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Military

SECTION III

COMMAND CLIMATE

"A command climate is a shared feeling, a perception among the members of a unit about what life is like. This perception is based on their understanding of how they will be treated -- whether the leadership cares about them personally and professionally." 1Command climate is the atmosphere created by the chain of command within which the unit conducts its operations and training. It is one of the doctrinal conditions for effective team building. (The others are common intent, disciplined proficiency, shared values and experiences, a focus on the future, and delegation.)

Many factors influence command climate. Leadership, discipline, responsibility, morale, ethics, individual and collective skills, teamwork, esprit, and courage are some of the key factors which affect it. Stirred together in the daily operations and training of a unit, these factors are poured out in the execution of actual operations. A healthy command climate gives commanders and small unit leaders confidence in the performance of their soldiers, individually, and the unit collectively. It gives soldiers confidence in their chain of command. It is an accumulation of mutual respect and trust between leaders and soldiers. How well a unit accomplishes its mission, including how it applies the ROE as well as the mundane tasks associated with military operations, is indicative of the unit's command climate. The bottom line for which we strive in unit training is cohesion -- especially at the squad, section, platoon and company levels. ". . . If the command climate is good, cohesion is generally high. . . ."2

In applying ROE in contingency operations, command climate is especially significant because commanders must delegate to each soldier in the unit the authority and responsibility to make instantaneous decisions on applying the appropriate level of force within the ROE. ". . .[N]o one anticipates a day when a combatant commander will be able to decide whether to fire for each soldier standing guard."3There can be no "loose cannons," nor can a unit afford overly tentative soldiers. While the ROE place limitations on the actions of soldiers, they also obligate soldiers to take action within the ROE to protect themselves, their comrades, critical U.S. property, and the mission. Thus, "ROE must guide the soldier to initiate aggressive action against those who . . . display hostile acts or intentions toward [U.S. or coalition] forces."4Leaders must trust the decisions they have empowered their soldiers to make, and soldiers must trust their leaders to support them if they perform their duties in accordance with the training they've received. Soldiers should be confident that if they use their weapons within the ROE, as they are obligated to do, they won't be suspended from duty and confined to quarters while a formal investigation is initiated. If unit leaders confirm that a soldier acted within the ROE, that soldier should be commended for his/her proper action and continue his/her duties. Only a unit with a healthy command climate can operate with such mutual confidence.

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NOTES

1FM 22-103, Leadership and Command at Senior Levels (Jun 87), p. 63.

2Ibid., p. 63.

3Major Mark S. Martins, "Rules of Engagement for Land Forces: A Matter of Training, Not Lawyering," Military Law Review, Volume 143 (Winter 1994), p. 81.

4Ibid., p. 82.


Section II: Defining the Rules of Engagement
Section IV: The Current "Legislative" Model for Applying ROE



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