The Company LeaderBattle Staff Archives - The Company Leader

The Battalion Battle Captain

Matthew Levengood — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 16:21:40 +0000

A Staff Lieutenant at JRTC

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).

The post The Battalion Battle Captain appeared first on The Company Leader.

Operationalizing the Battle Staff in Garrison

The Desert Tortoise — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 00:00:21 +0000

Part IV: Prepare for Friction

Our AARs largely focus how internal systems and processes respond to the challenges of planning and operating at distance, on difficult terrain, in constrained timelines. This was consistent throughout the nearly 120 after action reviews (AARs) I facilitated at the National Training Center (NTC). Most friction is inflicted by units upon themselves or by the overwhelming size and difficulty of the environment. We mitigate self-induced friction by building cohesive teams, establishing common processes and procedures, and refining them through practice (see Parts I,II, and III). We can mitigate the friction imposed by the environment by replicating those factors during home station training events. This final installment of Training Your Battle Staff in Garrison focuses on a few simple ways to replicate the challenges of the Decisive Action environment in existing home station training events.

Photo By Sgt. Timothy Massey | Tanks set in the field at dawn during the Bull Run 10 exercise in Orzysz, Poland, Sept. 19.

The post Operationalizing the Battle Staff in Garrison appeared first on The Company Leader.

Operationalizing the Battle Staff in Garrison

The Desert Tortoise — Thu, 27 Jun 2019 00:01:33 +0000

Part III: Get Your Planning Reps, by the Desert Tortoise

The Military Decision Making Process: four words that send shivers up your shell. But MDMP is simply a methodology to understand and solve tactical problems collaboratively. An underlying theme of Part I and Part II of this series is enabling and enforcing collaboration to achieve shared situational understanding. This piece focuses on leveraging shared understanding to solve home station problem sets with the same methodology you will use in combat. MDMP is hard because we rarely use it to frame and solve dilemmas at home station. The friction and fog of war will challenge your ability to execute MDMP. We can make it easier by training ourselves and our teams to solve home station problems collaboratively via this tried and true process. In this article, we will explore three common opportunities to get your battle staff good reps at planning: annual/semi-annual training guidance, collective training events, and the weekly FRAGORD.

M1 Abrams Tank overlooks the city of Razish while the crew undoubtedly hears the voice of Sir Alec Guinness saying “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.”

The post Operationalizing the Battle Staff in Garrison appeared first on The Company Leader.

Operationalizing the Battle Staff in Garrison

The Desert Tortoise — Wed, 29 May 2019 01:03:59 +0000

Part II: Processes and Procedures

Now that you replicated your tactical command post in your unit headquarters (Read Part I HERE), you need to put it to use. If the Command Post exists to enable Commander decision-making and to synchronize and support the efforts of subordinates, then we must implement the processes and procedures necessary to facilitate those efforts. Establish a battle rhythm focused on Commander touchpoints, build the running estimates that efficiently inform his or her decisions, and enforce tactical reporting as the mechanism to update those running estimates.

Engineer Advisors from A Co, 5th BN, 1st SFAB work with FORSCOM units to enable their advisory missions in the Indo-Pacific region. Photo Retrieved from Facebook.

The post Operationalizing the Battle Staff in Garrison appeared first on The Company Leader.

Operationalizing the Battle Staff in Garrison

The Desert Tortoise — Mon, 20 May 2019 01:53:10 +0000

Part I: Train Like You Fight

In the next Decisive Action (DA) conflict, we will be outnumbered, outgunned, and potentially matched in every other domain. If this is the case, then we can only win by synchronizing and massing combined arms at the decisive point faster than the enemy. We must anticipate the enemy’s scheme of maneuver, develop a collection plan to confirm it, synchronize fires and effects to attrit enemy forces, and provide subordinate commanders with a detailed plan to execute the enemy’s destruction–all while conducting protection and sustainment operations. To quote the 25^thCommander of Operations Group, “We have to do this perfectly and continuously, every time.” Developing and retaining proficient and cohesive battle staff teams is essential to winning the next first fight.

1st Cavalry Division Troopers at NTC. Image retrieved from Twitter.

The post Operationalizing the Battle Staff in Garrison appeared first on The Company Leader.