Military Review English Edition March-April 2016 | Page 112

(Photo by Capt. Lindsay Roman, U.S. Army )

Soldiers of the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion work hand-in-hand with Afghan National Security Force soldiers during situational
training exercises 8 August 2012 at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California.

facilitators braved the stifling heat and expeditionary
living conditions of the NTC to visit the 519th and
work with it “in the box.” This culminating training
event simulated the harsh environment of Afghanistan
and put stress on the relationships built in Greensboro.
It was the perfect environment for the CCL team to
reinforce the learning points and to ensure leaders
retained what they were taught.
Over four days, the CCL facilitators conducted
one-on-one interviews with leaders and went out
on patrol as much as possible with 519th’s soldiers.
By being outside the wire, they observed the decentralized employment of the unit in support of
1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division. Companies and
teams came face-to-face with boundaries every day,
and leaders applied what they learned to overcome
them. The CCL facilitators attended the unit’s after
action reviews and reemphasized boundary-spanning techniques. This was critical to reinforce in
leaders’ minds their development and their role in
achieving unit success.
The visit also allowed the commander and CCL
facilitators to discuss the commander’s deployment
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vision. Closer to the deployment, there was a clear sense
of what would be required for the unit once downrange.
We applied the concept of mission-soldiers-me—which,
though not new, fit well given the unit’s planned employment. We used this concept to establish priorities at
all levels while also signaling the importance of the me
portion. The idea was that developing and improving
yourself while also being responsible for your actions
was clearly linked to effective mission accomplishment
and to taking care of soldiers. As the CCL so expertly
captures in its Leading Effectively blog,
We must always accomplish the mission—it
is why we are here. And while doing the
mission, we must care for our soldiers … after
leaders have met the first two requirements,
we must take care of ourselves. If we do not
take care of ourselves by sleeping right, eating
right, and even talking with others about our
experience … well (here he hesitated and
then looked at the ground slowly) then we
become casualties. Then everyone has to take
care of us and that detracts from our soldiers’
readiness and mission accomplishment.22
March-April 2016  MILITARY REVIEW