The Rheostat Adjustment Model: a commander's tool for combating soldier complacency

Infantry Magazine,  March-April, 2008  by Wayne W. Grigsby, Jr.,  David G. Fivecoat,  Steven M. Hemmann,  Matthew S. Carman

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The 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division developed a model to help the commanders in the Sledgehammer Brigade make adjustments within their units to prevent complacency during a 14-month deployment to Mada'in Qada, Iraq, and continue to focus on full spectrum counterinsurgency operations. The Rheostat Adjustment Model (RAM) identifies five major areas that each commander can make changes to keep their organizations sharp, ready to kill the enemy, and constantly growing. Specifically, the RAM forces commanders to make adjustments within their unit and to their approach to fighting, standards and discipline, leadership, training and maintenance, and caring. Figure 1 shows the RAM concept. By recognizing the existence of, and anticipating the risks associated with the complacency-prone, middle months of a deployment, commanders can constantly adjust the controls on the rheostat and avoid the dip in mid-tour Soldier performance.

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The Middle Months: Experiencing "the Rut"

Most units conducting combat operations in Iraq will experience three phases during their deployment. The first four months of the deployment comprise the familiarization phase where Soldiers in the unit begin to operate in and eventually understand their new area of operations. The final three months of the deployment are the closeout phase where the unit is focused on completing its tour of duty, and the Soldiers' attention may be on returning to their homes and families. The months between these two phases comprise the "rut" months and are characterized by established routines and, in many cases, a sense of complacency and lowered job performance. The Rheostat Adjustment Model is a tool that can prevent the rut.

The Soldier's inevitable excitement associated with the beginning and end of a combat tour is enough to keep his or her level of performance at a satisfactory mark. It is the middle months, however, where commanders need to be especially watchful as their subordinates grow more likely to make careless and costly mistakes on the battlefield. In previous deployments, the rut period extended for approximately four months--in between months 4 through 8. The 15-month deployment has almost doubled this phase, requiring commanders to be on guard against complacency from months 4 through 12.

Complacency can manifest itself in smaller offenses such as "finger-drilled" mission briefs or subpar post-operation reports. It can also rear its head in more serious and ugly matters such as affairs, rapes, or suicides. All these offenses hurt the credibility and morale of a fighting outfit. Keeping Soldier complacency at bay directly affects combat power and, more importantly, affects the number of healthy Soldiers a unit will take home at the end of combat operations. Commanders must prevent, or at least stifle, the deadly drop in Soldier performance during the rut period of a deployment.

Mitigating Complacency: The Rheostat Controls

A rheostat is "a resistor for regulating a current by means of variable resistances." An adjustment to a rheostat changes the flow of energy by regulating the current to maintain optimal performance. Similarly, good commanders must be able to adjust the flow of energy associated with the five main currents within the unit they command: the fighting spirit, standards and discipline, leadership, training and maintenance, and the sense of caring. By adjusting the rheostat that regulates these currents, commanders can retard the drop in complacency that is often associated with the rut months of a deployment.

COL Wayne W. Grigsby, Jr., the brigade commander of the 3rd HBCT, 3rd ID, distributed the Rheostat Adjustment Model to his staff and battalion commanders in July 2007, which was the beginning of the rut months for the brigade's deployment in support of OIF V. He then asked the battalion commanders to develop a plan for their battalions that would explain how they planned to adjust the rheostat controls for their unit. After two weeks, the battalion commanders back-briefed the brigade commander on their ideas, so he could enforce and oversee their actions.

Mismanaged Currents Mean Poor Performance

When a M1A1 tank rolled over an Iraqi National Policeman, severing his leg in May 2007, there were many questions that came through the minds of the leadership.

"Where did we relax on standards and discipline?"

"What things could the leaders have done to possibly prevent this incident?"

"How recently had checkpoint negotiating TTPs (tactics, techniques and procedures) been rehearsed?"

"Would that have had an effect?"

Leaders and commanders are responsible for everything their units do or fail to do. All leaders think through these types of questions when things go wrong. What commanders need, however, is a system that enables them to ask empowering questions before an incident occurs. Whereas the after action review (AAR) process allows for units to make corrections after mistakes have been made. The RAM is a preventative thought process aimed to keep the negative incident from ever happening.