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A Full Spectrum of Experience Needed |
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Written by JD Johannes
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Thursday, 18 December 2008 |
The just released Army Field manual on "Training for Full Spectrum Operations" has a recurring theme of innovation, agility and adaptation.
This theme is summed up in paragraph 2-69 of the manual, Educate Leaders to Think. (Page 28 of the PDF file.)
The best way to "Educate Leaders to Think" may be outside of the military and far outside of what is normally considered training.
In my travels through Iraq I have watched hundreds of Non-Commissioned Officers operate outside the wire. I have followed dozens of platoon leaders and company commanders through the daily grind of warfare. I spent significan time with four batallion commanders in diverse environments.
I have intentionally focused on the company and battalion level and below. In any level of conflict below force-on-force general warfare, the weight rests on the company commander.
General Raymond Odierno, Commander of Multi-National Forces Iraq, made that point in an interview I recently taped. Odierno described how company commanders have been given a set of tools to use in reconciling former insurgents. Odierno called them, "confidence building measures."
During my years in Iraq, I have seen company commanders go from engaging in full scale Hammer & Anvil operations to something akin to Victorian era territorial administrators and defacto mayors.
And I have seen them toggle back and forth, sometimes several times a day.
Sometimes the units were well prepared for the mission sometimes not.
Marine 1st Lieutenant Sean Gobin who commanded Vengeance Platoon, a company sized Heavy Combined Arms Team, in Fallujah summed it up best:
"We trained for the battle of Stalingrad, but wound up being the Sheriff of Fallujah."
Vengeance was not well prepared for the full spectrum mission when they arrived, but were still successful.
What allowed Vengeance to successful was two things: First, they were tactically proficient and highly lethal, they had mastered the basics. Second, was the adaptability of Gobin and his two Platoon Sergeants.
Vengeance platoon was hybrid. One half active duty, on half reserve.
Lt. Gobin was all about the mission and not afraid to take risks. His First Sgt., Gunnery Sgt. Rodriguez was straight out of central casting. His two Platoon Sergeants, Gunnery Sgt. Brad Pollock and Staff Sgt. Tony Rider were reserve Marines who were on their second tour.
Moreover, Pollock and Rider were successful entreprenuers. Rider owned franchise restaurants and Pollock was an engineer who ran a waste management company. They were used to uncertainty, taking risks, solving problems, dealing with complexity and scale.
Gobin also had a leg-up on most 1st Lieutenants. He was prior enlisted. He had more experience than his peers and quality experience as an RTO. He was next to a company commander for two years before he went to college and Office Candidate School.
In the modern Full Spectrum war, the training should also encompass a full sprectrum of experience or as many varied experiences as possible. The full variation needed can not be had in each individual, that would be improbable if not outright impossible, but a within a battalion it could be possible.
The military of Victorian era Britian could be a loose model on how to obtain this range of experience.
In my prepration for my Afghanistan expedition--it will probably be my last I have been reading voratiously. Much of the reading is from books written by British officers and administrators like Caroe, Elphinstone and Warburton. It is mixed with a healthy dose of histories of the Great Game.
In this era it was not uncommon for officers to take extensive leave where they would become correspondents for the leading newspapers of the day, travel through foreign countries and take part in expeditions sponsored by the Royal Geographic Society.
These leaves allowed officers to gain experience outside the staid and formal regimental system of the British military of the time.
In the U.S. military, officers will often leave the formal military to pursue a graduate degree or take a fellowship or assignment in another governmental agency.
To prepare officers and staff ncos for the ongoing full spectrum enviroment, I propose this be expanded and almost universalized.
It is not uncommon for officers and staff ncos to pursue an MBA. A degree with more application to warfare than one would imagine at first blush. But why not let them take a year or two to test the skills earned in the classroom in the business world? Let an officer try his hand at starting a business or working for a medium sized company. That officer would be in a great position to help build an economic activity in a city in Iraq. The lessons in decision making, leadership and analysis would transfer well to the military.
Instead of having Foreign Area Officers based out of an embassy, give Lieutenants a plane ticket and some cash and ship them off to any country outside of North America and Western Europe and force them to live by their wits for year. They will return as subject matter experts in a culture and speaking the language almost fluently.
The idea would also apply to the non-combat arms specialties. Logistics and supply could work in transportation, import/export and distribution companies. JAG officers could work in District Attorneys offices, or as Public Defenders or any firm that would have them. Public Affairs officers and NCOs would gain valuable experience as general assignment reporters for local TV stations and small daily papers.
It would not be a fellowship or glorified internship. It would have to be a sink or swim experience. Since the military loves to quantify and measure things to standards, the rating of the performance of the sojourn tour would establish the degree of difficulty of the sojourn and compare the success or failure to the degree of difficulty. Working for an established company is not very difficult. Starting a business from scratch is very difficult.
The sojourn tour would not be a one-time tour. In the infantry track it would fit nicely between platoon and company command then another while on brigade or battalion staff.
Full Spectrum warfare requires officers and NCOs with a full spectrum of experience--real life experience.
The only way to get that experience is to get outside the military, government and university. Soldiers need to placed where organizations and individuals are forced by the market and circumstances to to adapt, be agile and innovate.
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