Fire Team Case Summary

Candidate Trapane was very confident, fluid, and natural when briefing his order. However, his order omitted a major paragraphed or failed to explain subparagraphs. For example, while briefing medical evacuations SNC stated, "If you get injured let us know and we will take care of it." Prior to execution, SNC posted security and ensured they routinely gave situation reports. SNC looked at the obstacle to gain intelligance prior to devisining an inital plan. During points of friction, SNC was able to make a decision. However, he was not in the most advantageous spot to communicate and observe his fireteam. Consequently, his decisions were delayed and based off of information that was inaccurate. SNC allowed his fire team members to make

SNC failed to accurately calculate the azimuth with in standard. SNC confidently issued a well-organized five paragraph order in a clear, authoritative tone void of filler words. SNC’s Scheme of Maneuver was clear, concise, and illustrated SNC’s use of sound tactical judgment and ability to consider future requirements. SNC issued tasks to each fire team which were consistent with the mission and addressed potential casualties. SNC moved his squad with a sense of urgency and displayed the ability to rapidly make decisions when faced with enemy contact and maneuver as required. However, SNC’s decision to assault through a lone enemy’s fighting position was inconsistent with the mission; the mission was to resupply a desperate squad with

Candidate Goff immediately addressed security before briefing his order. SNC briefed in a rushed manner using many “ums” and “uhs,” showing he lacked confidence in his plan. When briefing, he referred to the scenario as an obstacle instead of treating it as a tactical situation. His fast brief was difficult for his fire team to follow, evident by their confusion at the beginning of the mission even though the initial plan was well developed. SNC had to direct his fire team’s actions he had just briefed in order for them to execute. This candidate lost his tactical and situational awareness, evident by his loud instructions throughout the task and the fire team dragging their weapons through the sewer tunnel making the execution extremely loud.

Candidate Futch showed he had a basic understanding of the five paragraph order; however, SNC briefed incorrect information during the Situation paragraph of the order. SNC stated that the enemy was currently seen blowing up the bridge and that they were equipped with small arms and IED’s. When really the enemy was known to be in route to blow up the rest of the bridge with no information given about their capabilities. SNC took five minutes to brief his order thus leaving little time to execute. SNC briefed a good initial plan and had candidates start to execute. SNC was the third candidate to get on the wall but was unable to, thus had a candidate from on top of the wall come all the way back down to assist him from the ground. This

11… Candidate Zinsmeister was unable to calculate a correct azimuth or distance to the objective. Utilizing proper time management, SNC was able to meet the minimum standards while issuing the operation order to her team. SNC demonstrated command presence and confidence, which made it clear and concise for each member to completely comprehend. As the team began to move from the assembly area, the team got relaxes at the fact that there was no enemy presence detected as members of the squad were seen moving down Buffalo Pond Rd, not utilizing the proper tactical carry. At the point of friction, SNC was surprised and didn’t know how to resolve the confrontation from the angry villagers and briefly panicked when sniper fire rang out, thus hitting

SNC demonstrated a solid level of understanding for the order. SNC delivered all the necessary information from the evaluator. SNC even stated a solid mission statement twice for his fire team. SNC had confidence in his brief and ensured the team understood the safety precautions before executing. SNC's initial plan was very vague but overall how he presented the scheme of maneuver was enough to get the team thinking about how they were going to negotiate the obstacle. The fire teams took his instructions and were willing to do anything he asked. SNC was not specifically tasking his fire team. He made general requests and orders like, "I need someone" and "can someone do...” vice identifying who he wanted to employ. SNC was cautious on how

Candidate Hoeptner briefed all major elements of the five paragraph order and managed to speak in an articulate manner; however, the content of his brief clearly lacked any executable plan and made little sense. SNC failed to address security, degrading his team's attention to the tactical environment. SNC failed to understand the contents of higher’s coordinating instructions and failed to comprehend the mission based on the problem presented and the obstacle in front of him. SNC’s inability to conceptualize relevant, applicable, and actionable plans and orders was only exacerbated by his inability to understand simple concepts presented to him. SNC made no attempt to formulate a plan prior to execution and adjustments to the plan he tried

Candidate Tzitzon's Orientation was confusing, Leading tp the order being rushed and very inaccurate. SNC's confidence was lacking and he seamed ill prepared for the situation. SNC appeared not to understand the mission parameters as he posted security in the wrong place and walked out of bounds. These actions caused confusion amongst the remaining members of the fire team. The resulting confusion caused the fire team to question the order. The lack of understanding resulted in the inaffective use of personnel and casued multiple causalities throughout the task; resulting in mission failure. Candidate Tzitzon appeared nervous and very confused, leading the fire team to have a lack of urgency in completing the task. SNC needs to ensure that

Candidate Doyle delivered his five paragraph order neglecting to mention the information covered in the Orientation as it was briefed to him by the evaluator. SNC only covered the grid points contained in the Orientation, thus making other parts of the brief confusing to the squad. SNC’s squad asked questions regarding the direction of travel. During the execution, SNC was unable to quickly make adjustments to the initial plan, as he seemed slightly overwhelmed and unable to assess the entire situation. Once SNC realized that he had taken casualties, his focus was still on the objective ahead. His focus on the mission displayed sheer neglect for his casualties as he did not know what the extent of the injuries were while issuing commands to the teams. SNC had to repeat to the squad several times to move the casualties, as the team failed to display any sense of urgency.

Candidate MaCleish demonstrated an understanding of the order process by presenting an order with a detailed scheme of maneuver and tasking statements for each team member to easily follow. SNC maintained a tactical awareness by posting security. Once the mission began, SNC realized his initial plan wasn’t going to work and everything started to slow down. At this point of friction, SNC hesitated to develop a new plan of action. . As the team waited for SNC to make a decision the fire teams forward movement was halted. There was little communication between SNC and his fire team, resulting in SNC failing to utilize his subordinates effectively. . Even through the many frictions points SNC was able to remain calm and maintained control of his

Candidate Shuma delivered most of the elements of a five paragraph. He failed to brief the admin and logistics, command and signal paragraph, and did not brief an initial scheme of maneuver. As a result, he had to take some time during the execution to brief a plan to his fire team which delayed the start of the problem. During the execution, he failed to understand the mission and erroneously focused all his efforts in getting the ammo can across the bridge without him or his fire team also getting across. When a member of his fire team asked him if they needed to get over the obstacle too, SNC incorrectly said ‘no’ that it was only the ammo can and that they would be unable to cross due to there being a mine field. The fire team member pointed

Truly the Fire Chief should not be involved with the Union contract negotiations for two reasons. First being, that the Chief is not represented by the union, nor is their contract follow the provision that are a result of negotiations by the union and city. Being a salaried employee of the city, the Chief negotiates their own contract and is responsible to abide to the provisions of the contract. Which if negotiated could include language that excepts the Chief from participating on either side of the contact negotiations. Secondly, the Fire Chief is a representative of the department and its personnel, so for the Chief to be on the side of the city or locality. This could cause conflict within the department ranks and create a situation where

Candidate Robertson gave a disjointed 5 paragraph order to his fire team. SNC spoke to each one of the sections in the order in a low mumbling tone which demonstrated a lack of confidence. Although he stated it in his brief, there was actually no initial plan and he told his fire team that they would just do it on the fly and decide what to do as they go. As the team began their execution, SNC looked lost when everything they attempted, failed. At no time did he ask his fire team for suggestions. As SNC made adjustments to his plan, and saw that his team was slow in moving up the obstacle. SNC did not try to make up for lost time and never prompted his team members to move faster. There was obviously no sense of urgency. SNC lacked

Candidate Hogue's initial brief hit the entirety of the 5-paragraph order and contained an abundance of information, but took almost four minutes to disseminate the information. Candidate Hogue briefed a vague and generalized initial plan, outlining what needed to happen, but did not specify who would be tackling what tasks. No direction given in regards to security. While negotiating the obstacle, Candidate Hogue needed to reassess a plan that did not work, and therefore forgot to include the rest of his team; so while he was fixing the problem by himself (tying the rope onto the barrel), the rest of his team stood by and watched silently. Candidate Hogue was able to make modifications to his initial plan, but it added stress to the team because

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health will not change legislation regarding safety in the near future.