Education and Training
I remember when I got to my first base as a space operator and I was excited, optimistic, and eager to learn. There was so much ahead of me to be excited about; I was a newly commissioned Lieutenant, I had been equipped with the foundational training needed to learn my job, and the career field had set me free to make my mark on the mission. This first assignment was a special time for me because it set the tone for the rest of my career as a space operator.
The transition from the training world into the operational Air Force is never as seamless as the powers that be want it to be. I write this as a member of the Space Force, but also as someone who made the transition from tech school to operational assignment three times while in the Air Force. The powers that be have a vision for what they want initial training to look like, and they leave it to the training commands to make it happen. Regardless of what is covered in initial training, there is always a gap between what is trained and what operators need to know to do their job. The internalization of this gap is a direct input into how prepared a military member is for their operational mission.
Episode 2 is about how many of the members of Easy Company experienced D-Day in Normandy. No amount of training can prepare you for your first exposure to the core aspect of your units mission. For the members of Easy Company, D-Day was their first experience to combat. As the anti-air shells exploded in the distance before they dropped, or as they heard enemy machine gun fire over their heads, you can see a certain realization flash across their face; this is the real deal. It was as if they were thinking, ready or not, we are here and this is happening.
Surviving First Contact
I want to look at this from two perspectives, 1) first contact and 2) trained and ready. You may have heard the saying from the weapons and tactics community which says ‘no plan survives first contact.’ From the perspective of a Space Force Guardian’s career, the plan I am referring to is the training pipeline that was bestowed upon the Guardian trainee by the powers that be. Initial training is designed to provide the Guardian with the foundational education to succeed in whichever mission area the Guardian is vectored for. For the paratroopers of Easy Company, it would be similar to teaching a paratrooper the Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTP) for successfully jumping from a C-47 into hostile territory, or low-crawling through a field with machine gun fire overhead. Initial training can prepare you for first contact, but first contact will always feel different. Easy company learned how to jump and low crawl at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, but nothing prepared them for seeing anti-air shells blow holes in the fuselage of the airplane they were flying in, or seeing a bullet penetrate the head of a soldier they were low-crawling with. You may never feel ready for first contact, but if you survive it, you will be ready for anything that is thrown at you next.
Trained and Ready
Once they survived first contact from the drop and re-assembly, the taking of the German artillery battery at Brécourt Manor was an example of being trained and ready. The company was taught basic TTPs such as establishing a base-of-fire, low crawling, and using small arms and grenades in initial training. Winters masterfully blended these concepts and led his men to execute these TTPs to take the Germany battery. They had survived first contact and were now ready to lean back, tap into their training and execute. We as space operators need to be able to do the same thing, and we as a service need to ensure our Guardians have the baseline training and doctrine to properly equip future generations. I dream of a future where a single space operator has the ability to jam an adversary signal or perform an orbital ingress burn without extended high-level approvals, and when an operator from any USSF Mission Area can understand the language of all other Mission Areas straight out of initial training. To do this we need to be on a singular baseline of training and terminology, and have authorities pushed to the lowest possible level. Only then will we be able to dynamically execute space operator TTPs and fight effectively against a thinking adversary.
Fire with a Purpose
The last thing that struck me about this episode is a false childhood assumption I personally had that machine gun fire was just about spraying bullets into the enemy for the sole purpose of neutralizing enemy soldiers. In this episode, the machine guns established a base of fire to allow the other squads to take the first howitzer. In the episode the machine guns indeed fired on the enemy, but it was for the larger purpose of the assault. I have two points on this:
Just Put Lead Downrange
The machine gunners fired with a sense of purpose that supported the larger mission. Although they were surrounded by distractions such as enemy fire, unknown size or strength of the enemy, or obscured views, they didn’t let any of this detract from their execution of putting lead downrange. We in the Space Force are surrounded by distractions; we are under-manned, our units are all brand-new, our missions keep getting re-organized. We cannot let distractions disrupt our ability to ‘put lead downrange’, which for us means keeping focus on the core execution of our missions. Know your squadron and delta mission, know how you fit in, and keep the mission moving forward. Don’t lose sight of the most important thing.
Execute With a Sense of Purpose
Similar to how mission execution fits into your squadron and delta’s larger mission, your performance as a space operator fits into the larger purpose of your career. Your performance at your first assignment is essential on its own, but it also supports the long-term success of your career. This is your only opportunity to master the tactical skill of mission execution in a Mission Area. NCOs or Warrant Officers can spend their entire career at the tactical level, but as an officer it is crucial that we master one Mission Area then advance to Operational and Strategic perspectives which span all missions. When you are inevitably placed in a headquarters or asked to provide technical expertise as an FGO of a Mission Area you know very little about, you will have to create analogies in your brain that connect your personal experience to the fundamental concepts of their domain. This is the only way you will be able to articulate the perspective your commander will expect you to provide on the spot.
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