Critical Skills for U.S. Marine Corps Call for Fire Positions
Abstract
Emerging Marine Corps infantry warfighting concepts as enhanced company operations (ECO) and distributed operations (DO) place increasing trust in small unit team members to perform responsibilities previously executed at higher echelons. As such concepts are put into practice it will be important to identify individuals with the required skill sets to perform these jobs. In this study a comprehensive job-task analysis was performed to identify the most important skills, abilities, and other characteristics (SAOs) required for successful job performance in small unit, combined arms, call for fire positions, specifically for Marine Fire Support Team (FiST) Forward Air Controller (FAC) and Forward Observer (FO) positions. Ratings were obtained from Marine Corps FiST instructors and expert job analysts. Agreement within and between ratings sources was high. Among the SAOs that emerged as most important for call for fire positions were several related to attention, planning, and problem solving skills. Other important SAOs related to communications, teamwork and stress tolerance.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 06, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA508552
Entities
People
- Jeffrey B. Phillips
- Joshua A. Isaacson
- Phillip M. Mangos
- Richard D. Arnold
Organizations
- Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory