Finding the ties that bind: Breaking the cycle in West Africa

8 Oct 2014 | Courtesy Story Marine Corps Forces Europe

As any Marine will attest to, the back-bone of the Marine Corps is our strong NCO leadership. The Marine Corps has a proud history of encouraging decentralized leadership and empowering our NCOs to accomplish a given task. This requires a high level of trust plus communication between officers and NCOs and willingness for officers to allow success as well as mistakes by their subordinates.

Unfortunately, this is not always a shared perspective in other countries, as the idea of trusting subordinates is either non-existent, or taking credit for and completing a task is something senior leaders are more comfortable with.

The Military Intelligence Basic Officer Course-Africa (MIBOC-A) and the Military Intelligence Non-Commissioned Officer Course (MINOC-A) came together for the first time in Senegal to conduct a final intelligence exercise. This exercise consisted of six groups with approximately seven individuals comprised of both NCOs and officers, with two of the groups being led by NCOs and the others by officers.

MIBOC-A is a combined course represented by different countries; Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mauritania, Senegal, and Tunisia. With differing levels of experience and dynamics with NCOs, the MIBOC-A and MINOC-A staff decided to begin the relationship building by playing a friendly game of soccer and assisting in outreach projects together. Although the consensus was not hugely favorable in the beginning, after spending time with one another, the officers and NCOs began forming relationships. This was a big help in merging the classes together for the final exercise.

As each course concluded, the time came to put the tools each student learned to use. They assembled into teams and began preparing for an unconventional war against an insurgent threat in Mali. The teams quickly began gathering information and preparing for briefings in order to provide the most accurate and usable forms of intelligence to the staff. What was most impressive was the integration of the officers and NCOs in the process. From an outside perspective, there was a sense of communication and synergy between the courses that made for well-developed intelligence assessments during the exercise.

This success can be attributed to many things, but the fundamental element of trust is ultimately what led to accomplishment. The sense of caution which befell the officers of MIBOC-A was immediately turned into mutual trust as the NCO’s began performing and demonstrating their competence. From the outside looking in, the “light bulb” had been turned on and an almost feverish pace of production and analysis was seen by the groups. The rapport that the Officers and NCO’s had established earlier in the course was apparent by the ease of transition into leadership and subordinate roles. The NCO leaders were able to task out and organize the team without resistance or resentment from the officers. The antiquated beliefs that some were ingrained with concerning what NCO’s were capable of were gone, and groups of well-oiled intelligence dreadnaughts were born.

"I think one of the good things about doing this exercise, is that it allows us to see the capabilities of the NCOs more fully. When I have done training in the past, we never incorporate NCOs." notes a Senegalese Lieutenant, as he assists with developing a targeting package.

This exercise has done a great job in changing the perspective of how NCOs can be utilized. We expect the participants of this course to head back to their countries of origin, and have more faith and confidence in the capabilities of their NCO core. The individual Officers and NCOs in these two courses will carry the knowledge and experience back to their commands and, at a minimum, carry a different perspective of how to utilize their NCOs. As professionals, it is important to teach what we learn to those below and around us. As these soldiers grow in their careers we are hopeful they will foster an atmosphere of mutual respect and hold to a higher standard. Although changing a culture is difficult, by planting the seeds of decentralization and trust in subordinates, we will see a more efficient and effective force in the future. We must never forget that the Lieutenant that we teach today is the General we will likely stand shoulder to shoulder with in the future.
Marine Corps Forces Europe & Africa