Fundamentals of the Battle Captain

[Norfolk]

Very interesting. The role by the 2i/c above is performed by the company First Sergeant in Combat, and a combination of the XO and 1SG in garrison. I know certain light infantry units reverse that, with the XO running logistics and the 1SG up front. The XO in Tank/Cav/Mech units has a fighting vehicle, wheras the 1SG gets a HMMWV and an APC, and hangs with the supply sergeant.

I knew many foreign armies used Majors as company commanders. (the Iraqis do) I didn't know that they had two assistants in addition to the platoon leaders, I guess it makes sense.

Until the LAV-25 and Styker arrived in rifle coys (until then both Light and Mech with either LAV-1 or M-113), the arrangment was more backwards. The OC, warning order in hand, formed the lads up on the line of departure, handed control of the company over to the 2i/c, then returned to the rear Coy HQ to work on the plan for the next mission. The CSM was at Coy HQ and took care of most things there. The CSM at Coy HQ was fine by me, but I could never get over the OC handing off to the 2i/c moments before starting the advance-to-contact, and heading to the rear to go to work on his next plan. WE didn't have a Battle Captain in the rifle coys until the arrival of the newer LAVs.

I think things are much better with the new arrangement.

[Albert47]

This articles are truly fundamental. If you think about it is simple truth! Best of all I liked article 8 "rank is nothing, talent is everything" I wish people nowadays would realize it and I personally feel the same way. I know many people with no rank, but who are talented and will go far. On the other hand, there are many, who are highly ranked, but are absolutely boring in daily life, that's sad.

[RTK]

I had nearly forgotten about this. Jcustis did a great job on this work and as I head to a squadron I'm going to dust this off and hand it to my battle captain and NCO this summer.

[jcustis]

Wow, it's been a while RTK. I had not noticed you returned a few weeks ago.

I have to admit, shamefully, that I'd I forgotten about this one. I would have dusted it off and shared it with the watch officers as they geared up for my last deploy, but...

I did have a few chats with them during dinner at the chow hall during some specialized staff training, but never went into this depth. They fared well enough though, and performed very well across the deployment.

[jcustis]

I just ran across an article in the Marine Corps Gazette that I think is a good adjunct to these Battle Captain principles. It has been posted online here, and focuses on small unit combat reporting.

http://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/a...mander-and-coc