As a junior major, wrapping up my year at the College of Naval Command and Staff, I fully expected to find myself as Battalion Executive Officer or maybe on a Brigade or higher staff. I was very surprised when I was selected to command a unique headquarters company in a two-star headquarters consisting of nearly 300 Army Civilians, numerous contractors, and 135 Active and Reserve Soldiers. I had spent the last year learning about operational art and comparing and contrasting the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP) with the Naval Planning Process (NPP) in preparation for my cubical on staff.

I learned about the new Army Doctrine Publication 6-0 as I assumed and settled into my new command. I read it pretty quickly because I was still in the reading mode from ILE, which put it in the forethought of my mind the first seven months in my new role. I immediately struggled to reconcile Mission Command doctrine with the world of cubicles I found myself navigating. The unique part about my role as the HHC Commander is that I have many opportunities to sit in and listen to how this staff functions and does the business of the Army and Army Reserve. I quickly learned I was in a very different part of town, far away from the tactical problems I had managed as a brigade S4 just a year before. At my current assignment, Mission Command just does not resonate with the hard-working GS Employees doing the business of the Army behind the scenes. 

It clicked that the United States Army is a massive enterprise, with around 330,000 civilian employees, 476,000 Active Duty Soldiers, 343,000 National Guardsmen, and 198,000 Army Reserve Soldiers.  That roughly 1,350,000 does not include the thousands of employees supporting the Army as contractors. The current reality is that the vast majority of those being paid by the Department of the Army live and work in a “garrison” environment. Many, if not most, will never work in an austere environment, let alone get to personally take part in “Unified Land Operations.”  

So, does Mission Command apply across the entire Army?  My answer is yes. 

However, in the latest version of ADP 6-0, the Army still chose to define Mission Command as “the Army’s approach to command and control that empowers subordinate decision making and decentralized execution appropriate to the situation. Mission command supports the Army’s operational concept of unified land operations and its emphasis on seizing, retaining, and exploiting the initiative.” The concept of Mission Command is easily embraced by Soldiers and units as they train to deploy and while they conduct operations around the world, but that may not be the case for some garrison focused organizations.

ADP 6-0 tells us “employing the mission command approach during all garrison activities and training events is essential to creating the cultural foundation for its employment in high-risk environments.”  The new definition of Mission Command will continue to make it challenging for some members of the Army community to embrace the concept. This definition potentially disengages the brains of the thousands of GS employees who work far from the battlefield. In the strict context of the definition, Mission Command would likely sound foreign to some Soldiers doing routine business in cubicles and offices around the world. I do not know if the Sergeant First Class in Retirement Services and a Captain in Wellness Programs at my headquarters connects with Mission Command the same as a Captain and First Sergeant leading a rifle company in a Brigade Combat Team.  

The only way Mission Command will be truly successful is if it becomes the cornerstone of Army culture. Mission Command must become part of a vision statement to which the entire Army aspires. We must talk about Mission Command and its seven principles early and often in every Soldier/employee’s career. We must tie Mission Command closely to the Army core values and ensure every member of the organization understands Mission Command is a two-way street. Mission Command does not start with the commander, but rather with the individual – mutual trust starts with trustworthy individuals.  Mission Command is not a thing that we incorporate into an operation or plan, but must become a way of life. 

Many answers as to how we achieve the integration of Mission Command into our organizations can be found in ADP 6-0. Truly, one of the biggest challenges may be actually getting everyone to read it.  The ADP talks about the importance of the command climate and building mutual trust. The book even touches on the role of the subordinates in Mission Command and puts a great deal of pressure on the commanders to set the conditions to make Mission Command a reality. There is no denying that the commander owns the command climate, but if Army culture hinged on a Mission Command culture, then the commander would never be alone in this responsibility.  Mission Command does not need to just be “the Army’s approach to command and control.” It can become the Army’s culture, our way of life. 

Organizations across the Army will build stronger teams only if leaders in and out of uniform start to embrace Mission Command as a culture.  Leaders at the top of our organizations must live the principles and eliminate processes that undermine the initiative of their subordinates. They must build trust in their organizations by getting to know their people and setting conditions that allow them to get to know each other. Leaders at every level must find ways to delegate decision making as often as possible in order to foster trust across their teams. Lastly, leaders need to be allowed to fill their own schedules and train their own people and achieve the commander’s intent.  Mission Command is how we unify the Army workforce. If we all take ownership of Mission Command and allow it to become the way of life, we will soon see a much more capable force. 

Subscribe to The Field Grade Leader!

Major Lukas Toth is currently the Commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 81st Readiness Division at Fort Jackson, SC. He is an AGR Logistics Officer who holds a Masters of Arts in Defense and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College. He also holds a Masters of Human Resource Management from the University of Richmond. Twitter @Toth_L_L