Category Archives: Lessons Learned

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Preventing Disappointment through Counseling

Connecting Army Tools to Develop Leaders

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Have you ever been disappointed with the performance of a new team or new leader? Perhaps your expectations were too high or something else went wrong. How do we close this gap between expectations and the desired end-state? Maintaining performance through transition requires the commander to over communicate the vision and guide their people through the discomfort zone. The best commanders will also listen to feedback in stride to best direct resources towards changing priorities or emerging risk. 

U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Randolph Delapena, the 82nd Airborne Division Command Sgt. Maj., speaks with Paratroopers assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, prior to conducting a Joint Forcible Entry (JFE) for exercise Panther Giant on Fort Bragg, North Carolina, March 8th, 2023. Exercise Panther Giant is a validation exercise for elements of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team to demonstrate readiness and lethality before attending the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC). (Sgt. Jacob Moir, U.S. Army)
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Parapacks over Holland

Operation Market Garden's Lessons in the Fight for Supply from the Sky

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Since the release of the hit miniseries Band of Brothers and Hollywood-classic Saving Private Ryan, the story of American paratroopers in the Second World War has become cauterized in the minds of history connoisseurs and students. The story has all the elements of a homeric epic: young, fit men strapping on a parachute and leaping from planes to land amongst the enemy. They were a live military experiment in an entirely new form of warfare. The two Hollywood productions were followed by almost two decades of literature from historians and popular authors alike analyzing and dissecting the fire and brimstone shooting matches fought by these men. But little analytics have been devoted to the factors that made these battles possible.

U.S. Army photo retrieved from U.S. Army W.T.F! moments Facebook page.
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Field Artillery – Beyond the Howizter

A #BranchSeries Piece

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The Field Artillery (FA) Branch is a great branch for junior officers to develop personally and professionally. The FA branch offers assignment diversity from the typical staff job or platoon leader position, as compared to other branches. It also offers lieutenants the ability to serve in positions that have effects at echelons above their peers. The FA branch is only growing as the U.S. Army focuses more on the importance of fires on the battlefield.

Soldiers conduct field artillery certifications at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., Dec. 8, 2021. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Beggs)
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SFAB Request for Forces Team in Theater

A View from Inside 3rd SFAB TM 3331

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No one warned us that Russia would invade Ukraine in February 2022. As a response to the ongoing effort to defend Europe against Russian aggression, Operation Assure, Deter, and Reinforce was introduced to bring to the EUCOM Theater 2 Armored Brigade Combat Teams, 1 Infantry Brigade Combat Teams, and 1st Security Forces Assistance Brigade (SFAB) Force Package comprised of twenty teams. The operational and support framework of an SFAB maneuver advisor team in a theater can serve as a strategic combat multiplier in the region.

U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Navarro, first sergeant of Ares Company, 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division receives a coin from Command Sgt. Maj. Ruslanas Gulevas, command sergeant major of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Algirdas Battalion during the closing ceremony of Exercise Iron Wolf 22 at Pabradė Training Area, Lithuania, Oct. 28, 2022. The 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division is among other units assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, proudly working alongside NATO allies and regional security partners to provide combat-credible forces to V Corps, America’s forward deployed corps in Europe. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Lianne M. Hirano)

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Spread the Word

Communicating in Five Directions

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Time for a subversive claim: the most critical things we do in the Army often come with the lowest profiles. This includes communication. Major training events can catch the eye of public affairs and higher commands, but we do something every day that is unfailingly key to mission success; we communicate. There aren’t enough sticks left for me to join in beating this dead horse in general, but I hope to offer a refreshing way of viewing one specific aspect of it.

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Recruiting in the AIM Marketplace

How to get Top Talent to your Organization through Planning, Active Recruiting, and Honesty

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During the Assignment Interactive Module (AIM) Marketplace in October, we wrote an article. The focus was how to be successful in the Marketplace to get your preferred duty assignment.  What we didn’t tell you was that we were serving as unit managers in the marketplace. We were looking to fill vacancies in our own organizations. We found success through extensive preparation, active recruiting, personal engagement, and honesty.  If you are serving as a unit manager in the AIM Marketplace, supporting your unit’s recruiting as an incumbent, or simply want to prepare for those eventualities, this guide will support you in bringing the right personnel to your organization.

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Winning in the AIM Marketplace

How to get your Next Assignment of Choice through Attention to Detail, Research, and Initiative

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The Assignment Interactive Module (AIM) Marketplace opened up on 23 September, meaning the race has begun for each of us in the 22-02 Movement Cycle to find and secure our next assignment before it closes on 03 November.  This is the second marketplace in which I have participated and I have learned a lot since then about how it functions.  Since literally forgetting my first Marketplace was occurring four years ago to winning in the Special Marketplace that followed, I have spoken many times with Military Intelligence (MI) Branch personnel at Human Resources Command (HRC) about the process while both receiving and giving several Leader Professional Development (LPD) sessions about it.  This guide will support you in successfully navigating and winning in the AIM Marketplace.

Soldiers enjoy the view from the ramp of a CH-47 Chinook during a high-altitude training flight in the Bavarian Alps, Germany, May 4, 2020. (U.S. Army photo by Maj. Robert Fellingham)
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The CBRN RECCE Platoon

Training and Preparing for JRTC and Beyond

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In December 2017, as part of the 3BCT, 101st ABN (AASLT) Brigade Field Training Exercise, my Dismounted Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and (CBRN) Reconnaissance (RECCE) Platoon received a mission to support an infantry battalion task force air assault operation to seize an objective with an underground storage facility for chemical weapons. In planning and executing this training mission, we validated many aspects of our individual and team collective training leading up to this BCT collective training exercise. We also identified many of the challenges and gaps in our training both internal to the CBRN RECCE Platoon and ways the Brigade Engineer Battalion and the BCT could facilitate better training.

Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers; engineers; chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) specialists; as well as medical units conduct Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) training to help prepare them to respond to a CBRN catastrophe at home or abroad. (Sgt. 1st Class Brent Powell)

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Being the Assistant to the Assistant Staff Officer

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In every group there are unsung heroes. These are the people in the background that do the hard work, ensuring everything gets accomplished. On a staff, there are the staff primaries (S1/2/3/4/5/6), then there are the assistant staff primaries, and sometimes even the assistant to the assistant staff primaries. The assistant staff officer is the person, behind the person, and in some cases…behind that person, who does the hard work. If you find yourself in one of these positions, remember that this a crucial job, both for the staff, and for your own development.

US Army photo by Master Sgt. Luis J. Coriano.
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The Brigade Battle Captain

An Informal Guide to an Informal Role

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Few officers arrive prepared to be a  battle captain and the Army doesn’t provide formal training for the position.  Although the role is typically an additional duty, the performance and experience of this single officer can have outsized impacts on unit effectiveness. A unit that invests even a little time in the selection and preparation of their battle captains will experience asymmetric returns. They will gain benefits in the immediate, upcoming operations as well as in the development of a future organizational leader. A well-trained and well-informed battle captain provides organizational flexibility, enables greater coordination among subordinate units, and empowers leaders to make better decisions.  

1-12 IN conducts Squad Situational Training Exercises (STX). U.S. Army Photo by Capt. Chelsea Hall.