‘Grizzly Strike’ Shapes Professional Growth for Armor OC/Ts

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Scott Evans | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – Capt. Michael Sheahen (top right), an intelligence officer assigned to 2-358th Armor Battalion, 189th Infantry Brigade leads a group discussion during Grizzly Strike at the Sgt. John A. Pittman Facility, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington Jan. 25, 2023. During the training, unit Observer, Coach, Trainers took on staff roles and conducted outbriefs within their planning team which were later evaluated by battalion leadership.  

JBLM, WA, UNITED STATES

02.01.2023

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Scott Evans 

189th Combined Arms Training Brigade

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – In the continued effort to increase the doctrinal knowledge and battle staff experience, ‘Grizzly’ Observer, Coach Trainers assigned to the 2-358th Armor Battalion, 189th Infantry Brigade conducted collective battle staff scenario training Jan. 23-27, 2023 at the Sgt. John A. Pittman Facility at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

The week-long exercise was designed to reinforce the brigade’s major objective of fostering a mission-focused learning environment to develop personal and professional growth within its Soldiers through classroom instruction, practical exercises and command briefings.

“The primary focus is to get more sets and reps for the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP), specifically understanding the different steps from receipt of mission to actual course of action development and also the orders production process,” Maj. Wyatt Ottmar, the executive officer of 2-358th Armor Bn. said.

Grizzly Strike offered a window to strategic and operational planning efforts for the OC/Ts of the battalion.

“I think for most of the participants who had never done MDMP before it was an intense week because it’s an intense process, but they were exposed to everything that happens with MDMP,” Capt. Michael Sheahen, an intelligence officer assigned to 2-358th Armor Bn. said. “Everyone’s going to walk away from this with having learned probably a significant amount of what a staff actually does and how these high-level plans are made.”

The battalion considered the training to be a success.

“I’ve been using the analogy [that] it’s kind of like lifting weights. In order to get the most benefit, you have to know how to properly lift it,” Ottmar said. “It’s the same with MDMP. With each step, you have to be able to analyze but also execute that step in a doctrinal manner to get what you want effectively.”

The teams worked long hours to achieve the maximum effect of the training objectives within the timeframe allotted.

“We started about four months in advance with looking at task organization, looking at duration of time for [MDMP] and also orders, products and references to help enable the efficiency of building an order,” Ottmar said. “There was a lot of doctrine we had to read through, and we had multiple touchpoints to organize the staff to make sure we had all the right resources.”

Successive future training missions with National Guard and Army Reserve partners requires consistent training of the brigade’s OC/Ts in both doctrine and practice.

“There’s a lot of training upcoming involving staff Combined Post Exercises where it would be important for the Soldiers to have an understanding of operations,” Sheahan said. “This training helps us to understand what went into making those products, and these portions are invaluable for us in understanding the larger plan because it informs the company and platoon plans as well.”

Team liaisons and senior staff guided the execution of the exercise when there were points of uncertainty to lead the two designated teams in the right direction.

“The teams have the same roles, the same [mission] order and the outcomes of each step are the same, however the ways and methods in which they get there are slightly different,” Ottmar said. “That’s the part of the critical thinking we are trying to encourage. As long as they get to the outcome and come up with different ways to get to that point, that’s the beauty of creative thinking and analyzing the situation to come up with a conclusion that solves the problem.”

The exercise ultimately was about military education through self-realization.

“Anything that is beneficial will be challenging at points, but in the long run when they go out and serve on a battalion staff either in another unit or as OC/Ts they’re going to be better off for it,” Ottmar said.
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• Date Taken: 02.01.2023
• Date Posted: 02.01.2023 20:08
• Story ID: 437663
• Location: JBLM, WA, US