Brigade lieutenants receive executive officer training

By Sgt. Joseph Guenther
3rd BCT, 82nd Abn. Div. PAO

December 1, 2011

	Photo by Sgt. Joseph Guenther/3rd BCT, 82nd Abn. Div. PAO Maj. Matthew Weinrich, the executive officer for the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, shares some of his personal experiences with the brigade’s company XOs at the 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion motor pool during XO class.

When noncommissioned officers are promoted to a position of greater responsibility, odds are they have a deep working knowledge of the duties and responsibilities surrounding that position. NCOs are expected to be able to execute their responsibilities the day they fill their new position, and train their up-and-coming subordinates as they were once trained.

For commissioned officers, promotions can be more nuanced and chaotic.
Nowhere is that more evident than the difference between the responsibilities of a platoon leader, and an executive officer.

“Being an executive officer is very different from being a platoon leader or a company commander,” said Maj. Matthew Weinrich, the executive officer for 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. “It’s not the same job at all, and there’s no formal training out there to teach young officers how to be XOs.”

To address the lack of formal training junior officers receive when they become XOs for the first time, Weinrich developed a course that takes the officers from across 3rd BCT through all the functional areas of being an effective XO.

For two days, every three months, these XOs will be trained on nearly every aspect of what makes a company operate like clockwork. Subject matter experts, mainly warrant officers and NCOs, in a variety of fields including transportation, supply, and maintenance, teach each functional area.

“This is a program we’re starting because there’s really nothing that teaches lieutenants how to be an XO,” Weinrich said. “It’s really critical for them to learn all the aspects of their job. The best way for us to do that is to pull them aside for a couple of days and let the subject matter experts train them.”

The first day of training began for more than 20, company-level XOs from across 3rd BCT Nov. 21. One of the instructors, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Sean Anglehart, discussed motor pool operations and preventive maintenance checks and services.

“Part of PMCS is leaders knowing their equipment,” Anglehart said to his students. “Your company commander has a mission to accomplish. As an XO, you have to make sure that commander has the equipment he needs to accomplish that mission and that it works.”

The PMCS class was not the in-depth, step-by-step process most Soldiers can expect to find in the technical manual. Anglehart discussed instead how the equipment maintenance and inspection worksheet works, and how to ensure that noncommissioned officers are properly overseeing the maintenance of their vehicles.

While enlisted Soldiers are being trained every day to execute their tasks with absolute tactical and technical proficiency, the career progression of a commissioned officer is more non-linear. Nowhere is that more evident than the position of executive officer.

“The purpose of this class is not to train people to be operators. We want to train officers to be able to do the things that they need to do in order to help their company commanders be successful,” said Weinrich.

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