hard-working individuals typically with more requirements than time. Help refine their assumptions and give them a nudge in the right direction. Your peers will thank you.
Relationships
Perhaps the most frustrating challenge with leading an HHC is obvious- you don’t rate most subordinate leaders in your formation. This isn’t a cop-out; it’s a reality that you should address head-on. Unlike in a line company, many of the leaders in your company have multiple bosses. Consider the S1 NCOIC. They report to the S1, but informally to the CSM, battalion XO, and HHC 1SG as well. Most of these leaders are hard-working and very good at their jobs. Conflicting interests are just as frustrating to them as they are to you.
Recognize that there are other stakeholders involved, some of whom outrank you, and get everyone on the same page. Odds are that your XO, S3, and CSM want to support your training and company events. Discuss your training glidepath and the events that you need their support to protect. Include shared expectations for battle-rhythm events like PT, weekly maintenance, and sergeant’s time. Likewise, discuss events critical to the staff (ie. Command Post Exercises), and how the company can support and enhance training. Finally, recognize that there will be times you have to meet the staff halfway. Running an LMTV-shuttle from the BN HQ to the qualification range is likely to make some command teams cringe. In the Realpolitik world of headquarters operations, it is a surefire way to accomplish your training objectives.
Leading Staff Sections: A Slightly Different Approach
When it comes to shop or section OICs and NCOICs, the “line company approach” to managing leaders may prove unfruitful. “Meet in 1SGs office in 15 minutes” may work fine for a line company but is unrealistic for staff NCOICs. Let me be clear- HHC command team, you are in charge. You are responsible for managing and disseminating information to the company. Recognize, however, that you will likely have to plan for touch-points with your team and schedule them around other events. Here is where a deliberate and disciplined battle rhythm will pay dividends and reduce conflict.
Training
Carving out time to pry soldiers and leaders away from the headquarters to train is tricky, but crucial. The training glidepath will likely be built around staff-centric activities that will trump your own events. Nonetheless, combat environments and CTCs can quickly make the training deficiencies of HHCs glaringly obvious.
Of course, as with any company, you will never have as much time to train as you want. Medics and specialty platoons have relatively straight-forward training gates and tables. For the rest of your formation, however, defining acceptable readiness is less clear. Shop OICs and NCOICs are likely incredibly proficient and prepared to train their shops in their MOS-related tasks. They are likely less focused on things like weapons or drivers training. You will have to accept risk somewhere but consider the following questions when formulating your training glidepath.
- How proficient are your vehicle crews and drivers? Are you comfortable with their ability to drive under NVDs? As one of the most dangerous activities they execute, how are you deliberately certifying them to drive at night?
- What level of individual and crew-served weapon proficiency are you training for? Are you satisfied to culminate with qualification, or will you incorporate advanced marksmanship training?
- Can your SUAS fly tomorrow if needed? Have you built operator redundancy into your program?
- What is the plan to defend the main command post? How is the company certified in that task? Moreover, are you prepared to defend against an armored threat?
- What tasks are you responsible for to support the battalion? For example, Stryker Battalion HHCs carry a Mission Essential Task (MET) for Operational Decontamination. Is a team trained, equipped, and manned to execute this task? Or will your Chem-O stare at the battalion XO in horror when told to develop a decontaminate Alpha Company?
Operations
Determining where to position oneself as a line commander is a task that most officers are comfortable with. But where is the HHC commander’s place on the battlefield? ATP 6-0.5 Command Post Organization and Operations suggests that the HHC commander leads the battalion Field Trains Command Post (FTCP). In practice, however, the tactical roles and placement of HHC commanders and command teams varies from organization to organization. Some considerations for you to address include:
- What role (if any) does the company headquarters play in battalion CP establishment? For displacement? Leaders recon? Quartering parties?
- Are the operations listed above codified in SOP? Do you rehearse them?
- Is there an established concept for command post security and defense? Who is responsible for leading defensive/security measures?
It is likely that answers to these questions exist in SOP, command guidance, or, at least, precedent. It is also likely that the commander is more concerned with operations occurring elsewhere in battle space. Similarly, the battalion XO is concerned primarily with occurrences within the confines of the command post. There may be room for improvement in the aforementioned matters, but they require initiative on your part to gain traction. The battalion Operations Sergeant Major is typically a good resource for determining capabilities and assessing potential improvements.
Enablers
For many operations and training events, enablers are task-organized to the battalion to enhance existing capabilities or bring entirely new capabilities to the fight. Often, battalions task organize these enablers to the HHC to administer until such time that they are employed. Moreover, integrating enablers is a deliberate task that, if neglected, can have significant impacts on operations. Clearly understanding the command or support relationship is critical. If time allows, establishing contact with the enabling unit and their parent organization eases friction.
Brigade-organic enablers, for example a retransmission team, are relatively easy to integrate due to shared SOPs and platform commonality. Echelons Above Brigade (EAB) enablers, particularly those from other services or components, present unique challenges. It’s possible that the National Guard Engineer platoon is operating on a different JCR software update than you are. These units may not have JCR at all. Moreover, they may bring equipment to the fight that your maintainers lack the training or bench-stock to service. Indeed it’s likely that they are unfamiliar with your battalion SOPs, reports, and battle rhythm. This is a complex problem, but the bottom line is that your commander needs someone to take responsibility for it.
Embrace It
As an HHC commander it’s unlikely that you’ll be planning and executing maneuver live-fires (Sorry). However, the majority of HHCs have significant room for improvement in areas like physical readiness, individual skill proficiency, and overall cohesion. Some suffer from a leadership culture stemming from company command teams that have demoted themselves to managers. Indeed, the leadership principles that make successful line company command teams are just as applicable to an HHC command team. Adapting to the hierarchical nuances of your new organization will only improve your effectiveness.
Officer in Germany, and as a Brigade Engineer/Planner and Company Commander in an SBCT. Matt has spent time in the CENTCOM, EUCOM and INDOPACOM areas of responsibility. He is a reluctant runner, and novice woodworker, but is most enthusiastic about spending time with his newborn daughter. Matt is the managing editor of The Azimuth Check, a Cadet-focused page at The Company Leader.Complete archive of The Company Leader Posts