JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- “A rope team is your lifeline,” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jonathan Swope, recalling summiting Denali. “You’re tied to somebody else, and you’re traveling over dangerous terrain. So it’s to keep you tied in, to keep you safe. Whether the terrain becomes steep, or you’re walking over a crevasse, or a snow bridge were to break, the rope team is what keeps you from falling. The rope team leader is the one who sees the obstacles first, and he also sets the pace. He needs to be very aware of what other people on the rope team are walking over or around, and adjust the pace of movement. If he goes too fast and someone’s going around an obstacle, it can become a point of contention pretty quickly. That’s when rope teams can kind of fall apart. Other people have to be aware too, but the primary responsibility is on the rope team leader.”
It’s a strong metaphor for the kind of leaders the Army is looking to build.
As part of the Army’s Holistic Health and Fitness, or H2F, initiative, Soldiers of the 17th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion attended a workshop on High Achievement Leadership Nov. 2 at the Warrior Zone.
Based around a documentary by and about Alaska Soldiers summiting Denali in 2021, the workshop took the leaders - and leaders-in-training - up the mountain in a collaborative discussion group.
Beginning with “Base Camp,” they watched short sections of interviews and climbing footage from Northern Warfare Training Center personnel who participated in the 2021 expedition, discussing what leadership means to them and why they lead.
Then, platoon sergeant Staff Sgt. Brandi Davis led the specialists and privates of the 205th Modular Ammunition Detachment - part of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 17th CSSB - in a discussion of the same topic.
“I lead because I want to see you grow,” she told the assembled troops, leading by example. “I want to see how stellar you become. I want to look back in five years and say I knew you.”
At Camp 1, the presentation discussed values and potential blind spots, and Staff Sgt. Christopher Vasquez helped the junior troops examine and elucidate their own values and the importance of them, as well as urging them to reflect on what they might have difficulty with and how to address those issues.
“My biggest values are honesty, family and communication,” said Spc. Rain Kelly. “But my honesty can seem blunt or rude, and sometimes I don’t want to communicate what’s going on in my own life.”
Further camps included discussions of strengths and how asking for help can increase a leader’s strength, using innovative thinking to overcome challenges, building trust with subordinates, and preparing oneself for the next level of leadership by stretching outside one’s comfort zone.
At the summit was the importance of putting people first, and discussing concrete examples of how they would do so.
“It was great – a lot of the stuff I didn’t know about, I’m from a warm climate,” said Pvt. Thomas Hitchcock. “It also helps me learn more about becoming a leader. Getting to know what you’re unconfident about in yourself and how to fix it, and getting to discuss that with the people you work with, I think helps me motivate myself a little more.”
The opportunity to discuss things as a group was mostly positive, Davis said.
“The Soldiers liked it – the location was away from work, they were wearing civilian clothes, and they said they loved that everyone had to participate and that it was an open discussion,” she said. “They also said it would be nice to have it in smaller groups though, and that’s the intent going forward.”
Maj. Gen. Brian Eifler and Command Sgt. Maj. Vern Daley said they hope to include all of the 11th Airborne Division in future iterations of the workshop.
“It gets after a sometimes neglected but nevertheless vitally important domain of H2F - spiritual readiness,” Eifler said, noting that Field Manual 7-22 Chapter 10, Holistic Health and Fitness, can be distilled into four key areas: leadership, squads, families, and souls, and that the High Achievement Course assists with all four.
“As you work to strengthen the professional connections within your squad, you will also be strengthening your spiritual readiness,” he said.