The transition from company grade officer to field grade officer can be a difficult one. After all, at the point that transition is made, an officer has spent up to 15 years training to serve and then serving at the Company level. Company grade leadership is very personal, and company command can be a very individual time. Sure, the Company Commander has a supporting team, but at the end of the day, the company reflects the Commander. Many officers, myself briefly included, leave command and think that they did all (or most) of it. Some may have (but again, unlikely). Even if they could have led their companies all by themselves, the end of that possibility is at the company level. No one can lead a battalion or brigade-sized formation by themselves.
The best piece of advice that I would give to an officer leaving the staff college headed to their Iron Major tour is simply this:
Field grade officers play team ball.
The building block of our Army is the Brigade Combat Team (and like organizations). Those formations are large, blunt instruments of the military element of national power meant to fight and win our Nation’s wars. In order to accomplish that task, they and their subordinate battalions must travel along the same axis of advance, march to the beat of the same drummer, and arrive at the objective simultaneously to provide the effects required for success on the modern battlefield. They must not “do their own thing.”
Most senior leaders will affirm in public that Majors run those organizations. Mind you, I’m not talking about commanding, but rather the act of getting things done on a daily basis. The field grade’s tasks involve a significant amount of ensuring that Commanders both junior and senior can sleep well knowing that the duty roster is accurate and being enforced, that the training schedule is being followed, and that regulatory tasks are being completed. The field grade officer is where the buck stops but that’s not enough for success. Success requires field grade officers to play team ball.
Playing team ball is about looking and acting up and out; it is looking at adjacent and higher units to see what they are thinking about and where they are needing help. As a battalion or brigade level field grade officer, there is indeed a need to look in and down in at subordinate companies or battalions. While that need exists, there are also Leaders there who are well-trained and supported by the staff. The true art of being a field grade is figuring out how to help fellow field grade officers who may be struggling with or inefficient at their task or mission. The up and out view enables field grade officers to help adjacent and higher units advance toward the objective, arriving simultaneously, with massed effects.
Playing team ball is about looking out for adjacent units – in most cases fellow battalions. It could be about providing assistance when a sister battalion didn’t forecast their ammunition properly or needs an extra day on the range. It could be about giving up that solidly performing captain on your staff to take command of a company desperately needing leadership. Finally, it could be about helping out and adjacent unit with an upcoming task simply because it’s just the right thing to do.
Playing team ball is about making your higher headquarters look like rock stars. First, don’t be late with requirements. Your tardiness reflects on your higher headquarters. Support brigade taskings with your unit’s best effort, and send up the right person to the division request for personnel for the G3 shop. Playing team ball is talking regularly with the brigade staff, S3, and XO (or the division staff, G3, and Chief of Staff) and ensuring that your unit is pulling not only its share of the load but also providing whatever else you can for support.
There are many reasons for playing team ball, least of which is personal or unit survival. No man (or woman) is an island. Neither is any echelon of Army formation. Each of us has fellow officers on our flanks, adjacent units, and a higher headquarters. Helping someone out today will reap benefits in the long run. There will come a day, regardless of how well you have led your organization or how solid your systems are, that you will need someone’s help. It may be tomorrow. It may involve an Iraqi, Afghan, or Korean officer. It may even be years after you have left your field grade position. Soldiers and Leaders are people, and they have long memories. Playing team ball builds relationships that last for a very long time.
Field grade officers play team ball because it is the right thing to do. It’s the right thing to do internally with your subordinate units, and it’s the right thing to do with your friends on your flanks and higher. Playing team ball gives you credit with your fellow field grades and someday you may just need it!
Lieutenant Colonel Scott Shaw commanded the Cottonbalers of the 3rdBattalion, 7thInfantry from Jan 2014-Mar 2016. He is currently a student at the Marine Corps War College.