Major Jack Eric Case Summary

Major Jack Eric recently graduated from the Command and General Staff College and was assigned to 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Texas. There were no available key development jobs, so he would spend the next six to eight months in the division G3 shop. He did not mind the time on division staff. He thought it would be a good opportunity to prepare for an S3 or XO job when one opened in the subordinate brigades. The division was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in January and that would give him four months to get prepared on the staff. After two months in the division, the G-3 notified Major Eric about the possibility of moving down to a brigade combat team. The 1st Brigade had just finished a rotation at the National Training Center …show more content…
LTC Allen explained his expectations and discussed Major Eric’s new responsibilities. During the first counseling LTC Allen described how Colonel Brown operated, his personality, and his challenged interpersonal skills. LTC Allen also explained there would be times when COL Brown made hasty, emotional decisions and did not always use his better judgment. COL Brown always knew his brigade’s vision, but had difficulty explaining his vision and commander’s intent to the staff and subordinate battalion commanders. According to LTC Allen, the brigade staff’s duty was to always support the brigade Soldiers. He saw the major challenge for the staff as adapting and improvising to stay on course with the brigade commander’s intent and never let the brigade fail. LTC Allen impressed Major Eric as an aspiring and motivated professional field grade officer. It was during this first meeting that Major Eric heard LTC Allen reiterate one of his major themes; the overall purpose of the staff’s work was to ensure the success of the subordinate battalion and company commanders. Major Eric would later reflect on this meeting when he would hear LTC Allen consistently remind his officers of the purpose of the brigade