Breaking long established paradigms in any organization can be a risky business!!

Why is this video important and how is it related to leadership?  Its a historical first and innovative in many ways.  This video was made in the summer of 2006.  It was the capstone exercise of a summer dedicated to training basic to advanced rifle marksmanship to the soldiers of C battery, 1-44 Air Defense Artillery Battalion.  The battalion was commanded by LTC Elliott Bales.

Breaking long established paradigms in any organization can be a risky business.  But when you are talking about putting loaded weapons in the hands of 18 year old soldiers and expecting them to maneuver through several obstacles, communicate effectively, and place steel on target safely you are assuming some risk.

This was the culminating event for my Air Defense Artillery (Patriot) soldiers.  They began the training regimen over six weeks earlier by conducting the simple dime washer drill (first step in building soldier confidence).  The Non Commissioned Officers and Soldiers ran the traps moving on to battle sight zero, basic qualification tables, reflexive fire techniques, and finally on to Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) drills.  Prior to this video being taken the soldiers executed several practice iterations, first with no ammo, then with blank ammo, and finally what you see in the video which are live rounds.  So by the time this mounted/dismounted Convoy Live Fire Exercise (CLFX) was conducted these troops were as ready as I could get them.
The video makes it look easy but I assure you it isn't.  First of all getting clearance to execute a training event like this was a herculean effort.  By Infantry standards a range like this is considered low risk, but by Air Defense standards it ended up being a medium due to the fact that this type of training was not common to the Air Defense branch.  There were also formidable obstacles in place that were overcome.  This is the first time Soldiers were authorized to drive onto a static range and the first time Soldiers were authorized to fire from a moving vehicle.  It was probably the first time in the Air Defense that Soldiers were authorized to shoot with live ammunition while maneuvering mounted while transitioning to dismounted then transitioning again to a battle drill that culminated with an assault on a mock objective.

It was determination (by all), and my commander's faith in my abilities that led to success on this range.  It was a lot of work... but it was worth it in the end because it built confidence in our young leaders.

Choose your battles carefully, but win the ones you choose!!

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