CSMs, what were your top three interests going into a battalion command job?

CSM Eric Olsen — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 12:25:40 -0500

I want the 1SGs in my near-future CSM job to brief me on the current state of their company. I can go the easy route and have them brief me on their individual command and staff slides but that's something I'll see regardless, and non-personal.
I have some ideas but what say the experts?

Response by CSM Mike Maynard made Nov 21 at 2015 12:31 PM

CSM Mike Maynard — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 12:31:32 -0500

1) What is the Vision of my Cdr, and what is my role in helping him achieve it.

2) What is the state of my Junior NCOs. What is my role in putting programs in place to develop them.

3) What am I going to do to set the tone in expectations - Values, effort, performance, etc.

Response by CSM Elmer Feick Jr. made Nov 21 at 2015 2:48 PM

CSM Elmer Feick Jr. — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 14:48:53 -0500

In my first Battalion assignment, we were a reorg of separate companies now falling under one flag. That said, I felt that I needed to conduct a through top to bottom assessment to be the advisor to the Commander. Not necessarily in order of priority, these were my top three interest in assuming my newfound role as Battalion CSM.

1) The current state of readiness in terms of personnel, training and equipment
2) My Commander's priorities and what my role is in achieving them
3) The strengths and weaknesses of the NCO Corps within the Battalion

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 21 at 2015 2:51 PM

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 14:51:47 -0500

I assume you are asking about how to find out the things the 1SGs won't tell you, and won't appear in the slides.

1) Check the record of NCOERs, Counselling statements, and Awards processed. This tells me 3 things: a) Are the NCOERs generic, or do they represent NCOs who are actively managing their subordinates? b) Are the Needs Improvement blocks backed up by counselling statements? Are they generic; i.e. does the same comment repeat over and over? Do they meet the measurable-rateable standard? c) Does anyone care to see that good soldiers are recognized?
2) Ask for the standard forms every 1SG should have immediately available, especially duty rosters. This is so easy to do and so easy to let slide.
3) 1SGs generally come from the line; infantry, armor, CBRN, whatever the battalion does. Check with the specialist platoon sergeants - just chatting, but see if they are ignored, underworked, overworked, or whatever. (You can't just ask that. It comes with the chat.)
4) Check the supply requisition backlog. Both empty and overflowing are bad signs.

Response by CSM Michael J. Uhlig made Nov 21 at 2015 4:48 PM

CSM Michael J. Uhlig — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 16:48:32 -0500

- Personnel & Equipment Readiness
- Leadership Development
- Family Readiness
Congratulations CSM Eric Olsen! Our business is being ready to engage and destroy our enemy. You do that with a ready force, with determined and prepared leaders as well as ready families. Use every opportunity to connect with your troops, it might be during command maintenance on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle or could be at mile 11 of the foot march, or it could be the walk through of the barracks. Do your barracks walk through later in the evening, it is much less threatening to our Soldiers, they tend to open up more and are willing to talk and let you know what is not right with the living conditions or with their leadership - you can influence both of those extremely fast!

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 22 at 2015 6:03 PM

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 22 Nov 2015 18:03:45 -0500

Unsat management, individual readiness and APFT management. That last one includes number tested in the last 12 months as well as the 2 time failure process efficiency for discharge.

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 24 at 2015 10:46 AM

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 10:46:18 -0500

Great responses, I have never even given though to this type of question. With all these great responses I will see what I can apply to my unit and overall shape the future of the BN. Thanks again for great membership VIA social media.

Response by SGM Robin Johnson made Nov 27 at 2015 11:40 AM

SGM Robin Johnson — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 11:40:33 -0500

CSM Eric Olsen I didn't go the CSM route, but serving as a DRU/MACOM EOA SGM I did SAVs/inspections and focus groups with units worldwide. I would highly suggest that you ask (since the results belong to the commanders, you would be requesting, not ordering, but they are unlikely to refuse) if you can see the results of their last command climate survey.

This will give you so much information that you would not otherwise get. It will let you know if they are doing them as required by regulation, and if they aren't executing this as required, are they doing the other things that aren't rigorously checked (CDSP inventories, updating MSDS books as inventory of hazardous material changes, etc), or ONLY things on which they are inspected? How they present them to you (I would have them do it individually) will let you know how well they actually went over the results themselves. If they can't tell you what is in the report, what it means, and what they did about it...they didn't really care, they were just checking a box. And if a 1SG doesn't care what their Soldiers have to say to him or her, that tells me something. And of course, you get to not only see the numbers (which must be taken in context -so after you have had a chance to read over them ask your brigade EOA to sit down with you and go over the results, unless you have been an EOA and know the way the survey is constructed and some of the pitfalls in interpretation) you get to read the comments. Remembering that if everything is going fine, Soldiers often just won't comment, you can get a sense of how the unit is going by WHAT their complaints are. If Soldiers are complaining about the food at the DFAC, sick-call hours, the brigade commander, and other things external to the company you know the company itself is functioning well and you just have info to take to the installation CSM meeting. But if the complaints are all at company level you know their daily work environment is bothering them, and you get to judge just how severely it is impacting morale and esprit de corps, which impacts mission readiness. Even more importantly, did the 1SG just brush the complaints off or discount them, or did he or she actually check on them and do something? And what feedback was given (a requirement of the survey) because one of the things Soldiers hate most is telling their command what is bothering them and then it seems the command just ignores it. Why bother asking if you do nothing with the information?

So you not only get unvarnished views of the Soldiers in the unit, you get to see how your 1SGs respond to their Soldiers' concerns, how diligently they carry out regulatory requirements that aren't checked as often, how straightforward they will be with you about it, and which ones will blame it on their Soldiers. You will also get to meet your brigade EOA, who will be the one to turn to if you get an issue that could potentially blow up all over your command - nothing like something that could get you on the front page of the Army Times to get you really familiar with those chapters of AR 600-20.

Not exactly what you asked, but hopefully it will be helpful. Best of luck, CSM!

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 27 at 2015 8:23 PM

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 20:23:31 -0500

1. Taking into consideration the commanders vision, guidance, and intent; identify what works and what needs fixing in the unit.
2. Rack and stack broken items that require fixing by determining what will benefit the unit the most vs. those items that require significant effort but do not provide major return.
3. Fix the broken things/processes by enabling leaders and bringing them into the solution process vice making solo decisions in a vacuum.

Response by CSM Charles Hayden made Dec 11 at 2018 12:26 AM

CSM Charles Hayden — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 00:26:30 -0500

CSM Eric Olsen Spend time getting to know the NCOs. Be a common sight to the troops. If the Soldiers know, respect you and trust that you are just another Joe, they will share - what is actually happening!