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As an observer/controller (O/C) and former Forward Support Battalion Commander, I am routinely asked, "What works?" or "How do we become successful during a rotation?" My answers to these questions are: get everyone involved in the training plan, train and prepare to standard at home station, and learn and improve everyday. Here are some additional tips commanders at all levels must consider as critical keys to success and improvement at any Combat Training Center (CTC):

• Know yourself -- Learn and improve everyday. Do not think you know everything -- watch the egos. Teamwork is critical and oftentimes overlooked. Good leadership involves teamwork and it is your responsibility to seek self-improvement. Find five or six things that are substandard and fix them. Associate timelines with your fixes so that a standard is clear to all involved. Adjust the list once the task is trained to standard. Be smart and stay motivated. You do not know what you can do until you try. Develop, post, and monitor your commander's critical information requirements (CCIRs) early, prior to executing operations. Trust your subordinates to do the right thing.

• Empower your leaders. You cannot be everywhere all the time. Build competence and confidence through training. Do not hammer them if they make mistakes. Let them learn from them and do not stifle initiative.

• Get your Command Sergeants Major (CSMs) and NCOs involved in executing quality training on field tactical and technical skills. Although the level of field tactical and technical competence varies from unit to unit, I conclude there is not enough focus placed on sergeant's time, platoon or company field training exercises (FTXs) in executing quality training to standard. Ironically, critical tasks are overlooked and substituted by daily distracters because subordinates lack clear guidance and directions. NCOs must take personal ownership of all individual training and execute it to standard. Everyone's contributions count.

• Keep your Soldiers informed. Soldiers are our greatest assets. Conduct a mass briefing for your unit that provides everyone with the knowledge of what the CTC rotation or contingency mission encompasses. As a unit, you would never go to war without instructing everyone in the unit where the unit is headed, its mission, what is expected of them in country, rules of engagement (ROE), how you plan to support the customer, and what is expected of each company. Convey your "commander's intent" so that soldiers see the big picture, their part in it, and the desired endstate.

• Conduct an effective Military Decision-Making Process (MDMP) with your staff. This is a critical task. Practice it and make it routine. How long does it take your staff to complete this process? What works for one team might not work for the other. Find out what works and focus on improving those critical areas that are not to standard.

• Publish your tactical standing operating procedure (TACSOP), ask questions and follow up. Publishing your TACSOP two weeks out from a rotation will not allow enough time for soldiers to digest the information and provide feedback. Feedback is important. This is how we continue to hone the learning process. Conduct internal after-action reviews (AARs) at all levels, identify problems, developmethods/systems, and practice the new applications immediately. Bottom line: Publish your TACSOP early, practice it and refine it during training events. Do not be afraid to change it if it does not work or you find a better way.

• Do not be afraid to train your soldiers or make them train to standard. Leaders must be willing to accept training risk. Accepting risk means training their soldiers to standard. How many of us take the time out to find out why and how things happen. The attitude of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" will not allow you to proactively correct training shortfalls. Officers and NCOs often know what the standards are, but do not enforce them. Training to standard is critical for your survival. Make training hands-on, challenging, and INTERESTING. Looking at briefing charts for hours loses interest quickly -- and is boring.

• Ensure everyone develops training objectives -- all staff sections. Commanders should develop sound training objectives that support executable and flexible concepts of support. A crosswalk between the brigade combat team (BCT), division support command (DISCOM), and your training objectives must take place.

• Defense, Defense, Defense. Two areas of concern are fighting positions and force protection. Your CSM and First Sergeants must take ownership of the perimeter. Building fighting positions is an individual skill. Fighting positions require hard work and are often not built to standard. Soldiers need a position for survivability. Your CSM can ensure that the standard is met and continuously improved. Identify shortfalls early and avoid defeat later. Remember, construction of fighting positions to standard should be practiced at home station at squad and team levels. Who is checking? In protecting the force, use mounted and dismounted patrols. Develop a tracking matrix to fix responsibility to confirm or deny enemy activity in and around your area. Adjust the Brigade Support Area (BSA)'s perimeter and site layout as necessary during occupation and continue to improve your defensive posture to ensure proper dispersion.

• Ensure there is an effective BSA Reconnaissance and Surveillance (R&S) plan. Units do not focus on this early in the planning process. Develop sound Fire Support and Obstacle plans. Do not overlook or assume these critical areas away. You have commanders in the BSA who are the experts at what they do. Service battery and headquarters and headquarters company (HHC) engineer commanders would love to be part of your planning process. Get them energized.

• Ensure continuous battle tracking is accomplished at all levels. Do not wait until line of departure (LD) time to start. This is a continuous process. Practice it!

• Develop a sound concept of support. Synchronize the plan at both the BCT and BSA levels. Ensure your supporting and supported units get it and understand it. The best concept of support in the world is no good if you are the only one who has it.

• Get involved in the BCT's combat health service support planning process. This is your plan and you must execute it to standard. Get into the weeds on this one. Pay attention at the BCT's combat service support (CSS) rehearsal. Do you have a solid executable plan? Raise the flag and fix the problem. Lack of planning on your part could cause you to become a casualty. Speak out if the plan is unsupportable.

• Conduct and supervise your rehearsals. Ensure all the key personnel are at all rehearsals. Rehearsals are key. There is no way around them. The best rehearsals are done in daylight on a large terrain board. Discipline your unit to execute rehearsals for every mission. Remember, rehearsals for BSA activities should include BSA movement, response to different threat levels, employment of a quick reaction force (QRF), area damage control, and casualty evacuation (CASEVAC) to include a BSA mass casualty (MASCAL). This very likely will identify shortfalls and synchronization issues prior to execution.

• Time management. Develop a standard company and battalion timeline with a menu of tasks from which to select. Put them in your TACSOP (orders drill, battle rhythm) -- don't reinvent them each time you go to the field. Poor time and task management will force many delays and cancellations of critical tasks such as rehearsals. This will result in poor execution.

• Continuous cross-talk between customers, support operations officer (SPO) and supporting unit is critical. So you think your unit is providing flawless support -- what are your customers saying? What feedback have you received from your supporting units? Have you and your SPO done everything to make life outside the BSA a little easier? The "confirm or deny" process is imperative. You have to ask the questions:
  • How do you know?
  • Who did you tell?
  • When will it get there?
  • Where is it now?

  In many cases, we operate based on assumptions, perceptions, and the like ... and don't go the extra mile to confirm that an action is on track, or introduce a safeguard (denial mechanism) that tells us that our process is out of sync ... in time to respond.

• Take charge of Rear Operations. Do not assume this away. The rear command post (CP) is your area and not the BDE XO's or S4's. Take ownership as the senior trainer and make things happen. Very few FSB commanders really harness the full capabilities of the combined tactical operations center (TOC)/brigade administrative and logistical operations center (ALOC). Establish an open dialogue with the brigade commander. He can help you fix responsibility and provide you critical intelligence resources to support your plan.

• Always think safety. Risk management must be conducted at every level. Apply it, monitor it, and enforce it. There is nothing we do in training that is worth a soldier's life!

This is not all there is to know, but I wanted to provide you with some key thoughts to help you prepare for your next CTC rotation or contingency mission. A couple more things I pass to you are: Do not short-change the battalion staff by allowing a flood of shortcuts in the staffing process. This will inevitably leave you with inferior products. Remember, these will be the same products they will produce on the battlefield if they think this is what you will accept. Be "firm," motivate company commanders and 1SGs to fix the perimeter, conduct staff and company battle drills, and take on challenges. Let junior leaders and soldiers do their jobs and then provide feedback as opposed to standing over them. Last but not least, make training fun, safe, and do not shrink away from training to standard.