Category Archives: Lessons from Atropia

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The Battalion Battle Captain

A Staff Lieutenant at JRTC

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Life as a staff lieutenant has many demands. As the battle captain, you will be responsible for managing all of the information coming in and out of the Main Command Post (MCP) and control all current operations. Your command team, staffs, and company leadership will lean on you heavily for an updated status of the operation. You will have minimal guidance and instruction yet will be expected to perform at the level of a career course-qualified Captain. Too easy, right?

Life at a CTC for a staff lieutenant often means a similar surrounding of radios, maps, and trackers inside an command post tent or expando van. (U.S. Army photo submitted by author).
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Ambulance Exchange Point (AXP) Ops in LSCO

Keys to Success at the CTCs and in Combat

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Ambulance Exchange Points (AXPs) are quintessential to the successful, expeditious evacuation of casualties from Point of Injury (POI) throughout the continuum of care during Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO) and Multi-Domain Operations (MDO). With our near-peer/peer competitors possessing anti-air assets, air medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) may not always be available to the maneuver unit, especially between the Forward Line of Troops (FLOT) to the nearest Role of Care. Commanders must understand how to best utilize their ambulance squads, how to move AXPs throughout operations, and what tactical considerations to take when selecting AXP.

U.S. Soldiers assigned to the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team and 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, both 3rd Infantry Division, participate in medical evacuation training near Ziemsko, Poland, June 6, 2020. Exercise Allied Spirit, a DEFENDER-Europe 20 linked exercise, originally scheduled for May, takes place at Drawsko Pomorskie Training Area, Poland, June 15-19, 2020.
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Leader Development in Contact

Introduction

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At the National Training Center, we spend time assisting units to build their understanding of doctrine, the operations process, the science of control, and the fundamentals our units must execute on the modern battlefield.  While critical to our success on future battlefields, some rotational units overlook the most critical element of combat power:  leadership.  

Lightning Forge 20 Night Air Assault. U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Sarah Sangster.
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Battlefield Leadership – From the Fort to the Front

The Power of Leadership at the Point of Contact

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If you’re an Army professional, you’ve probably experienced this scenario:  You’ve subscribed to a litany of military social media outlets and other mediums that perpetuate a nearly constant stream of leadership focused articles.  Each time one pops up, you open it…wondering what you can learn to become a better leader.  While many are helpful and provide niche comments on ways to improve, they often miss the primary point of Army leadership:  To inspire others to risk their lives to accomplish missions of importance to the Nation.

Lightning Forge 20 Night Air Assault. U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Sarah Sangster
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Moments that Matter

Leading in Crucial Moments at the National Training Center

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During the crucible of training for Large Scale Combat Operations at the National Training Center (NTC), leaders face conditions that are impossible to replicate at home station. Time, distance, the pace of operations, the desert environment, and a ruthless, thinking opposing force combine to challenge the Brigade Combat Teams in unforeseen ways. 

U.S. Army soldiers assigned to Alpha Company, 2-136 Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Minnesota National Guard, engage simulated enemy forces during Decisive Action Rotation 20-08.5 at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif., July 25, 2020. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Brooke Davis, Operations Group, National Training Center.)
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The Importance of Relationships and their Effects on the Battlefield

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It was a dry, hot day in August 2017 at the U.S. Army’s National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California. I was a Squadron Commander on mission in the middle of my unit’s rotation. Located on the key piece of terrain known as Hill 760, the position provided a good perspective of the battlefield as my Squadron conducted a zone reconnaissance from the Siberian Ridge, reconnoitering several avenues of approach towards Hill 780, Hill 800 and the Iron Triangle. The brigade was attacking to seize its main objective – the city of Razish. At this moment, two battalions were locked in a street to street, corner to corner fight inside the city. A crackle came over the radio with the brigade commander ordering the brigade reserve into the melee and for my Bravo Troop to assume the mission as the new brigade reserve. 

U.S. Army soldiers assigned to Alpha Company ‘Sapper’ (Demo Team) 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Prepares for After Action Reviews after reducing an obstacle during a combined arms live-fire exercise at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, June 22, 2020. (U.S. Army photo by 1SG Lekendrick Stallworth)
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Battlefield Leadership Starts Before the Battle

"Failing in order to Succeed"

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In today’s operating environment, we are challenging leaders with more complex scenarios that exercise the implementation of additional enablers across all warfighting functions.  Bringing these enablers and internal assets to bear at a decisive point on the battlefield is the training objective, and failure is not an option.  In most cases, this the first time these challenges are presented and expectations are high.  Great units and leaders achieve success, and that is expected.  Success breeds success, but what if, just what if, we changed our thought process and implementation of lessons learned throughout our careers?  What if in fact failure breeds success and this thought process changes our perception of what makes a great unit or great leader.  What if failure IS an option?

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Commander’s Decisions

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One of the eight elements of combat power, leadership, can turn the tide of the complex battles in simulated combat operations at the National Training Center (NTC).  Commanders have been groomed their entire careers with the leadership attributes and competencies to enhance their unit combat effectiveness in this crucible training environment.  One important facet of a commander’s leadership are the decisions that he or she makes to best posture the formation.  Below are three recommendations that commanders can include in their personal practices observed at NTC to help enable success.  

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Indirect Influence

Considerations for Organizational Leadership

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Commanders at all echelons must be experts at providing Indirect Leadership across their formations.  They must visualize how they want to fight and instill their intent directly into their subordinate commanders and indirectly into their entire formation.  ADP 6-22 states that indirect leadership and methods are essential for organizational leaders although it does not explicitly define the term Indirect Leadership.  I propose that many leaders are unprepared for this reality despite untold resources spent on Professional Military Education (PME), Combat Training Centers (CTCs), Operational Deployments and self-development.  We fail when we overestimate our personal ability to control our unit and inadvertently disempower our subordinate leaders.   

U.S. Army SGT. Kevin Burrell assigned to Alpha Company ‘Sapper’ 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, throws smoke during a combined arms live-fire exercise at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, June 24, 2020. (U.S. Army photo by 1SG Lekendrick Stallworth)
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Leadership of the Brigade Combat Team Joint Fires Enterprise

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One can confidently assume that all organizational leaders at as some point, especially during a Combat Training Center (CTC) rotation, have experienced and observed the frustrations of deliberate or undeliberate selective compliance on noncompliance of actions and orders by individuals or groups.  Numerous times at National Training Center (NTC), I have witnessed organizational leaders, specifically the BCT Fire Support Coordinator (FSCOORD) in frustration state, “I told them to do that; we discussed or talked about that; I don’t understand why it didn’t happen; why didn’t they report that; I don’t understand why that happened, AGAIN!”

U.S. Army Photo by Maj. Terez Little.