You have spent the last nine months working hard – reading 300-400 pages per night, writing, and revising your monograph repeatedly, studying for oral comprehensive exams – and now you are finally ready.  Having walked the stage at Marshall Auditorium and the School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) in your rearview mirror, you can now focus on the next three years of your life as a Field Grade (FG) Officer.  Given that the Army has made an investment in your ability to solve complex, ill-structured problems, how do you take this knowledge and apply it as a Corps or Division planner and later as an S3 or XO?  The following is a compilation of lessons learned – some easy and others a bit tougher – that I have gathered during my tenure in a Division.  This essay traces the path of a maneuver Field Grade, from utilization as a planner to Battalion and finally Brigade FG time.  Though the paper follows my perspective as an infantryman in a BCT, my aim is to provide a resource useful for any SAMS graduate, regardless of branch.

Utilization Tour

You are not special.  You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake.  You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else.[1]

Application for a professional Army officer’s staff experience was probably not at the forefront of the director or writers’ minds when filming the 1999 movie Fight Club.  That said, protagonist Tyler Durden’s quote is one that should be inscribed in each SAMS graduate’s personal notebook as they enter their utilization.  Though you are specially educated in “Operational Art” and have been challenged through a rigorous academic program, you are still just another Major rowing on a Corps or Division staff.  Too often, I have heard a SAMS graduate serving on the Division staff lamenting over the yeoman’s work they have been given when he or she believes a more unique staff opportunity should be afforded.  Find out where you fit and be the SAMS graduate your staff and headquarters needs.  Opportunities will arise during the utilization so be patient and allow your staff work to speak for itself.  Be a team player and build trust amongst your leaders and peers alike.

An important piece to the utilization experience is building relationships with key members of the Division/Corps staff.  Having a working knowledge of how the larger organization runs, from USR to DTMS and land/ammo, will make your life much easier in a Battalion.  Observe how successful Battalion and Brigade leaders engage with your staff and what touchpoints they use to communicate key information.  Yes, your time will be consumed with Warfighter preparation and execution, HICOM/EXCON for Brigade validation exercises, and countless other critical staff tasks, but do not lose sight of the bigger picture.  Build strong relations with the specialty DA Civilians, Majors, and Lieutenant Colonels who will be on the Division staff once you depart for KD time.  Leave a legacy built on teamwork, diligent staff work, and leadership.

One last critical item is the relationship you build with downtrace units – in particular, BCT command teams – during your utilization.  The pace and tempo of a BCT is much different from that of a Division or Corps staff.  The struggle to blend higher headquarters guidance with commander’s intent, while synchronizing seven battalions is an all-consuming task.  As such, be aware of how much more work you are potentially creating for BCTs and communicate early and often.  Build a strong relationship with downtrace BCT S3s and XOs, and most importantly, build their trust in you through your staff work and coordination.  Do not confuse the echelon of headquarters you work for where you sit within the pecking order of Majors.  You are new, relatively inexperienced, and have not yet proven yourself.  Intuitively, you will work to make strong impressions with BCT commanders, however, the relationship you build with the senior Majors in each BCT will serve as the bedrock for your reputation and will help get you into KD time on the right foot.

Battalion and Brigade

My aim for this final section is to provide a few useful tools and techniques that I derived from my AMSP classroom experience or from my utilization.  Some of the points will focus inward towards the organization in which you will run and lead, others focus on complementary effects outside your direct battalion.  As my experience in a BCT was as a Battalion and Brigade executive officer, I offer points for both echelons of staff.

During your tenure on Division or Corps staff, you will undoubtedly serve alongside staff officers who are educated and groomed to serve at that echelon.  CSL Lieutenant Colonels, Majors of varying backgrounds, and experienced Non-Commissioned Officers form the General Staff to provide the commander with multiple options in the least amount of time possible.  These officers and NCOs have been educated in the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP), Army Design Methodology (ADM), and have had the repetitions required to be very proficient in their trade.  This is likely not what you will experience on a Battalion staff.  Though there will be several talented and eager officers and NCOs, the depth of experience will not match what you experienced during your utilization. This requires you to educate your staff, not just on the process, but the history and context behind the process. Though a Battalion staff is not a true “professional staff” in terms of each position filled with the requisite and matching MOS, these officers and NCOs do have relevant education and life experience.  Break out the whiteboard and channel your inner Design in Operational Art.  Donald Schon’s Educating the Reflective Practitioner refers to the use of “design studios.”[2]  In these studios, students are taught, practiced, and given the opportunity to fail and learn through “reflection in action, and reflection on action.”[3]  Battalion staffs require the repetition, but more importantly, the opportunity to learn and grow from said repetitions.  As it was with the utilization experience, short suspense taskings and other requirements will occupy your time, but success in your tactical mission is what will matter most.  Find the time for MDMP at least once a week.  Teach first – tactical operations followed by MDMP – and then practice it and AAR thoroughly.  Invite company commanders to give feedback and continue to execute even if the Battalion Commander is not available.  Training the staff is your responsibility, and although it is tiring, it does not need to destroy morale.  Grab some pizza and soda for the staff, break for discussion on career development or college football.  Build your team around its purpose: the tactical mission.

The next point may be intuitive for most but is still worth being stated (or written).  Through your experience on the Division or Corps staff, you will develop unique relationships. This can tempt you to cut corners or bypass your immediate (Brigade) headquarters to get something accomplished quickly.  Do your best to resist that temptation, but rather share these relationships with members of the BCT staff.  By circumventing your immediate higher headquarters, you could be causing more problems than you are aware of.  This is a great opportunity for complementary effects if you do not share from on top of a soapbox and remain humble in your suggestions.

As for my experience as a BCT XO, one of the most beneficial systems I adopted from my utilization was the use of the Operational Planning Team (OPT).  When I began my time as BCT XO, the staff had a thorough and well understood In Process Review (IPR) format, however, the bulk of all planning efforts fell on a few talented officers in the BCT S3 shop.  Though it took some education and a clear SOP to include agenda, inputs, outputs, timeline, and attendees, the staff took to it.  By spreading the planning efforts out as evenly as possible across the staff and integrating into the battle rhythm, it created a common understanding of the direction the BCT was heading in and a common discourse amongst staff members.  It also helped to unburden the S3 shop and enable long-range planning and synchronization to the best degree possible.

When BG(ret) Huba Wass de Czege served as the first director for the School of Advanced Military Studies in 1983, the key members of the staff agreed on the first motto for the school: “Work Relentlessly, Accomplish Much, Remain in the Background, and Be More Than You Seem, ” a quote attributed to the great Prussian military officer, Alfred Graf Von Schlieffen.[4]  Much like Ranger students are taught that the “tab does not make the man, but the man makes the tab,” the Von Schlieffen quote defines how SAMS graduates are to lead and execute their duties as organizational leaders in the operational force.  The Army has made a tremendous investment in you as a SAMS graduate.  Success will follow given you remain humble, continuously reflect and grow, and educate those you lead.

MAJ James Bithorn has served in Light, Mechanized, and Stryker BCTs.  His field grade experience includes G5, Chief of Plans, Battalion XO, and Brigade XO.  He currently serves as the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade S3.

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[1]Fincher, David, dir. Fight Club.  Fox 2000 Pictures.  1999. Film.

[2]Schon, Donald.  Educating the Common Practitioner.  Jossey Bass Publishers, San Francisco, CA. 1987.  10 -28.

[3]Ibid, 24-26.ĵ

[4]McKercher, BJC, and Hennessey, Michael A.  The Operational Art: Developments in the Theories of War.  Praeger, Westport, CT. 1996.  Pg.161