Review: Company Command, the Bottom Line

Company Command, The Bottom Line (1996 edition), by MG (Ret) John G. Meyer, is about the best book out there for an incoming company commander.

Although many other books address character-related command issues (i.e. how to be), Meyer also includes discussion about intra-company relationships and job knowledge.

As an incoming headquarters company commander, I'm most concerned with "what needs to be done" than "how to be," so this book fits my needs nicely. The three chapters on supply, maintenance, and training justifiably account for half the book's length. Personnel actions and military justice take up another quarter.

Yet the most useful chapter in my opinion was "You and your First Sergeant." A commander's relationship with their first sergeant -- half peer, half subordinate -- is probably the hardest thing for me to grasp. Depending on the first sergeant's skills set, they can be any one of the following:

1. The senior enlisted advisor (not much responsibility)
2. A power partner, with responsibility over a few of the headquarters' sections (training, PT, and the orderly room)
3. The chief executioner of the commander's guidance (responsibility over just about everything), or
4. Anywhere in between

Determining what your first sergeant can (and wants to) handle is the real trick.

Despite the book's unique strengths, it has some serious age-related flaws. Because this second edition dates from 1996, many terms and referenced regulations are obsolete. "Reports of survey" are now "FLIPLs." Skills Qualification Tests (SQTs) no longer exist. And AR 623-205 is now AR 623-3.

Then there's the fact some significant policy changes in occurred the past 18 years. Consider this passage from the section on military justice:

"Move quickly on high visibility cases such as drug abusers, homosexuals, and thieves."

Anachronisms like this and the directive to get soldiers who came in before 1986 to enroll in SurePay (direct deposit) make you realize just how badly this book needs another revision.

From a wider perspective, it's a shame that this book -- at 18 years-old -- is arguably still the best one around. Considering how significant one's command performance is in their career, there is surprisingly little literature on the subject.

The Army's military education system doesn't address the issue well, either. Why do logistics captains spend six months learning how to be the support operations officer (a major's billet) in a brigade support battalion (where only half of us even end up), but only one week learning about company command?

I think there's a huge market for an authoritative, contemporary reference on company command; if anyone has a recommendation, please comment.