Abstract
When an officer takes command, he or she immediately assumes total responsibility for everything the unit does, or fails to do. A commander's success depends on his or her ability to supervise and direct others in a variety of tasks and functions. There is no investigative research that identifies the essential areas and elements of information needed by training battalion commanders. The purpose of this research was to identify the areas and elements of information that training battalion commanders perceive as the most important to have knowledge of to successfully command their battalions. Methodology. The major procedures of this descriptive research study included: developing and field testing the survey questionnaire; gathering of data; and analyzing the data. The study population consisted of sixty current and former commanders from sixteen Army Reserve training battalions in the northern California area. The study used a non-experimental descriptive research design consisting of a survey of the study population using a questionnaire developed with the help of an expert panel. Data from a 90 percent response rate were analyzed using descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and inferential (t-test) statistics. Findings. (1) This study found that training battalion commanders considered mission oriented areas of information--training and training management, drill sergeant performance, and annual training--the most important areas of information. Staff oriented areas of information such as finance, personnel, logistics, and administration were also considered important. (2) The elements of information in the area of training were the most important. (3) The study found no significant difference between the perceptions of experienced and inexperienced commanders or commanders who had pre-command training versus those who did not have pre-command training regarding the most important areas and elements of information. Conclusions & recommendations. Evidence supports the conclusion that pre-command training does not address the specific subject matter needs of a USAR training battalion commander. This study recommends that a pre-command training course specific to the needs identified in this study be developed to increase the commander's effectiveness. Further research using a broader population would be a valuable extension to this study.