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HomeNewsFort Campbell's 101st Combat Aviation Brigade "Eagle Attack" NCOs mentor ROTC Cadets

Fort Campbell’s 101st Combat Aviation Brigade “Eagle Attack” NCOs mentor ROTC Cadets

Written by Sgt. Duncan Brennan
101st Combat Aviation Brigade

Wings of DestinyFort Campbell KY, 101st Airborne Division

Fort Campbell, KY – Noncommissioned officers with 3rd Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), mentored students participating in cadet troop leader training here from July 17th to August 7th.

The students were assigned to the 3rd Bn. “Eagle Attack” in order to get a real-world look at what it is like to serve as a platoon leader in an active aviation unit.

During the time that they were here, the students gave briefings and assisted in planning day-to-day missions.

Cadets Daniel Camacho, left, from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. and Olivia Lynch, right, from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University at Daytona Beach, Fla., pose with Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Nichols, the production control noncommissioned officer in charge for Company D, 3rd Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), at Fort Campbell, Ky., Aug. 5, 2015. (Sgt. Duncan Brennan, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division Public Affairs)
Cadets Daniel Camacho, left, from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. and Olivia Lynch, right, from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University at Daytona Beach, Fla., pose with Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Nichols, the production control noncommissioned officer in charge for Company D, 3rd Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), at Fort Campbell, Ky., Aug. 5, 2015. (Sgt. Duncan Brennan, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division Public Affairs)

In order to get a better sense of what leading a platoon entails, the students were mentored by senior NCOs in the battalion.

The main thrust of exposing the cadets to NCO mentorship was to open up the lines of communications between the soon-to-be junior officers and the Soldiers who they will be working hand-in-hand with upon their commissioning. By receiving real-world experience of working with the NCOs, the cadets can seek guidance from their enlisted counterparts and establish a relationship founded on trust.

“I have 24 years in the Army,” said Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Nichols, the production control NCO in charge for Company D, 3rd Bn., 101st CAB. “I have heard jokes about second lieutenants not having experience in the Army but having a lot of authority when they get to their unit. When good NCOs mentor the cadets, it gives us a chance to make sure that doesn’t happen near as much. It gives us the opportunity to make sure that when they commission they can lean on and learn from the knowledge and leadership of their NCOs.”

For the cadets, establishing that trust can be a game-changing experience in terms of perspective. Working with platoon sergeants in a real-world scenario was an eye-opening experience. By working in an active-duty unit and working with their counterparts on a daily basis, the cadets learned some of the realities of working with the Soldiers that they’ll be leading.

“You really can’t compare what we learned here to what we learned back at school,” said Cadet Olivia Lynch, a student at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida. “In the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at my school, we only learned about our duties as an officer. Here, we’re learning what it’s actually like working with the enlisted, what their day-to-day jobs are, what it’s like for them to live in the barracks. We learned what a platoon really needs out of a platoon leader. We learned that even something as small as going to a softball game can make a huge difference in morale.”

While taking care of the Soldiers is the realm of the NCOs, command climate is often influenced by the officers in the organization. Mentoring the cadets is a great way for NCOs to hone their skills at training Soldiers and setting the cadets up for success.

“One of our basic functions as NCOs is to train Soldiers,” said Nichols. “Our job is to get privates and specialists mission ready. Now, instead of training a private, you’re training a cadet. As my father used to say, ‘get them young, start them young, train them young, and they’ll work forever that way.’ If you bring the cadets here to the active-duty Army and establish good habits of working with NCOs, only good things can come out of it. Pairing NCOs and cadets gives leadership opportunities to both sides. It gives junior NCOs the experience of reporting to a platoon leader, in a training sense. Those junior NCOs will become senior NCOs who will be reporting up the chain of command. It gives the cadets the opportunity to lead Soldiers, which will ultimately be their job. It shows both sides how an effective line of communication works both ways.”

Building avenues of communication is an important part of building any team. When it comes time to make things happen, other skills are needed. Time and resource management have to be included in the process.

“I think it’s absolutely necessary for the cadets to get the enlisted perspective as well as the officer mentorship now and as they progress through their careers,” said Sgt. 1st Class Robert Carter, the component repair supervisor for Company D. “It gives a new set of eyes and vision for fixing future problems. If it takes five Soldiers 30 minutes to move the aircraft, that’s 2.5 hours of manpower. The cadet needs to understand that moving the time spent moving the aircraft can be better spent on other tasks. Instead of just giving direction, working smarter with your Soldiers, I think, would benefit the Army no matter what kind of unit you’re in.”

Leading Soldiers is a big responsibility. Having a taste of what they’ll be doing when they become platoon leaders will better prepare them for their responsibilities.

“What I see as a command sergeant major is that sometimes new officers don’t understand the responsibilities of being a platoon leader and the gravity that position possesses,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Mark Brock, the senior enlisted advisor for Eagle Attack. “I think it catches them by surprise. I think the NCOs at ROTC or West Point need to convey that unlike privates, a newly-commissioned officer is a leader from day one by virtue of the fact that they’re a second lieutenant or a first lieutenant.”

The next rendezvous with destiny for these cadets will be commissioning as an officer into the Army. Giving the cadets a bigger toolbox to build, and maintain their relationships with their NCOs can help.

Officers have a lot of responsibilities placed on them because they are officers, said Brock. Every officer has an NCO. Its NCO business to keep them informed of Soldier issues because NCOs have more experience dealing with them. At the end of the day, if they establish that communication and treat each other as a teammates and maintain the concept of officers and NCOs working together, the organization winds up benefiting.

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