Applying Mission Command in the Brazilian Army
Recently, Brazilian’s Noncommissioned officers (NCOs) received great news. After centuries of history, the Brazilian Army decided to implement the position of Command Sergeant Major (CSM). It is an important step to develop the NCO’s career path in Brazil. Finally, the Army starts recognizes the NCO’s real value. One reason is the knowledge and experiences acquired by Brazilian Seniors NCOs who attending the Sergeant Major Course (SMC) in the United States. Right now, I am one of these blessed Soldiers. After graduation, my next assignment will be auxiliary to the newly implemented NCO’s Leadership Development Course in the Army. Senior NCOs assuming the position of CSM will attend this course.…show more content… This will be the first challenge for the first CSMs in Brazil. Nowadays NCOs do not like the proximity between enlisted NCOs and officers. Soldiers and juniors NCOs think that person who works close with the command do it just for auto promotion and do not care about their welfare. In order to overcome the obstacle the new CSMs will need to understand that trust is a slow process. This will be a process, where they have to set example, more than doing beautiful speeches. The subordinates need to see the CSMs as a career reference. At the same time, the CSMs need to build an environment of mutual trust along with the unit commanders. The best choice will be sharing their military experiences. This way they can show to subordinates that they already went through the same difficulties as the Soldiers. Therefore, it can help Soldiers to overcome the hitches. Simultaneously, Commanders (CDRs) will see them as a dependable and experiment man who will help them to solve problems and support their intention during the unit operations. To achieve success in operations CDRs need to create shared understanding about the aspects of an operation and a CSM must be able to collaborate in this situation as…show more content… This will be another challenge for future CSM, in Brazil. The reason is simple. So far, NCO’s do not actively participate in the military operations development process. Usually officers do this part, despite the large capacity of collaboration that an experienced NCO has. Now who reaches the position of CSM will participate directly in this process. Therefore, is necessary to think as planner and not as a doer anymore. A CSM must be a person who has the capacity to collaborate throughout the operations process. He needs to understand the commander’s intent and the purpose of the operations in order to be enable to collaborate effectively and satisfactorily. In order to help CDRs to reach a desired end state in a determined situation is necessary that a CSM’s exercise their own disciplined initiative and to encourage subordinates to develop