Candidate Watson Fire Team Case Study

Candidate Jordan delivered an in depth five paragraph order. SNC posted security ensuring that the safety of the fire team was not put at risk. SNC had a good initial plan and proceeded to move the fire team towards the objective. SNC moved the fire team through the woods with minimal opposition; SNC maintained communication and good dispersion. Upon receiving enemy fire SNC suppressed the enemy by assaulting the enemy. SNC pushed through the objective to ensure that all enemy were killed. However, SNC forgot about the weapons cache and commenced to conduct a hasty 180, followed by a consolidated 360, and then an ACE report. SNC, in his haste to complete the problem, completely forgot that the mission was not only to subdue the enemy

SNC conducted an above average analysis of what he expected the enemy to do upon contact. SNC’s scheme of maneuver was vague and could not be executed without significant oversight. SNC’s tasking statements were weak and lacked a purpose. SNC’s formations, particularly his squad column fire team column while in the open area, did not provide effective security en route to his objective. Upon enemy contact SNC stood and began talking to his squad but did not use the ADDRAC format; SNC spoke at just over a conversational tone. SNC directed his squad to suppress the enemy sniper and continue to move to the objective; SNC’s squad laid still while one of the fire team members openly questioned SNC’s decision. SNC changed his mind and directed the

Candidate Merritt briefed all the necessary requirements for his five paragraph order. While briefing, SNC had his entire fire team take a knee conducting security looking away from him and the obstacle while he briefed. Because of this, his fire team was not truly oriented to the problem. SNC did not conduct any type of leader's recon and came up with a plan that was severely lacking in detail and was more of a check in the box. While executing the mission, SNC got stumped and could not figure out how to adapt his plan. He paused for a minute while he tried to figure out a new plan, losing crucial time. While SNC addressed security, he did not enforce it. The candidate on security spent more time watching the problem be executed as

Candidate Pennington delivered a strong order that addressed all necessary pieces of the five paragraph order. He provided a unique orientation to the obstacle on the terrain by physically showing his fireteam the parts that were contaminated. This greatly helped the fireteam's situational awareness to the problem. It allowed him to utilize mission type orders and stay in a position to supervise the overall execution rather than focus on unnecessary details. He communicated well with his team and gave and received suggestions while remaining in obvious control of the team. Candidate Pennigton broke down his security early and gave it minimal thought following the delivery of his order. He utilized strong concurrent actions by using each avenue

SNC delivered a confident and complete order successfully addressing all paragraphs of the five paragraph order. SNC assigned primary and secondary tasks to subordinates and reiterated the Enemy Situation. SNC properly controlled the fire team’s formation utilizing proper dispersion and smoothly transitioned from column to wedge. Upon enemy contact SNC relayed a clear and effective ADDRAC and directed SNC’s fire team to provide suppressive fire. SNC maintained mission focus when SNC’s fire team took a casualty. SNC directed his fire team in a tactically appropriate manner as they evacuated the casualty. Upon return to MA-2A SNC submitted the map to higher without being prompted by the evaluator. SNC displayed suburb leadership potential

Candidate Lofswold’s initial brief was succinct and covered the entirety of the five paragraph order and contained detailed information. Candidate Lofswold assigned ready, fire, and assist to his fire team, but did not establish an initial plan or specific tasks for the plan. Upon starting the evolution, Candidate Lofswold emphasized teamwork and communication, but because of the lack of planning, he encountered a point of friction requiring a rapid decision, which caused a loss of momentum. Candidate Lofswold briefly stepped out the situation to assess and supervise, causing another candidate to step in and provide directions to the rest of the fire team. Candidate Lofswold’s security detail was completely unaware of his surroundings and no

Overall, Candidate Friederick's lack of confidence hindered both her operations order and her execution of her assigned mission. Her delivery lacked enthusiasm and interest. While her lack of confidence indicated unfamiliarity with the five paragraph order, SNC did brief a detailed mission statement with a task and purpose. SNC also briefed some details of her scheme of maneuver and some tasks to her subordinates, but the lack of detail and her confidence ultimately failed to inspire the other candidates in her fire team. As her fire team moved from order to execution, SNC appeared lethargic with little to no awareness of her surroundings as the team approached the objective. SNC both heard and saw the enemy combatant and demonstrated

Candidate Passafume's brief was confident and clear. His order included a complete enemy situation utilizing the SALUTE acronym. SNC had an initial plan. His initial plan did not include key elements to drive the mission such as how to enter into the sewage system. Prior to execution, SNC spent an elongated period to explain each miniscule task. As a result, his fire team stood around, not progressing towards mission accomplishment, and waiting to execute. During points of friction and throughout the evolution SNC was not a clear leader. SNC routinely failed to provide guidance and necessary and make decisions. SNC seemed overwhelmed and repeatedly failed to make a decision. Candidate Passafume did not always give orders to his fire

Candidate Dowd began his evolution with a disjointed order. Though SNC briefed the Orientation and Situation paragraphs well, he bounced around the remainder of the order throughout the rest of his brief in the order of Mission paragraph, Coordinating Instructions, Command and Signal, Administration and Logistics, billet assignments, and Scheme of Maneuver. During the billet assignments, Candidate Dowd could not decide which fire team member would have which billet, changing his mind several times during assignments. SNC also said "uh" and other filler words during his brief, which did not instill confidence in his team. SNC did not brief succession of command, but he did brief a running password. During execution, Candidate Dowd maintained

Candidate Fowler successfully calculated the azimuth, however failed to calculate the distance and plot the location of the objective. SNC’s five paragraph order was delivered confidently, however lacking information. SNC failed to properly brief the enemy situation, regarding the location of the enemy. SNC stated that the enemy was seen in the area, however he failed to mention they were seen west of the area which is in the vicinity of the objective. SNC was provided with the accurate information regarding azimuth and distance; however when briefing his squad he still provided an inaccurate distance. Upon enemy engagement SNC properly assessed threat by engaging with buddy rushes. SNC did not ensure area was clear before bringing the casualties

Candidate Long’s performance was extremely impressive. He started his problem by conducting a detailed leader’s reconnaissance and developing a practical solution to the problem. SNC briefed his peers with confidence and clarity. His order was only missing the “when” part of the mission statement. He was one of the few who physically set in his security and established fields of fire. He lead by example by being the first candidate on the platform and used critical thinking to develop his plan by examining the weights of each member of his fire team. He acted with a sense of urgency but remained calm and collective. Once he established the bridge to complete the problem, he quickly realized he needed the ammo can and sent a candidate

Candidate Beauregard effectively delivered his five paragraph order, covering the majority of the key points regarding this problem however, the order deviated from the logical order and sequence of paragraphs which caused key points to be missed during brief. SNC wasted valuable time gathering notes and thoughts prior to briefing the fire team. SNC did not fully comprehend the mission, as he briefed that the reason for the mission was to ensure safe movement of friendly forces vice to gain intelligence on enemy forces. While briefing the Execution, SNC did not cover key points such as the azimuth and the distance of the cache from the current location. SNC’s brief was lengthy in nature; fire team was nearly overlapped by another fire team

Candidate Pacheco’s brief was delivered confidently, with a slight exception during the Situation paragraph. During this paragraph, SNC took long pauses, and stumbled over his thoughts on the enemy situation. However, upon completion of the situation, he regained composure and bearing and completed the follow on paragraphs well providing elements necessary to execute the operation. As they stepped off on the operation, his speed was consistent with the situation and his non-verbal communication methods kept the team moving forward. Half way to the objective SNC’s control over the team was lost as the terrain began to dictate their movements. Once SNC realized this, he issued follow on signals to push out but immediately took contact. The

SNC did not initially ensure 360 degree security at the assembly area. SNC’s enemy situation lacked significant details. SNC’s friendly situation was not briefed in the proper format. SNC’s scheme of maneuver was not complete enough to be executed and his tasking statements did not have an associated purpose. At the beginning of execution SNC attempted to give a command to his fire team leaders to get ready to begin their movement; when nobody in his squad responded he announced that fire team leaders had 30 seconds to get ready to move. SNC was an ineffective communicator; he attempted hand and arm signals after receiving indirect fire and would give vague tasks to unspecified individuals instead of his fire team leaders. Upon enemy contact

Candidate McGinis began the SULE I evaluation with a standard five paragraph order. She made a decision to use a column formation to the road IOT facilitate speed and changed formation to a wedge once crossing the danger area. This demonstrated urgency and the future thought of destroying the enemy before they had a chance to create a fighting position that was more defendable. During execution, SNC made no attempt to signal for danger area (road) or cross this danger area tactically. This demonstrated a lack of situational awareness and was not consistent with the tactical situation. Even though SNC was briefed that all enemy would be wearing desert MARPAT, no attempt to engage the enemy was made. She gave hand and arm signals for her