2LT Vineyard, Ryan
31MAR2014
The Modern Military Intelligence Officer as a Professional
The modern Military Intelligence professional needs to be an expert in his trade. Core competencies include commanding and controlling Military Intelligence Soldiers and combined armed forces during combat and intelligence gathering operations. Additionally, an MI officer must be able to coordinate employment of Military Intelligence Soldiers at all levels of command, from platoon to battalion and higher in U.S. and multinational operations. Further, an MI officer needs to be competent in all levels of intelligence gathering, particularly if they are an All-Source Intelligence Officer (35D). These fields include Imagery Intelligence (IMINT), Human Intelligence (HUMINT), Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), among many other types and disciplines of intelligence work. Lastly, an officer must be technically competent in what his or her soldiers do.
An officer's ability to lead his or her soldiers is contingent on the officer's knowledge of his soldier's skills. The US Army Officer is a professional, providing expertise, leadership, and an example for his soldiers to follow. Every soldier is a subject matter expert, trained in a specific competency. An officer, that soldier's leader, needs to be able to employ that soldier effectively. That means understanding a soldier's skills. An Officer needs to further have the ability to train that soldier outside of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) schools. This means a successful officer must become proficient in, if not an expert of, his soldier's competencies. For an average soldier, this would mean several MOS style training schools. In intelligence, a soldier can be anything from a Prophet...
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...ind a trade could result in a similar 20% failure rate demonstrated by Dr. Gottman’s “trained” graduate students. Every Military Intelligence Officer should aspire to be the Dr. Gottman of the field. The Intelligence profession will never be perfect; the fog of war will always exist. Van Riper likens current US military thought to that of a chessboard; only noting that in the real world, you cannot see the enemy’s pieces or thought process. AN Army Intelligence Officer is aware of their assumptions, their flaws, and their analytic process all while maintaining themselves as experts. Otherwise, an officer fails to observe the officer’s creed. “I will give to the selfless performance of my duty and my mission the best that effort, thought, and dedication can provide. To this end, I will not only seek continually to improve my knowledge and practice of my profession…”
Natural born leaders are almost nonexistent in today’s military. Military members have to complete numerous leadership classes as you progress through the military ranks whether you are an enlisted or as an officer. There are many attributes that people would have to possess to be considered a great leader. Some of those attributes include honesty, respect, trustworthy, and enthusiasm just to name a few. There have been many leaders I have worked with or for over my past 19 years in the Army. One of the most important one would have to be honesty. Honesty is important because if the people that work for you cannot believe what you tell them, they will never trust you or support you. Employees can make or break their supervisor. If they do not like or trust the manager they will not respect them and they will only do the least amount possible. When your employees believe that, you value their opinion and their work ethic. Like you and trust, you they will do anything you ask of them. Whether the decision is right or wrong it is a decision, a leader never want to leave their subordinat...
From family to squad members, communication acts as the cornerstone for a military officer, assisting in the mental health of the individual as well as facilitating the conduction of successful operations by an intricate, yet responsive, organization. Military officers are often times imagined as infallible heroes, unwavering against and untouched by the realities of modern warfare. Yet, newly commissioned, 22 year old officers often faces the arduous responsibilities of leading a platoon or flight comprised of men and women generally the same age as themselves into combat, or managing millions of dollars worth
Snider, D. M., Toner, K., & Oh, P. (2009). The Army’s Professional Military Ethic in an Era of Persistent Conflict. Security (p. 30). Carlisle.
Staff Sergeant (SSGT) Louis Moeller shaped me into the Recon Marine I wanted to be and the Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) that I am now. By embodying the Recon Creed and always setting the example, he made me want to be an NCO that my troops would look up to and want to follow. Even when not in charge he was constantly the one peers and junior Marines alike, turned to for guidance and inspiration. To this day, I still find myself asking “What would Louis do?” when confronted with a leadership dilemma.
Intelligence failure was one of the main reasons why the Tet offensive happened. The allies undergo a failure of intelligence before Tet, a failure that helped plan the stages for changes in the strategies of the US. The four parts of intelligence are crucial in determining the actions of the enemy. The four tasks consist of collection of information, the analysis of the information, the decision to respond to a warning issued in the analytical stage, dissemination of the order to respond to the field co...
Espionage is an occupation and activity that is carried out by agents who have different ...
My leadership can expect a top tier performer who strives to be one of the most competent Non-commissioned Officer’s within the unit. I will do this by adhering to the regulations, unit sop’s and any other guidance which governs my section. I will ensure my soldiers do the same, holding them to strict but attainable standards and expecting nothing less. I will teach, coach, counsel, and mentor these soldiers-teaching them what a leader is and grooming them to be leaders also.
The Army leader should have identifiable features that soldiers can benefit from. This is how an Army leader must be. He or she should have knowledge in tactics and techniques that show that they can manage resources and organize. All of this entails what an Army leader knows. And the actions that birth the feelings in other soldiers to want to operate in the same manner of that leader is the do.
The NCO Creed states, “I realize that I am a member of a time honored corps, which is known as “The Backbone of the Army” (‘The NCO Creed’). That verse alone should be the most inspiring part that all Noncommissioned Officers should love to hear because it’s true in many aspects. The question to ask is, are we driving it in the right direction. There has never been a time in our history when Soldiers needed competent and strong leaders more than today. The social complications that our young Soldiers face are beyond what any generation before them has had to endure and learn and navigate. The military are looking for leaders who can be role models for these Soldiers. Anyone can tell a soldier what to do, but a good leader can show, direct and motiva...
In the United States Army, there are two categories of rank structure, the enlisted corps and the commissioned corps. The enlisted corps within itself contains leaders, who are referred to as Noncommissioned Officers, or NCOs. These individuals, whose ranks range from Sergeant to Sergeant Major, are responsible implementing the guidance and command policies provided by the Commissioned Officers and commanders in their units. NCOs are also responsible for the welfare and training of junior personnel. The US Army provides regulations and manuals with step by step guidance for the most trivial of tasks, but it fails to spell out specific and concrete information on how to be an NCO. There are publications, such as “The Creed of the Noncommissioned Officer” and regulations on leadership, but they lack specificity and objective instruction for how to accomplish the aforementioned responsibilities of an NCO. The knowledge and skills of an NCO are instead acquired through training and experience, the products of which are NCOs of varying quality. A good NCO is one who knows and fulfills the written laws and regulations of Army doctrine, has the character of a good soldier and leader, and is able to strike a balance between written law and doing what is right even if the two seem to contradict one another.
Army leadership is more than hut, two, three, four, or mindless dictated leader-development programs. According to the Army’s leadership doctrinal manual, Field Manual (FM) 6-22, Army leadership is “the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation while operating to accomplish the mission and improve the organization”. The "be" of the model refers to the morals and qualities that shape character; as essential qualities, and the identity of the leader. The “know “refers to the knowledge that the leader should use in leadership, as well as knowledge about tactics, technical systems, organizations, management of resources, and the tendencies and needs of people. From an Army standpoint, leaders are not operational until they apply the skills and knowledge they possess, and, as with knowledge, leaders will learn more about leadership as they serve in different positions. The “do” refers to what a leader does or his or her actions that are directly related to the stimulus they have, the situation, and those around Them (“Be, Know, And Do”,
Non-Commissioned Officers are deficient in vital areas of leadership due to a lack of training. This leads to inexperienced Soldiers becoming inexperienced leaders. The NCO corps needs to develop and enforce comprehensive interactive training that will challenge the next generation to achieve a functional level of communication skills before advancing to leadership positions. This will generate leaders who can write effectively, speak meritoriously and teach adaptively while training others to do the same.
The Army spends a great deal of time making followers into leaders and leaders into followers by utilizing several levels of training throughout their military career. This training allows a Soldier to perfect the knowledge and skills required to be an effective leader in every aspect of their job. ...
To begin, ADRP 1 states the individual ethic begins by creating, and sustaining a professional identity as a member of the Army team, which in turn, enhances the moral fiber of the entire enterprise. Next, the Army Ethic White Paper reminds its Soldiers that as Army professionals they perform their duty according to a common ethic , eluding to the deontological precepts of this philosophy. Moreover, the white paper states, that as the Army prepares to operate in complex environments, it must anticipate the unique ethical challenges of the future, and remain committed to developing Army professionals of character, competence, and commitment. Next in importance, the joint nature of future conflict requires a common framework for ethical conduct, just as joint doctrine provides for operations and planning. Due to the exceptional importance of understanding this concept, the Army Ethic illustrates the following:
“A vision without action is merely a dream.” (Kevin Gates) The Army Profession Model is a great vision but if we do not fixed the basics in our upbringing of Soldiers then it will only be a dream. Imagine a panoramic view of an early morning sunrise over a military base. The sun is starting to burn off the morning dew. Formations of soldiers are starting to pop into the picture. Each soldier is in uniform dress sharp and moving as a single unit. Some formations are double timing moving out. Everyone has a purpose and stepping off to get to his or her next obstacle of the day. All Non-commissioned officers are enforcing nothing less than exceeded standards. Soldiers are toe to line in formations for inspection. Senior Non-commissioned