Dear Shiny New Aviation Battle Captain,
I know. You’re a little frustrated with the Battalion’s S3 at the moment. I’m assuming that you’re normally the Chemo or a newly minted O-3, fresh from a platoon leader position. You’ve been flying for about ten or eleven months, and you were yanked unceremoniously up to the last bastion of frustration and futility: battalion staff. You were probably just told that you’re going to be the Battle Captain for the deployment, and I know you’re hurt and mad and disillusioned with the leadership.
But don’t fret, my pet. The Doctrinatrix and her faithful band of merry men are here to give you hope. You see, once in a kingdom far, far away, we did our time in the fabled battle desk. We, my two friends and I, commiserated the ills done upon us by cranky S3s, rude and self absorbed LTCs, and feisty company commanders. Over MiRC chat we bonded in a strange friendship that has now resulted in several battle captain commandments. Ten of them, to be precise.
Here we go…
Commandment 1: Thou shalt know thy turf.
You can try all you want to visualize the terrain sometimes. You can study the maps and the imagery and try to gain a little situational awareness, but there is only one thing that can give you the true picture of the ground out there: flying over it. You have to see the battlespace with your own two eyes. You have to ask for a flight, plop your fanny in the jump seat, put on a headset, and fly the ring routes. Or take a spin around the battlefield with the Old Man. Something. Anything. Go see it. Then, when your attack weapons team calls back regarding a TIC they are working in the Pesh Valley, you’ll have an idea of where they are and what they’re dealing with. Maybe then, you’ll leave them alone while they try to lay savage waste to the enemy in a box canyon.
Commandment 2: Thou shalt know how to diagnose thy battlespace problems without being a bother to everyone else in the battlespace.
You gotta be watching and processing at all times. Tidbits of critical information come across the net constantly, giving you detailed cues to the how to the fight is developing (or, sometimes, not developing). As the manager of information and net traffic, the ability to apply your tidbits at the right time and place will ensure that the people who need support get it at the right time and place. You’ll have the most current view of the battlefield. Then, when it comes time to alert the QRF or launch a MEDEVAC or alert the Old Man, you’ll be able to synchronize that information in such a way that facilitates the mission, but doesn’t over-run it with nitnoid things.
Commandment 3: Thou shalt organize what you know, admit what you don’t know, and then seek the path to enlightenment through good guidance and the commander’s intent.
You, my little starling, don’t have to have all the answers all the time. You have to surround yourself with smart and energetic folks who do, and they will make sure you get the right information at the right time so you can affect the battle in a good way. You know that pesky S-2 shop that sometime wanders far and wide of the aviation daily battle rhythm, forgetting that the information that your attack weapons team needs is not the same as what your ring route requires to circulate the battlefield? Compartmentalize those tidbits and pay attention to the other battle captains and what their S-2 shops are reporting for the ground guys. Make your intel pulls into something that can actually push to the particular mission that is going out today. Your aircrews will thank you for it. PS: You have to know the commander’s intent before you can apply it.
Commandment 4: Thou shalt remember that rank means nothing and skillz (with the trendy z) mean everything.
You might not want to be there, but I can promise you that the NCOs around you REALLY don’t want to be there. There is nothing sexy about routine operations on a FOB in support of an aviation battalion. Nothing at all. Until four MEDEVAC kick off from a massive coordinated attack in the Chark Valley, a rocket attack smacks the airfield, the generator takes a big ol’ dump in the middle of the launch, and the air assault that was supposed to be wrapping up an hour ago requests additional support. THEN it’s not so boring and it gets sexy in a quickness. That’s where committed, trained, and team-oriented TOC staffers shine. You can affect this with your attitude and your commitment to training. Look around your TOC. Who’s the SPC that you can rely on in a pinch to rewire the TOC radios when they short out from a power spike in the middle of the night during a BCT-level air assault with attack aircraft support? Yeah, THAT guy. Foster THAT guy!
Commandment 5: Thou shalt seek little victories now, and take stock for the big victories later.
As soon as your RIP/TOA starts, you need plan for a swift and seamless win. That sets your pace for the rest of the month after RIP. As you get into the groove, your actions encourage your supporting battle NCOs and staff sections in TOC to find their groove. Then, when the really terrible things start happening, you’ve got a groove for the little things already in place. When you can handle yourself with that calm, collected air of a battle captain who really has the TOC and the stress under control, you instill confidence in the ground guys you support and the aircrews you’re preparing to launch. Once those really terrible, stressful days are done, you’ll appreciate the slow days more.
Commandment 6: Thou must always remember that bad things will happen, and you must steel your nerves.
You know how I feel about flight schoolers’ crying. This is a little different. You have to internalize frightening and awful things as a battle captain. People will say nasty things to you, just to get a rise and because they’re having a terrible day. You were the first thing they came in contact with. Aircrews will pitch a holy-hell fit on the radio about something, just because they can. You asked the wrong question on the SATCOM when they were busy listening to the ground force commander. You will experience the absolute powerlessness of watching the worst pitch battles of the Infantry unfold around you on CPOF, sending your aircrews into the line of fire to support them, only to see an Urgent MEDEVAC come across your net moments later. You may lose an aircraft. You may lose two aircraft. The CW2 you flew with, drank beers with, laughed with, and lived with is gone. Take a deep breath, go have a smoke, throw in a dip, steel yourself, and finish the fight. Then go cry when you’re done with your shift. You can call me. I’ll bring you smokes and a near-beer. I don’t mind that kind of crying. We’ve all been there. Any battle captain who tells you that they have never had one of THOSE days is a lying sack of sh*t.
Commandment 7: Thou shalt build the solution for the Old Man, and have it ready before he shows up.
When things goes sideways, the Old Man will show up. Don’t be afraid to have a plan ready to brief him with. He wants you to be the man (or chick) in command of his TOC. That’s why he put you there. He likes it when you take charge. He’s kinky like that. He wants to hear what you’ve noticed between your chatting with other battle captains on the net, those S-2 briefs you’ve been keeping up with, and the ideas you’ve developed about the AO because you’ve been paying attention to everything and storing away those seemingly irrelevant facts in your noodle for a time like this! The Old Man thinks he runs the fight, but it’s actually a farce. It’s your fight. You know it better than anyone because you live it every day. Make a plan to be proud of with the input from the good people around you. This also means you need to know his Commander’s Intent… again. See a pattern here?
Commandment 8: Thou shalt get out of your foxhole and go see someone else’s foxhole. You might even like the view.
Sometimes information doesn’t come to you. You have to go seek it out. If you’re an attack recon guy, you already know that, don’t you? If you’re a lift or assault guy, here’s your lesson: develop the situation rapidly and accurately by scouting for gaps, flanks, critical weapon systems, and key terrain. It’s a fundamental of reconnaissance. Get out of your foxhole, and go talk to the aircrews (especially the scout attack guys). Find out what they need, what they can do, and what they have been seeing. Take the S-2 shop soldiers with you. Learn how the other aircrews see things, and then help them to understand what your inner-visibility limitations are during mission execution. When they understand your limits, and you can see their strengths, you begin to unite the warfighter with the war executer (that’s you, by the way)… and that puts the bad guys on the run!
Commandment 9: Thou shalt stay out of other peoples’ cockpits until it’s your turn to fly.
Allow the aircrews to develop the situation. The last thing they need is you getting into an already space-limited cockpit with them. They are developing the situation by scouting for ENEMY gaps, flanks and weapons so that they can provide follow-on actions in support of the ground force commander. Just because bullets start flying or things start happening, you’re not the one in charge of the flight and the ground mission. The Air Mission Commander and the Ground Force Commander have those dubious distinctions. Be prepared to assist, but stay out of the fight until your presence is requested by the AMC. When you get very smart and savvy on your battle captain job, you’ll know when that time is coming.
Commandment 10: Thou shalt hold this truth always: Little is lovely. Small is beautiful. God (or your own personal Higher Power) is in the details.
For a battle captain, the small details are critical. They are beautiful. Nothing is lovelier to see (or do) than conducting a perfect pre-mission brief and an expert post-mission debrief, with all the needed details for the mission available to the aircrews. It sets everything up for success. It makes you, young battle captain, look flawless.
And just for good measure…
Commandment 11: Thou shalt have an exit strategy and keep it secret.
A good battle captain always retains the freedom to maneuver on the battlefield. You’re a very smart young officer, and I’ll let you figure out the meaning to that one on your own.
Now go forth, and do great things.
Love,
The Doctrinatrix
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