Return to the "POINTER VIEW"
                         January 25, 2002

Grad finds lots to learn at CompanyCommand.com

As a cadet at West Point -- and now as a second lieutenant -- I am always looking for help with things like OPORD formats and NCO counseling. Little did I know that all the help I needed was just a mouse click away.

The insight of two West Point graduates has turned into one of the best informational Web sites for junior Army officers I have seen to date.

Majors Anthony Burgess and Nate Allen graduated from West Point in 1990. They went separate ways for their initial assignments and then met up again in 1995 at the 25th Infantry Division. Both spent plenty of time on brigade staffs to reflect on things that other company commanders were doing around the Army. This, they said, led to long nights of talking on the front porch about "Wouldn’t it be great if…"

CompanyCommand.com came about as a result of those conversations and debuted on the Internet in March of 2000.

The first day, the site received a whopping 1,679 visitors. Now, a little more than a year later, the site receives nearly 20,000 unique visitors a month.

Along with its sister Web site, PlatoonLeader.org, juniors officers can find a plethora of information to help them advance as officers.

Divided into five main sections, CompanyCommand.com includes Ideas and Stories, which allows soldiers to share their ideas with others; Command Tools, which offers the user access to different publications; Command Net, which is an online forum for questions and comments; Command Reading, which offers reading lists and learning points from useful books; and Links, which offers other useful links for the junior leader.

Since discovering these Web sites, I have read lessons and ideas from hundreds of different Army officers and NCOs around the world.

One of the greatest things I found while on the sites is that the forums are open to everyone. I read thousands of stories as a cadet and a lieutenant about "Listening to your NCOs," but now, I can listen to hundreds of NCOs that put their ideas out on the Web site for young officers to read.

Maj. Pete Kilner, one of the founding leaders of CompanyCommand.com, said, "Burgess and Allen were absolutely brilliant in their identification of the needs of junior leaders."

Today, with a Company Command Team of more than a dozen personnel, the site has developed far beyond the expectations of Burgess, Allan and the rest of the Team.

"We have started a movement that will transform the Army’s culture," Kilner added.

I believe these Web sites provide tools that can be used by all levels -- from the young cadet trying to impress the instructor with great insights and knowledge, to the young officer that still remembers a five paragraph OPORD by repeating "Sergeant Major Eats Sugar Cookies."

"It’s not intended to be a scholarly Web site," Burgess said. "We want real world, practical, ready-to-apply information."

And that is exactly what I found on these sites -- templates and slides that have saved me an immeasurable amount of time and ideas and knowledge that I hope will help make me a better officer.