TRAIN Your Lieutenants
by LtCol Brendan McBreen
To build an effective infantry company, you need to:
TRAIN your lieutenants. Competent platoon commanders are a vital requirement for strong companies. Your lieutenants—future company commanders—need autonomy and experience to build their warfighting skills. “Lieutenant training” is NOT a separate event, but folded into every aspect of company training and operations. Be a mentor.
TRAIN your lieutenants to take care of their Marines. SET the leadership example in everything you do to champion your Marines: pay, housing, medical, families, PT, training, recognition, evaluation, and discipline. Your lieutenants will follow your lead. TEACH your officers to love their Marines.
TRAIN your lieutenants to train their Marines. Unit leaders are unit trainers. Plan and execute excellent training events. Set high standards and exhaustively evaluate performance. Lean on your lieutenants—NOT just the XO—to play key roles in the training process. Then allocate platoon-level training days and give them the opportunity, experience, and responsibility for training.
TRAIN your lieutenants to fight. Talk tactics and TDGs. Talk weapons employment and maneuver under fire. Assign tactical problems and demand decisions and concise orders. Coach your lieutenants on the chaos of combat and how you think tactically. Too much of our time is consumed by day-to-day requirements. MAKE time for tactical decisions—how we fight. That is the reason your company exists.
INSPIRE your lieutenants to pursue professional military education (PME). We need old heads on young shoulders, but the Marine Corps can only provide them 25 percent of what they need to know. LEAD by example—read, discuss, and debate the ideas and practices of our profession. FOCUS at the company level.
The infantry company is a powerful weapon. Your company—and the Marine Corps—will be far more effective on the battlefield with solid, well-trained lieutenants.
LtCol McBreen (ret) is the mastermind behind 2ndbn5thmar.com. He can be reached at bbmcbreen@gmail.com.