1BN Platoon & Company Staff Roles at an SP

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This is the Document Release Information
Article Number:	7CAV-BATT1-010
Scope:	Platoon & Company Staff Roles at an SP
Version:	Version 1.0
Effective Date:	25APR20
Last Modified Date:	DDMMMYYYY
Approving Authority:	1BN Commanding Officer
Point of Contact:	1BN Executive Officer

Platoon & Company Staff Roles at an SP

ALCON,

All Platoon and Company Staff members are required to attend at least one section practice per week, and preferably within their own platoon or company. Section/Squad practice is the MOST IMPORTANT activity in any given week other than meetings and FTX's. We must ensure high quality standards of training and that troopers are engaged and enjoying this content we provide. The more troopers experience quality training and enjoyment, the more likely they will stay and keep coming back for more. As a Platoon or Company staff member, you must ensure you as a team are overseeing all of your Sections/Squads to set expectations and ensure they are maintained or exceeded.

To help accomplish this, your role when you attend an SP is to audit the SP, and after the SP has concluded, privately provide constructive feedback, good and bad, to the SL/ASL. This is part of his or her leadership development.

Platoon Staff

Your primary role at an SP is to audit it. Observe the SP (use Zeus), get on the right radio channels so you can monitor them, and have a piece of paper and pen ready to take notes. Write down constructive observations throughout the duration of the SP, both positive and negative.

Company Staff

Your role is similar to Platoon Staff, but you should definitely be ensuring that Platoon Staff are fulfilling their audits when present. When Platoon Staff are not present, but you are, you should be taking on the audit role. Ideally, every Squad/Section's SP should be audited at least once a month by Platoon Staff. Company Staff can also help fill any gaps that Platoon Staff may not be able to consistently attend. Work together!

During the SP

Things you should do:

• Help Zeus
• Coordinate with the SL/ASL, ask them what you can do to assist them, and follow their SP plan
• You're not there, however, to run the SP for them or disregard their SP plan!
• Be engaged and observe the SP in zeus.
• Provide ongoing guidance and advice to the SL/ASL, preferably privately and not in front of everyone else attending (Steam chat is a good tool for this)
• At the end of the SP, participate in the in-game AAR, share your observations/notes, but save any constructive criticism directly for the SL/ASL until after the SP when you can meet with the SL/ASL privately

Things you should NOT do:

• Participate as a trooper
• Exceptions can be made to perhaps fill out a fire team or crew position in order to make the SP function, but it should be rare - you are not a trooper!
• Not be in game and only listen in TS - this does not fulfill your SP requirement!
• Be idle/AFK - you can't observe and audit if you are not present!

After the SP

How to assess and audit an SP:

1. Did the SP start on time?
2. Did the SP end on time?
3. Was the SP divided up appropriately to be about 25% classroom (~15 min) and 75% practical (~45 min)?
4. Was the SL/ASL prepared and did they execute a plan?
5. Were the training goals met to an acceptable standard?
6. Was the content of the practice appropriate for what was hoped to accomplish?
7. How did the Section/Squad as a whole perform the training goals? How did individuals perform?
8. How did the SL/ASL perform in conducting the SP?

Meet with the SL/ASL:

After you've answered these questions yourself, provide this feedback (positive and negative) to the SL/ASL AFTER the practice and in private. Best practice is to invite the SL/ASL into your Platoon Staff channel in TS after the SP. This meeting should normally take no longer than 10 minutes and is part of the SL/ASL's leadership development!

Conclusion

These assessments/audits will help you make decisions and determinations about SL/ASL job performance, platoon training plans, and ensure we have high quality SP's in every platoon. All active duty members commit 1 hour every week to their SP time so the least we can do is to make it as fun and engaging as possible. The above audit practice will help ensure we have a process in place to continually improve our SP experience, keep members engaged, and keep them coming back for more!