I’ve always liked the idea. The most worthwhile mentorship I ever received was was over a couple of beers with some candid conversation. However I also have seen the steady decline of these things as @adam.szczypka mentioned. “Leaders” these days point to the ever present specter of SHARP when they outlaw these types of gatherings, choosing…[Read more]

Wholeheartedly in favor of Drink and Think. Whether it actually has some magical property, or whether we just socialize it so, I’ve seen people be more open and honest with a drink in hand than not. I’ve heard people say “your real self shows when you drink”, which has always made me despise the anti-drinking movement – implying we need to cover…[Read more]

As I have been always told…where you go, what ever you do…plant a seed and grow!

Your branch does. It define you, you define you so make the best out of the branch you got and succeed! Things are not always how you planned them because it they were then there wouldn’t be no fun to life!

Sir! Although I been a little MIA (mainly due to a new job and the husband coming back from deployment) I wanted to let you know that I enjoy reading your post! They are super interesting!

I’m currently transitioning to a BN S1 position and observing how they operate and for me I do best with writing things down on my green book and/or writing it on a white board so I can have physical visibility of what I need to do or refer back to.

My XO on the other hand is all about calendar events and WTO so that’s something I’ll be getting used to!

Brother, every organization is unique… so on and so forth, disclaimer, disclaimer, disclaimer.

Now, down to business. Yes, you should be planning your calendar a full fiscal quarter in advance. Yes, you should be “locking” your calendar 6-8 weeks in advance. Then (optional – my personal technique), you should go nuclear when there are changes…[Read more]

Ray, I just want to take a moment to thank you for this forum and the opportunity to grow and develop the future of our Army!  Thanks!

Agreed you have to make the best of it. I’m still struggling with how/why the numbers go the way they go. For instance, from West Point Class of ’07, 60 were branched Field Artillery. For ’08, 100. For ’09? 140. This led to a conversation with the officer submitting my battalion’s USR, revealing we had 26 Lieutenants for 11 MTOE slots. So, every…[Read more]

We’ve tried a battle rhythm, but it gets totally crushed from higher. We’ve shifted our weekly company meeting at least 3 times, and it’s still not ideal. We’ve tried to RECLAMA taskings less than a few weeks out, but nothing seems to stick. If we could lock in a training calendar at least a few weeks out, it’d provide some measure of sanity. I’ve…[Read more]

I’m in the middle of my second M-day company command.  The key to success is engagement and thinking ahead.  You need to start with what you need to accomplish at annual training upfront and then backward plan your MUTAs.  I always have a sacrifice training event set aside to cut in the event of last minute taskers from higher.  Typically your XO…[Read more]

There was a great post on this very topic by @X70037,  https://juniorofficer.army.mil/personal-battle-rhythm/.

Personally I use a mix of three primary things that help keep me on track.

First, outlook. It’s great for those reoccurring meetings, things sent from “higher,” things I can link to my cell calendar, etc.

Next, I have my white board f…[Read more]

I think this is something that the MI Corps has actually done very well.  MI BOLC thoroughly integrated MDMP into the branch specific portion of the course and also included a short lesson on design.  For many blocks of the course, you would go through MDMP start to finish several times (with an emphasis on mission analysis and IPB) to include b…[Read more]

Unfortunately what I’ve seen teach JOs (to include myself) to plan has been experience; in all its cruel and drinking from a fire hose form. My first drill back from deployment as an BN A-S3, I found myself not only the acting S3, but also the acting BN XO (yes, you read that right) going into an MDMP session that was developing the next year’s…[Read more]

SLAP HANDS! SLAP HANDS!!

Regardless of what the events actually are, I’m most excited about the gender/age neutral but MOS-specific part, with no alternate events. If you’re being shot at but can’t run, you don’t get to jump on a bicycle and bike away, or jump in the river and swim away. You don’t get to decide how heavy the wounded Soldier next to you is before you…[Read more]