"The day soldiers stop bring you their problems is the
day you have stopped leading them."
— General
Colin Powel
As soldier in the
Philippine Army, my job requires me to be assigned in different areas and serve
in different capacities under different levels of command. The career of an
Army Officer starts as a Second Lieutenant and as a Platoon Leader (PL) with
about thirty soldiers under his leadership. A
PL is usually the most junior officer in a unit and he leads soldiers in
tactical or combat missions. As such, he is more directly involved with the
day-to-day lives of soldiers compared to those in higher positions.
When I was a PL, the soldiers
under my platoon were mostly high school graduates and college
undergraduates. Only a handful of them finished tertiary education. Majority of
them were Hiligaynon- speaking while some had Cebuano or Bisaya as their native tongue. Though most of them understood
English language well enough, majority of them were not proficient in written
and oral communications. While English is part of the curriculum in most, if
not all levels of education, it usually becomes just the third or fourth
language most commonly used at home, school or work particularly in provinces
where the primary tongue is not Filipino or Tagalog,
Even though the
mode of instruction in the training of Candidate Soldiers (the pre- entry
training of soldiers) is usually Filipino or a local dialect, all training
manuals of the Army were written in English as most of these were mere
adaptations of manuals from the US Army and other armed forces. To date, I have
not seen or read any training manual that was written in Filipino. This is
probably because, we can never adequately translate all of the terminologies
contained in these manuals without sounding hilarious. How do you translate
‘geographical coordinates’ for example? How about ‘Light Reaction Battalion’ or
‘Scout Ranger’? Most military manuals are laden with technical terms that do
not have any exact translation in the Filipino language. Hence, during
trainings, the mode of instruction usually becomes a combination of two or
three languages- English, Filipino and the language or dialects the instructors
and students speak and understand.
As a Platoon
Leader, I was with my soldiers day and night especially during security
operations in the mountains. Communication was simple. It was a combination of
visual, oral, written communications and hand signals. At first, I only spoke
with my troops in Filipino or Tagalog as nobody understood my own native tongue which
is Bicolano. English was just too complicated to use or practice especially in
giving orders or commands. I had to
quickly learn their language otherwise I would be left out in their conversations.
Messages which
contained orders, tasks, guidance or instructions and information from higher
units were all written in English. Even the usual ceremonial messages and
speeches or occasional greetings from commanders were in that language. As a
unit leader, it was my responsibility to understand them properly first before
even attempting to pass it on or communicate to my subordinates. Orders and
corresponding information were always exact and accurate, and there was no room
for misinterpretation or second-guessing because it always involved my life and
the lives of the soldiers I lead. For example, if we were asked to reach point
Alfa by passing along route Kilo in two hours, we will do exactly that.
Deviations are absolutely not allowed unless properly coordinated and
coordination means knowing what they mean and being able to communicate exactly
what you mean. Many accidents and unfortunate incidents in the combat zone were
borne out of miscommunication among soldiers themselves. Needless to say, it
all originated to communication-from the sender to the receiver through a
certain medium.
As I have said, it is
the responsibility of the leader to fully understand whatever message or
communication is being passed to him before he further communicates this to his
subordinates. He is not prohibited from clarifying any point which he thinks
can be interpreted in several ways nor in asking the correctness of the
information relayed to him should he find any deviation or discrepancy. While
accuracy and precision are the names of the game, a combat leader must always
remember that these are all time-bound or should be done under a certain period
of time only hence the need for quick thinking.
Again, the
major challenge for a tactical leader is to make sure that all elements under
his command or leadership- from the highest ranking to the lowest, understand
the mission. Each soldier should know his duties and responsibilities for a
particular mission other than his tasks or functions when outside of mission.
He should know what the basic plan of the unit is and the corresponding
contingency or back-up plans in case the first plan didn’t go as planned or
desired. It is true that the first casualty of combat is the plan itself and
that no plan survives the first hail of bullets but if each soldier knows what
to do amidst the confusion, there is always a big chance that the mission will
succeed. It is the responsibility of the unit leader to adequately and properly
communicate to his subordinate these things. However, he must also provide
enough room for flexibility and initiative to his subordinate leaders as
situation in the combat zone rapidly changes and there might be no time to
further clarify things and seek guidance. These kinds of situations must be
mapped out through comprehensive planning using effective communication skills.
When I became a
Company Commander or Commanding Officer (CO), I had a little over 100 soldiers
under my command. Early on, I realized I needed to have a higher set of
communication skills to be able to effectively lead my unit. As CO, I was
supposed to be a combat leader and at the same time a resource manager. Being a
resource manager means effectively and efficiently managing the resources
entrusted to you- the personnel or the soldiers, the funds or finances, the
supplies, equipment and facilities. Among these, managing the human resources
of the unit is usually the most challenging as it entails dealing with 100
personalities with different backgrounds. They have different trainings,
socio- economic status, families, ethnic origins, languages, attitudes and
beliefs. The challenge of the CO lies in unifying them into a single effective
fighting force. The CO must be able to channel all raw energies towards a
common vision by performing one mission at a time.
Crafting a
Vision for the company is in itself a challenge for the commander. It begins by
adequately expressing to your men the need for such Vision to guide the unit in
its day to day operations. The visioning process relies on the ability of each
member of the unit to communicate his ideas or opinions based on his
experiences, beliefs and values. The commander must be able to skillfully
facilitate this process in order to come up with a vision that adequately and
accurately reflects and enshrines the values of the unit and the core values of
the Philippine Army as a whole. The product must then be communicated to all
personnel to ensure uniform understanding and interpretation among them.
Effective
oral communications is also vital in the daily operations of the company. Aside
from combat or security operations, the unit also conducts Civil-Military
Operations (CMO). These are operations-programs, projects and activities,
conducted with or in coordination with civilian entities. These are the
so-called Civil Affairs, Public Affairs and Information Support Affairs. All of
these require close coordination with the civilian populace- masses, government
organizations, non-government organizations, public and private entities and
civil society organizations. During my time, the company under me initiated,
participated or jointly conducted projects or activities in partnership with
GOs, NGOs/NGAs and various sectors which are aimed at making the lives of the
people better by promoting peace, security and development. The said activities
necessitated close coordination especially during the planning, implementation
and supervision and it goes without saying that effective communication is the
key to its success.
