Photo By Sgt. John Montoya | Marine Sgt. Maj. Bryan B. Battaglia, the senior enlisted advisor to the chairman of...... read more read more
SANTA FE, N.M. – Marine Sgt. Maj. Bryan B. Battaglia, the senior enlisted advisor to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke to a large gathering of New Mexico National Guard members on March 8 at the 515th Regional Training Institute here. Soldiers and Airmen from units all over the state were invited to listen to Battaglia discuss issues and field questions in a town hall-style meeting.
Battaglia used this meeting to address challenges the military force as a whole faces, such as health care, retirement, transition to civilian life services, and changes to the outlook and expectations of leaders in the military. He stated that the issues he was addressing were not necessarily driven by budget issues in Washington, but by the necessity of updating the way the military operates because it is the right thing to do. An example he cited was “legacy systems” or older equipment the National Guard often has to work with.
Another subject he addressed was looking at practices from the past which have been neglected over the course of fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq following the 9/11 attacks. Instead of simply going back to the basics, he proposed the idea of “bridging to the basics,” which means taking effective practices from the past and updating them to a modern context.
An example he used during the speech was the Platoon Leader book, which contained cards service members would fill out and return to the leader. The platoon leader would then place the provided information in with other information from the enlisted member, such as pertinent documents like auto insurance along with family information, other interests, etc. The platoon leader could maintain this information in digital format and present it to superiors for inspection upon request.
Finally, Battaglia spoke about service members’ transition to civilian life. He described how the Department of Defense Transition Assistance Program helps service members move into careers outside the military. In regard to people living in rural states like New Mexico, the Goals, Plans, Success (GPS) Program offers online aid to outgoing service members in achieving success outside of the Armed Forces.
Battaglia said, “The last thing we want to do as leadership is transition someone out who is ill prepared.”
N.M. National Guard Soldiers and Airmen were excited to get the opportunity to speak to someone who is directly guiding the policies which will affect the armed forces over the coming years.
Staff Sgt. Shannon Osborne said, “I feel like I don’t deserve to talk to him, but it was nice.”
Osborne said she had the opportunity to briefly speak to Battaglia about his personal experience with resiliency and how she could use his advice in her additional duty position as a master resiliency trainer.
As they filed outside, other Guard members shared similar remarks about the positive, two-way communication of the meeting.
| Date Taken: | 03.08.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 03.12.2015 14:26 |
| Story ID: | 156790 |
| Location: | SANTA FE, NM, US |
| Web Views: | 392 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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