Courtesy Photo | Lt. Col. Angelia Holbrook, the commander of 4th Special Troops Battalion in the 4th...... read more read more
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FORT HOOD, Texas - When Finance and Personnel Services Battalions were taken out of the inventory as part of the Army’s Modularity transformation, the only battalion these officers could compete to command for were in the immaterial Special Troops Battalion Operations, Recruiting and Training Battalions in the US Army Training and Doctrine Command. (TRADOC). Until Fiscal Year 2012, finance (FI) and adjutant general (AG) officers were not given the opportunity to command special troop’s battalions in sustainment brigades.
Lt. Col. Angelia Holbrook, the commander of 4th Special Troops Battalion in the 4th Sustainment Brigade, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) is the first AG officer who was selected to command in an “O1D” (Finance or AG)-coded position, taking command of her formation in January of 2012.
“I believe AG and Finance officers have all the right skill sets to succeed in command of STBs in sustainment brigades and can attest to that from my first-hand experience,” said the 4th Sust. Bde. Commander Col. Mark Simerly. “While it is very helpful to have their functional experience in leading the human resources and finance units in the brigade, I believe that we can also expect AG and FI STB commanders to have the entire core competencies required to accomplish the challenging requirements of a battalion command.”
“I believe good leaders should be allowed to command regardless of branch,” said Capt. Rock Aaron Stevens, the commander of the 207th Signal Company, 4th STB, one of Holbrook’s company commanders.
When Holbrook found out about her selection, the commandant of the AG School at the time called her in to congratulate her and told her:
“Now don’t screw this up Holbrook, because you are the first one. If you screw up, the folks behind you won’t get the chance,” she recalled.
Holbrook commands approximately 1,450 soldiers. In her current task organization she has a headquarters and headquarters company, a signal company, a financial management company, three truck companies and four movement control teams, she said.
Because of the Army’s modular structure, her companies and the companies of her fellow battalion commanders in the sustainment brigade deploy independently. Accordingly, they are all at various stages of the Army Force Generation (ARFORGEN) cycle. Holbrook says that she is partly to blame for her high personnel numbers; when she was the personnel officer (G1) of her now higher command, the 13th ESC., during a previous assignment, she was part of the group that developed the plan called ‘Provider Shift.’ This system realigns "orphaned" companies of battalions when their parent battalion headquarters deploy.
“You don’t look like an STB in a brigade combat team or an STB in some other formation, because you are constantly changing your formation … You inherit their children or their units or you give over yours when it is time for you to go,” Holbrook said.
Stevens thinks that some of the challenges of a Sust. Bde. STB command comes from the fact that “none of the companies have the same mission and an STB commander must find a way to leverage the unique capabilities of each company to build a cohesive team.”
To get companies close to fully manned and ready to deploy, there is a constant movement of individuals between the companies in order to ensure whoever is nest in the ARFORGEN cycle is fully manned for their deployment.
“Sustainment units don’t habitually get manned at the same level as BCTs, based on the HQDA manning priorities,” Holbrook said. “You do a lot of cross leveling; you borrow from Peter to get Paul out the door. One of the biggest challenges of ARFORGEN in a Sustainment Brigade is manning. Equipping is not so hard, but manning is definitely a challenge.”
Part of her manning challenges comes from having a 25-30 percent non-availability rate in her unit. “As a human resource manager I had been focused solely on getting units ready to go, making sure their manning was sufficient. And while I knew that the non-available population had been growing during the global war on terror, I did not realize what that looked like at a battalion level,” Holbrook said. “It means there are less people rowing on the boat and it is affecting our ability to get the job done.” As a company commander, or even as a division strength manger, the commonly accepted average before 9/11 was around 10 percent, she added.
It was also a surprise to her how long it took to get some of the non-available soldiers back into the fight, transition them to a warrior transition unit or get them through a medical board process.
Holbrook said that battalion command was her first job where she felt she brought something to the table from day one. “When I was told ‘hey, you are going to command an STB in an SB,’ I thought to myself, I can do that, I know what it looks like.” [but] “It does not mean I knew how to do everything perfectly.”
Holbrook had the opportunity to hold the same or similar jobs that multifunctional logisticians do as they go through their officer career progression, such as company commander, battalion executive officer or maintenance officer. She also had the chance to do strength management and the typical “S1 - G1” human resources (HR) jobs. She held these positions with various types of units at the tactical, operational and strategic level.
“Her understanding of human resource administration at the Army level based upon her time at Human Resources Command and as a G1 has been a tremendous asset,” said Simerly. “Angie immediately established herself as the subject matter expert on all human resource matters in the brigade and her leadership of our human resources company significantly improved our ability to provide human resources support at Fort Hood and in deployed settings. Of course, she has been an outstanding source of personnel and administrative advice for all leaders in the brigade, myself included,” said Simerly.
“I really think the reason why I can do well in the sustainment community is because I have previously been in the sustainment community,” Holbrook said. “… you are usually the lone subject matter expert as an AG officer in a unit, so when you go in a new unit you need to learn to speak the language of the type of command you are in. It just makes you a little bit more value added to the organization if you already have situational awareness of how things work.”
Holbrook is a firm believer that it is the battalion commander’s responsibility to groom future company commanders and leaders in general. She spends a lot of time with her lieutenants, conducts physical fitness with them. She and her command sergeant major came up with a platoon leader and a squad leader certification process.
“When it comes to the platoon leaders, the things I want to do is set the conditions to make them good company commanders. So what are the things company commanders have to deal with? They deal with property so [as a platoon leader] you get to be a financial liability investigation officer.” Holbrook also expects all of her platoon leaders to run a range and conduct all the training leading up to it. They also have to be licensed on the vehicle they are tank commanders in. The battalion has a preventive maintenance checks and services certification program, ran by the battalion maintenance officer, which lieutenants must go through.
Not only does she train her officers but she also allows them ample space to train their subordinates.
“She protects her companies from training distracters and enables her commanders to develop technically and tactically proficient soldiers,” said Stevens.
“We're a family,” Stevens added. “Each unit helps one another out with training and resources to create high-impact training opportunities. We don't have any "spotlight rangers;" everyone is working towards making the battalion successful because of our dedication to her … She provides sound guidance and mentorship … she commands with an open mind to suggestions, willing to incorporate the ideas of her subordinates to improve the organization and foster a creative, problem-solving environment.”
Recently Holbrook implemented her “Operation Battalion Scramble,” during which, she swapped personnel in key leadership positions among all the companies for a week.
She did not change more than two leaders in any company, to keep the company running but obtain the desired effect at the same time:
"The grass is not necessarily greener on the other side."
As for her advice for those who want to follow in her footsteps, commanding a Sust. Bde. STB with an AG or Finance background, Holbrook shared the following:
“It is important for everybody to get well-rounded in the technical side of what they do. But if that was the only thing I could bring to the table here, I don’t think I would be effective. You have to have that common operating picture of the various branches and what each brings to the equation. Leadership is about influence, it is not about how much I know as an HR person. How can I influence my commanders? Through clear guidance, through personal example through training, through coaching, how can I do that to accomplish the mission that we have been given? …Those who want to command a battalion need to see the Army from all levels. They should. Look for opportunities to get in and around the tactical level, the operational level and the strategic level as well. ..Get as much breadth of experience as you can.”
“Ultimately, success as a battalion commander is about leadership, not specific skill sets…” said Simerly. “In addition to the tremendous developmental experience they [FI and AG officers] gain in commanding a battalion, commanding an STB provides them with a broad education in all sustainment functions and thus enhances their future value to the Army. An STB commander must rapidly master not only the functions of their base branch but must also be multi-functional due to the multitude of tasks a STB commander is asked to perform. If Holbrook did not get this command position, she would probably be sitting in a cubicle at HRC, managing a branch, she said. “Command is a great privilege, it is a heavy privilege.”
She grew so close to her staff, commanders and fellow battalion commanders, that she will have a heavy heart when she will leave command. “I better wear waterproof mascara on the change of command day, because I am sure that I will shed some tears. It will be a Class III leak if you will,” she said smiling.
According to Holbrook, the Army does not yet have plans to open up sustainment brigade commands to AG or Finance officers, but she hopes to see that happen soon.
“It was a big leap for the logisticians to open 16 billets…but you can understand, if you want to grow this population of officers to command these types of units you have to bring them through certain gates,” Holbrook said. “I do believe that perhaps a portion of the sustainment brigades one day should be commanded by a Finance or AG officers. There are five stars on the CASCOM patch; AG and Finance are two of them.”
| Date Taken: | 03.26.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 03.26.2013 16:48 |
| Story ID: | 104140 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 828 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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