Military Review English Edition January-February 2015 | Page 35

DIALOGUE AND TRUST

beyond schoolroom blocks of instruction or rote memorization of the Army Values, how does the Army ensure
that values are instilled in the force?
The answer lies in practical application. The vast
majority of a soldier’s career should be spent in the operational field, away from the schoolhouse and the comfort
of school solutions presented in 50-minute blocks of
PowerPoint instruction. It is during operational assignments where words are put into action and values are
truly instilled. The stress of being called upon to discern
where on the values spectrum a decision rests, after being
awake for days on end during training or deployments,
refines a soldier’s character. Thus, it is in the crucible of
such moments where the Army strengthens its institutional values by inculcating the two components of trust
into its soldiers: character and competence.
Developing competence is where the Army shines
in many respects. Functional competence is relatively
simple to train and test. Motivated soldiers—wanting to
learn a job or task and having the capacity to learn—and
competent, knowledgeable instructors are a recipe for
functional competence.
Yet, with the increasing specialization in the force
across military occupational specialties, how does the

Army develop competence across a warfighting function
or occupational specialty?
Due to myriad factors, training the force to a reasonable level of competence across warfighting functions
and occupational specialties at the institutional level
is a difficult endeavor. However, unit leadership can
develop a cross-training regime at the operational level
to increase the efficacy of knowledge and experience by
employing the ALDS.
The ALDS addresses the inherent shortcomings of
the institutional education system by recognizing that
the onus for mission command inculcation—in particular, the building of teams through mutual trust—rests
squarely with operational Army leaders. However,
the Army culture remains characteristically defined
“through top-down control, endless regulations, and
inspections focused on inputs rather than outcomes.”13
Trust, therefore, must be built at the unit level (read
home-station training) through dialogue and actions
throughout the Army force generation rotational cycle.

Shared Understanding
Part and parcel of the mission command philosophy is the principle of creating shared understanding

(Photo by Gertrud Zach, Visual Information Specialist)

U.S. Army soldiers assigned to 12th Combat Aviation Brigade and paratroopers assigned to 1st Squadron (Airborne), 91st Cavalry
Regiment, 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) conduct a pre-mission brief for an air-assault mission at the 7th Army Joint
Multinational Training Command's Hohenfels Training Area, Germany, 19 March 2014.
MILITARY REVIEW  January-February 2015

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