Officer Communication

¶ … officer to communicate effectively? The officer commands his or her troops. The soldiers beneath him or her on the chain of command simply obey the officer, without question as to the reasonable nature of the orders. These troops always understand the officer, no matter what he says or how brusquely she communicates. Because of this inaccurate portrayal of the military in fictional and non-fictional media sources, such as books, news articles, and movies, this is the common, civilian concept of how orders are rendered down the military chain of command.

However, in the real world of military service and engagement, the truth is quite often the reverse. The greater the rank of the officer, the greater his or her responsibility he or she has to communicate effectively to his or her troops. The greater the rank of the officer, the more articulate he or she must be in communicating effectively to his or her troops. Of course, the greater the officer's rank, the greater his or her responsibility will be to his or her troops and to the U.S.

military as a whole. The greater the officer's rank, the more people look to that officer for guidance and depend upon his or her judgment, on a moment to moment basis in and out of combat. Such points are worthy of reiteration particularly in regards to communication because so much of military language and lingo seems designed to obfuscate meaning, rather than to convey meaning. But although acronyms may abound in military language, there is a reason this is so.

Once an individual is familiar with the military language of acronyms and commands, communication is facilitated rather than limited. Maneuvers and meanings can be conveyed clearly, quickly, and accurately when conducting exercises on the field, or when one is involved in the heat and heart of combat. An officer must be able to communicate effectively with his or her troops, because those troops must obey the officer unquestioningly, according to military protocol, for their own safety and the safety of the unit.

There must be no moment of hesitation as to what the officer means. The troops must simply act according to protocol, rather than relying on personal guesses and estimations that can vary from individual to individual. Such unquestioning willingness to act arises not out of mere mechanical obedience or even mere patriotism. It comes from an overwhelming sense of inspired trust, trust in the officer's ability and also trust in the officer's meaning and the officer's ability to convey meaning.

The perils of communicating poorly are evident when the chain of command and the chain of communication go awry. When this occurs, lives may be lost on the battlefield. Or actions that are contrary to the spirit and the noble intentions of the U.S. military may take place. If a soldier is uncertain as to an officer's meaning, that soldier may 'interpret' creatively the command in a way that is wrong and.