Leadership for Lance Commanders
Introduction: This is
the second in a series of talks designed to provide SCA melee combat leaders
with skills and tools to effectively lead fighters on and off the field. These
talks were put together as a collaborative effort by the instructors. All of
whom are founding members of the Pentamere Free Company and have a long history
of melee experience. Each brings unique skills and perspective from mundane
military and business leadership background to the series. Each of these talks
stands on its own, however each does borrow concepts from the predecessors in
the series. All previous material is available on line at the Pentamere Free
Company website www.pentamerefreecompany.com
"Leadership for Lance Commanders" is a practical application of the concepts and tools from the Concepts in SCA Combat Leadership” lecture. This is directed at commanders of 3-5 fighter units, of all experience levels. This talk is focused on outlining the duties and responsibilities of a lance commander and provides some specific tools for small unit development, team building, training and leadership.
Instructors: Lord William Campion (Keith Larson)
THL
Sgt. Iain Ruadh MacFhionnghain (Tony Craft)
Sgt.
Renaude Delunay (David Denomme)
Instructor’s
background:
Lord William has been fighting as
an SCA melee fighter since 1987 and has fought in 11 Pennsic wars and numerous
smaller melee events. He has held
positions ranging from new shieldman to Company commander, with unit sizes
ranging from 2 to 24 heavy fighters. In
his mundane life, Keith Larson P.A.-C. has for 6 years helped train and lead
code teams for the Cardiac Cath Lab at Harper University Hospital in Detroit,
MI.
Sergeant Iain has been fighting as an SCA
melee fighter since 1986 and has lived in and fought for five kingdoms in
numerous wars, ranging from Pennsic to An Tir/West War. He has held positions ranging from new
shield man to Baronial Militia Commander with units sizes ranging from 2 to 30
heavy fighters. In his mundane life,
Tony Craft spent 12 years with the U.S. Army and held positions ranging from
Platoon Sergeant to Drug Suppression Team Chief. As a Military Police NCO, he has had real world melee combat
experience during the 1994 Cuban Refugee Riots in Panama and numerous bar
brawls throughout his military career.
Sergeant
Renaude has been an authorized fighter in the SCA since 1987 and has fought in
13 Pennsic wars as well as numerous smaller melee events. Renaude remains active by training melee
fighters and teaching at the Royal University of the Midrealm sessions. Recognized for his battlefield contributions
to the Midrealm Army he was appointed to the Order of the Red Company during
the reign of Dag Thorgrimsson and Elayna Lilley. In his mundane life David Denomme is a student completing a
Master of Business degree at the University of Michigan. He interested in adapting the principles of
business communication, leadership, and organization to SCA melee combat in
order to strengthen the Army of the Middle Kingdom.
What is a
Lance?
A lance, for
purposes of this lecture, is the smallest tactical unit in a melee
company. On the battlefield, the U.S.
Army has determined that the most an individual can directly command
effectively is between 3-5 individuals depending on experience. So the smallest
tactical unit should be between 3–5 fighters. When your numbers exceed this,
its time to split into 2 tactical units and establish an additional command
level above the Lance level. Our company, traditionally, organizes itself along
the following lines:
A 3-man lance (typically 2
shields and a spear/pole arm Lance Sergeant/Commander).
A line of
2-3 lances commanded by a Line Sergeant.
A company of
2 lines commanded by a Captain.
I say traditionally, because our group is primarily very
experienced older fighters who have fought together for many years. We are able to drastically modify our
weapons mix and command structure on short notice from line to support to
combat archery unit, depending on the mission.
Almost all effective SCA combat Leadership takes place off the field.
Assuming
Command:
(1)
Determine what is expected of your unit. Just
what is it that you, as a group, expect and are expected to accomplish? Do you
want to be a line unit, support, skirmish, combat archery, siege crew, scouts
or what? What does your area or region need?
(2) Determine
who your immediate superior is and what he expects of you. Where and how do you fit in with the other
groups in your area, or in your own company? Exactly what duties are you are
specifically responsible for doing?
(3)Determine
the level of competence, strengths and weaknesses of your subordinates. Take a
good, honest look at yourself and your unit. What can you already do well? What
can’t you do? Is your unit green newly authorized fighters or old veterans? Are
they physically fit, well equipped, dedicated fighters or out of shape, loaner
armour, show up for Pensic only fighters? Most likely, your troops are
somewhere in between. You have to know what you have to start with to determine
what you can do or what you need to do to achieve what your unit wants to be.
(a) Troop
Type: Just what
kind of lance are you supposed to be? What is your job within the company and
how good are you at it? For example: are you a heavy line lance,
light/skirmishers, medium shields, long weapon/support lance, scouts or combat
archery? How does this effect the equipment, skills and mobility expected of
your lance?
(b) Number: How many troops are you expected
to work with? How does this fit into the 3-5 man rule? Do you need to split off
into 2 Lances or recruit more troops to bring your Lance up to strength?
(c) Equipment: Do you and your troops have sufficient armour, shields and weapons
in good working condition to all take the field at the same time?
(d) Experience
and Training: Are you
and your troops competent in all individual and team skills expected of you?
How much melee experience do your troops have?
(e) Mobility
and Fitness: How well
and how far can your troops move? Are you a light, fast moving group or heavy
slower moving group? What kinds of movement are expected from your lance? Can
you move well in formation or change formations readily? Are you and your
troops actually physically fit enough to carry out the duties expected of you, like
march in full armour, run across the field and then right into battle? Do any
of your troops have medical conditions that limit their actions or may need
special attention like asthma, allergies or old knee injuries?
(f) Level of
Dedication: Since we are a volunteer hobby
essentially, you need to know just how much time, effort and money your troops
are willing to dedicate to fighting. Do they need have the time to practice
every week all year round, or only show up occasionally and then at some
events? Do they have to scrounge for equipment on a strict budget and do events
for as little as possible or is finance not a big concern? Even if time and
money availability are not issues, how much is the trooper wiling to invest in
the hobby?
(4)Identify
your outside resources. Once you
know where your unit is at skills and equipment wise and where you want to be
skills and equipment wise, you need to identify resources outside of your unit
that you can draw upon to attain your goals. Who can teach you the weapon skills
you lack? Who can show you how to make armour, weapons and shields or sew
gambesons, tabards and banners? Once you know what you lack, figure out how you
can get it.
What you
should know as a leader. These are
long term goals for the individual leader to continuously work on.
¨ Know your troops. What are their
strengths, weaknesses and motivations?
¨ Know your job. Strive to be competent in
your weapon style. Study and learn melee tactics and leadership skills. Be able
to communicate effectively.
¨ Know human nature. Know what you can and
can’t expect from yourself and your troops. Know what people’s motivations are
and how that effects your leadership and the unit as a whole. How can you
motivate your troops?
¨ Know your self. What are your own
strengths, weaknesses and motivations?
Skill,
Will and Teamwork: (Adapted from “Small Unit
Leadership” by Col. D. M. Malone, see bibliography)
Skill: Each member of the team must
know what their job is and have the appropriate skills to accomplish that job.
Will: Members of the team must actually
want to do their job and want do it well. This also includes morale, spirit or
esprite de corps. The team must have confidence in their ability to do their
job competently and in the ability of their teammates and leadership to do
their jobs competently as well.
Teamwork: This is the ability of the
team members to effectively coordinate their actions with others to enhance the
effectiveness of the unit as a whole. Teamwork is a combat multiplier. An
effective team of average individual fighters is much more deadly than and
equal number of very good, single fighters.
Individual Skills: Each individual of
the unit must have the appropriate skill set to be able to do their job within
the unit. For example: a shield man must be authorized in sword and shield,
(preferably dagger and 1 handed face thrust as well) be able to throw effective
blows without interfering with those around him or exposing himself to the
enemy, deliver and receive charges, defend himself and others from attack and
dislodge shield hooks. As a Lance Commander you need to assess each of your
unit members individual skills and determine if they are competent in those
skills standards. These skills are
generally what are worked on at your regular fighter practices.
Team Skills: Once your trooper has
become competent in the necessary individual skills of their position, it is
time to start to put the Lance together and begin to work on teamwork. Team
skills are improved through the use of battle drills.
Battle Drills: A battle drill is an
ordered exercise that seeks to improve the ability of a group of fighters to
work together in a specified situation.
(1)
Identify the particular situation you would like to work
on.
(2)
Identify standards, what is the desired outcome. How will
you know when you have actually achieved competency in the drill?
(3)
Develop the steps/procedure/process needed to execute the
drill.
(4)
Develop variations on the situation.
(5)
Write it down.
For example, lets develop a
Battle Drill for dislodging a shield hook in a shield wall situation.
(1)
Situation: Our
Lance is 2 shield men with a pole arm Lance commander. The 2 shields start
standing next to each other shield edges 6 inches apart with the pole arm
behind. An opposing spear will hook one of the shields and attempt to lift or
pull the shield out of position to expose the line to attack.
(2)
Standards: Shield
men will be able to dislodge shield hooks from their own and other’s shields
before being exposed to attack.
(3)
Procedure: If
shield is hooked on the weapon side, the effected shield man will knock the
hook off by striking it with the pommel of his own weapon. If the shield is
hooked on the off weapon side, the shield partner will knock off the hook by
striking it with his blade or the pommel of his weapon. The pole weapon should
seek to interfere with any incoming attacks.
(4)
Variations: Hooked
by pole arm. Hooked by shield man. Shield men on knees in static defense.
Hooked on the move. Hook on off weapons side when shield is alone or on left
flank. Lance commander has a spear.
Communication:
You must be
able to quickly and clearly communicate your desires to your unit on the
battlefield to be an effective leader.
There are really two types of communication at the lance level. The most
common is “chatter”. This is keeping up a constant stream of talk, comments,
observations jokes or whatever going. As a lance commander, you will most often
be just behind of those you command. They need to know that you are there when
they can’t see you, otherwise they tend to start wandering off to do their own
thing. A shield man in particular, has a rather small area of the field he can
pay attention to. A shield man can typically pay attention to what is a spear
length to his front and weapon side and about 3 feet to his rear and shield
side. Shields on the line depend on the lance commanders to be their eyes and
ears outside of this small area. Keep updating your lance about threats,
targets, general situation on your side, anything that will lets them know you
are still there and paying attention to what’s going on.
The second
type, used more as you climb the chain of command is the “order”. An order is a
specific statement by a commander that is used to direct the troops in an
action. The best field orders have 5 parts, described below, and with practice,
can be quickly formulated and communicated to the troops giving them a concise
and complete idea of both the actions and intentions of the commander. Use the
5 part operation order whenever possible.
1)
Who? Who is doing what? At the Lance
level this is typically, we are going to…
However, are we going alone, as part of the line, the whole company,
anyone else going with us? All this information needs to be given to your
troops.
2) What? What is
the action desired from the Lance? Move, attack, defend, wait?
3) Where? Where
is the action directed? A specific location or target?
4) When? When
should we execute this action?
5) Why? How
does this fit into a bigger picture? Knowing this allows troops to use local
initiative to modify their actions as dictated by the situation while still
working towards achieving a greater goal. If our mission was to guard the flank
and our original orders are inadequate to accomplish this, we can improvise on
the spot and continue the mission. If we were only told to move left 20 yards
and from line facing to the front, are we a flank guard, extending the line, a
decoy, an offensive flanking maneuver or what? If we weren’t told why we were
moving or what to do when we got there we will not be very combat effective.
After Action Review: This is
a tool used to evaluate your unit’s actions in any given situation or battle.
(1)
Have the troop describe what happened. Describe what
actually happened in their own words. How did the action develop from their
perspective?
(2)Have the
troop explain what they felt went wrong with the action. What went wrong, not
why.
(3)Have the
troop explain what went right. How did previous training pay off?
(4)Have the
troop explain how to do the action correctly next time. If you could do it again,
what would you change?
Perform the task again as soon as
possible. Repeat the battle drill, create a battle drill based on the field
experience.
Bibliography and Recommended Reading:
FM 22-100 Military Leadership, U.S.
Army
Robert E. Lee on Leadership: Executive Lessons in
Character, Courage, and Vision, H.W. Crocker III
Small Unit Leadership, A Commonsense Approach, Col.
Dandridge M. Malone, U.S.A. (Ret.)
Social Psychology, 7th Edition, David G.
Myers