One More Rep! A Discussion with Civil Affairs Leadership (Part 2)

Summary

Podcast Summary: Off the Radar, Special Operations Training Detachment

Episode: One More Rep! A Discussion with Civil Affairs Leadership (Part 2)
Host: Captain Connor Mang, Burro Team
Date: April 28, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode focuses on after-action reflections and lessons learned from Bravo 96, a Civil Affairs (CA) Company, following their rotation at the National Training Center (NTC). Host Captain Connor Mang sits down with company leadership—including the Company Commander, First Sergeant, and the Liaison Officer (LNO)—for an in-depth discussion about training methods, organizational takeaways, integration with conventional and special operations units, and unit legacy. The conversation is candid, practical, and rich with first-hand insight, aimed at helping future Rotation Training Units (RTUs) learn and prepare.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Value and Impact of Realistic Military Training (RMTs)

[00:01 – 07:05]

• Structure and Realism:
  • Teams arrived at NTC early to conduct RMTs, tailoring scenarios to match deployment environments (e.g., entering through major US cities, handling customs, critical infrastructure assessments).
  • The training mimicked real-world operational environments, preparing teams for diverse mission sets (maritime vs. inland, urban vs. rugged environments).
• Feedback and Learning:
  • Initial skepticism from teams turned into strong endorsement post-RMT.

    “At first...they were kind of like, oh, well, okay, okay, that’s not great. And then...RMTs were great.” — First Sergeant [02:55]

  • Battle tracking from Fort Bragg during RMTs closely mirrored distant downrange support, improving C2 realism.
  • Products and assessments made during RMTs were integrated into future scenario planning and rotations, increasing the significance of accurate data collection.

    “What they put in is...being used for the next ODA or the next, you know, detach or the infrastructure assessments they conduct.” — Company Commander [05:01]

2. Civil Affairs Integration with the Larger Fight

[05:27 – 08:39]

• Critical Infrastructure & Conventional Forces:
  • RMTs highlighted the importance of CA intelligence for larger-scale conflict scenarios (e.g., infrastructure as enemy targets).

    “...these are really critical nodes that any enemy would want to seize to support their logistics and their operations.” — LNO [05:27]

• Reestablishing Perspective:
  • Training reinforced the direct link between CA reporting and tangible outcomes for decision-makers and kinetic operations.

    “Be clear, don’t lie about what you see. There is an army dependent on the information you provide.” — First Sergeant [06:24]

3. Takeaways: Improvement Areas and Key Lessons

[09:13 – 23:42]

• Communications:
  • Need for more robust COMEX (communications exercises), particularly with HF (High Frequency)—actual systems needed validation in field conditions, not just during previous exercises.

    “We still weren’t able to get an HF shot out here. And I wish if before I leave, if I can go back in the box, I would do an HF shot.” — Company Commander [09:42]

• Task Organization and Involvement:
  • Greater integration of all specialties (Medics, NCOs) into planning and daily operations.

    “I should have tasked order opsen a little better...really getting everyone involved into our planning, our execution...” — Company Commander [09:49]

• Flexibility and Discomfort:
  • Emphasis on adapting to analog processes and being comfortable with uncomfortable, less-connected operating environments.

    “Just be comfortable being uncomfortable...when we go out there we have to go analog and we’re going to be uncomfortable.” — Company Commander [10:34]

• CP Construction/Deconstruction:
  • Efficient Command Post setup/breakdown attributed to proper integration with AOB and rehearsals.

    “I was impressed with your guys’s CP construction and deconstruction. It was pretty good.” — Captain Connor Mang [11:19]

• Integration with AOB:
  • Highlighted as a major success factor for mission execution.

4. Analog Products: Their Purpose and Pitfalls

[12:07 – 16:08]

• Value vs. Maintenance:
  • Analog products (maps, trackers, diagrams) are only useful if regularly updated—otherwise they become liabilities.

    “If myself or the AOB commander comes and reads it and it’s 48 hours old, they may make an assumption that is...a faulty assumption that may be false.” — First Sergeant [13:52]

  • Don't make products unless they serve a real purpose—let operational need drive their creation.

5. The Role and Timing of the LNO

[16:10 – 21:28]

• Dynamic Needs:
  • The necessity for an LNO ebbs and flows with the tempo and phase of operations; static defense phases reduce the need, but relationships and communication channels built early on are invaluable.

    “You have to take...maybe it’s daily, maybe it’s weekly...assessment of is this thing still valuable to me?” — LNO [16:21]

  • Decision to pull LNOs back should be based on operational need and communication with conventional commanders.

    “You just have to continually reassess your foxhole.” — First Sergeant [18:00]

• Understanding the Environment:
  • Importance of knowing not just your own pace, but also that of adjacent elements (with interoperability challenges between systems frequently encountered).

    “You need to know your pace, but you also need to know the pace of all the friendly elements operating around you.” — LNO [18:35]

6. Command Philosophy: Task & Purpose, Trust, and Delegation

[21:28 – 24:23]

• Clarity vs. Flexibility:
  • Balance between clear guidance and enabling teams to solve problems independently is critical; less micromanagement, more intent-based leadership yielded better results.

    “Just give them exactly what we need to do and then let them fill in the rest...as long as they follow this intent, we’re going to be all right.” — First Sergeant [22:18]

  • High-quality team leaders thrive with autonomy and minimal over-direction.

    “They will almost resent getting too much guidance because...they’re not shy from responsibility.” — LNO [23:04]

• Selection and Talent:
  • Affirmation that rigorous Civil Affairs selections are putting the right people in the right places.

7. Experimentation and Continuous Improvement

[24:23 – 29:15]

• The NTC Environment:
  • NTC is the ideal place for experimenting with new TTPs, task organization, and equipment in a risk-mitigated environment.

    “This is the opportunity for you guys to really experiment, right? ...We love when you guys come here and try new things within doctrine, of course.” — Captain Connor Mang [24:30]

• Immediate Application:
  • Intent to immediately update SOPs, battle rhythm, and internal processes upon return—especially around battle rhythm, task org, and down-reps to teams.
• Integration, Roles, and Retained Skills:
  • Emphasis on ensuring all soldiers (even support personnel from the motor pool, S6/S2 shops) have visibility and shared understanding of operational requirements and context.

8. The Power of Repetition and Fundamentals

[29:15 – 31:22]

• "One More Rep" Mindset:
  • Adopting the mantra of "one more rep" reinforces the ethos of constant improvement and mastery of fundamentals.

    “How many reps does it take to get better at the basics?...One more.” — General Hardman (as relayed by First Sergeant) [29:31]

9. Legacy, Tradition, and Unit Culture

[33:03 – 37:01]

• Role Player Connection:
  • Some role players were former Bravo 96 leaders or had personal ties to fallen members. Their participation bridged legacy and present, strengthening morale and unit culture.

    “Being in Bravo 96...you always hear about Bravo Company and we call it Frank because it’s named after something that Sergeant Klein had in his signature block.” — First Sergeant [33:55]

• Heritage and Motivation:
  • Drawing on company legacy and “Frank” traditions motivated teams and tied current operations to historical identity.

    “When you’re on a team that wants to do well, that wants to push everybody, that wants to get better...that’s motivating, and it’s really great to be part of this organization.” — LNO [36:16]

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On RMTs and Realism:

  “RMTs were great. And so they, they really, really enjoyed it... they had more of that Simsie flavor.” — First Sergeant [02:55]

• On Product Value:

  “Are the products consuming you or are you consuming the product?” — Captain Connor Mang [14:46]

• On Task & Purpose:

  “Just give them exactly what we need to do and then let them fill in the rest.” — First Sergeant [22:18]

• On Team Talent:

  “They will almost resent getting too much guidance because...they’re not shy from responsibility.” — LNO [23:04]

• On Fundamentals:

  “How many reps does it take to get better at the basics?...One more.” — General Hardman (via First Sergeant) [29:31]

• On Culture:

  "Let’s Frank live on. Let’s Frank live on. Because that’s our company. Call our company Frank, based off of Klein." — First Sergeant [35:21]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:01 – 07:05]: RMT training explained, feedback from teams, value to combat realism
• [07:05 – 09:13]: CA’s integration with conventional forces & operations
• [09:13 – 16:08]: Lessons learned: comms, org, analog products, task execution
• [16:10 – 21:28]: LNO role, assessment, and phase-based utilization
• [21:28 – 24:23]: Task/purpose, delegation, and team autonomy
• [24:23 – 31:22]: Experimentation, integration, repetition, and fundamentals
• [33:03 – 37:01]: Tradition, legacies, and the motivational power of unit identity

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Closing Thoughts

The episode offers an unvarnished look at how Civil Affairs units tackle complex, realistic training at NTC, identify frictions, and prepare to return home better organized, better led, and more connected to their legacy. The emphasis on “one more rep” as both a literal and figurative motto underscores the commitment to growth, teamwork, and honoring those who came before.

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If you are a Civil Affairs team preparing for rotation—or a leader shaping future operations—this episode delivers both big-picture frameworks and granular, actionable advice straight from those living it.

Transcript

[Captain Connor Mang]

Special Operations Training Detachment, SOT D West Burrow Team coming at you from ntc. Off the radar. This is off the radar. I'm your host, Captain Connor Mang, an observer coach trainer for Special operations at the National Training Center. Welcome Back to part two of our discussion with Bravo 96, Civil Affairs Company. In this episode, we'll discuss their takeaways from the rotation and how they plan to make themselves a better unit based on their experiences here at the National Training Center. Okay, so talking about a separate subject, before you guys actually got here as a company, you had your teams for the first time. We did this. The teams came about a week early and did what we call rmts, Realistic military training. I know that's something we do at the brigade as well back at Fort Bragg, and I've done rmts all over the country, so it's not something exclusively to us. But I do think the value of doing the rmts here is that they directly influence some of the scenario when you guys actually go into the box. And some of the other things that we were talking about as far as, like, targeting cycle, the success of prosecuting some targets from other assets, how valuable was it, you know, based on the feedback you got from your teams and your ops in for them to conduct those RMTs? That's kind of good feedback for us.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah, I think, at the team level. Right. So we kind of talked about the diversity of CENTCOM when it comes to, you know, just whether it's culture, whether it's the. Whether it's the terrain, whether it's the type of mission they're gonna.

[Company Commander]

They're.

[First Sergeant]

You know, One team in AP is gonna be dealing with something 10 times different than what they're gonna be dealing with in the Central Asian states. So, you know, we had one team start off in Los Angeles. So they flew from Fort Bragg to Los Angeles. Then we had one team fly into Las Vegas, and then they worked their way towards the Bach kind of doing that set. The theater type. Yeah, type mission sets. I think they were seeing, you know, fuel pipelines, substations, airports, and then some ports down by Los Angeles. You know, focus on the maritime. And so it really matched some of their mission sets really, really well. You know, I think the team that was in Las Vegas is going to the casa, and then the team down in south is going to the ap. And it actually matched up perfectly, because in the ap, you deal with some of that. Some of those maritime type problem sets. And then, you know, in the casa, you're dealing with, you know, Rugged terrain and kind of being out and alone for, for a little bit, you know, maybe in like short pulsed stints. And so, you know, at the team level, I know they got a lot out of it and they really enjoyed it because they had more of that Simsie flavor. Yeah. You know, they were showing up to an airport, they had to go through customs. The customs were giving them a hard time. And at first I remember when I told the teams what was that probably six weeks ago, that they were going to go three days early. I remember them kind of being like, oh, well, okay, okay, that's not great. And then I remember when we got on ground at Soft Ruba one, one of our team sergeants who's, you know, usually, you know, not the most jealous, he was like, rmts were great. And I was like, okay, if he's telling me RMTs were great, then RMTs were great. And, and so they, they really, really enjoyed it. And I would say definitely a sustain for, for the, for the, for the, the experience for the teams. And then I think also for the, for the, for the, the CMAC or the opsan or the headquarters is that, you know, we were able to battle track them from Fort Bragg, which I think is pretty realistic to what we're going to do downrange because we're going to be pretty far away from them. And then also being able to take that information into the conflict phase when we landed in Soft Reva because, you know, some of the area that they were working through quickly became the box. And so some of those networks and critical infrastructure came into play and we were able to problem solve with it. They were, they were tools in our chest, our tool chest that we were able to. Able to play with and have some effects on the battlefield. And so I think it just enhanced the scenario and then enhanced the experiential learning that the teams were able to go through.

[Captain Connor Mang]

It's another good buzzword. Yeah. You guys also sent two packs from your CA headquarters out here, Correct. A little early too.

[Company Commander]

Three.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Okay.

[Company Commander]

We sent our commo guy my ops in NCOIC and ops in chief. And that was really to set the RSOI main body.

[First Sergeant]

Okay.

[Company Commander]

But also like. And also integrate with AOB when they're rsoi and just the logistics part of it, the miles gear, making sure the line haul gets arrival of line haul and make sure that everything's accounted for. Our ISUs. But going back to the RMT, the team's hardest and the teams just, I would say their, their assessments and their products was, was a Big thing too, because I like how sat d you guys literally take the team's products and you guys build it into the next rotation. I believe so. Like what they put in is being used for the next ODA or the next, you know, detach or the infrastructure assessments they conduct. Yeah.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Are going to influence future rotations where the information they did or didn't gather will kind of influence how much free chicken we give to the rtus and stuff like that.

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

Well, and that's perhaps one of the most real world aspects of this. We can look at any number of conflicts that we're currently either engaged with, either directly or peripherally. I was a team commander in Syria, like I said, and certainly ISIS funded good amount of their operations by seizing critical infrastructure and using some of the oil that they were able to capture. We look at Iran right now, we're looking at really critical seaways and distribution islands, Russia and their pipelines through or around Ukraine. So I think the RMT is great, especially when it comes to, like we said, feeding into that conventional aspect of the fight as well, because sometimes CA can seem kind of nebulous or kind of on the periphery, but these are really critical nodes that any enemy would want to seize to support their logistics and their operations.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Yeah.

[First Sergeant]

And I think when you're in a simc sometimes. I've never been in a simc, but I could imagine that sometimes you forget that one day this report may be used for one, a decision maker or two, a door kicker who may need the information to have some type of effect. Right. And so I think the NTC rmts re established that, hey, be clear, don't lie about what you see. There is an army dependent on the information you provide. Right. And so I think it reestablished that perspective. That may sometimes get lost. Hopefully not, but I have a feeling sometimes it does. Yeah.

[Captain Connor Mang]

I think one of the kind of the disconnects we have sometimes with RTUs here is they want to come and train very PMT focused objectives for the theater. They're going to.

[First Sergeant]

It's hard not to. Absolutely.

[Captain Connor Mang]

I get it.

[Company Commander]

Yeah.

[Captain Connor Mang]

As commander and first Sergeant, you want to make sure that you guys are prepared for the mission you're going to go forward and do. And sometimes NTC or JRTC is seen as kind of an obstacle that we have to get over instead of a training venue. Right. Because just being frank, like as a team commander and Tim can kind of attest to this, like LISCO is in the back of your mind, but you're preparing for a SIMC Right. And so coming here, whether it's an oda, an aob, a psydet, we have to kind of refocus you guys in ways, and RMTS is one of them. We're like, okay, the things you guys are doing for your specific mission set are important, and we will try to facilitate them, but we're going to show the relevancy to LISKA and try and tie it in as authentically as possible so that maybe when you leave here, you kind of get it. Like you said, sir, like my armies that I'm doing here that are simulating me being on a simc. Right. Whether we're doing it through, like a time jump or just like directly influencing future operations, they matter. Yep, they do. They really matter.

[First Sergeant]

Hopefully they don't matter. Hopefully they don't, but they matter.

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

Right?

[Company Commander]

They.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Yeah. And so I'm glad you guys kind of keyed in on that, and I'm happy to hear that the teams really got value from them.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah.

[Captain Connor Mang]

What do you guys feel as a company? And I'm sure I get different answers depending on the echelon I'm talking to. But what do you feel going back now, completing the rotation? Hindsight is 20 20, but looking back. Right. Because I'm hoping that if an RTU is listening to this right now, getting ready to come out here, they can get some. Some wisdom from you guys and say, hey, what do we think we could have done a little better? Knowing what we know now, is there anything you guys may have addressed differently, whether it's task organization or the operations process or even just equipment you brought?

[First Sergeant]

Yeah, give it to us first. What are you going to do first?

[Company Commander]

Yeah, so I would say our pace. We had a solid pace. However we did, I think before we left to come out here, we should have done a, like a legitimate, like, legit comics, especially hf and like, not just like, hey, yeah, we were like,

[First Sergeant]

we did it during Xeval. We did it, but it wasn't the same one that we brought in. Tc, Roger.

[Company Commander]

Yep. So, and. And I, I. We still weren't able to get an HF shot out here. And I wish if before I leave, if I can go back in the box, I would do an HF shot until, you know, that's, I think, a

[First Sergeant]

little bit of that. The teams were close.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Yeah.

[First Sergeant]

Some weather issues, but yeah.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Yeah.

[Company Commander]

And then also, like, as far as task work, as a first sergeant, I should have done. I wish I would have tasked order opsen a little better. As far as the NCOs, and the officers and really getting everyone involved into our planning, our execution of the daily things that we need to do. The working groups. I was attending the log working groups and protection. But I should have gotten. Hey, hey, medic, I need you. Senior medic, I need you here at protection.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah, he was mainly going to protection

[Company Commander]

and just get everyone involved. But at the same time we had to like prep our vehicles.

[First Sergeant]

And then during conflict, like when we were in the crisis it was, you know, they're. We're only doing like well maybe two or three mainly focus on ops and intel. So.

[Company Commander]

Yeah.

[First Sergeant]

But we, we eventually came around and figured out who needed to be where.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Yeah.

[Company Commander]

And then I agree and I think like this right here is a whole like I'll just end up with this. But like I told the teams and I told everyone, like, just be comfortable being uncomfortable. Right. Like right now we're in the aob. We're a soft ruba. We have all the products, we have Internet. But when we go out there we have to go analog and we're going to be uncomfortable. And so we have to. And this is what I think the big takeaway and I think. I think the ops end and the companies understand that the teams understand that now, especially in the LISCO fight. So yeah, that would be my key takeaway. Comex rehearsals on. On maybe the mobile talk. Yeah, we got pretty.

[First Sergeant]

We were pretty quick, man. We did get mink and I did

[Company Commander]

and then task work.

[Captain Connor Mang]

I was impressed with your guys's CP construction and deconstruction. It was pretty good.

[First Sergeant]

Like don't wrong like we didn't rehearse it much but I think that was just the key takeaway was there was that we sent somebody to the AOB's Talk X and so like we knew what they were going to do, you know and we were able to procure enough supplies and like understanding of how they saw it so that when we got here we just had to do it. We did a rehearsal at Soft Reba.

[Company Commander]

We did.

[First Sergeant]

Which definitely helps.

[Company Commander]

We drove at night as well. Did some reps in with nods and.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah.

[Company Commander]

And I think everything. The success of all of this, the success that we had was the integration with aob. They really just like AOB was awesome.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah. I can't. I can't talk.

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

Yeah.

[First Sergeant]

Big shout out to good things.

[Company Commander]

It was just awesome. Like we were part of the team.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Yep.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah.

[Company Commander]

Like we didn't have to ask.

[First Sergeant]

We were on the plan most of the time.

[Company Commander]

Yeah.

[First Sergeant]

So.

[Captain Connor Mang]

So it's great.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah. For me, I and Maybe Tim can riff with me for a bit. I got two written down. I'm sure I'll come up with some more. But the look, we always talk analog products. I know. I think you had a whole podcast on analog products that I listened to. I'm a longtime listener, first time, first time caller. But you know, analog products. And I'm going to. It's not going to be like just a make analog products because like, no duh, it's understand. Okay. There's going to be a time when you, you make an analog product. It's going to look great. It's going to look great and you're going to use it. I think you really need to look at what is the information on there, what is the information trying to do? Because we made, I think we made an analog map that was mainly focused on where the nodes were at who the nodes were. We made a human network diagram that kind of explained how the network was designed and what it could do. And then we had you know, like a, like a quick sheet that you could go to and quickly find people by villages if you're more data, data oriented. We had one of those and then we also had like a SIGEC tracker. If you're not updating those. Yeah, constantly one putting new information on and taking old information off that can turn into information fracture side in the sense of if myself or the AOB commander comes and reads it and it's 48 hours old, they may make an assumption that is no longer an assumption or a faulty assumption that may be false. So I would just like my foot stomp thing is that you need to update those. That needs to be built in the battle rhythm. We did a pretty good job. But then we started making multiple things like we were tracking Sigax on like on a whiteboard thing that I would carry around that was just like easy use. But then we'd put it on the map as well and like sometimes not erase it. And like in theory somebody could go over there and read it and be like, oh, that's happening. And it was like it's already old.

[Company Commander]

Right.

[First Sergeant]

And so I think. And then also just, you know, it's kind of like one of those improving your, your fox position or your foxhole and like understanding where your foxhole is at is that maybe it's not doing what I originally intended and maybe I'm wasting time on it. You know, like the ends, ways, means, portion of it. Do I need to actually input resources into this right now? And maybe I need to be focused on something else. And so like, that comes with time. And I guess that's why we're at ntc, right? Like, it's like understanding like what's important here or like what's important doctrinally is that is good. But like, hey, if you're working, you know, if you're having a hard time planning 24, 48 hours out or 72 hours out, like, and you're also spending a bunch of time on one of these analog products, maybe maybe just take a look at it and see if it's actually doing anything for you.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Yeah. Are the products consuming you or are you consuming the product? Yeah, that's good. I think we talked about it when I first touched base with you guys and the anecdote I'll use is kind

[First Sergeant]

of,

[Captain Connor Mang]

we had an intel guy from an AOB that was really crushing IPB at the very beginning. His analog products were phenomenal. And the feedback we gave him was like, you know, this is great, but products are only as good as they are based on how much you use them and how much you update them. And about maybe two days into the box we peaked at his IPB products. And it was basically hadn't changed since maybe the first or second day. Is it safe to say that the battlefield has changed? Is our intel picture very different right now? And that was, I think that was eye opening for them that, like, it's fine. If you don't need this product, then don't make it.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Don't use it. If it's going to take up time, absolutely. If it's not something you guys are going to really digest and it's not helping make decisions, that's fine. But there's also the audience piece of it where, like, who you're briefing to is not just within your own enterprise. And I think, Tim, you saw that like, absolutely not everybody's going to have the same systems we have. And so the, the kind of the universal tongue is sometimes analog products, sometimes it's not. And I think you guys saw a

[First Sergeant]

mixture of the two.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Yeah, absolutely.

[First Sergeant]

Now I got, maybe this is a takeaway for Tim and I would be interested to hear is when does the LNO become unnecessary? What do you think?

[Company Commander]

That's a good question.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah, what do you think?

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

I think that's a great question. And it's kind of in the same vein of what we're talking about. Here are some of those products and it's just that you have to take, you know, maybe it's daily, maybe it's weekly. If you're, you know, really in. In the fight assessment of is this thing still valuable? To me, yeah, I think we saw a bit of a slowdown, especially when the conventional forces prepared to set in for their defense. When the battle space was a little bit more static.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah.

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

Where probably, you know, my, my presence or my effectiveness in that, you know, 24 hour window was. Was lesser than it was when the battle space was more dynamic. But it is kind of a hard decision to make. Right. Because we don't get to decide when everything suddenly becomes more dynamic again, you know, that the enemy gets a lot of say in that. So, yeah, I think. Yeah, so there definitely was a slowdown during the defense. And I think as with everything that we worked through, whether it was the comms or the logistics, just being uncomfortable or being comfortable with having that flexibility and reassessing and making a new.

[Company Commander]

Which.

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

Which basically we did, we pulled the LNOs back in kind of in the last 24 hours that we were out there.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah.

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

Once our effectiveness to the brigade had slowed, knowing that if we needed to, we could have easily pushed us back out. And the fact that we retained our ability to communicate with the brigade also, and we had built those relationships and made those connections so that we knew, okay, hey, if at this point, if I really need to get something to brigade again, this is the person I'm going to talk to and they're going to be able to action the information that I need to get to them.

[First Sergeant]

And I think it's like a two way street too. Right. If. If Tim and the other lno, you know, work themselves into a job, and now the AOB commander and the CA ops and we go over there and try to get him back. The brigade commander might push and, you know, sometimes you might lose that knife fight, but it's, you know, and then. But also we have to sit there and like, does this make sense for the operation? And then like, am I getting anything out of it? Are they getting anything out of it? You know, I just. So I guess we're going back to. You just have to continually reassess your foxhole, understand what is going on, and then make the best decision in that given time with the information you have.

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

And kind of on that same vein, I think the biggest thing that I learned throughout this operation is that you need to know your pace, but you also need to know the pace of all the friendly elements operating around you. Because we could not talk, you know, we could talk face to face, of course, but I could not talk on some of the secure communication lines with our conventional partners, because we just were operating on different systems, they weren't together on the same nets. And so that's why this is great because we got to work through that and figure out a solution and we wouldn't have had that opportunity really anywhere else. So that was great.

[Captain Connor Mang]

I think it goes to something that one of the, one of the role players we have, who is a previous group commander has said this, that right. Like commanders really earn their money by anticipating. Anticipating problems, anticipating enemy, but I think also anticipating their friendly units. Yeah. And what I haven't seen, and now as we're talking about, I'm thinking about it like, right, a commander who gives up an LNO package by phase of the operation, being able to anticipate and say, I anticipate that my LNO will be extremely useful and utilized during the initial phase. But then maybe, perhaps when the enemy counterattacks and we go to a defense, the need for me to have a physical person there is going to drop and so then I can pull that guy back to me. And so by phase. Kind of, kind of an interesting thought. I don't know if that's too much down the rabbit hole, but, but yeah, I think you're right, sir. Like it's, it's, it's a two way street because during times I'm sure the brigade, it didn't seem like you were very useful. But I'm sure that brigade commander or the battalion commander you were working with felt security just knowing that that asset was there if I needed it. Right. And then vice versa. I'm sure there were times where you're like, man, we could really use Tim here. Yeah, but we don't want to pull that, that, that asset from the brigade. And so I'm sure it ebbs and flows not in synchronous, not being like synchronized between the brigade and the soft units.

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

And I think a lot of that, a lot of the data that would go into that decision making is in what I saw is very enemy focused too. So where I saw my usefulness to the brigade commander start to slow was when we actually started to have a really good picture of who the enemy was, how they operated and what they were tending to do. Particularly we had a good amount of information and time of how the enemy acted and participated around population centers and critical infrastructure. So once I felt like that picture was kind of filling up and I kind of, you know, communicated that the bulk of what I thought a conventional commander would want to know about those considerations, I Think really coincided with some of the culmination of my effectiveness as the LNO there.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Takeaway. I think the final one is for me, at least I'm sure first Arkin will resonate with this is just task and purpose. And then utilizing downrip. So being really so the fine line between giving out too much information to the teams, trying to get like giving out too much guidance, I found what worked the best was give them the task exactly what you want to do, give them the purpose so that they understand why they're doing it. And then if you have to do some refinement, make it through the downrip. Yeah. And then let the team solve the problems. Right. Like, I remember the first night we got out to the box. I think I. I ended up asking the teams and they said everything was good, but I felt like I was just like doing some straight voltage type stuff just because I hadn't talked to them all day.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Yeah.

[First Sergeant]

And then it like the next day, I remember I kept telling the. One of the captains that was helping me write some of the task and purpose stuff. It was like, hey, it's okay. Like, we're just going to write less today. Just give them exactly what we need to do and then let them fill in the rest. Because at the end of the day, I gave them a sync mat that actually ended up being pretty good throughout the operation with intent. Like, as long as they follow this intent, we're going to be all right. You know, so it's that fine line and I kind of push myself towards the, you know, less is better. Yeah. Especially in this dynamic environment.

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

And I also, if I can brag a little bit, I think that speaks to the nature of the quality of the team sergeants and team leaders that we have in this organization that they will almost resent getting too much guidance because. Oh yeah, they, they.

[First Sergeant]

I was like, these guys are probably like, yeah, what the heck?

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

They're not shy from responsibility. So I think finding that balance is key. Like you said, sir.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Yeah. We have the right people. That's something. Also Col. Gonzalez said the other day was, we have the right people in the right place. You know, the selections are working. Right. The Casses and the SFA s and the poas like, those are all working, I think, and we're getting the right people in the right places. So I think we owe it. Right. As me as a future commander, I think about that and I'm seeing user as a commander and first aren't like, you got to trust them, got to trust that they're smart, they're adaptable and they're going to do the right thing. It may not be.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah.

[Captain Connor Mang]

I kind of think about the Kevin Hart joke, right. Where you know, you tell your kid to go to bed and he falls asleep right there standing up. It's like not how I wanted you to do it, but you did it. And as long as the end state is met, we have some really phenomenal officers and NCOs in the civil affairs regiment. And so I saw that a lot here and I did see you guys, as I want to say roller coaster, but where, you know, sometimes it was a lot of the guidance down on your down reps and the teams I got back from the team ocs, you know, sometimes they like that because it was just. There was no ambiguity. But then there's also times where maybe it was a very vague down rep, but we knew that the teams can execute regardless because again they're. They understand and they know what's going on. Right?

[First Sergeant]

Yeah.

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

And it's so great because it's like, if we're going to be uncomfortable, let's be uncomfortable here.

[Company Commander]

Yeah.

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

Let's figure it out here before we're out there.

[First Sergeant]

You know, it's a party.

[Captain Connor Mang]

We love telling rtus. And I think I told you guys this in my initial spiel at the beginning, like, no one should be getting hurt here and no one is going to get hurt here as long as we're safe. But this is the opportunity for you guys to really experiment, right. With task organization, with coquitment, with things that maybe we're not as comfortable doing at home station. Right. When we're kind of at a time crunch where it's like we have to be validated at the end of this. We can't really have time to check on, see if things are or worth trying. So we love when you guys come here and try new things within doctrine, of course. Right,

[First Sergeant]

Right.

[Captain Connor Mang]

But that's good that you guys kind of have seen that from the scenario. What do you guys feel? And I know we talked takeaways. I think the big portion for me as an OC is I want to give you guys valuable feedback which we'll do in a few days with your Aaron that you can then take home and develop either products or sops or tax ops or whatever the, whatever it is, whatever the output is for you guys that's gonna make you better as a unit.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah.

[Captain Connor Mang]

And I'm curious, kind of what do you guys feel? I know right now it's very raw you're gonna have to go through some of the data that we'll give you guys and this will be one of the first rotations. We're gonna give you a lot of data right on. Like how you did network development, how well you guys did day by day as far as like processing information and PIRS answered things like that. What do you guys feel like right now going home will change or potentially could be influenced by your rotation here?

[First Sergeant]

I think First Sergeant kind of talks about it. You know, we're going to be falling into a staff that's been kind of established for at least the last two to three rotations, right? Yeah, I think it's at least two or three. And so we kind of have an idea of what that task Org looks like. And so we kind of had an idea before coming out here at tc, but it's really, who's the guy in the seat? What's their task and purpose, what meetings? What's their battle rhythm? And then just so getting that on paper and ensuring everyone understands that before we get out there and are actually in the fight. Yeah. And then just like what does the down rep look like to the teams? Because like not only just here at the ops end, you know, because like that's the way our deployments work. We kind of go do our own thing while the teams belong to other, other command posts. And so what is our. How do we affect civil affairs through the operations process, through the, the headquarters we sit at. And so really that's kind of like, you know, we get back Friday or Monday and I think game starts. We gotta, we gotta get right on that right away. So.

[Company Commander]

And then we have our daily touchpoints with the team forward, with the company forward. Right. So like, you know, knowing like we're gonna have our rip, it could be a hasty rip, it could be an actual rip, and then like seeing what works for them.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah.

[Company Commander]

Get in the first 30 days or you know, and then like figuring out like, hey, this is what it's gonna look like now and then for the teams as well.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah.

[Company Commander]

But the tax op, I would say like, yes, I would definitely work on that from, from flash to bang. Like, hey, if this is what's gonna happen, like this is what we're gonna need. Yeah, this is what, this, what, this is what a mobile talk will look like. These are the things that we look at for a pace log pack. Like all these things definitely was an eye opener out here.

[First Sergeant]

The things I took away for this going forward is the power of integration, the power of Everyone understanding what job they have to do, understanding when they need to do it. So who's going to do the PCCs, PCIs for that stuff? Just working out those kinks. Because I always tell people are always like, why be a jump master? You know, stuff like that. It's like, well, it's like that one rep of doing PCCs, PCIs causing people to be confident to jump out of airplanes, which I think is a perishable skill. And like, coming out here to NTC, you know, we've cut some airborne slots in the 95th. And so I think some of those, those things might be perishable skills. And so I think coming out here in ntc, you know, it's been a while since I've been an infantry PL or, you know, 1st ARN spent a team sergeant not saying, like, we were bad at it, but it's like, oh, no, I think like, the first day we, it was like, where's radio? You know, like, we get radio.

[Company Commander]

Yeah. And also, like, I would say this, this list. Go fight. You go back to the basics.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah.

[Company Commander]

You know what I mean? Like, yeah, the fundamentals. The basics of like CSPI is like, we're not too cool for that. Like, we were in the army. This is the basics. This is, that's. That's what keep you. Will keep you alive. And then going into the advance of, okay, look, I need my. I need my sky view. I need my, my tighten up. And this is our TTP to, you know, counter UAS and things like that. Right.

[First Sergeant]

So, you know, rehearsals I'm gonna go back to. So we gave our AOB outbreak or, like, mission brief to General Hardman, who's the DCO for first id.

[Company Commander]

Yes.

[First Sergeant]

And I think he's also about to be the senior trainer at jrtc.

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

That's correct.

[First Sergeant]

And he, he said during his brief, which pumped. Pumped me up. I don't know if it pumped the other guys up in the room. They're. They're laughing at me right now. But, uh, he said, how many reps does it take to get better at the basics? And he kind of let everybody answer and like. And he looked at us and he said, one more. And yeah. And so, yeah, you know, that was actually kind of became our AOB motto is every single time we redid the sync mat, we were like, all right, one more rep, one more rep. That's it, that's it.

[Company Commander]

And then we were able to bring one of our maintainers from rhc and he had a great experience, like, just, you know, and that, you know, just. Will I talk to the chief on the ob? He was like, you know, like, the biggest thing out here is I want to get training.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah.

[Company Commander]

And we can't get enough of it.

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

Right.

[Company Commander]

So the. Our pole, it's like, I wish we actually did an actual, like, our pole, you know, like. Because it's just something that the teams haven't seen before.

[First Sergeant]

A lot of people haven't.

[Company Commander]

Yeah, we have.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Dangerous thing we're like. That you guys will do is our polls.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Or F polls.

[First Sergeant]

And here's it. As a. As. And this is my last little plug. You know, first. Aren't about to be a future HHC first, hopefully, you know, inshallah. And then as a. As a past HHC commander, getting the guys out of the motor pool, Getting the guys out of the S6 shop. Getting the guys out of the S2 shop. Like, bring them. You know, they're. You know, they might get some dust on the experimentalist, seeing what they can bring. And at the very least, you know, you're gonna hopefully maybe increase some of your retention rates for sure.

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

And then it helps everyone to understand why the things that, you know, the teams or the. The companies are asking for out of their shops are so important to us. Yeah. Yeah.

[First Sergeant]

It's all this. This whole episode's been about perspective.

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

Yeah.

[Company Commander]

So I told our maintainer, hey, if you have nothing to do, come to the talk. See what we do.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah, exactly.

[Company Commander]

You know.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Yeah.

[Company Commander]

You're 91 Bravo. Like, see what.

[First Sergeant]

Now they understand the why.

[Company Commander]

Yeah. See what a 38.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah.

[Company Commander]

Sierra does. See what a 38. Zoo. Like, you know, like, thank you. You know, like, know what we do? You know, One more rep. Yeah.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Yeah, one more rep. Well, I appreciate it, guys. This has been. This was my last rotation as an oc, so I'll be moving on.

[First Sergeant]

It was his golden walk.

[Captain Connor Mang]

It was.

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

I think he hit it out of the park.

[Captain Connor Mang]

But I really appreciate you guys being a very motivated rtu. That was one of the comments that I got back from your team. OCS was the teams. And then from my observation at the. The headquarters level, stayed motivated throughout. And that's, to me, is like the key. Like, if you come here and you're not competent, we can. We can teach that. Right. We can coach that. I cannot coach your motivation. Right. I had a coach that used to tell me, you can't coach desire. And if you guys are here staying motivated, not war, gaming the scenario, you will leave as a better unit. And I think I told you guys, like, the COG always tries to say the BCT that leaves here after rotation should be the, you know, the most ready and capable BCT in the Army. And I think there's some credence to you guys as well. Like, you know, you guys should take pride that you're probably one of the most, if not the most well trained civil affairs company in the regiment just because of what you just went through, the reps that you got that no one else is getting. It really means a lot to me and I appreciate you guys coming on and giving me your feedback about the rotation. I hope that the lessons learned that you guys had from the rotation and kind of our perspective that we've kind of discussed here permeates down to the brigade. Right. That's my ultimate goal. And me and Micah and the past host is this whole podcast is really to help educate the bigger RSoft force and say, you know, this is what's going on out here and this is how we can make each other better.

[First Sergeant]

Thank you.

[Captain Connor Mang]

So I really appreciate you guys coming in. One last tidbit, and I thought this was really cool, and I wanted to mention this. You guys had some role players that were actually part of your unit from Bravo.

[First Sergeant]

I wasn't sure if I was allowed to bring it up. I was thinking about it.

[Captain Connor Mang]

We don't have to mention their names, but I think that was really cool. Yeah.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah. So we had, I think, three or four role players. Really awesome role players. They're extremely, extremely helpful during the exercise. I think one was a commander of Bravo 96 in 2005. And then a guy was a first sergeant round 2005, 2006. And then another guy was actually a team sergeant with. With Sergeant Klein, which is actually.

[Company Commander]

And sergeant.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Well, he was.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah. So he was peers with Sergeant Celeste Tiller. He knew Major Ahern. He knew Sergeant Klein.

[Company Commander]

Yeah.

[First Sergeant]

And he also knew Hartman.

[Company Commander]

Hartman.

[First Sergeant]

Hartman. And so, like, you know, and I, I explained it when we did the, the little get together afterwards is that, you know, being in Bravo 96, like, whenever, when you come over, come to the 96, you always hear about Bravo Company and we call it Frank because it's named after something that Sergeant Klein had in his signature block. Yeah. And so, you know, I think we're at this point, like, you talk about, like, degrees from Kevin Bacon. I think we're like 10 degrees off from that. Like, we, we just. Some of that history hasn't really moved.

[Company Commander]

Yeah, yeah.

[First Sergeant]

We. We memorize the thing underneath their picture and, you know, the things they stand for and you know, their pictures in the hallway. But sometimes, you know, you forget, like, who these people are. And, you know, we. We see their family. I think Sergeant Celestiller's family actually came to.

[Company Commander]

Was about to. And then we had to reschedule.

[First Sergeant]

Oh, reschedule. Okay. So, you know, so in any times we get. So they were actually able to say some. Some nice words about S. Klein, Major Ahern, Sergeant Stiller, and Sergeant Harmon. And so. And, like, so, like, any of that information we can take, I think is super awesome. And that was, like, honestly, you know, probably top. Top two highlight for me.

[Company Commander]

Yeah, Big, big highlight for us. Like, you know, it's about the family. It's about who they were, remembering them, honoring them, and then also while we're deployed, you know, knowing what we're doing, because what we're doing is what they. What they probably want us to be doing, and they. What they. What they sacrifice their lives for.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Right.

[Company Commander]

So, like, definitely a really good.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah.

[Company Commander]

It's a small world.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah. And let's Frank live on. Let's Frank live on. Because that's our company. Call our company Frank, based off of Klein, so.

[Company Commander]

And hopefully we can get our artists out there.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah. And get Frank up on one of these rocks.

[Company Commander]

Represent, you know, legendary painted rocks of

[Captain Connor Mang]

the National Training Center. I know. It pumped me up.

[Company Commander]

Yeah.

[First Sergeant]

I was. I'm pumped up talking about it right now.

[Captain Connor Mang]

So I'm not a member of Bravo 96. I've never served. But just seeing some of the actual originals.

[Company Commander]

Yes.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Right. That. You know, you hear that moniker thrown around throughout the 95th. And, like, these are living, breathing originals that.

[Company Commander]

Yeah.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Yep. Ties to some of your legacy as a unit. I was. I was really pumped up. Yeah.

[First Sergeant]

One of them actually had to hide his tattoo from us. Yeah. Because he had a Frank tattoo.

[Captain Connor Mang]

That's awesome.

[First Sergeant]

And actually, One of our NCOs actually saw it at the commissary, supposedly. And so they. I think they already knew.

[Captain Connor Mang]

Kind of queued in on it.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah.

[Company Commander]

Is that how they got caught at the commissary?

[First Sergeant]

Maybe.

[Company Commander]

Well, we don't need it.

[First Sergeant]

Yeah, we don't. We're not gonna. No, no, no.

[LNO (Liaison Officer)]

That's because we have talked about culture quite a few times throughout this, and, I mean, that is a big part of who we are as an organization, as originals, as Franks. And when it comes to some of that desire that you observed in the teams, that. That's, like, palpable. It drives all of us. It motivates us. And I've been on a lot of teams inside, outside the Army. I'm sure everyone at this table has. And when you're on a team that wants to do well, that wants to push everybody, that wants to get better at every CTC we go to, every training event that we have, that is motivating, and it's really great to be part of this organization and to have the opportunity to come to training events like this and just get better. That's what we're here to do.

[Captain Connor Mang]

One more rep. One more rep. Yeah. Well, I appreciate it. Thank you guys for being here for the last hour and a half. I think it's been really beneficial for me and I hope it's been beneficial for you guys. I wish you luck as you go back to Fort Bragg. And the great thing about Civil Affairs Regiment is I'm sure we'll all see each other again. So thank you.

[First Sergeant]

Let's all give it up for next round. Connor's last rotation. Very good.

[Company Commander]

I appreciate you, Cabinet.

[First Sergeant]

Thanks, man.

[Captain Connor Mang]

If you are interested in being a guest on the off the Radar podcast or have a topic you'd like us to cover, please contact the off the radar team@offtheradar podcast teammail.com thank you for listening to off the Radar, where RSoft prepares for conflict. Like subscribe and share on your listening platform.