Commanding a Multi-Domain Effects Battalion in the Indo-Pacific

[00:00:02] Speaker A: This is the SPEAR the Story of the Profession of Arms, a production of the Modern War Institute at West Point, brought to you by the west point class of 1984. Welcome back to the Spear the story of the profession of arms. I'm Dr. Charlie Feint, your host and today's guest is Lieutenant Colonel Tyan Garner. Tyenne, welcome to the show. [00:00:20] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:00:20] Speaker A: Tyan, you command the Multi Domain Effects Battalion under what is now the Multi Domain Task Force. I have many questions about what that is and what you do and how it's transforming into the Multi Domain Command specific. You know, how that's going to fit in. But before we get into that, can you tell us a little bit about yourself, a little bit of background, what your experiences in the army have been up to this point? [00:00:40] Speaker B: Sure, yeah, absolutely. So I've been in 19 years. I first started out as a transportation officer. I highlight that because I'm going to talk a little bit about that. I think once we get to sort of what I think is important about the mdev. But I spent my first two deployments in Iraq as a transportation officer running log packs and gun truck platoons up and down the roads in Iraq. That was kind of my. The basis of my military, I guess start, if you will, in 212 Cav at Fort Hood. So in an infantry world, that's where my husband and I like to joke. We were raised in the infantry and then we took a little bit of a offshoot. We went to INSCOM for a bit and then taught at West Point. Actually where, where you work right now. I worked in the Odia with the cadets that do the D1 sports at West Point, which is a really awesome experience. And also kind of taught me a lot about innovative and creative thinking which I think leads a lot into this battalion command too. And then we've been at JBLM for the last six years, so really gotten to know the Pacific and the Indo Pacific and just sort of the challenges that are out here. I think a lot of people don't realize until you're actually here just how big the Pacific is and how much it takes just to travel from JBLM to get anywhere is a minimum of. I think 12 is the shortest. 12 hours is the shortest flight. Much more likely it's like 15 for us to get anywhere. And if you think about that with flying, you know, then you add on like if you're on a boat or if you need to ship, logistics and things like that. So we've stayed here and then got really Lucky to both be in battalion command right now here because we are so passionate about the Pacific. So yeah, that's kind of a little bit about my background and I just highlighted a few of those things because that's really what shapes sort of how I focused my battalion over this last year. [00:02:18] Speaker A: One of the things I'm really interested in digging into your early experiences in Iraq as a transportation officer. I served multiple times in Iraq as well. And I don't think anyone had a more dangerous job than you all did driving up and down those roads in those convoys. So what was that like for you? Was that your first kind of deployment experience in combat in Iraq? On the crown? [00:02:37] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah, it was. So the thing that I really learned the most was came in as a brand new second lieutenant obviously and we were in that R for gen cycle where I showed up and we trained really hard, went to a jrtc, did a couple like brigade and division level exercises and then went to Iraq. And through that, my platoon sergeant, she was just absolutely adamant that we rehearse everything. So whatever mission the battalion commander had given us, we just multiple hours a day we rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. And we got told we were going to be gun truck platoons, which is not the normal. I was an FSC platoon leader and that's not the normal mission. Right. And she had been on multiple deployments to Iraq and seen quite a bit. And so she was very insistent that my platoon just rehearse the basics. We would sit chairs in the motor pool. She would arrange them like they were going to be gun trucks and we would just do react to contact, you know, react to contact. Okay, how do you, what are you going to do now? If it's on the left side, if it's on the right side, if it's from the front, if it's from the rear. What if my name was Lt. Leonard at the time? What if Lt. Leonard gets taken out? Okay, now what if I get taken out as the platoon sergeant? And we did it that I thought it was so excessive at the time, I was bored. I think my soldiers thought it was boring and things like that. But then we got to JRTC and we went and did the live fire as we were going through his gun truck platoons where we, you know, actual Kiowas came in and did the live fires. And one of the AR comments that my battalion commander got is that myself and my platoon sergeant were the best going through because we just, you know, my platoon didn't react like our steady state Operations through the whole thing. And my soldiers and all of us on the radio were just calm and collected and we knew exactly what to do. And a lot of what I had to say, I was just giving, you know, kind of short, short orders and they were doing it. And I thought that was the first time. I kind of thought, oh, maybe those rehearsals were worth it. And then we got to Iraq and we were the platoon that got called on the most because we were always ready to go. We could spin up super fast and then get out the gate really quickly. And then my platoon of those rehearsals, we just, like a second nature, knew exactly what to do if something did happen. And then when something happened that was maybe abnormal, we knew where to kind of deviate from because we had all of that baseline and that fundamentals. And some weird stuff did happen. Obviously it's, you know, war, and we saw some weird things. But my platoon was so cohesive and everyone sort of knew what their job was supposed to be, that then when we had to change a little bit and react and deviate from it, it was easier. And so I think that that was. That was kind of like my first big lesson in the army was the fundamentals are absolutely necessary for success. And then you can change and deviate from that or, you know, branch off, but once you have the fundamentals, that's where you have to really start. But, yeah, after that first, that first deployment, I felt like every other week was something new, something different, a new mission for my platoon, constantly changing and learning and learning and growing. But it was always easy, er, because we had that. That baseline fundamentals that she had drilled into us. [00:05:40] Speaker A: So did you know that you wanted to do transportation when you were in your pre commissioning program? [00:05:44] Speaker B: No, I. In fact, I wanted to be an MI officer, which is what I am now, but needs of the Army. So ROTC is how I, what I graduated. And at the time, I think the majority of my graduating class went into some sort of logistics. And like you said at the time, that was, you know, one of the hardest jobs in Iraq and Afghanistan. And they were, I think, desperate kind of for them. In 2007 is when I graduated. So it wasn't exactly what I wanted. I'm really thankful for those first, you know, eight years that I had as a transportation officer, though. It taught me a lot, taught me a deep appreciation for logistics. So now as a battalion commander and a good understanding of it. But no, I originally wanted to be intel and I'm lucky that I got to change over. [00:06:25] Speaker A: So that's Great. So did you come out of the branch detail or did you branch transfer? [00:06:30] Speaker B: I just kind of branch transferred. Yeah, had some help doing that with some senior leaders. [00:06:35] Speaker A: Fantastic. All right, so you commissioned through rtc, you branch transportation. You had those experiences Iraq and then you transitioned to intel. So what was your first intel job? What was that like for you? [00:06:46] Speaker B: Yeah, I was in the 513th MI Brigade and I was their collection manager. So they don't really have collection assets. So it's more of managing collection requests at the theater. Army level taught me a lot. We went from Infantry 212 Cav Gun Truck Platoon in Iraq to theater level intel requests. So it was quite the transition in world, you know, the different levels of army. But it was good. Again, you always learn something everywhere you are and I, it was nice to see that side of the army and then how intel requests go all the way up to, to literally changing how satellites look and how, you know, big planes are flying across theaters and how you retask them weeks out and 72 hours out. It taught me a lot about that because when you're on the ground in Iraq, you have no idea. You're just traveling, right? You're just running your convoys. And this taught me about how all those requests have to be put in. And if you want to answer your commander' that has to be done well in advance. And so that's what that was my first intel job. [00:07:50] Speaker A: So you're now the commander of the multi domain effects battalion. What does that even mean? That's a, that's a whole lot of words I don't understand. [00:07:56] Speaker B: Yes. So the mdev, our job is to synchronize the reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition of the adversary in Indo Pacum aor. And really it's the long range reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition in order to deliver effects on the adversary's A2AD systems. So if you think about what, what we do, I have long range uas, I have space, I have signal and mi. And we, we are. And then I'm sorry, I have an information defense company as well that does cyber defensive cyber operations. And so that's also a protection asset. And then they can do defensive ew. But what we're meant to do is sort of like not sort of but to go long range and sense the adversary and then be able to create freedom of maneuver for the joint force. So that gap between the tact and then the big strategic level, we're trying to sense that in between. I'm. I'm sure you're Very aware of when the MDTFs were created several years ago, that was a gap that the army acknowledged. And then my battalion was kind of the answer for that sensing and reconnaissance area there. So still very innovative. When you say you don't even know what that means, a lot of us are still working through what that means, and it kind of changes on a. On a yearly basis, I think sometimes. [00:09:13] Speaker A: So, yeah, as we were talking about before we started recording when I was in Hawaii working for ustar, package, multi domain was kind of the new emerging thing, but no one quite could explain what it was, but it sounds like it got it together. That's a whole lot of assets in one place. [00:09:29] Speaker B: Yes. I have six companies with six different missions, and each company, several of my companies have multiple platoons that have a different mission. So, yes, you're correct. A lot of different assets. And the task force commander likes to say, from the heavens to the seas and everything in between. And that is really what multi domain means. And that's what my battalion touches is from the heavens to the seas and everything in between. [00:09:53] Speaker A: So that might have to be the title for this podcast. I like that catchphrase a lot. Great. [00:09:58] Speaker B: Okay, I like it too. [00:10:00] Speaker A: So how long has this battalion been around? Are you the first commander, or has this been around for a while? [00:10:04] Speaker B: No, I am the fifth. Okay, let me check my math. Yes, I'm the fifth. Yeah. So I think officially it has been. Oh, now don't quote me, six years. I'm trying to think of when it officially stood up, because right. There was a battalion commander before it was officially, I think a real 1, 2, 3. Maybe I'm the fourth. I probably should know my battalion history better, but we're very new, is the answer. But, yeah, it hasn't been. Been very long. In fact, the battalion commander before me, I believe when he started, he had like 100 to 200 soldiers, and now I'm pushing 600. So that should tell you in just the last three years how much we've grown. The first two commanders really were just laying the foundation of getting the, you know, the few soldiers in the building, the things like that the MTO builds and all of that. And then myself and the previous commander have really been the. The meat and potatoes of this battalion. [00:10:59] Speaker A: Must be a long track record of success for the army to make that type of investment, to go from 200 to 600 in that very short period of time. How do you measure your impact? How do you measure success in your battalion? [00:11:11] Speaker B: Yeah, so this is something that we've been really working on in my battalion is how do we measure of measures of effectiveness and even just like test reporting. So a lot of that has to do with the equipment that we have and the capabilities that we have. And I have a training and evaluation section in my battalion that I stood up for that purpose because we have so much experimental equipment and capabilities. We were finding kind of that problem to be that we were testing this stuff and then saying it worked or we thought it worked, but then not really capturing that data correctly or really maybe not knowing if it truly did work or if we just felt like it was successful in that moment. And so we had to formalize those measures of effectiveness and measures of success. And so we do that now through test reports that we write. I guess we write the tests that we want to write beforehand and then we. And then we write the report in the end when we're done testing it. And we do that usually through Pathways exercises in the Philippines is where we go. We also do a lot of testing here at jplm, but that's sort of, I guess, how we determine whether or not we're being effective. And then we publish that to the industry, to both industry NPM's and people like that throughout the army. And you know, they come back and tell us like this, this piece of equipment is, is working well or it's not and we need to deviate or this capability is working really well in your formation or it's not. And then now let's update your MTO and change it. So I think that that's really how we've. How we've gone. And I will say the first mdtf, I'm very lucky because we are the first and we were the first to be built. And so we're much farther along than most of them. I the closest. They're. They're almost full build now. And so a lot of this is just learning as we go and trying to share these lessons with the other MDTFs and learning from them too. They're sharing with us constantly capabilities and equipment and things like that. So that's a lot of it as well. [00:13:05] Speaker A: So you mentioned Pathways. That's the Pacific Pathways series of exercises. [00:13:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:13:10] Speaker A: So you're down in Philippines, that Balacatan is Salic Nib and those types of things. [00:13:14] Speaker B: Yes. [00:13:14] Speaker A: Okay. [00:13:15] Speaker B: Yes. [00:13:15] Speaker A: So what are you actually doing on those exercises? Are you interacting with the force on the ground and if so, what information are you giving them? [00:13:23] Speaker B: Yeah, so we do interact with the armed forces of the Philippines quite a bit. So what we're doing is a little bit of all of it. We're, we're there, we're building those relationships. The armed forces of the Philippines, a little bit of them running their own version of their exercise. Part of those exercises are them rehearsing their defense at the Philippines and us enabling that as partners. And then another part of what we're doing there is testing our capabilities as well. And that's what I'm talking about, that some of what we own and use can't be tested in the States. And so we have to take it forward to test. And also it's just a more freedom of maneuver area that, that we can use. And so we go and we test our capabilities, we test almost our concept of employment there, rehearse, you know, what we would do for adversarial employment and that kind of thing in the Philippines. And that's across the entire MDTF. It's not just my battalion. So each 5, 3, LFRB and 151, we're in the TFSU, we're all doing those things throughout the entire Philippines. My battalion specifically has been assigned an island. And then we are sort of spread out everywhere. We break down into multi domain teams though, smaller units of action where we can disperse and move around quickly. A lot of lessons learned coming out of Ukraine and then even now in OEF that we're seeing that, you know, mobile command posts have to be moving and people have to be able to react quickly. And so we've taken those lessons learned and sort of trying to apply them in the Philippines. And even just from last year, I took command in the middle of Salican Balacatan last year and now commanded through one this year. And just where we were last year to where we were this year, like working through command and control of that, the sharing of command and control between my sister battalions. If we're dispersed and cut off, how do we work through that? Can they command and control my assets? Can I command and control theirs? That's the sort of things we rehearsed while we're in the Philippines also with our AFP partners working through them, you know, the use of their facilities, are they comfortable with our assets requesting airspace, requesting spectrum usage, things like that? All of that is part of why we go forward and we, you know, sort of get used to that. [00:15:33] Speaker A: Did you encounter any problems working with partner forces, Filipino or otherwise, for example, foreign disclosure or anything like that? [00:15:40] Speaker B: No, we haven't. I mean, obviously there are things that our task force does that we Cannot disclose. But we have not run into any issues really. We're used to operating in that space at this point, I think as a task force on what we can and cannot share. But no, we haven't had any issues. They've been a great partner and we enjoy going every year. Little warm for those of us from the Pacific Northwest, but otherwise, yeah, it's always a good time to go out there and rehearse what we're supposed to be doing. [00:16:06] Speaker A: So I imagine it's probably a target rich environment too for collection and everything else that your force is doing. Do your soldiers look forward to doing that deployment? [00:16:16] Speaker B: They do. I mean, they're soldiers, right? So they do. Those of them who have been here before understand the importance of going there and rehearsing what their, you know, tactical job is. And their job during warfare is some, you know, soldiers will be soldiers, but once they get out there, and that's what we always tell them is it's camaraderie, building. You know, some of them live in tents in the middle of the jungle and that's not always their favorite, but it's the stories they tell when they come back. And one of the, the things that I truly believe is that soldiers join the army for a reason and that's to do a job. And you know, when they get forward and they're able to do that job, it's what keeps them committed. And so I love being able to take them forward and get them to do their job. And they're always so motivated when they come back because they've been able to test something that they haven't been able to test back here or to push their system further. This year we flew our long range UAS further than it ever flown before. And just the morale of the UAS platoon right now is off the chart. Ladies keep coming back and saying, man, we want to do this and now we want to do this. And I'm like, great, go have at it. And the same for like EW systems. Some of the things we can't test here, we can only test forward. You know, they get super excited about what we can and do forward and they, and then it spurs their innovative thinking. Right? We get, we get out there and like you said, it's a target rich environment. While here we, we can like simulate those targets when they're there. When it's in front of their them, it really starts to make them think, okay, well what should I be doing and what can I do and how can I push this system or change this system so we can feed back to industry what needs to happen. And so y. They do enjoy it once they're out there, for sure. [00:17:50] Speaker A: I did a couple months in the Philippines also when I was in USAR pac. I thought it was a very interesting country. Yeah, Very strategic. And I'm glad that we continue to have a good relationship with them. [00:18:00] Speaker B: Yes, yes. Very strategic. [00:18:02] Speaker A: Yeah. Do you work with any other countries when you're on pathways? [00:18:06] Speaker B: We occasionally have gone to Japan. I actually have a small section of my space platoon that's been in Japan. That's turning over to 3rd MDTF though. But right now we are solely focused. Focused on. On the Philippines, like I said, because first was first. We were sort of spread out everywhere. We did Australia, we did Japan. I think we went to Korea a few times. By the time I got here and took over, we were solely focused on the Philippines. And that is where the. The MDEB at least is focused. MDC pack as it goes through its transformation is still sort of figuring out what its command and control will be and if it has multiple MTFs underneath it and it might be focused and then that might change what I do. But right now I'm solely focused on the Philippines. [00:18:47] Speaker A: That makes sense. You have a very large For MI officers. I was MI officer also. You have a large battalion. That's a big battalion for MI organization. And it sounds like not only are they very different organizations in your battalion, but they're also geographically separated. For example, you mentioned that you have one in Japan. How do you keep track of all that? [00:19:07] Speaker B: I have a really excellent S1. No. So command and control. This is something that we rehearse and that we talk through. Building those teams is super important back here in the States. Making sure everyone's sort of bought in to what we're doing. That is a lot of what we do. Communication is. I don't want to say it's easier, but it is easier. In 2026, we have things like Wickr. We don't use signal anymore, but it used to be signal and those types of things. And then like I said, we also rehearsed other battalions because of what I did in Iraq. And to go back to that experience, my battalion or my brigade, each deployment was cut off from 1st Cav Division and assigned. I think the first time we were under 4th ID. And then the second time, maybe 25th or Vice. Oh, no, the first time it was 10th Mountain. And then the second time it was. It was 4th ID. And so I. I think I grew up, used to the changes of command and control and how that relationships work. And it doesn't seem weird to me to just slice off a piece of my battalion, if that's what makes the most sense, and let them report to a different battalion commander. And so that is a lot of what we learned last year and that I implemented this year in the Philippines, and that is how I kept track this year is I said this group, you are directly reporting to the Five Three commander. I trust that that other Zero five can take care of you. And we obviously talked about it back here and we rehearsed it and we went through all of that with like the op order and the rock drills. But then once they were there, it was a change and I had to really push my formation and theirs to accept it and say, nope, keep reporting to them. And then the same for the five three guys that were attached to me and the, the support battalion too. Like you're reporting through me. I will take care of you, I will house you, I will clothe you, I will support you when your maintenance comes up. When you know, something breaks down, handle it. It's just a fundamental kind of shift. But that is, that is part of how we are growing and learning. With huge formations totally dispersed, you're going to have to trust your fellow commanders to take care of them. And our my people have to get used to reporting to other commanders. And I think that comes with also being able to communicate what you need. I inherently know what they need. In theory, I inherently know what they need. But when you're talking to perhaps, you know, the 53 commander who's never been around a UAS much more than a shadow, they're going to have to be very specific with him. So teaching them how to communicate that way. So those, those are how I do it. And then like I said, I have an incredible S1 that I joke that he's coming with me wherever I go from now on. [00:21:37] Speaker A: Oh, brilliant. Very smart. You gotta, gotta bring those types of folks along for sure. [00:21:42] Speaker B: Yes. [00:21:43] Speaker A: Your organization, is it a selective unit or is it needs the army in terms of the people that you get in? [00:21:48] Speaker B: It's selective. Well, yes, it's selective. People come in, they can request. We do a lot of MDTF to MDTF transfers. I think we also are needs of the army. We're 100% filled. That's why I say selective. So we are needs of the army, but then we also are able to communicate directly to HRC and to the COEs on what we need and who we need. So if we're not quite getting the caliber of the personnel that we want, we. We give that feedback and usually we get some changes. Obviously not 100. Right. We still get straight out of AIT soldiers, and that's. We need those. Those soldiers. But it is, I suppose, a little bit of Both what we are 100, Phil, which I have been greatly appreciative of, that I've never really lacked for soldiers and that I appreciate that people want to come here. [00:22:33] Speaker A: I want to tug a little bit on the thread of UAS before we get into that, though. In terms of procurement, it seems like you have a. You have a very technical organization. No doubt about that. And you mentioned innovation a couple times now. How quickly are you able to innovate? How are you able to get things that you need in a timely manner? [00:22:54] Speaker B: Yeah. So the innovation, we could innovate quickly. Right. We can come up with our ideas very, very fast. I have a Innovations Lab. They're able to 3D print things here on site. It's now a part of the 7th ID Innovations Lab, which has just enabled us to do even more. We are 3D printing UASs. We've been doing that for a while in the battalion, and we're doing more of it now. So there's a little bit of that. This. That speed is there. We can 3D print a UAS pretty quickly in the realm of normal army acquisitions is still very fast. Right. If I see a system, if I. If I go to a test or a demonstration and I see that system and I'm like, that is the answer to our gap, or that is the answer to our problem. I can turn around and I have several different lines of communication to say get me the funding to get that piece of equipment. And generally speaking, I would say within a year, as long as that company is producing that capability, I can have that in my formation, maybe sooner. There's a weird tension between a lot of companies like to demonstrate and then haven't produced it really, or aren't quite ready to put it in the hands of the users. And then obviously budgets. Right. There are those lines of funding and different ways that I can acquire. Everyone has to share that money, though. So I like to. I would say about a year is what I'm looking at, give or take kind of what we're talking about. Whether or not it's from the. The company side or from a budgetary. I also have to balance that. The balance comes from me trying to decide what I need most in my formation as well. I Can't just acquire everything, even though I might want to. And prioritizing, we prioritize a lot. We have a lot of meetings where we prioritize within my battalion and then up all the way up to the MDC PAC now so. And all the way up to user pack. [00:24:50] Speaker A: How are you cross leveling best practices and how are you gaining information on best uses in places like Ukraine or Israel or other places around the world? [00:24:59] Speaker B: Sure. I mean there's a ton of stuff out there. Right. So the there's COEs share their best practices that they're gaining from Ukraine. So whether it's from aviation or from Cyber from the MI COEs they're constantly sharing with their communities and then with us their best practices as it pertains to that capability. And then amongst the mgtfs we also are constantly sharing and obviously second is over there and so they're we're receiving from them and then just we have like an MDEB battalion commander distro and teams that we, we share and talk through the capabilities director IT for. The MDEB sits at Fort Gordon and the cyber seated and they are, they have a teams page that is just every day. They are sharing things with us constantly and we you know, read and intake as much as possible. I also have a battalion full of majors and captains that I trusting that they are staying on top of and I talk to them and make sure that they're staying on top of what's coming out of lessons learned from Ukraine or from the oef currently the task force. And now MDC PAC has been good about sending personnel to wherever they need to to learn from. I personally haven't gone yet. I don't think I need to because we have so many people that are better suited for. But they have sent people and they come back and they share those lessons learned and then we implement or take into account and then share as needed across the formation. And also with that talent management that you were talking about about people being able to come directly to us, we get a lot of that knowledge just streaming in to us. You know, I've had several people come over from 2nd mgtf which has been hugely important for us and how much they've been able to innovate and then implement a lot of that into our battalion. [00:26:45] Speaker A: If there's a young leader out there in the army that's listening to this podcast and they're interested in joining your battalion or one of the others similar to it, how do they do it? What's the first step? [00:26:55] Speaker B: So they do need to still have to go through the the marketplace, sadly. I know everyone hates to hear that. They are always welcome to email me. I'm the only tie in garner on global. There's just the one me. They're welcome to email me the marketplace. We like I said we're 100% Phil. So if I have a job open in the marketplace, I am going to get a person in that slot. And that has been a beautiful thing. And I always have job openings in the marketplace. So I, you know, I would just tell them shoot me an email. I'll let you know what I'm going to have available in this next market, whether it's your current position or not. And then I have been able to out of market or in the special market it been able to fill because we always have people that move that we weren't tracking or something happens, you know, in their life. But yeah, they can just reach out to me and we'll, we'll work as they want. I'm always looking for talent. [00:27:43] Speaker A: Are there specific skill sets that you're looking for or that are harder to fill than others? [00:27:48] Speaker B: I think cyber is probably the, the one cyber and ew, they're very specific and we get A lot of people aren't really sure what we do in the cyber domain here in the MDeb they're very clear on what our cyber does does. But what we do here is a little bit different with the defensive cyber. And I think it's just so new that information hasn't quite gotten out and the flow of personnel hasn't changed quite a bit. We are hasn't exchanged quite enough. We've gotten people from our cyber but we haven't yet put enough people back from the MDEVs to our cyber for them to really understand that they get to do defensive cyber operations and lead mission elements just like they would in our cyber. And so I think that's hard. I am trying to pull that talent a lot and then the same for edu ew. We need EW officers and EW soldiers and warrant officers that understand how to employ EW and think innovatively about ew. Our EW systems are just across the army are every day trying to like push the envelope. I think that's probably one of the biggest areas that we're still working on. And so I need people who can look at a system and say what if we used it that way? And I, I have a few of those right now and it's been great. So I think those are the two that I would say Cyber and EW, which come from the 17 series. [00:29:06] Speaker A: So, yeah, that. That's a tough feel. It's one of the most competitive branches here at West Point for branch night, that 17 series of cyber officers. Okay, for the last part of our discussion today, I want to transition to lessons learned and then your thoughts about the future for your battalion. Before we do that, let's. Let's start off with a question about preparing yourself for the position you find yourself in. What job or set of experiences do you think best prepared you for the job that you're doing right now? [00:29:36] Speaker B: To be honest, I don't think it was a singular thing coming in. I used the army coaches that were offered to me coming out of bcap that isn't around anymore, but I think hopefully the army coaches are still there. And one of the things that, you know, they said to me was the army picks lieutenant colonels at this point in their career because they think they've trained you well enough to be battalion commanders. And I had never thought of it that way. And I was like, oh, that's interesting. And then I got here and I was like, they're right. Like this. I'm ready to do this job right. Whether or not I understand exactly what my soldiers are doing every day, that's a totally different conversation. But leading at this level, the army got me ready just through the other jobs I did all the way from down as starting as that second lieutenant, like I talked about. But in the spirit of what you're asking, I really do think that starting at the fundamentals, as a second lieutenant, that was really that first baseline that I took, that I carried with me throughout the rest of my career, that fundamentals has to stay there. Technology changes, but we must focus on the fundamentals. Like the thing I tell my battalion a lot is the radios still have to work, right? We still have to be able to communicate. You still have to be able to drive a tactical vehicle and shoot your weapon and carry your rucksack. And the technology can change, but all of those things have to still be there. And then being able to jump between a very tactical job and a very strategic job, like going from 212Cav to the 5:13, I think that helped me see that those two things are hand in hand. But even though this jump from them is very different, and that's how this battalion operates, right? We are operating at the strategic level, at the joint task force level. My battalion has implications to the joint task force, but my soldiers, on the daily basis are at the very tactical level and I need them to focus at the tactical level. And so I think those, those two things have been, have been pretty important. [00:31:30] Speaker A: As the commander of this battalion, what are some of your biggest lessons learned in terms of the tactical strateg strategic level? What do you think is most important for people to understand about your task? [00:31:41] Speaker B: Yeah, I think, I think the most important thing for, well, for the task force is just that we are still innovating. Right. We need equipment, we need the funding, we need the people behind us to support the, the innovations that still have to be there. I think a lot of people think the MDTFs, which ours will no longer be as of this week but the MDTFs are sort of done and we've checked that block but that's not necessarily the case. And so I think that's the most important. But the second thing I would say is that like we have what it takes to support, support the joint task force. We wear a green army suit and it says US army but we are really there for the Joint force and we can provide support and enable the joint force. And I think that's missed a lot because we fall under the theater army. We obviously have amazing senior leaders that advocate for us but just that cultural shift is pretty hard and we work every day to barriers but we really do provide a lot of effects for the Joint force. We just have to, to get in that door. So yeah, and I, and I. My battalion obviously enables that. That's the whole point of my battalion. And so I think it just kind of goes hand in hand to that is that I'm a joint force enabler despite the US army on my chest and the green suit I'm wearing. [00:32:54] Speaker A: So you mentioned that you support the Joint force. Are you a joint unit or are you straight army? [00:33:00] Speaker B: We're straight army which is makes it even more confusing. And we are not joint. Joint. We have no other personnel in our units other than US Army. But the goal was to create us to support the joint force and we have gotten there. [00:33:11] Speaker A: So you mentioned that your task force is transitioning. Can you talk about what that's going to look like, why they're making the changes and what it means for your unit in the future? [00:33:20] Speaker B: Sure, yeah. So as of this week we will the Multi domain task force will no longer exist and it will be absorbed into the Multi domain Command Pacific. The battalions will still be here. We will not change. We'll just report directly to Multi domain Command specific. I do believe that it is going to be hugely Beneficial. And I can already see the rewards of having a two star command in charge of us. Talking about like we needing that, we need that money, we need that support, that The T the MDTFs aren't done. Despite what a lot of people think. I do believe the two star command enables that. And I think that perhaps that's what senior leaders were seeing is that we needed a voice at the table. Division commanders being two stars, everyone wants to be multi domain these days. And we were losing out on a lot of lot of capabilities and equipment because of that kind of ranked differential. It's going to be hugely impactful for not only my battalion but for the entire Pacific. Being able to take a division's worth of quote firepower when it comes to a division staff. And then, you know, for us we have the two Stryker brigades plus all the direct report units that came with the task force and be able to combine them, amalgamate them and employ them is going to be incredible. We will test it next summer in the Philippines. Philippines. We're calling it bayonet charge 27. That will be our first real test of what the multi Domain Command Pacific looks like. And I think it's going to be hugely impactful and hopefully it will say a lot to our adversary on what we can do in the Pacific in that very consequential theater like you talked about in the country of the Philippines and where it sits. So that's what the multi domain Command Pacific is and what it will be. [00:35:00] Speaker A: At the modern War Institute, we're committed to helping win tomorrow's wars today. So in terms of tomorrow for your unit, what does your unit look like? Like a year or two down the road, what's changed, what remains the same and what do you hope happens? [00:35:14] Speaker B: I hope what remains the same is that in a year when I leave, well, probably a little over a year from now, that my battalion is still focused on the fundamentals and the basics. That is where they start. But then I also hope that we have more kit in our hands, more equipment that industry and partners have been able to answer some of the that the gaps I will say on what we're still lacking as far as equipment and capabilities go. It's out there. We just have to meet the demand, the rapid act, not just acquisition, but production has to happen. And there are other things that have taken focus and taken production from the Pacific theater. And I understand obviously that's how it always works and the world is going to continue to work that way. But I'm hoping that in A year we'll have more in this battalion that we're able to employ employ in the, in the Pacific theater but that you know, my hope is that the soldiers will just continue to, to master their fundamentals of their moss and their soldier basics and then no matter what kit is handed to them, they can adapt to any technology and continue to employ and be successful that way. [00:36:19] Speaker A: You mentioned that you were going to leave command in about a year, a little over a year. What are some of the big things that you're trying to get done before you have to change command and move on to your next assignment? [00:36:29] Speaker B: Yeah, the biggest thing I think that we're trying to get done is well one, absorb into multi domain commit command Pacific and really understand where what our role is in that. But two is like I talked about the multi domain teams and truly getting that comfortability of my personnel being assigned to different locations and reporting to different people or different higher headquarters and operating independently from, from their normal hierarchical structure. We're going to rehearse that a lot in this off season before we go back to the Philippines. And so I think that's my number one goal is to get true teams built. Even though they might rotate who those personnel are on those teams, but the, the capabilities and the equipment that are on those teams sort of set and then get the personnel used to. So it's second nature. Just like I learned as a second lieutenant, the more you rehearse it, the more people are able to just employ it. And so that's what I'm hoping to do in this offseason is just rehearse, rehearse, hearse, do that. So then when we employ it in Balikatan, Salicanib or you know, God forbid in an actual conflict that they're ready to go and you know, they don't have to ask questions, they can just move out. [00:37:40] Speaker A: Before we wrap up, I want to talk a little bit about broadening assignments. So your battalion sounds like an excellent way to open one's mind up. We talked extensively about that and gaining additional professional experience. But you also mentioned that you taught at West Point and you taught in odia, which is the office of the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. [00:38:00] Speaker B: Yes. [00:38:00] Speaker A: So were you an athlete? What did you do in that? How did you get that job and what'd you do here at West Point? [00:38:06] Speaker B: Yeah, I was not an athlete. So I. One part of my story that we did not hit on is I actually took a break in service as a captain. I got out and went to the reserves for three Years. Like I said, my husband is also a current battalion commander and we have three children. And in the middle of having those three children, we were both captains and didn't actually know how we were going to handle this dual army career. And so I took a break, did not like it, came back. And I came back when we were at West Point. So when he was teaching in the military history department and when I came back on active duty, ODIA offered me a position. Knowing that my husband taught at West Point, they had a position there. And so the ODIA director at the time, Colonel Ray very kindly offered me a position and that's, that's how I got the job. I don't even know what's still there, but at the time there were like five active duty officers that worked over there and helped bridge that gap between the Academy and the D.1 side of the house. But it wasn't, it was incredible. I had a, I had a great time. So it was not my athletic ability that got me the job though. [00:39:07] Speaker A: That type of opportunity opens up for your young officers after they've been in for a couple of years. [00:39:12] Speaker B: Yes. [00:39:13] Speaker A: Do you recommend an assignment like that or do you think everyone should stay in the operational force for. [00:39:17] Speaker B: No, I definitely recommend it. In fact, I have so many officers I wish I had the true count of how many officers in my battalion. I see to rate 36 captains. So there are so many officers in my battalion that I've lost the total count of them. But constantly those captains are in here asking me if they should apply to West Point because that's, you know, the time that it happens. And I am constantly telling them yes. I cannot tell you how much we enjoyed our time there. One, I think the number one thing was being able to invest in the cadets lives and give back to this profession that we have dedicated our, our, our lives to was absolutely the best thing we've ever done. Two, it was great for our family. We, you know, teaching and living on West Point, we lived in Gray Ghost. Just was a, an, a really great time for us. It's a little bit different than the operational army. It, it is not like the quote, take a knee as people would say because we did a lot. We, we threw ourselves into all the activities that there are at West Point. But it was, it was a different thing. We could take our kids with us when we went to the lacrosse games or the baseball games and things like that, even if we were quote working. But yeah, investment into the cadets and being able to see the next generation of army officers and being able to hopefully influence that a little bit was total, was definitely worth it. And we still talk to many of the cadets that we were there with, that we hosted and participated with quite a bit. And I actually have two in my battalion right now that I worked with in odia as little AIs that are now officers captains, which makes me feel real old are here now. So that's a cool full circle moment. [00:40:53] Speaker A: Well, I empathize with that. I've taught at West Point twice on top of everything else I did and now I've got my, my first former cadet coming back to West Point as a major, as an instructor. So yeah, I, I empathize, yes. Yeah, we've been around quite a bit. So in a moment I'm going to ask you if you have any words of advice for West Point cadets or anyone listening to this podcast. But before we do that, I'm going to give you the opportunity there anything else that you want to emphasize that we didn't cover? Anything that you're excited about as commander, anything that's you think is important for our listeners to understand about your task force? [00:41:28] Speaker B: I think just that and I mean maybe this even goes into what I would tell the cadets is just that like disciplined soldiers and leaders who have mastered fundamentals can adapt and that's what makes us who we are as an army. Right. It's why the US army and the first mdev, the task force and now Multi Domain Command Pacific is going to fight and win the next war. It's not the cutting edge technology. While that's important, that's not the advantage that we think it is in my opinion. It's the disciplined soldiers that we have here, the soldiers who are committed to the mission and who are willing to go the extra mile when it's needed. And that's what I would say, say all the cool flavors of the month with Multi Domain can be slapped onto anything. But the people and their, their training and their discipline is, is really what matters and the investment that we put into them, that's what helps us win wars. [00:42:28] Speaker A: So good. Well, that does sound like some good advice. Is there anything else that you'd offer for young leaders of any rank that either want to join the MT MBTF or look to emulate your type of career? [00:42:40] Speaker B: Yeah. I always tell officers of all ranks when they come in to my office is you have to keep your ears open and your mouth closed. You're a leader and the army's trusted you to be a leader, but you should be listening twice as much as you're talking. Almost everyone in the army when you first come in has more experience than you. That doesn't mean you don't have things to be added to and value added. You're absolutely value added to your organization. But it's one of the things the life lessons that I learned as a young lieutenant and even as a young captain is I wish I'd listened more, observed more like I talked about. Now I can look back on all of those lessons with you know, I'm so grateful for what I learned. I wish I had been able to appreciate it in the moment as much as I appreciate it now. And so I hope that they can do that as they commission and go out into the to the force is appreciate what lessons you're learning from those NCOs and junior soldiers that have been in a been at more than you and are and are willing to teach teach you. [00:43:39] Speaker A: Well Tyan, thank you so much for your time today and for educating me on the mdtf. And I now understand it a whole lot better and I know our audience does too. So thank you for taking time out of command to talk to us. [00:43:51] Speaker B: Absolutely. Thank you too Dr. Bank. I appreciate it. [00:44:09] Speaker C: Thank you for listening to this episode of the Spear. The Spear is produced by the Modern War Institute at West Point. What you hear in each episode are the views of the participants and don't represent the position of West Point, the Army, or the US Government. Be sure you're subscribed to the Spear on Apple Podcasts Stitcher or your favorite podcast app, where you can also give the podcast a rating or leave a review which helps us reach new listeners. And if you aren't yet following MWI on social media, please find us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Thanks again for listening.