The Joint Readiness Training Center is pleased to present the forty-fourth episode to air on ‘The Crucible - The JRTC Experience.’ Hosted by the Commander of Ops Group (COG), COL Matthew Hardman. Today’s guest is the Brigade Commander for 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry, COL Robert Shaw.

The 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division (Light), which was activated on 1 October 1941 in Hawaii mere days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, conducts military operations primarily in the Asia-Pacific region and has been in every conflict the U.S. has been involved in since its activation. On order, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division deploys, fights, and wins in Unified Land Operations any place in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and conducts continuous and persistent engagement with regional partners to shape the environment and prevent conflict across the Pacific area of responsibility. They have the Hollywood call-sign of “Bronco” and the motto of “None Better.”

In this episode we discuss how leaders should prepare for large scale combat operations from the light infantry perspective. Specifically, we look at commanders and their staffs build training plans, standard operating procedures, and conduct countless rehearsals, staff exercises, and various field problems in preparation for going to war or arriving at one of the US Army’s combat training centers, like the Joint Readiness Training Center. After each iteration, organizations at echelon should capture their success and their pathways to success to remedy identified vulnerabilities.

An interesting point that is discussed is that leaders need to not only have tenacity but initiative to never quit until the mission is accomplished. This requires leaders to strive to succeed and do the hard tasks in life, which inevitably means that some will not succeed initially but will have to persevere until they do. As leaders we must not only mentor our subordinates but identify talent and then nurture it.

Part of S02 “If I Would Have Only Known” series.

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“The Crucible – The JRTC Experience” is a product of the Joint Readiness Training Center.

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