An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 5 On the way, the group had to solve a puzzle that was given to us by the Directing Staff (DS). Within these challenges there were defined roles – team lead, navigator, etc. depending on the type of challenge. Each time we did one of these, the roles were rotated so it was a great opportunity to learn skills from the way other countries conduct these kinds of challenges. Importantly, there was always feedback given by the group to the leader and any other positions. Likewise, there was feedback to the rest of the groups about how they could be better followers. One of the standout classroom-based events was the "4 Lenses" module. This was a morning where everyone was wearing civies (to try disassociating ourselves from rank, role, country or any other constraints we subconsciously might have). The aim was to identify which of the four lenses or colours we fitted in with – Gold, Green, Orange and Blue, each with differing characteristics. This was similar to other personality questionnaires I've done previously, but what elevated it was the way the "so-whats" were discussed. We discussed how people of different personality types want to be treated in different ways – some wanting more empathy, others wanting to know the exact reason for a task, and some wanting blunt clear direction etc. I had never really considered that not everyone wants to receive information and direction the way I would (who'd have thought?!), so it certainly gave me food for thought about how I interact with colleagues at home. The other useful part of this was that it highlighted imbalances or areas that we were weak. Generally, people were strong in two categories that were fairly evenly matched. It was useful to know that going forward I'll have to work on a certain side of my personality in order to be more adaptable (depending on what the situation/person I'm dealing with requires). Assessment: There were two major events in the course – FLEX (Field Leadership Exercise) and Project X which was a scenario-based team problem solving. These were both completed in the Teams, with each team exercise performance contributing points towards an overall end of course competition. FLEX was a very entertaining way to explain, visualise and practice employment of air power through dodgeball. The aim of this was to achieve "superiority" over another team by knocking out a number of their bases/comm nodes etc. (after all, no comms no bombs). There were rules to this chaos – red balls were air-to-air only, green were air-to-ground only, yellow were Surface-to-Air-Missiles etc. Friendly fire was definitely a consideration, and there were two logistics personnel, or "loggies" on each team retrieving balls who were also subject to "incapacitation". Directing each team was the JAOC director ( Joint Air Operations Centre), who directed each player to a certain role, develop tactics and try to read the game. These games inevitably got competitive, but there was definite learning in how different tactics and strategies, while they might appear solid on paper, were ineffective in reality. It highlighted the importance of analysing and adapting to the situation unfolding in front of you, as opposed to rigidly sticking the pregame plan. When it came to FLEX, national allegiances went out the window

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