# A Rifle Company Commander's Notes



## Infanteer (18 Jun 2016)

This was from an officer leaving company command.  Some may find it useful.



> What follows are a few notes of what I felt were the salient points on rifle company command.  These were things that I learned on the job - I may have applied them well throughout, or poorly at first and better and better as time went on.  Some of these are things I grappled with right to the end, and may still not have the answer.  Here they are:
> 
> Command.
> 
> ...


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## acen (5 Jul 2016)

This is useful even as a reservist MCpl. Thanks for sharing Infanteer.


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## daftandbarmy (5 Jul 2016)

acen said:
			
		

> This is useful even as a reservist MCpl. Thanks for sharing Infanteer.



What do you mean 'even'? 

As a MCpl in the reserves you're probably going to wind up being the CSM half the time


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## acen (5 Jul 2016)

daftandbarmy said:
			
		

> What do you mean 'even'?
> 
> As a MCpl in the reserves you're probably going to wind up being the CSM half the time



Pl WO or Comd is more likely, we're well staffed in comparison to most reserve units!


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## ArmyRick (5 Jul 2016)

Agreed with almost all of the comments the OC noted.


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## Red 6 (25 Jul 2016)

This information is outstanding not just for company commanders, but also for small-unit leaders at all levels. Training in the US Army is driven either by the Mission Essential Task List (METL) – (mostly in peacetime), or the Army Force Generation Cycle (ARFORGEN) for operational deployments. For the most part, every one of these points is applicable to probably any modern army.

I would like to specifically address what the writer calls 'NCOs and Whitespace.' We (in the US Army) spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to make productive use of the spaces in between tasks on the daily training schedule. Before the wars started, there was an army-wide program called 'Sergeant's Time,' which happened every Thursday morning in garrison. It started at 0700 and went until 1200. Squad/section and team leaders were tasked with to-standard training on individual soldier and team tasks. It was supposed to take place outside with a tactical focus. It started sometime in the 80s and stayed constant until the ARFORGEN cycle took over to get units downrange. The army is currently working to get sergeant's time back into operation.

Hip pocket training is the life blood of basic soldiering. Like the writer, units I served with required NCOs to have a pre-formatted lesson plan they could pull out during down-time. But even without a piece of paper, you can do lots and lots of stuff off the top of your head. My gunner and I used to do worm board drills all the time on the hard stand. Every track had a 240, tripod and T&E. We ran GPMG crew drills with our loaders and scout/observers every week. Soldiers want to do hands-on training and nothing is worse than a sergeant standing there reading something verbatim out of a soldier's manual. When I was a platoon sergeant, I constantly checked my squad and team leaders to see how they were doing short hip pocket training. 

I served on Bradleys for most of my career and we taught every crewman and dismount how to install and pull out the 25mm, how to load the gun, how to hang ammo in the ready cans, the right way to get ammo through the feed chutes into the feeder, how to boresight the main gun and coax. We have this deck of armored vehicle ID cards that are the same size as playing cards. Every TC had a set and we were always drilling on them. The list is endless. 

It's hard on a hot afternoon after chow to get soldiers engaged unless you find sensible ways to use the time, but good leaders find the way. It doesn't serve and purpose to let your guys hang out in their rooms at the barracks because 'there's nothing to do.' I spent nine months deployed to Kuwait in 99-2000 as a rifle company first sergeant. Our platoons were scattered in four separate locations doing security force. We faced a constant challenge coping with boredom and complacency and I won't sit here and say we were rock solid good to go all the time. Filling in the white spaces with constructive, relevant training is a never-ending challenge.


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## daftandbarmy (25 Jul 2016)

I had to run a  rifle company for a few weeks at a time when my OC was away, three or four times in various units. I asked for advice once and was blithely told 'it's like a big platoon', as he breezed out the door to his long course....

I wished I'd had something like this to lean on back then.


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## Blackadder1916 (25 Jul 2016)

daftandbarmy said:
			
		

> . . .  'it's like a big platoon', . . .



Now, was that a Canadian reserve unit CO describing his battalion or a British Army OC describing his company?


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## dapaterson (25 Jul 2016)

Obviously the Brit.  Most Canadian Reserve Bns would be too hard pressed to field an actual platoon.


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## BC Old Guy (25 Jul 2016)

A good set of guidelines.  Reminds me of the better company commanders I've worked for and with.  Applicable, on the whole, to leading anywhere in the military.


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## Haligonian (25 Jul 2016)

Red 6 said:
			
		

> I would like to specifically address what the writer calls 'NCOs and Whitespace.' We (in the US Army) spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to make productive use of the spaces in between tasks on the daily training schedule. Before the wars started, there was an army-wide program called 'Sergeant's Time,' which happened every Thursday morning in garrison. It started at 0700 and went until 1200. Squad/section and team leaders were tasked with to-standard training on individual soldier and team tasks. It was supposed to take place outside with a tactical focus. It started sometime in the 80s and stayed constant until the ARFORGEN cycle took over to get units downrange. The army is currently working to get sergeant's time back into operation.



Thanks for this Red.  What was taking place outside of that Sgts time as I would hope they would actually have more than 5 hours a week?  I imagine maintenance and routine admin?  Did the Army impose other types of weekly activities?


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## Red 6 (26 Jul 2016)

Haligonian, Roger, NCOs are right with their soldiers every day of the week. The idea behind sergeant's time is to devote a specific time block each week to basic soldier skills training. Officers traditionally go off and do officer stuff during sergeant's time. Sergeant's time was supposed to be 'sacred.' You didn't go to dental appointments, run to the exchange, go to S-1 for anything, go to supply, or any of that stuff on Thursday mornings. 

A lot of our daily work in garrison was dictated from higher up. It depended on where we were on the training calendar, the METL, commander's guidance from division and brigade, etc, etc. Although every week was unique, most weeks in garrison had a rhythm. There were lots of variables, but the structure was similar each week. We had a day devoted to vehicle maintenance, a gunnery day, and a personal weapons, NODs, commo, NBC equipment day. Thursday morning was sergeant's time and the afternoon was admin time for layouts, inventories, weekly training meetings, etc, etc. Friday was tactical focus – dismounted road march and recovery one Friday a month, crew drills, mini-tank range, prep for upcoming field events or gunnery, etc, etc.

I'm specifically explaining about mechanized units. Most of my career was in armored cavalry, so our focus was different from CS/CSS units.


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## daftandbarmy (26 Jul 2016)

Blackadder1916 said:
			
		

> Now, was that a Canadian reserve unit CO describing his battalion or a British Army OC describing his company?



British Parachute Regiment rifle companies were only about 60 - 70 strong at the time, so I guess his description was fairly apt


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## Happy Guy (1 Aug 2016)

Not just applicable to the infantry but to all the platoon and company equivalent level units in the CAF.
I was an OC in a Svc Bn and the same guidance applies.


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## Jarnhamar (1 Aug 2016)

Really appreciated and enjoyed reading this. I think there's a lot of take away points for NCOs too.


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