Photo By Darci Brennan | Spc. Miles Seward, recovery specialist, Company E, 5th Battalion, 101st Combat...... read more read more
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FORT POLK, La. - Taking care of Soldiers is one of the primary roles of the noncommisssioned officer. The NCOs lead the way in this endeavor and often involve the entire chain of command.
During 5th Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)'s rotation to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La., Soldiers will be working in a simulated deployed environment. Accomplishing mission tasks becomes more critical, as does ensuring that all parts of the team perform at peak efficiency.
During this rotation, 5th Bn., 101st CAB, Soldiers are focusing on the air assault missions that will be flown in support of their brothers and sisters in arms from 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (AASLT).
A lot goes into conducting an air assault in a combat environment and the Soldiers of 5th Bn., 101st CAB, Eagle Assault, put in a tremendous amount of work keeping the aircraft flying. With the Soldiers expending energy taking care of the aircraft, senior leaders occupy their time ensuring that mission is accomplished and making sure that the welfare of the Soldiers is maintained.
Soldiers in the 101st CAB are highly motivated and a lot of that is a reflection of the attitudes and examples put forth by their leadership. Keeping Soldiers informed of how their company's mission effects the broader mission can make a huge difference in how Soldiers see their jobs.
With the training ramp up, including exercise Golden Eagle, many of the Soldiers only saw a lot of sling loads and late nights, said 1st Sgt. Mark-Jacob Bilon, Company A, 5th Bn., 101st CAB.. As senior leaders, we gave them the big picture of what was going on and how it fit into the bigger picture.
With junior Soldiers playing a significant role in missions that have strategic impact, it's important for leaders to ensure that the company as a whole is executing their duties in the most efficient manner possible. Allowing Soldiers to share feedback on their duties and how to improve task execution benefits everyone.
“Every day is a learning experience and every day is a teaching experience for our senior leaders,” said Bilon. “We got some new Soldiers in and they are teaching the older Soldiers new ways of looking at things. We don't believe that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. The new Soldiers bring fresh eyes to the table. They tend to think through problems instead of just trying to muscle through.”
In addition to mentoring and learning from Soldiers, Eagle Assault ensures that the basics are met. When flying aircraft, tired and bleary-eyed Soldiers put the mission at risk, especially when there isn't as much time for planning and preparation.
“We are working with condensed planning cycle,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 John Worth, UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter pilot, Co. C, 5th Bn., 101st CAB. “Normally, to plan air assaults, we take a week or more. Here at JRTC we're using a 96-hour planning cycle. The battalion is enforcing the crew-rest policy. We got here in the day time and had to transition to nights. We did it over a two-to-three-day period. I like to do a good job of managing my crew.”
With missions that would normally take weeks to plan and cramming it into just a few days, often with back-to-back missions, the job of keeping helicopters properly maintained becomes a monumental task. The maintenance is very detail oriented and small distractions to a Soldier's focus can keep an aircraft out of the fight. Chaplains have been taking care of Soldiers for over 230 years.
“For a lot of commanders and sergeants major, the mission always takes precedence,” said Chaplain (Capt.) Matthew Holder, 5th Bn., 101st CAB “As a chaplain, we look at the individual side of the Soldier so that they can accomplish the mission that he or she has been given. We care about Soldiers and these Soldiers are doing a great job. Anything we can possibly do to help them, we're going to do.”
| Date Taken: | 07.21.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.20.2014 15:09 |
| Story ID: | 145531 |
| Location: | FORT POLK, LOUISIANA, US |
| Hometown: | FORT CAMPBELL, KENTUCKY, US |
| Hometown: | FORT JOHNSON, LOUISIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 55 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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