Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Shane Klestinski | Army Sgt. Andreina Mojica, an HR specialist, stands by for commands during physical...... read more read more
The first time junior Soldiers assume a leadership role, they quickly realize that standing in front of formation feels very different from simply standing within a formation.
After the Soldiers of the 50th Regional Support Group (RSG) arrived in Fort Hood, Texas, on Jan. 10, 2021, in preparation for their Poland deployment, they used every possible moment as a training opportunity, even during two weeks of COVID-19 quarantine. While at Fort Hood, they received high marks for their performance during a culminating training exercise, began training Soldiers for Expert Soldier Badge testing, and started preparing junior Soldiers for Basic Leader Course (BLC).
“We’re teaching classes to help develop their leadership skills, like how to manage a fire team, demonstrate exercises safely and efficiently, and call out drill movements,” said Army Staff Sgt. Louis Gonzalez, assistant force protection officer for the 50th RSG. “It helps to practice and refine before they’re in a test environment. I wish I could’ve had a refresher like this before I went to BLC.”
BLC is a month-long course taught on an in-resident basis that instructs specialists, corporals and sergeants the basic skills they need as an Army noncommissioned officer (NCO) to lead small groups of Soldiers. BLC is also the first in a series of leadership development courses they will attend if they expect to be promoted and continue their Army career.
“The practice has been fantastic,” said Spc. Anndy Mencias, a human resource specialist. “The classes and practice sessions, especially in physical readiness training and marching, gave me a lot of knowledge on little things I didn’t even know were graded, so now I have a better idea of what I need to study.”
BLC is largely warfighting-oriented and concentrates on Army warrior tasks that Soldiers learned in basic training, but from a leader’s perspective. BLC students also receive instruction and formal evaluation on how they react to combat scenarios in the field, give marching commands to a formation, and lead physical training sessions. Later schools like Advanced Leader Course and Senior Leader Course focus on developing NCOs as leaders in their specific occupational fields.
“If we want our NCO corps to have a successful future, we need to be proactive about constantly developing our junior Soldiers into future leaders by sharing our experience and paying it forward,” said Army Col. Ricardo Roig, 50th RSG commander.
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| Date Taken: | 02.12.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 02.12.2021 05:17 |
| Story ID: | 388962 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 232 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Florida Guard unit develops future leaders while awaiting mobilization, by SFC Shane Klestinski, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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