Photo By Sgt. Joseph Guenther | Sgt. Maj. Lawrence Williams, the operations sergeant major for 5th Squadron, 73rd...... read more read more
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FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Part of being an effective leader in the 82nd Airborne Division and throughout the military is having the knowledge and skills necessary to lead troops into battle. This rule is necessary at every level of leadership from the youngest sergeants to sergeants major to commanders on and off the battlefield.
The leadership of the 5th Squadron, 73rd Airborne Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division recognize this and thus invited instructors from Fort Benning’s Maneuver Center for Excellence to come to Fort Bragg and teach the 12-day Cavalry Leaders Course, said Sgt. Maj. Lawrence Williams, the operations sergeant major for 5-73rd Airborne Cavalry Regiment and a CLC student.
The course, which began Nov. 28, taught cavalry fundamentals from both doctrine and lessons learned in theater to more than 30 cavalry commissioned officers and noncommissioned officers. The students were from not only 5-73rd Airborne Cavalry Regiment, but also invited were students from 4th Squadron, 73rd Airborne Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, and students from 1st Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment, 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps.
“It was important for us get this training for our Paratroopers,” said Williams, “but we didn’t have enough people to fill the required number of seats, so we invited 4-73rd and 1-38th CAV to come too. It worked out well for us because we were able to train our guys to be ready for Global Response Force, and were able to help out the 4th Brigade guys too since they’re close to deploying.”
Those deploying Paratroopers, along with other cavalry leaders, have a distinct advantage after attending the Cavalry Leaders Course, said Williams.
“Deployed commanders share their experiences and what they’ve learned with the Center for Army Lessons Learned,” Williams said.
“The Maneuver Center then takes those lessons learned and integrates them into the course, helping leaders be better prepared for real-world scenarios.”
While knowledge gained from real battlefield experiences is valuable to all soldiers, The Maneuver Center of Excellence does not compromise doctrine or fundamentals in their teaching, said Capt. Brian Harris, the Mobile Training Team’s course manager.
“Doctrine is the template for everything. We want scenarios to be realistic and understandable, but we also want soldiers to be trained and ready to fight future fights,” Harris said.
Those scenarios are provided to the students as they spend 12 days in a classroom environment covering every cavalry subject ranging from reconnaissance fundamentals to urban operations.
Harris explained that the course is in an entirely classroom environment because it’s focused on senior leaders such as captains who have graduated the Captain’s Career Course and senior noncommissioned officers such as first sergeants and sergeants major.
These senior leaders are then challenged at the end of the course to develop a Troop Order, similar to an operations order, which plans from the lowest to the highest echelons of command. The leaders have to be able to think like a platoon leader, troop commander, and a squadron commander simultaneously as they develop their plans in order to develop a successful operation.
“I don’t want to see an order that checks the block, I want to see orders that are well thought out,” Harris said to his students as they awaited graduation after reminding them of the importance of balancing doctrine with unit level tactics, techniques, and procedures.
“We’re here to teach doctrine and how things should look in a perfect world,” Harris said. “It’s not a perfect world and you have to take the doctrine and develop your TTPs so they work in the real world.”
Lt. Col. James Gaylord, the commander of 1-38th CAV, spoke with the graduating class. Before congratulating them for their success, he said “You owe it to those cav scouts to give them the best plan possible.”
| Date Taken: | 12.13.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 12.16.2011 18:51 |
| Story ID: | 81516 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 796 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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