By: Michael Villahermosa
In 2008 when I arrived at 30th AG, Replacement Battalion, I was handed the IET Soldier’s Handbook (TRADOC Pamphlet 600-4). For the next 16 weeks, I carried this dry read about the Army Values, Warrior Ethos, and using the ever-coveted Eagle Cash Card.
I was primed for inspiration, but that Handbook didn’t.
I had already raised my right hand and got on a bus to Fort Benning, GA. I knew that I wanted to serve in the best Army in the world. What I didn’t know was the legacy that had come before me and how those stories shaped the Army ethic.
That has changed with the publication of FM 1: The Army: A Primer to Our Profession of Arms. It is doctrine that is meant to be read cover to cover, filled with stories of heroism, leadership, and our obligations as United States Army Soldiers. It is a quick 74 pages (including intentional blanks) that gets to the heart of who we are as a profession: warriors, professionals, and leaders.
More than that, it is a primer to converse with junior members of the force. It is an introduction to tell our Army stories and to professionally develop our subordinates. FM 1 reflects the increasingly challenging times in which we live and opens the door to honest and frank conversation about our unique culture.
I recently ran a leadership professional development session with junior officers about what it means to be a warrior, based off Chapter 1 of FM 1. We candidly discussed ways to build culture within a unit and to prepare Soldiers. Warrior culture, at its heart, is competition. It is the desire to be the best at everything to include winning in combat. We discussed the chapter’s opening vignette: the story of Captain Ben Salomon. Saloman, a dentist during World War II, closed with and destroyed the enemy at the cost of his own life to save his Soldiers and patients. Would they be able to do the same?
FM 1 opens the door to these hard conversations. It is a ready-made LPD that allows leaders to tell their stories and ask difficult questions of their formation while paying tribute to Soldiers who came before. More importantly, it also answers the question of who we are as an institution. Chapters five, six, and seven lay out our structure, our Soldiers, and our obligation to the American people, something that was never fully explained to me at basic combat training. FM 1 explains the total Army concept and how our three components (Active, National Guard, and Reserves) function to ensure the defense of our country. It lets Soldiers know how we fit into a civilian government and how to steward our chosen profession.
FM 1 is exactly what it needs to be: doctrine that lets junior leaders know the type of organization that we are. Leader should incorporate it into professional development. Soldiers should be encouraged to have discussions about what they feel their role in the organization is and how we get better at war fighting. The text in FM 1 is only as good as the leaders that are wiling to use it. Without buy-in from leaders willing to share their stories, Soldiers may never fully realize the potential of this new doctrine.
CPT Michael Villahermosa is an Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer with 17 years of service in the United States Army. He is currently a Company Commander at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida developing the next generation of EOD Leaders.
