FORT RILEY, Kan. (Army News Service, Oct. 9, 2015) -- The Army's new "Not in My Squad" initiative, or NIMS, is taking hold in the ranks of the 1st Infantry Division, and the impact is already creating waves among the junior leaders who took part in related working groups, Oct. 5-8.
The Not in My Squad initiative was first announced by Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel A. Dailey earlier this year, and it is targeting leaders all the way down to the smallest unit level.
"The Not in My Squad initiative that the sergeant major of the Army started is really about empowering our junior leaders to be the best squad leaders that they possibly can be," said Command Sgt. Maj. David L. Stewart, senior noncommissioned officer of the Center for the Army Profession and Ethic. "When I say squad leaders, I mean every type of leader, because every noncommissioned officer at the junior leader level is ultimately a trainer and a developer."
In June of this year, Dailey called for 32 squad leaders from across the Army to conduct an initial working group in Washington, D.C., to discuss NIMS.
Stewart said Dailey wanted Soldiers to make this a true grass-roots initiative and talk about it among their peers and leadership to see where the program was headed.
Staff Sgt. David Rodriguez, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, was one of the original 32 working group members.
Stewart said Rodriguez came back to Fort Riley and inspired Soldiers of the "Big Red One" and those Soldiers requested to reach out to the Army and ask for resources to continue with local workshops.
Rodriguez said, "The SMA planted the seed and now it's our turn to let it grow and let it branch out."
The goal was to begin NIMS with 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team's battalions, introduce it down to the companies, and then from there, to the actual squads, Rodriguez said.
Command Sgt. Maj. Larry Orvis, senior noncommissioned officer, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, said as the division and the brigades focus on their working groups, the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team was aiming to get it down to the battalion levels.
Orvis said, "The reason why that is important to me is because when we deploy here shortly, our battalions will be decentralized from the brigade headquarters and so what I need is working groups at the battalion level so that all of that information still funnels up to get to where that can be actioned on."
Stewart said there is no intention to formalize the program. The reason, he said, is that the Sergeant Major of the Army intends for "Not in My Squad" to be a grass-roots initiative.
"To formalize it would make it an Army top-driven event and that's not what we are trying to do," Stewart said. "That's not what the Army is trying to do."
Stewart said Soldiers should think of the Army like a hierarchical triangle.
"A majority of our leaders reside at the very bottom of the triangle," Stewart said. "That's what holds the triangle up."
Stewart said the more the Army strengthens its junior leaders and helps them through their issues and their problems, the stronger the Army is going to be.
Sgt. Devon Wilson, with 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, was tasked with documenting the initiative for his brigade. The NCO said he saw many different emotions and reactions during the workshops.
"If you can approach a problem different ways, you will get different solutions and different answers to maybe something that you did not know or something your Soldiers didn't want to tell you," Wilson said. "You get a lot of different feedback when you involve different leaders from various military occupational specialties."
Orvis said NIMS was much broader than issues like sexual harassment or bullying. It could include any issue that may be at the squad level.
Stewart said, "When you have cohesive teams and you have mutual trust across the Army, then what normally happens are things like sexual assault/sexual harassment, hazing, equal opportunity issues and behavior problems tend to go away."
Wilson said the working groups talked about everything from physical readiness training to standards and discipline.
"We talk about physical readiness training, we go over wear and appearance (of the uniform), we go over building cohesion, improving morale," Wilson said. "We talk about getting to know your Soldiers outside of the uniform, on and off-duty."
Rodriguez said NIMS can include anyone from the rank of specialist to a staff sergeant.
"There is no face to NIMS," Rodriguez said. "The first thing that Soldiers see is (leaders') faces, so it's our job to make that connection and be able to be proactive and not reactive when a situation does come up."
Stewart said NIMS was about leaders taking ownership of their responsibilities, to be a trainer and a developer and to live up to the creed of the noncommissioned officer.
Orvis said three initial goals came out of the Fort Riley working groups. The first goal was to provide peer-to-peer mentorship so squad leaders could recognize strengths and weaknesses, and then work to correct those weaknesses and add to their strengths. The second goal was to bring back the practice where noncommissioned officers make corrections or enforce standards on each other or, in some cases, even higher- or lower-level leaders. The third goal was to make every squad feel like a team and ensure every person in that squad felt like they were a part of the team.
Wilson said, "We pretty much talk about a lot of things to get to know that Soldier. Once you gain that trust and respect of that Soldier, they want to work for you, they want to do more for you."
Stewart said different units will approach NIMS in different ways. Some, he said, will do it all on their own. Other units, like the "Big Red One," will reach out to the Army for assistance. But when that happens, he said, the Army will help, not direct.
"We are not going to tell them when to do it and we are not going to tell them how to do it," he said.
Wilson said he could foresee a positive impact the initiative would have in the Army. He envisioned squads that were more team- and family-oriented with leaders who want to lead and Soldiers who want to be led.
"Coming from these working groups, you will definitely see an improvement in the future and a positive impact, because not only is it developing those leaders, it's also developing those Soldiers to be those future leaders we need," Wilson said.
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