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NEWS | Dec. 20, 2018

Command teams sharpen training skills with new leader course

By Cpt. Jeffery Gruidl 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)

As the Army Reserve continues to focus and improve on readiness and intensifying its training culture, the 83rd United States Army Reserve Readiness Training Command (USARRTC) recently developed a Company Leader Development Course (CLDC) to help company leaders focus on the skills needed to train their units and better prepare for individual and collective training.

 

Promoting the concept of leadership as the ultimate combat multiplier and the most dynamic element of combat power, the 83rd USARRTC conducted the first OPTRIAL for CLDC December 10-14, 2018 at Fort Snelling, Minn., for ten company command teams from the 103rd and 311th Sustainment Commands (Expeditionary) (ESC).

 

One of the key components to the CLDC is, unlike the Company Commander & First Sergeant Pre-Command Course, the requirement that the company command team (CDR, 1SG, Unit Administrator, Training NCO) attend as a unit.

 

The CLDC is not a replacement for the CCFSC, but rather as a follow-on course intended to augment by focusing on the art of command through command team collaboration, said Capt. Geoffrey Cummings, a senior instructor with the 83rd USARRTC.

 

Building on the model that when not deployed, a commander's primary duty is to prepare his or her formation for war; this course utilizes real-world individual unit data to focus on command team mission, roles and responsibilities, readiness, maintenance, supply and unit training.

 

Opening up the course, 103rd ESC Commander, Brig. Gen. Howard Geck, welcomed the class by providing both understanding and goal setting for the attendees saying, “This course will make you more effective, but I understand you don’t have enough time.”

 

Geck added, “This course will increase your ability to conduct effective and efficient year-out training and give senior NCO’s back ownership in training."

 

One of the 83rd USARRTC’s objectives to commanders, and their leadership team, is to educate them on what right looks like and how to maximize the use of time together at battle assembly through annual training.

 

By getting after the basics, command teams focus on deliverables they can take back to build training plans that incrementally build from individual to collective capability, ultimately focusing on executing a multi-echelon culminating training event (CSTX, CTC, etc.).

 

Capt. Christian Olson, 353rd Transportation Company Commander, said about the course, “This is an excellent follow-up to the commander & first sergeant course because this course wasn’t just for me. Instead of just learning about topics I got to apply what I learned with my entire staff.” Olson continued, “I was able to access and apply the tools a commander needs to be successful.”

 

Additional principles Capt. Olson and the other attendees focused on were; maximizing battle assembly time, executing resources within your command when additional people, money, and time are not available, preparing and managing their company through training with the ultimate goal of successfully competing culminating training events with a higher rating.

 

The culmination of the training involved command teams gathering knowledge through the week and applying it in the form of an operational plans brief for two senior leader. On Friday, the units briefed and answered questions from Brig. Gen. Aaron Walter, 100th Training Division (LD) Commander and Col. David Skavnak, 644th Regional Support Group Commander.

Capt. Olson said, “Operating as a team allowed my first sergeant and myself to understand our individual priorities, but plan and brief together.”

 For additional information on the Company Leader Development Course please contact Maj. Tyler Waterhouse with the 83rd U.S. Army Reserve Readiness Training Center (ARRTC) at 502-626-7132 or tyler.j.waterhouse.mil@mail.mil.