13 (more) Lessons from Working with Military Operatives: Part (ii)

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Michael C.

Michael C.

Senior Lecturer - BSc Sport Rehabilitation, MSc Sport Rehabilitation and Athletic Training, Performance Coach and Sport Rehabilitation GSR BASRaT-reg, Accredited S&C

发布日期: 2020年5月22日

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1. Be ready for anything: When I arrived on camp I thought "it's the MOD, a well oiled machine, what could go wrong!?" - this was a huge mistake, as we see in books such as Matthew Syeds 'Rebel Ideas' and Adam Kerrs ' Legacy', just because something sits atop a mountain, doesn't mean it can't be at risk of a fall, Ant Middleton talks about this in his book 'The Fear Bubble' about his assault on Everest. I arrived to a unit in crisis, 150+ injured and non operative (unable to go into combat), a 3 and a half week wait for Physiotherapy follow ups, soldiers feeling ostracized and morale at an all time low, the Adjutants words were "thank god you're here!", the RMO (Regimental Medical Officer) was due to fly to Cyprus in two days time, the gym was disused for all except the cardiovascular area - at first glance it was a mess
2. Don't be afraid to challenge yourself: I set about framing this as an opportunity to create something from scratch, a bespoke system to meet the needs of the unit and the region. Every situation I have been in I've not been from that cultural element, whether that's rugby (I was never allowed to play), martial arts (I never fought only practiced and sparred), or the military (I'd never served). But this offered me a different perspective on the problem, I had access to people with military knowledge, experience and anecdotes around soldier culture and operational expectations - but I wasn't blinkered by any of that - it allowed me to be critical and think objectively based on the needs of the demographic at the time. I now work in Basketball where on average every person is atypically taller than me, but this doesn't affect my ability to help someone improve them athletically or recover from an injury. For me I am better placed because of this outside inward viewpoint - I recall an interview where they said "you haven't worked much in football" - for me this isn't necessarily a bad thing...
3. Know your audience: I needed to understand who I was working with. This isn't easy and is fraught with pitfalls and trap doors, you need to understand them and essentially socialize with them, however this can go wrong. Too much social and not enough professional can really tarnish your standing with any group. But in some settings if you travel with a team, talk to the players, in the military I trained with them during the day where possible, sometimes this was a way to offer them an insight into my training philosophy and why I may push say certain elements of strength training to improve running economy that would then have a positive effect on their weekly 10 mile hump they'd have to do. This can take time and coaches or stake holders such as officers are key in this process so get to know them as much as your demographic
4. The body will break before the mind, but this doesn't have to happen: No one is impervious to hot spot development through what John Kiely calls 'jerk' and subsequent injury. The body will break if we push it too hard, too much. We do all have that extra bit in the tank, more often than not this extra bit is referred to by operatives as "adrenaline" in the arena. This is something they rely on when their physical stature may be found wanting, yet in my role, I pressed home the notion that a body capable of meeting said demands, would allow for a higher operating level, healthier with greater clarity and opportunity for decision making. One such example is a soldier who came straight off a meniscal repair in his right knee, attended the first Sniper Commanders course in the UK and finished in the top 5% of his class, breaking all his fitness testing scores - it is possible if body and mind are capable
5. Identify the Leaders, convey your vision: I knew I needed the ear of the Colonel and the Adjutant, by rank they helped lead the base, next were the Majors and Sergeant Majors, then Captains and so forth. This was my first approach. I met with them and outlined my vision and the opportunity to do something different than before. We discussed the term "combat athlete" in that they are paid to train and be fit, we looked at the timetable of the working day and where the most gains could be made and implemented a full athletic redevelopment syllabus
6. Create teams of leaders within groups, empower people: Over 150 injured at one point, too many for any one person, or even two or three people to handle. This needed a concerted effort - the phrase "whatever makes the boat go faster" comes to mind - everyone pulling in the same direction for the betterment of the unit. This is where we had others from within the system, facilitating some that were struggling, by offering them responsibility, asking them how morale was, getting them to lead sessions on the floor while you watch from afar and critique - these were all powerful elements that helped begin to steer the boat in the direction we needed to go. We set up health and wellness clinics driven by the nurses, this helped us mop up any underlying medical issues and garner trust in the process. Soldiers started driving this process and asking more in depth questions and trying to move their recoveries or their training forwards
7. Image, Language and Perception matter: It's good to be different, to stand out, sometimes this is necessary, however as humans we migrate towards the 'similar'. This isn't just about looks though, it's about several layered concepts such as language, personality, where you grew up etc It's why we have tribal colors for our favorite football team or why we might (I do anyway) heatedly debate who is the greatest superhero or who sits atop as the G.O.A.T of all GOAT's in sport. In the book Sapiens, the author talks of the fact that our ability to coexist and form complex societies is why we have covered the globe. In my role I walked in with a white polo, clean shaven look of an outsider, my language wasn't theirs, I didn't earn the right the speak on their behalf or help them. I was too far outside the box and this at first hindered me, I became aware of my unconscious biases that I projected and realized changes needed to be made
8. Be willing to change: So I broke the rules somewhat, began wearing under armour (akin with the Special Forces), I grew my beard out, something only certain ranks and roles could do, I wore outdoor pants and a G-shock watch. These all sounds so simple, but coupling with the change in persona, language I used which was more to theirs, certain phrases for instance - it had a profound effect on my external perception and gave me an "in", this was supported by the Colonel supporting the notion that I carried the incumbent rank of Captain in my role - more of a mark of respect than an actual earned rank - which had both positive and negative outcomes
9. Everyone has an agenda, everyone thinks they're an expert and not everyone wants to row the same way: These situations can prove testing, this is where you have to set aside the big picture plan and reduce everything down to the moment, if on that day someone's not having a good one, hasn't slept well, then an intense session may well be either the worst or best thing at that time for them, but without first taking time to discover this you could find yourself in a stand off with a trained soldier and that is not a place you wish to be in - always be in the moment, appreciate the vertically aligned goals of the people, the team (unit) and so forth, but always be present and appreciate that there isn't one size fits all approach - cue thoughts Dennis Rodman and 'The Last Dance' - I met many a soldier akin to this but they were a superb soldier in the arena
10. There are good and bad practitioners, there's also a context to every situation, so hold off on judging: This is a tough one, on the face of it it doesn't sound good but bear with me. Day 1 I show up, meet the Physio, she's nice enough no issues however there's a steeliness to her, I had the vibe she wasn't happy about something. Turns out she didn't enjoy her time working there and had had a bad experience a few months before with a soldier confronting her. We didn't see eye to eye professionally, our philosophies clashed and it wasn't just with me, this also happened with the Regimental Medical Officer (RMO) Dan, refusing to meet as a team to discuss patient cases. On the face of it and I've seen this, some people have slated health care professionals on media platforms including this one, yet this had a deeper root, after the first Physio changed roles through mutual agreement another came in, more amenable and open to new ideas - this spawned an entire new process that saw over 350 soldiers returned to active duty and a decrease in over 50% of all injury occurrences. The first wasn't bad, she just wasn't right for that role and didn't want to be there
11. Be a facilitator, not a gatekeeper: The former denotes someone that helps and provides value within a system, the latter denotes someone who holds all the cards and this is difficult as you have to essentially be both. You need to be the smart arse person in the room....but you don't have to necessarily act like it - this is underpinned by communication and mutual understanding. Helping people help themselves through your knowledge is a far greater way to coach, as opposed to prescribing internally orientated reductionist ideas
12. Humanize yourself but stay the course: Always be willing to accept you don't know everything, you can't be great at everything, give a little of yourself, but not too much personally away. I made a point of always talking to the guys at the gate when I came onto camp, I'd train with people daily, make detours to "chat" informally to company commanders (Sgt Majors) about their troops progression. This allowed me to keep with the vision, the long term vertically aligned goal of returning injured soldiers fit and capable of operating in the arena and preventing further injury through helping train those not injured.
13. Never stop learning: Dunning-Kruger and Johari windows come to mind here, we can never know enough and often we are blind to what we don't know and where our shortfalls are - this is my first stop, what don't I know? What do I know that can be of help? The world is a big place, many concepts around exercise, health, nutrition and so forth exist throughout modern practice and history so there is a great deal we can learn, for instance Nordic Curls have been around for over 100 years. You can never learn enough and it is important to immersify and diversify your learning within and around your skills - don't reduce, expand and increase your range of skills, become what Fergus Connolly talks about which is a Specialized Generalist

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