Can Do Trains Future Leaders
By Spc. Jordyn Worshek
The 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, held a Team Leaders Academy this week at Fort Stewart, Ga., July 16-19. The Team Leaders Academy used three events to teach Soldiers key leadership aspects within the structure of a platoon and how their role affects a battalion’s mission.
Current and future 3-15 leaders attended the Education Center for instruction on administrative skills needed to lead Soldiers. Non-Commissioned Officers versed in administrative functions provided insight into their respective duties and tasks as leaders. Topics included a counselling overview, managing sup-plies and in-processing new Soldiers.
Sgt. 1st Class Mark Yorormad, Team Leader Academy cadre, offered his perspective on leading junior Sol-diers using a balance of intellect, strength and foresight.
“Besides infantry skills, it’s important for them to know being a leader isn’t always physical, it’s not al-ways about being tactical. It’s about taking care of Soldiers by knowing how to take care of financial is-sues or medical issues so they know their Soldiers family is taken care of,” said Yoromad. “The biggest thing is to make sure they know how to handle administrative things so when it comes time to deploy, they know their Soldiers are good.”
Additional direction included weapons maintenance and firing instruction. Junior leaders learned how to teach subordinates proper care and maintenance of their assigned weapons and demonstrating proper firing technique. The instruction provides young leaders the skills to assist Soldiers with questions or safe-ty concerns.
The final portion of the academy placed leader candidates in their garrison operational environment- the field. There, cadre tested the leaders’ skills, rating them on their ability to eliminate the enemy with min-imal casualties.
An important portion of field training included identifying linear danger areas and leading a squad through them.
“In an infantry squad, being a team leader means being able to lead your squad effectively and without being seen by the enemy,” said Sgt. Clement Gray, an infantry NCO assigned to 3-15. “This means you have to be able to cross all the roads, rivers and trails into enemy territory. A good leader will know how to do that and keep the team alive while eliminating the enemy.”
Thirty-six Soldiers completed the Team Leader Academy. For more information on the Can Do Battalion and future events, visit the 3-15 Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/315IN/.