Management Methods at Platoon Level

Management Methods at Platoon Level by Captain Michael D. Landers How does a platoon leader keep track of the four areas of which all leaders must keep track? Those areas are leading, training, maintaining, and caringfor the soldiers. There are no school solutions to managing them. There are no perfect guidelines to follow. There are only the experiences of others from which to learn.

These four simple areas can loom large when trying to find the methods, techniques, and aids to control them. To whittle these totem poles down to size can be difficult. During my brief Army career, I have come across several aids to help me manage these four areas. These are by no means the only methods available. Some are ones I thought were original only to see them pop up at a later date in one form or another. Some are merely an adaptation of an old idea. Whatever the case, they have worked for me, and I would like to pass them along. Out of necessity, I developed several techniques to manage leadership, training, maintenance, and soldier care. My first company commander had each platoon leader keep a notebook with the status of hulls, turrets, and fire control systems for each tank in our respective platoons. This notebook also contained a maintenance checklist, the platoon hand receipt, and two or three training plans. Anything else we wanted to put in our little black book was left up to us. When I left this company to take over my second tank platoon, I took my book with me. My new commander promptly informed me my office was my tank and whatever I carried with me. Hello again, little black book.

About this time, the four areas of which I spoke earlier were brought to my attention. I reorganized my notebook into the four areas, and many of the ideas, techniques, and methods I will discuss later are all in what I now call my “brain.” I call it that because it keeps track of quantitative management and allows me to concentrate on qualitative management. The following ideas are only some of the means I used to help me. I hope they help you.

Leading As in the other three areas, to discuss leadership would take more time, knowledge, and paper than I possess. A particular help to me in managing this area was my “brain.” I kept a “personal assets sheet” about every soldier in the platoon. Some of the information I kept is naw included in a tank platoon leader’s notebook published by the Armor School. Ohter information I kept about each soldier is as follows: Height, weight, last APRT score, and next APRT date, birthday, number of days of accrued leave, weapons qualification score, vehicles authorized to operate, home address and phone number, combat experience, any extra skill (artist, woodworker, typist, etc.), and what he wanted to do if he could not be a tanker.

I realize the list could go on forever. Each of theseitems could easily be located by contacting the orderly room, maintenance platoon, and 53 section, but it would take time. This page put everything together. For example, there are numerous instances when you may be told that a qualification range is being run by another unit and asked if you have anyone who needs to qualify. Instead of waiting until you can have the platoon sergeant find out, you already have the information. This does a couple of things. First, you and your platoon sergeant have the same data, and have already discussed who needs to qualify. Second, and most importantly, you don’t lose training time with the platoon tracking down the information.

Another idea is to keep a copy of General Ulmer’s Notes on Building the Chain of Command at Unit Level. Before The Armor School put it into a pamphlet, I ran across a copy and promptly put it in my “brain.” You may not agree with General Ulmer’s concepts, but they are food for thought.

Although I cannot put a copy of The NCO Guide into my book, it is also excellent reading. You may begin to better understand your NCOs if you have read what they have to read. After all, FM 22-100 defines military leadership as “a process by which a soldier influences others to accomplish the mission,” and what better way to influence him than by learning what makes him tick?

A last little aid is the “quote of the day” or “saying of the day.” This is an OCS staple I borrowed. It is also very effective in transmitting a message without ever saying it. If you think you are having a problem with ethical dilemmas in the platoon, a few quotes back-to-back on ethics may break the ice for more effective communication. I posted a few of these quotes in the platoon area. While I posted the quotes, several soldiers were able to discuss some personal matters privately. Posting these quotes also forces you to go into the platoon area: a vital act in leadership.

Training

Volumes have been written about training, and I only have one aid. “...We took a Common Skills Task, and made a miniature self-test out of it ... ,, Preparation for common tasks testing is typically one of these areas that is neglected until the last minute. What I did, in conjunction with my company commander, was to develop my “task of the week” board. We took a Common Skills Task, and made a miniature self-test out of it. We posted the self-test on Monday, and the company NCOs would quiz their subordinates throughout the week. This does several things. First, it lets you - - - .. -monitor how often the bulletin 42 ARMOR The Magazine of Mobile Warfare March-April 1986 board is being looked at by checking the wear and tear on the test materials at the end of the week. Second, it gets the junior NCOs involved in training. After I developed the first two or three quizzes and my tank commanders saw how it was done, I had them develop a few. My junior NCOs now had their chance to be innovative. You would be surprised how many times those sergeants madeothers look at what they had done. Having your tank commanders help gets that many more minds involved. Lastly, it covers the Common Tasks Test on a quarterly basis, and allows enough repetition to help your soldiers achieve higher scores.

One task is map reading. My “task of the week” for map reading consisted of a local map taped to the wall, a protractor, and a self-test posted next to the map. The answers to the test would be individually covered, allowing partial testing throughout the week.

Maintenance

Maintenance in a tank platoon is a “make or break” area. Several questions about maintenance periodically arise. A key problem is maintenance in the field during continuous operations, and the National Training Center is an acid test for this. One solution for continuous maintenance involves the cyclic use of the preventive maintenance checks and services (PMCS). The entire PMCS is broken down into ten sections. The before-operations PMCS and after-operations PMCS are not divided. The during-operations PMCS is not divided by days, but rather is broken into operational sections. The tank commander, gunner, loader, and driver each have these operational sections posted in their respective stations. All that is required to fabricate these checklists is to type them in item-number sequence, and cover the page with acetate. In this way, while the vehicle is in operation, any new faults can be checked off with a grease pencil, and can be recorded on the DA Form 2404 later. A critical point is to make sure you list the during-operations PMCS in item-number sequence. By ensuring the list is by item number, you get improved accuracy on the vehicle’s DA Form The Weekly, Monthly, and Quarterly PMCS are divided into 10 equal days. These lists are checked on corresponding days with the CEOI, eliminating all doubt about what is to be checked. Just like my personnel assets sheet, this checklist is also kept in my “brain.” By having your tank commanders help write this cyclic PMCS, you have involved them in training and maintenance in an important manner. Another technique is to make your gunners responsible for maintenance checking. The purpose here is not to relieve the tank commander from responsibility for maintenance, but to increase the gunner’s responsibility. By assigning him to check, he is developing the responsibility he will need later. The tank commander will still check his vehicle’s maintenance, but now he can teach and coach the gunner along the lines of leader and prepare the gunner for his day in the TC’s hatch.

Caring for the Soldier What have you done for Joe E. Soldier today? Caring for our greatest asset is important in any unit. In addition to the chain of command, there are agencies at every installation to help soldiers and their families. Here is where my little black book helps me tremendously. Under the CARING section of my “brain,” I keep a list of all on-post agencies and phone numbers. This helps save time getting professional assistance to my soldiers.

Caring, however, is not limited to agency locations and marrying these agencies UD with soldiers who need them. It extends into other areas. I also keep a list of soldiers who need BSEP and military schools. It is important to make sure deserving soldiers are given the opportunities to further their careers and education.

One last means of caring is leave time. Leave time is a big boost for morale and must be monitored. I keep track of this on the personnel assets sheet. I do this by checking the Leave and Earnings Statement with the platoon sergeant. Soldiers who are accruing too much leave time are in danger of losing some of it, and probably need a breather. The “brain,” quote of the day, cyclic maintenance schedule, and other techniques I’ve discussed are only some of the methods I have used. Perhaps this article has pricked your curiosity and imagination and will help you develop your own methods of managing the leadership, training, maintenance, and the caring for soldiers within your CAPTAIN MICHAEL D .

LANDERS, commissioned from Georgia Military College, Milledgeville, isa graduate of the Armor Officer Basic Course and the Junior Officer Maintenance Course. He served as a tank platoon leader in two platoons, as HHC XO. and as support platoon leader in the 2d Battalion, 69th Armor, at Fort Benning. He wrote this article while a student in the Armor Officer Advanced Course. His writing earned him the Armor Association‘s Academic Writing Excellence Award for init.

AOAC 1-86.

March-April 1986 ARMOR: The Magazine of Mobile Warfare 43