Home Station Observer Controller Training

Home Station Observer Controller Training by Major Bob Molinari The U.S. Army, while in the midst of fight ing a war, is simultaneously conducting a substantial transformation process. As such, not all units preparing to deploy into areas of responsibility (AORs) will have the time or opportunity to rely on combat training center (CTC) rotations to validate home station training prior to mission readiness exercises. As a result, homestation training has become a matter of great importance for deployment preparations. Home station training must include properly trained and equipped observer controllers (OCs). As an essential training resource and asset, OCs assist units in objectively approaching training exercises, provide meaningful feedback to small-unit leaders, and tailor field exercises to focus on mission critical collective tasks. Commanders and staffs must plan in advance to train and equip OCs to successfully prepare units for combat. OCs are not limited to force-on-force lane training or field training exercises; they can provide vital feedback in livefire as well as command post exercises. The OC team must be tailored and focused on the needs of the unit training. The appropriate environment of open and honest communications is essential to max imizing every moment of the training event. OCs have four primary purposes: replicate battlefield effects and limit the amount of artificiality during training; en force rules of engagement (ROE); provide feedback to the unit through participative and professional after action reviews (AARs); and act as an additional set of safety eyes during training. These are the baseline requirements; many more responsibilities exist on the path to becoming an effective OC. A prepared and motivated team of OCs at all command and key staff levels is as vital a training resource as land, ammunition, multiple integrated laser engagement systems (MILES), and opposing forces (OPFOR). Training Successful OCs The first step in preparing the OC team is a certification process to ensure OC teams formally understand their exact duties and do not rely strictly on individual CTC experiences. OC teams must be provided with appropriate doctrinal manuals to ensure their comments are not solely based on personal tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP). A doctrinal review will not make them experts, but added to their personal experiences at the squad, platoon, company, and battle staff levels, will make them a value-added training re source. Internet resources are excellent tools to assist OC preparation. The U.S. Army’s Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL) provides an exceptional website for lessons learned, as well as updates on the latest in-theater TTP. Companycommand.com also has excellent lessons learned from recent combat experiences. OC certification must include collective training on standards for the AAR process, ROE to be enforced, and key events specific OCs must attend, such as pla toon/ company operations orders (OPORDs), rehearsals, and various meetings. The OC team should be provided with all appropriate unit tactical standing operating procedures (TACSOPS), and understand unit standards for routine operations such as MILES boresighting and pre-live fire checks. Care must be made in selecting individual OCs based on their skill sets and experiences, as well as knowledge of training equipment employment. As a relevant side note, if MILES is to be used, brigade and battalion S3s should schedule daily MILES contact teams to exchange information and troubleshoot deficiencies with MILES equipment. An initial meeting to gather data and set some ground rules between the unit and the OC team is required. This meeting facilitates mutual understanding of the training exercise and takes the form of a training schedule review, to include location of the training area, mission essential task lists (METL) to be executed, and areas in which the training unit requires OC attention. Counterpart interviews provide an opportunity for OCs and unit counterparts to become acquainted; establish a mutual understanding of the ROE, equipment, personnel issues, and unit strength and weaknesses; and further refine areas for OC focus. Most importantly, the unit establishes areas to which they expect OCs to focus AAR comments. These initial meetings better prepare OC teams to identify cause and effect in unit successes and challenges. These steps are intended to pro vide the minimal information an OC needs for success. However, nothing replaces the relationship the individual OC establishes with his assigned unit. Essential Skills: Interpersonal and Timing One of the most critical issues that must be addressed is the relationship between OCs and their training counterparts. This relationship must always, obviously, remain professional — a coach, teacher, and mentor — but an effective OC must become a temporary part of the unit. Units that perceive the OC has an ally in preparing for war (versus a doctrinal microscope intend ed to criticize unit shortcomings) will be more receptive to training comments and more honest with feedback and information. The unit will default to hiding less and keeping OCs informed more. The OC can only be successful by maintaining a positive, here-for-you attitude, which highlights areas that need greater attention but always focuses on the unit’s achievements. The training unit should not feel as if it is being evaluated or graded. The OC must be aware of his role as a training resource and remind the unit that he is there to assist it in becoming bet ter at a few essential METL tasks. Good OCs ask the right questions at the right time and demonstrate their need to assist the unit in performance improvement. Better OCs subtly direct the unit to ask the right questions then discover their own answers. The best OCs accomplish both these tasks while being transparent to the training process. Instead of constantly con ducting unit interrogations to find necessary data, they observe the unit from a dis tance, relying on instinct to validate analysis. The OC possesses important training ad vantages. He can observe while not under the pressures of training, such as time con straints and personnel and equipment challenges. As al ready mentioned, he should have readily available appropriate doctrinal references, as well as a wealth of TTPs to provide feedback. The OC will have situational awareness of the OPFOR plan to develop an early estimate of cause-and-effect observations in the post-mission AAR. Subordinate OCs at squad, platoon, and company levels must provide critical observations and trends for consolidated feedback. The single most important point that OCs must portray to assigned units is the primary goal of collective improvement. All too often, OCs fall victim to frustration and lose perspective due to hostile or negative relationships with the training unit. False perceptions on the unit’s behalf or, worse yet, super egos portrayed by the OC serve only to impede training. The OC’s proficiency to react and interact with train ing units is more apparent during AARs. The AAR facilitator must strike a balance and remain flexible during AARs by adapting the AAR to individual comments, while maintaining focus and keeping the discussion on track. Though the OC has a set of issues that he feels are most substantive to the unit’s per for mance, he must be willing to amend those issues to what collective unit leaders feel is most important. The best units readily admit chal lenges and misunderstandings, versus denying training shortcomings and seeing the event as a test. The OC is responsible for gauging the climate of the AAR and using intuition and interpersonal skills to determine how to approach what may be sensitive, personal, or contested observed is sues. In addition to relationships with the unit, timing is important to home station OCs. OCs quickly become unwel come by demanding answers on arrival or at the wrong time, or by remaining with the unit continuously. Units require time alone to develop plans and struggle through internal challenges. The OC will also need breaks to remain effective. The OC must not supplant the chain of command and become an adjunct higher headquarters available to approve requests, or be viewed as an extension of the inspector general to ensure standards are met. However, the OC must know how to balance times that he needs to be available to provide advice or counsel to the unit. Events, such as OPORDs, rehearsals, and planning sessions, will almost always require OC presence; however, making oneself available at less-than-frantic times to offer suggestions will benefit the OC-unit relationship. With his knowledge of both the blue forces (BLUFOR) and OPFOR plans, the OC develops his own timeline to attend events. The OC tracks the unit’s timeline for the next 24 to 48 hours to provide a template for his timeline. Finally, a closeout meeting toward the end of the training period for any last-minute or potential changes to the plan, as well as establishing a plan for the unit to contact the OC if necessary, is recommended. Equipping the OC Team Fundamental planning of OC equipment should center on providing the same capabilities the training unit has, without the combat power. Thus, consideration must be made for command and control (C2), logistics, transportation, training equipment, and individual items. OC teams must have the ability to monitor the unit’s primary FM frequencies. Also, OC teams must have a dedicated internal net to share observations and data exchanges. OCs at task-force level must have communications with OPFOR command ers or representatives. As most units execute battle update briefs prior to mission start, the OC team should have a prebattle update with company and specialty attachments proving observations, changes to combat power, and significant issues and predictive analysis on where the “The OC team should be provided with all appropriate unit tactical standing operating pro cedures (TACSOPS), and understand unit standards for routine operations such as MILES boresighting and pre-live fire checks. Care must be made in selecting individual OCs based on their skill sets and experiences, as well as knowledge of training equipment employment.” 44 — March-April 2005 ing units. Safety risk is made when assuming all officers or noncommissioned officers can safely operate vehicles under less-than-optimal conditions. Exposing BLUFOR positions must be avoided by parking HMMWVs on prominent terrain. The OC must also plan ahead when dismounting to keep a secure tactical posture. AARs: Applying the Past Directly to the Future Effective AAR execution is the hallmark of an OC’s duties and responsibilities. For formal AARs, one technique is to conduct an immediate “hotwash” AAR when completing a training lane or at mission change. This hotwash establishes the basis for the two or three issues that will be the focus of the AAR. The formal AAR cannot cover everything concerning the mission; there is simply not enough time. There are several types of AARs executed at CTCs, which can be used at home station training. Counterpart AARs are a post-mission, free-flow conversation between OC and counterpart, which attempt to capture the critical elements that effected mission preparation and execution. OCs must develop a running, informal plan of the agenda for this type of AAR to maintain focus on the two or three issues that need to be sustained or improved for the next mission. “Hummer-top” AARs are next in formality on the scale of AAR types. They include: a posted agenda, AAR rules, and unit will succeed and be challenged during execution. The pre-battle brief needs to be in a predetermined, fixed format for efficiency, and should be a two-way exchange of information, rather than a data dump up the OC chain. The pre-battle brief should include OPFOR changes, key battlefield operating systems (BOS) issues, and any necessary guidance from senior OCs. OC teams also need a fixed format to execute post-mission summaries, which include sustains and improves for trend analysis from company and staff observers. Nested AAR timelines for all levels (platoon through brigade), temporary suspension of battlefield effects for AARs, and status of remaining obstacles in sector, as well as casualty evacuation (CASEVAC) and nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) training continuation through the AAR process must also be directed to OCs at the post-battle brief. To minimize OC friction, OPFOR, BLUFOR, and OC information must have a nexus at an established OC C2 node. Training leaders need to allocate resources to establish an OC white cell, or facility, for C2 of the training event. This C2 node captures OC observations, tracks events for the training scenario, collects data from various BOS elements to be documented for future AARs, and serves as a fixed meeting site for OCs, as well as a facility for formal unit AARs. This facility should be well separated from unit C2 nodes to maintain fidelity of the battlefield. Individual OCs must be equipped with items such as dry erase whiteboards with markers, terrain model kits that replicate unit vehicles and/or per sonnel, and communications equipment for both mounted and dismounted OCs. Though varying techniques exist, high-mobility, multipurpose wheeled vehicles (HMMWVs) provide OCs an increased battlefield mobility to observe unit activities. In addition to AAR tools and transportation, logistics support of the OC team must not be overlooked or assumed. OC sustainment packages must not be a distracter to unit training and should be executed out of sight and sound from BLUFOR and OPFOR tactical operations. While addressing the issue of OC tactical posture, OC teams must exercise the same tactical level as the training unit. This minimizes chances for OCs to compromise the unit due to lack of camouflage, noise, or light discipline. Considerations by brigade and battalion S3s must be made for OC driver certification under various conditions, which include no illumination, rough terrain, and maneuvering safely and tactically around train-written comments to capture unit key leader observations. A technique for this type of AAR is to inject a doctrinal leader-teach to remind the unit of applicable U.S. Army doctrine that was directly relevant to the mission’s outcome. Another type of AAR is for the OC to prepare the AAR and then turn it over to the unit leader. This AAR process pays great training observation dividends, as the commander or leader knows his unit’s strengths and weaknesses. However, caution must be taken for using this type of AAR because the commander must be properly prepared to cover all necessary events. The OC remains the best AAR facilitator as he maintains an unbiased and neutral position. The final and most formal AAR is the instrumented type, which involves audiovisual equipment and products that better portray time-space relative to the unit, and is the best technique used to focus group thought, as well as review close-to-actual execution details and status. At home station, this could be in a GP medium tent with generator, expando-van, or any fixed site with power sources. Data and observations from OC teams must be provided further out to prepare this par ticular AAR — the high standard is achieved only through substantial resource and time investment. This does not mean that instrumented AARs are solely reserved for battalion and brigade levels. Platoons and companies benefit just as much from instrumented AARs, but need to be scheduled as mid- or final-training “One of the most critical issues that must address is the relationship between OCs and their training counterparts. This relationship must always, obviously, remain professional — a coach, teacher, and mentor — but an effective OC must become a temporary part of the unit. Units that perceive the OC has an ally in preparing for war (versus a doctrinal microscope intend ed to criticize unit shortcomings) will be more receptive to training comments and more honest with feedback and information. The unit will default to hiding less and keeping OCs informed more.” March-April 2005 — 45 event summaries. As a closing consideration, OCs make training more meaningful to the unit by capturing photographs of soldiers in action. This allows the unit to better reflect, visualize, and take pride in the training conducted. While effective AARs ensure all lessons learned are recognized and addressed by the unit, they must not be exceedingly long. Part of the art of being an OC is facilitating and controlling the AAR discussion. A good gauge for how much a unit derives from the AAR is realizing the unit-to-OC talking ratio. The best AARs find the OC facilitating conversations through leading questions, controlling time, and encouraging participation. The goal should be for the OC to talk only about 25 percent of the time, while the unit uses the majority of time for comment. OCs should not use an AAR as a monologue because they retain an almost perfect situational awareness of the training event that just occurred. OCs guide the discussion based on observations in collaboration with the commander’s post-AAR hotwash and an added emphasis on recent relevant combat lessons learned from sources such as the CALL website. Simultaneously, the OC must curtail or redirect irrelevant conversations or discussions that do not directly impact the training topic at hand. Do not allow units to blame higher headquarters for training shortcomings. The unit must focus on what it can fix at its level. The AAR should focus on two or three major issues that contribute to the cause and effect of mission accomplishment of shortcomings. Recommended issues may include: precombat checks/precombat inspections, such as boresighting, packing lists, or soldier load; graphics as part of planning/execution; rehearsals; OPORD; logistics; time management; knowledge/ employment of ROE; actions on contact; actions on the objective; integration of mounted/dismounted forces; echeloning fires; and transition from movement to maneuver. An awesome way to start a great AAR is for the OC team to recognize soldiers who distinguished themselves during the mission and set an example for others. The AAR starts off with an agenda and rules. The rules establish an environment where all members state what went wrong or right, while remaining worry free of making personal attacks. The rules should also stipulate that the AAR belongs to the unit and the unit will be rewarded for their contributions. Finally, emphasis in the rules should be made to individual par ticipants taking notes, lest hard earned training lessons be lost. Next, the OC AAR facilitator should review the training event briefly from beginning to end to refresh recent memories. The OPFOR mission and execution is important in allowing units to realize what they did or did not know about their adversary. An effective technique is to have the enemy commander available to brief his version of the battle. The OC then moves to discuss the two or three major areas on which the AAR will focus. Major AAR issues must allocate time for AAR participants to comment and debate collective solutions. The OC must focus participants on what exactly happened, why it happened, and what can be done to sustain or fix it for the next mission (whether training or combat). The standard must be to avoid differentiating between how the unit performs the mission during training versus how the unit will execute the mission during combat. Both must be the same or the training is artificial. Each AAR participant should identify one task he is going to fix and how he will fix it at his level. The AAR concludes with knowledge of the next mission or training event, discussing safety observations/trends/considerations, and finally, the unit leader provides final comments on the training event. The OC team should consolidate overall training observations for the unit at the completion of training. This should include unit successes and challenges at all levels and doctrinal references with OC TTPs for the unit to review and consider in adjusting TACSOPS or preparing for future training. Final AARs at all levels focus on improving existing SOPs or creating new ones to ensure soldiers understand their part in tactical operations. Serving as an OC can be one of the most rewarding experiences a soldier can have. It affords the OC an opportunity to watch and learn from mistakes and accomplishments and puts more tools in his professional kit bag. Simultaneously, the training unit benefits from a neutral set of eyes and a better understanding of collective planning and execution. Brigade and battalion S3s that plan to properly prepare and equip OCs take home station training to a higher level in preparing for combat operations. MAJ Bob Molinari is currently a student at the School of Advanced Military Sciences (SAMS), Fort Leavenworth, KS. He received a B.S. from the United States Military Academy, an M.B.A from Embry Riddle, and an M.A. from the Naval War College. His military education includes Command and Naval Staff College, Armor Officer Basic Course, Armor Officer Advanced Course, Ranger School, Jumpmaster, Pathfinder, and Scout Platoon Leader. He has served in various command and staff positions, including light infantry company trainer and maintenance trainer, Operations Group S1, National Training Center, Fort Irwin, CA; tank company commander, B Company, 3d Battalion, 69th Armor (3-69 Armor), 3d Infantry Division (3ID), Fort Stewart, GA; commander, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3- 69 Armor, 3ID, Fort Stewart; and tank platoon leader, scout platoon leader, and support platoon leader, 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, TX. Appreciation is given to Major Scott Powers and Colonel Kevin Benson for input to this article. “The final and most formal AAR is the instrumented type, which involves audio-visual equipment and products that better portray time-space relative to the unit, and is the best technique used to focus group thought, as well as review close-to-actual execution details and status. At home station, this could be in a GP medium tent with generator, expando-van, or any fixed site with power sources.” 46 — March-April 2005