Here are the articles that were published on the PS Magazine website the month of December, 2021:
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry Regiment, 198th Infantry Brigade, maneuver as an Infantry Rifle Squad (By Patrick Albright, US Army)
Category Archives: Leadership
New Books…Same Year?
2021 in Books
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In many ways, 2021 felt like a continuation of 2020. We entered with a deadly pandemic, national challenges, and a lot of personal struggles. As a nation, it might feel like we are exiting much the same. Individually, my hope is that you are not. Hopefully, you were able to accomplish some of your personal goals and professional development over the last year. I pray you found some mental and emotional peace. For me, part of that stillness comes through reading and reflecting. Below are the books I read in 2021, with a call-out of my top 10 books.
Missing the Forest for the Trees
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Professional journals, news articles and opinion blogs are rife with both praise and criticism for the new Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT). While supporters laud the ACFT for its comprehensive assessment of multiple fitness domains and its foundation in the physical demands of combat, critics decry logistical and equipment challenges, controversial scoring standards, and the potential for increased injury rates. Broad consensus regarding the ACFT’s efficacy is further complicated by the congressional halt of full-scale implementation as the test undergoes a third-party review. Regardless of the merits and drawbacks of the ACFT, it is but a single piece in a much larger investment in how we understand, assess, and improve the health and fitness of the force. Specifically, this broader and more fundamental policy shift is the implementation of the Army’s Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) system.
Army Spc. Kiana Malbas participates in an Army Combat Fitness Test at the University of California, Los Angeles, July 17, 2021. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Oposnow)
Steadfast Empathy
Leading Through the Vaccination Mandate
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“They don’t want the shot? F*ck ‘em, kick ‘em out.” This has been the literal, verbatim reaction from many leaders across the Department of Defense in recent weeks. These leaders, in their haste to achieve metrics, have lost sight of the “why” of the vaccination in the first place. The repercussions of this lack of empathy are likely to extend far beyond the vaccination and into many other areas of service life if not addressed immediately.
The fight against COVID-19 continues and vaccination of the force is a priority mission. Fort Bragg has engaged its soldiers through podcasts, town halls, and other mediums to address concerns and educate the formation.
Efficient Self-Development
How Leaders Can Develop the Best Version of Themselves
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Today is the day. Today I will put the phone on mute, sit down with a book, and dedicate my time to developing my personal attributes. Then I will take some time to reflect on my actions and formulate ways to improve and become more in-tuned to my growth. Today is the day that I put all of my responsibilities as a leader, father, husband, and friend aside and truly focus on my self-development. The time has come that I set aside this significant amount of time every single day to invest in a better me.
Also me: Yeah, good luck with that, buddy.
Self Development creates the best Soldier, Leader, and person that we can be
Reconnaissance Done Right
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The scout platoon’s fundamental role is to conduct forceful or stealthy reconnaissance that satisfies information requirements to set conditions for successful operations of the supported unit. Scout platoons are the primary collection asset in the cavalry troop, and the organic reconnaissance unit available to infantry and armor battalions. This article highlights a narrative of a concept developed to maximize success at NTC and the discussion of how to utilize scouts and snipers for future force designs, and a way to cut out redundancy that plagues our institutional courses within the Army.
Army Staff Sgt. Mathew Fox waits to engage a target in the live-fire stalk event during the 2012 International Sniper Competition at the U.S. Army Sniper School on Fort Benning, Ga., Nov. 3, 2012. Fox, a sniper, is assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade, 2nd Battalion, 69 Armor Regiment. (U.S. Army photo by Ashley Cross)
The Equipment Status Report
A Tool or Weapon?
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When I took the guidon of a company in an Armor Brigade Combat Team (ABCT), having only served in light units, my first battalion maintenance meeting was a culture shock. When the Battalion Maintenance Officer (BMO) handed out copies of our Equipment Status Report (ESR), I thought it looked like a book of hieroglyphics. After taking a few seconds to look it over, I scrambled to identify which tanks were mine and what faults existed. I was up at bat and I had to brief what actions I planned to take to fix my maintenance faults. My ESR was 26 pages long. I had no answers and stumbled through the brief with the help of my Executive Officer (XO). As I listened to the rest of the brief, it felt as though the ESR could only earn unwanted negative attention. After a few nights of review and reflection, my outlook on the ESR was decidedly different. I realized we shouldn’t dread the ESR. In fact, it was the key to getting the parts and support my company needed to get in the fight.
Soldier Assigned to 2/278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, Task Force Raider performs preventive maintenance checks and services at Bemowo Piskie, Poland.The purpose of a PMCS is to improve the overall effectiveness of the equipment while reducing the number of failures and injuries during combat.
How to Run a Range
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It seems so simple, which is likely why we mess it up so often. Running a small arms range is a basic task for any new lieutenant or platoon leader. And yet, leaders often fail to maximize these training events. I recently had a former soldier of mine, turned green-to-gold lieutenant, reach out to ask for advice as he prepared to plan and execute his first small arms range. Below is a version of the thoughts I sent back to him.
U.S. Army photo retrieved from the 82nd Airborne Division Facebook Page, December 14, 2020.
Leading Trauma Victims in the Military
3 Steps to Achieve Individual and Unit Success
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Trauma triggers could come from a sudden loud noise.
They could arise from the act of facing away from the door in a restaurant.
They could even come from Virtual reality SHARP training and SHARP escape rooms.
Not all “triggers”, or stimuli that induce a trauma response, are obvious. Not all warrant a leader’s effort to minimize their effects. However, in some cases triggers can be reduced or eliminated through simple and worthwhile measures. Teammates who perceive they have a measure of control over their environment are less likely to be triggered. Leaders who are mindful of trauma responses and take reasonable measures to minimize unnecessary triggers will foster teams that can perform at their best.
At one end of the spectrum, some service members experience PTSD symptoms under which they cannot and will not function effectively on a timeline that the military should accommodate. Commanders and physicians typically share in making such a determination. At the other end, many service members experience only minor adverse effects in their work performance. The difficulty for leaders lies in the gray middle.
A soldier buckles up in the hopes of earning the the Expert Soldier Badge. Soldiers whose leader’s help them manage trauma can face these opportunities with the grit and resilience required to achieve success (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jessica Scott).
Missing the Mark: The US Army’s Project Athena
Revising a Poorly Named Leadership Survey
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The Army Mission Command Center of Excellence (MCCoE) recently unveiled Project Athena Self-Development Tool, the “Army’s premier effort to provide leaders feedback about the skills, capabilities, and tendencies they possess and how those individual differences relate to being a strong leader.” There are several reasons for soldiers to be concerned if this effort is the best that the Center for the Army Profession and Leadership can put forward during a period of challenges in recruitment, retention, and public opinion.
1st Lt. Kelly Brown from Apache Troop, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division conducts a 5-mile run as part of the Bronco Fitness Challenge at F-Quad, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii on Mar. 22, 2021. The Bronco Fitness Challenge is a competition over the course of three days that assesses Soldiers on their muscular strength, muscular endurance, anaerobic, and aerobic endurance in order to give feedback on their physical readiness and gain the title of the fittest Soldier in the brigade.