MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D., --
Twenty Team Minot company grade officers took a staff ride to Killdeer Mountain Battlefield State Historic Site, North Dakota, to learn about leadership and historic military operations.
A staff ride is when an organization chooses a battlefield and members study leadership habits, military operations and campaign results to brief other members the information they have learned.
“Staff rides focus on leadership qualities, combat tactics and campaign logistics from a specific time frame and compare those things to how we approach battles today,” said Lt. Col. James Slaton, 91st Security Forces Group deputy commander.
The 1864 Battle of Killdeer Mountain was a civil war between a union force, led by U.S. Army brevet Brig. Gen. Alfred Sully, and multiple tribes of Indian forces who were led primarily by Native American chief, Sitting Bull. The battle was the largest engagement between U.S. forces and Indian forces; there were 2,200 U.S. troops and 1,600 Indian warriors.
“We completed this staff ride because it is a great hands-on example of war, without physically going into combat,” Slaton said. “You can really dissect the campaign and learn different aspects. We take officers who haven’t experienced combat and talk about leadership qualities during combat then versus now and lessons learned from the outcome of the battle,” Slaton said.
From a first-hand perspective, 1st Lt. Ariana Maldonado, 91st SFG executive officer, felt she learned things applicable to her career field.
“We talked about the tactical movements of both General Sully and Sitting Bull’s armies and the different approaches they took and why they were successful or unsuccessful,” said 1st Lt. Ariana Maldonado, 91st SFG executive officer.
Members completed in-depth studies of the two separate leaders and acted as subject matter experts as they taught their comrades about them.
“I acted as Sitting Bull and studied his approach,” Maldonado said. “When we stopped at each place I told his perspective and what he decided to do, and told the perspective of the natives in combat.”
Although the approach the Native American warriors, and even the Army soldiers, took is different than today, the same concepts still apply.
“Sitting Bull’s warriors were determined and sacrificed themselves,” Maldonado said. “(The staff ride) taught me to find something worth fighting for, and to have loyalty toward your leaders and your people. We don’t fight the same way, but we do deploy and put our lives on the line; and although we don’t expect the worst to happen, we are prepared for it and we still go out and fight.
Slaton hopes to continue this tradition and incorporate senior NCOs and other individuals in leadership positions to improve their skills as leaders.
“I think it’s important to know our history, see how tactics have evolved, and also to learn from mistakes made by others and try not to make them in the future,” Maldonado said. “It’s important to learn those things and pass on that military history so we can move forward successfully.”