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Adding two Soldiers to the headquarters section of a sustainment company could improve the unit's ability to conduct mission command.
When I was a combat engineer in command of a maintenance company in an armored brigade combat team brigade support battalion, I saw some strange things. My company's modified table of organization and equipment (MTOE) is what bothered me the most.
My formative years as an officer were spent as a platoon leader and executive officer of an engineer company in an echelon-above-brigade engineer battalion. That company's headquarters' MTOE included 19 Soldiers, 11 of whom were medical, communications, supply, and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear personnel. The remaining eight Soldiers were dedicated to executing mission command for the subordinate platoons.
The maintenance company headquarters, however, consists of only three Soldiers (the command team) other than the supply section. This leaves one of the most complex companies in the brigade combat team with a commander, a first sergeant, and an executive officer to execute mission command over the entire company.
During my first three months in command of the maintenance company, it was difficult to figure out why it was hard to complete routine tasks and to communicate across the company in a fast and efficient manner. After discussing the MTOE with the brigade support battalion commander, the issue became very clear. Based on its structure, the maintenance company is not designed to execute mission command.
Hierarchical Versus Linear Units
Line companies have a clear and coherent hierarchy that makes communication and mission command flow downward smoothly. The command team and headquarters mission command structure is replicated in the platoons. A platoon leader and platoon sergeant lead subordinate squads and teams within each platoon.
This hierarchy is built to absorb change and allow leaders to adapt to new tasks as missions occur. When commanders task line units, the impact on the subordinate units is minimal because of their redundant structures.
This redundancy does not exist within a maintenance company. The company is linear rather than hierarchical. Once information gets to the company command team, there are numerous directions that it must go. The team must receive, interpret, and analyze information in a way that allows subordinate units to act on it as soon as it...