This week I had the opportunity to teach a portion of our "operators Course". To be brief, this is a course that we developed for our guys that are in the 3-5 year range. We recognize them as emerging leaders so we give them this extra week of training to go over SOG's. The idea is for them to start thinking through WHY we do things a certain versus how. They have all proven they can pick 'em up and put 'em down, this is an opportunity for them to use their gray matter a little.
I ran a team building exercise that required some physical effort with stations. Basically they run a lap, hit a station, run a lap hit a station. The stations varied from a disassembled weapon box test, to portions of a written test. This was meant as a self assessment of basic knowledge and skills. I think the point was driven home.
I was supposed to teach a block of instruction on Immediate Action Drills. The info was pushed out but then I ended up becoming the student. The guys began to bring up points about why we DID NOT do certain things in training and on missions. The point they brought up were industry standard types of things. In fact, they were things that every team leader course that I have attended recommend we do. I won't go into detail due to OPSEC, but I would bet that if you interviewed numerous SWAT guys worth their salt they would agree that the topics mentioned were important for team safety and success.
So, what the hell is the point? The point is that over time and with success, I have become lazy. I have allowed the team to short step in some areas because we haven't had our behinds bit yet. My only recourse was to apologize for my lack of leadership. I am not alone in this, the other team leaders and even team members have some share of this load. I often preach that every team member is responsible for the teams actions overall performance. I think we have done a good job of fostering an environment where the saying "All positions are equally important" is true. Somewhere we let our performance slip, because most of the things mentioned we used to do or are part of our written SOG's.
These types of slip ups are common. We make excuses about why we don't stick to tried and true TTP's. We cut corners because of time constraints. We fail to do what is right because the budget, the Chief or command may not appreciate it. Team Leader and team members have to be vigilant to guard against this as time goes by. The team should be willing, able and ready to slap a team leader who is not consistently sticking to SOG's. Consistency being the key, there are times when we will and should deviate, that why they're called "guidelines" and not policies. For the most part, this should not be done out of convenience or laziness.
Likewise, we should have a mechanism in place to make sure we are re-evaluating what we are currently doing to ensure we haven't slipped into a comfortable place in lieu of the right place. Is what we're doing the right thing or the easy thing. In addition is what we're doing up to date, relevant to our missions, and right for the time and place? Those questions have to be asked on a frequent basis so that we do not become complacent. I have added an e-mail reminder that is re-occurring every six months. It is a gentle reminder to me to make sure I am doing the right things for the right reasons. Mission, Men and Me is a great book by Pete Blaber that clearly illustrates the responsibility of leaders.
Most of us have heard of the monkeys and the ladder. Five monkeys are put in a room with a ladder. If a monkey climbs the ladder he can get to a Banana that is hanging above the ladder. One of the monkeys sees the banana and heads for it. As soon as he touches the ladder, ALL of the monkeys are sprayed with ice cold water. They soon figure out that any attempt at the ladder will result in the cold shower. Any monkey that tries it is soon beaten by the other monkeys. One of the monkeys is removed from the pen, and a fresh one added. He knows nothing about the water but sees the banana and goes for it. The other monkeys beat the stuffing out of him. Soon all of the original monkeys have been replaced with monkeys that have never been sprayed. Nonetheless, they all beat the hell out of any new monkey who tries to go for the banana and none of them have any idea why.
Don't be a monkey. Questions everything and figure out how to beat the hell out of the guy with the hose, so we can all have a piece of that damn banana. As always, sorry for typos.
