Warrior Leader Course

Each year Soldiers from across the army head to Noncommissioned Officer Academies to take the first step in Army leadership by attending the Warrior Leader Course. Between March and April, over 150 Multi-National Task Force (East) Soldiers had the opportunity to take that step during a satellite WLC conducted on Camp Bondsteel.
In Kosovo, WLC is an intensive two-week course that focuses on teaching leadership skills that prepare young Soldiers to advance to the rank of sergeant. The course curriculum includes leadership, training management, map reading, land navigation and war fighting.
“The tactical evaluation [was helpful],” says Spc. Jon Vargo, a recent Wlc graduate and infantryman from Delta Co., TF Patriot. “That’s what the infantry does, and it gives me a better perspective of what it’s like leading troops in a combat situation.”
Sgt. William Pierson, another recent graduate from Alpha Co., TF Red Dragon, adds, “Knowing what a squad leader would do and actually playing the part of a squad leader was helpful.”
The course is also helpful for Soldiers who already have leadership experience.
“It’s good to get back into relearning all the stuff again, just to brush up,” says Sgt. Jonathan Turner, a recent graduate from A Co. TF Red Dragon, who has been a team leader for five years. “Everything that we learn is perishable.”
But there’s more to leading Soldiers than taking them into battle. The Soldiers also learned tasks leaders are responsible for in garrison, like developmental counseling.
“I learned a lot about the counseling statements,” says Pierson. “Especially while activated, you’ve got to do counseling statements all the time. And as a new team leader, it helps to understand the importance of counseling statements.”
Vargo adds, “I didn’t realize there was so much to counseling. I didn’t know that E-4s and below should be counseled on a monthly basis, or how to counsel them.”
Whether in combat or in garrison, WLC is about instilling leadership into Soldiers.
“[WLC] gives the young Soldiers a chance to see themselves in leadership roles,” says Sgt. 1st Class Richard Christianson, the WLC senior small group leader. “Most of them are put together with Soldiers they don’t know, so they get a new team to work with, and they learn some new skills and regulations, but they put it into practice.
“And then, because they’re deployed, they take it right from [the course] back to the unit with them and lead by example.”
The immediacy with which MNTF(E) Soldiers were able to apply the skills they learned is a marked advantage over National Guard Soldiers who take the traditional course. Soldiers who have already had their annual training only have short drill weekends to implement their skills until the next year’s AT, says Christianson.
“But here,” he adds, “the day after they leave us they’re back on the job… so, we get to see them in their real life job, getting on the job training.” Land navigation and map reading are two aspects of the class Soldiers on CBS use regularly.
“Land navigation is something we always do before we go out on missions here,” says Vargo. “We always plot where we’re going, and there’s not always a direct route, so we’ve got to find those little trails up in the hills. “[WLC] helped me better be able to point out those types of trails when we go out.”
ThE INSTRuCTORS, OR Small Group Leaders, traveled to Kosovo from the Noncommissioned Officer Academy at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pa. They are a seven-man Mobile Training Team from the 3rd Battalion, 166th Regiment (Combat Arms) of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.
MTTs from the 3-166 have been deployed as close to home as Oklahoma and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and as far as across the globe to Mount Sinai, Egypt and Kosovo.
“They’re also talking about trying to get one stood up in Kuwait,” says Christianson, “we haven’t done Kuwait yet, but it’s been bounced around.”
These mobile SGLs are tasked with the important job of getting junior enlisted Soldiers ready for the next step: sergeant.
“[As an instructor,] you get to influence the next generation of NCOs coming up,” says Staff Sgt. James Marchiano, one of the SGLs. “We teach them the right way, because a lot of times the units know what the right way is, but they kind of cut corners, where this way [the Soldiers] actually learn exactly how stuff’s supposed to be done.”
Turner adds, “It’s good to go back and brush up on everything that I should know, because sometimes there’s a difference between having knowledge of something and knowing it according to the standard.”
The SGLs were excited and motivated to help the Soldiers improve themselves and enhance their leadership abilities.
“As an instructor,” says Staff Sgt. Dan Rich, an SGL, “You see the proverbial light go on, for example, with land navigation and map reading. You have that one Soldier, who, for whatever reason, it’s not clicking for him, and you go over it with him a couple extra times and he’s like, ‘oh! Dang, got it!’
“It’s rewarding to see that I’m helping a Soldier better himself.”
Christianson adds, “I’ve never been mobilized in theater. This is the closest I’ve been. Taking care of Soldiers who are mobilized for a year at a time, I figure, is the least I can do to give back to the Soldiers who are deployed.”
And that motivation to help and mold future NCOs was apparent to the Soldiers as well.
“The instructors were really good about teaching us, and very informative” says Vargo. “If you weren’t understanding something, they were there to help you out.”
Pierson says, “They were always available for questions any time.”
Turner adds, “They really seemed interested in making sure we learned as much as we could, and their counselings were not a sham. “They pointed out our strengths and weaknesses and they elaborated on them, [and told us] what we could do to fix them.”
But overall, the fact that the MTT was here at all is what made the primary impact on the Soldiers who attended WLC. “The most important thing is that we could get it done while deployed,” said Turner. “Because of deployments I haven’t been able to go to [Army] schools, so being able to take advantage of it and get it out of the way here is a huge advantage. We’re almost through all of the E-4s in our company.”
Christianson adds, “They wouldn’t get these schools if it weren’t for guys like us who come out here and give them that opportunity. This is my third one, and I’m sure I’ll be here again next year.”
The transition from specialist to noncommissioned officer is a major step in the career of every enlisted Soldier. And instructors who go the extra mile, (or in this case, more than 4,000 extra miles) along with motivated Soldiers who are ready to learn, helps make that transition easier and keeps the NCO Corps strong.