Importance of Leader Development in Army

Leader Development is an important attribute that makes the Army function properly. Leader Development keeps your leadership sharp in a constantly changing organization. Leader Development is not just for your Team Leaders and above, it starts with the individual making themselves more beneficial to the Army. Soldiers can make themselves more valuable to their organizations and to the Army by applying to colleges, reading, learning FM’S (Field manuals), ADP’S (Army doctrine publication), ADRP’S (Army Doctrine Reference Publication) and by educating you on programs. An example for how college is important in the Army to make Soldiers more lethal and more comprehensive of the task or mission that they are currently conducting. You have a Soldier he is a Private but he went to college and became a paramedic before the Army, he is in an Infantry unit they are deployed to a combat zone, A Team Leader gets shot in the head, he still has a pulse nobody in your team or squad or higher knows how to treat this because they have not had the experience in treating trauma to the head. This is where your Soldier the Private has had the experience he can teach the team or squad and by him teaching them they become more developed in treating this injury. Soldiers or Leaders can then take the experiences they have learned and train the Service Members that do not have the knowledge or experience to make our Army more lethal on the battlefield.

Without leadership development leaders would not have the tools they need to progress their military careers and accomplish the overall mission at hand. Accomplishment of the mission is what the Army instills in Soldiers every day Non-Commissioned Officers are the backbone of our Army as Non-Commissioned Officers we need to have the experiences to better teach and mentor our Soldiers for when they become junior Leaders, they can then mentor their subordinates in turn ensures that our Army is ready to fight in any environment any climate and be able to defeat the enemy of our nation . The military emphasizes the need for constant leadership development and employs training. The training that the military offers is MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) specific in order to meet the Army standard and unit specific METL (Mission Essential Task List). “Noncommissioned officers serve as the primary trainers for enlisted Soldiers, crews, and small teams. Noncommissioned officers must conduct standards-based, performance-oriented, mission- and METL-focused PR” (FM 7-22).

As leaders, it is an endless cycle of mentorship to our Soldiers. Leaders must always stay sharp and up to date on a continuously changing Army. Publications must also ensure they teach their Soldiers the proper way of conducting a task. Teaching Soldiers the proper way of conducting a task gives them guidance in becoming the best leader they can be. Knowledge is a power heard from the leadership that came before me being able to train your soldiers to standard comes from the Army teaching leader development.

Civilian education in the military is very important for career development. In today’s, Army having a higher form of education shows that you apply yourself and try to make yourself a more beneficial leader. College education makes you stand out in the Army for promotions and better positions. When you have the education, it is also an experience that you can share with your Soldiers. Soldiers will value their seniors more and will have more credibility in the leader’s ability to lead. Service Members are joining the Military with higher levels of education which makes the leader look bad and unknowledgeable. Tools such as Field Manuals assist subordinates gain basic knowledge of how the equipment in the Army operates. Field Manuals help broaden the Soldier’s mind, therefore they will able to get the task at hand done with very few errors. Field manuals are a publication essential for educating Soldiers on proper procedures. Once the task is learned to standard Leaders teach what they have learned to those they work with.

Through the train the Trainor process, this makes it possible for an individual to be able to take charge and share their knowledge with those around them. This is how leaders are developed. By becoming the SME (subject matter expert) you are setting the example and standard and developing others on how to carry out proper procedures outlined in the Field Manuals. In conclusion, by reading this you have learned the importance of Leader Development in army and why it is so important nowadays.

Works Cited

1. Department of the Army. (2012). Field manual FM 7-22 army physical readiness training. U.S. Army.
2. Department of the Army. (2019). Army doctrine reference publication ADP 6-22 army leadership and the profession. U.S. Army.
3. Department of the Army. (2020). Army doctrine publication ADP 7-0 training. U.S. Army.
4. Department of the Army. (2020). Field manual FM 7-0 training the force. U.S. Army.
5. Department of the Army. (2021). Field manual FM 6-22 leader development. U.S. Army.
6. Lester, P. B., Vogelgesang, G. R., & Hannah, S. T. (2011). Developing military leaders: A guide for graduate education programs. Military Psychology, 23(5), 529-547.
7. Myers, J. E. (2018). The Army leader development model: Creating character and competence in future leaders. Routledge.
8. Pond, A. J. (2016). A strategic leadership approach to career development. Defense Acquisition Research Journal, 23(4), 331-351.
9. Schneider, B., Ehrhart, M. G., & Macey, W. H. (2013). Organizational climate and culture. Annual review of psychology, 64, 361-388.
10. U.S. Army Combined Arms Center. (2020). Leader development strategy 2020. U.S. Army.