Battle Buddy- the idea behind having a battle buddy comes from the guidance of the old Aristotelian adage “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”, and has been used in the military for decades. Shield bearer is another term used in ancient Gaul which means something different a soldier carrying a shield to either protect a chief or noble or so the other can be well rested. Might be like a squire that takes care of a knight’s armor.
Naturally the expression eventually acquired a deeper meaning, and is used in memoirs by veterans to describe their close friends.
In today’s combat environment, the term is used to describe the smallest combat unit which can be considered combat effective. A battle buddy can pretty much be anything that you can think of. Browsing the internet for the word battle buddy there is a blog its different ideas of what a battle buddy is from what other people think.
What’s a “battle buddy”? I heard a couple of soldiers talking the other day & I heard “battle buddy” & was wondering what that is? Someone that helps you with everything you do. In the Marine Corps, we have the buddy system. Wherever we go, whatever we do, we have another person doing the same thing.
Especially when we go to the bar, we need another person just in case something happens. It’s mostly used for when you go to combat. Your Battle Buddy is the Person who is watching your back when in a combat zone while you are watching theirs. When soldiers train in this new military, they refer to each other as battle buddies. a friend who you stick together with, Its where you help each other out with basic things, like making beds and all that great stuff. The Army instills the battle buddy system into a soldier during basic training. This teaches the importance of a battle buddy.
The stressful situation of transitioning from a civilian to a soldier can take its toll on individuals. It provides recruits with the security and solace that can only come from someone who shares their circumstances. In basic training, your Drill Sergeants will assign you a battle buddy. If you ask anyone who has been through basic training about their battle buddy, 99 percent of them will tell you their first name, last name and probably some other details such as their birthday or the number of brothers and sisters they have. This is what the army defines the battle buddy system as.
The buddy system establishes policy for the pairing of IET soldiers in Basic Training/OSUT and AIT into teams for the following reasons: (1) Mutual support and Helpance. (2) Reducing stress. (3) Teaching teamwork. (4) Development of a sense of responsibility and accountability for fellow soldiers. (5) Improving safety during training. (6) Reducing the likelihood and opportunity for sexual harassment or misconduct. Soldiers are introduced to the buddy team system at the reception battalion and, to the extent possible; the buddy system should be utilized.
IET soldiers are formed into two-person teams upon arrival at the training unit. A buddy team may consist of three personnel in order to ensure all soldiers are part of a buddy team. Team members learn to help one another in all aspects of training. This aids in the development of individual initiative, responsibility, and dependability. As a minimum, installation commanders will establish a buddy system in IET following these guidelines:
(1) DSs will assign buddy teams after the IET soldiers arrive at the platoon but before formal training begins. (2) Unit cadre will instruct IET soldiers on the purpose and rules of the buddy system. 3) Buddy team changes from the initial pairings should be limited. (4) Buddy teams will participate in training, details, charge of quarters (CQ), and other activities together, when feasible. Feasibility is to be determined by the local commander. (5) Requirements for buddy teams to be together outside of training must not violate the intent of this regulation. Commanders must keep in mind that in the AIT environment soldiers are being prepared for life in the force and must be given the opportunity to display good judgment and personal responsibility.
As an example, soldiers in Phase V (20 plus weeks) will not be required to be with their buddy after the end of the established duty day. (6) Buddy teams will not be required to attend sick call or personal appointments together. If pairing is required, commanders may pair other soldiers of the same sex reporting to sick call. (7) Every effort will be made to provide those IET soldiers who have English as a second language (ESL), or have successfully completed the ESL program, with a buddy who is fluent in English. (8) Male-female buddy teams are only authorized in AIT/OSUT when there is only one female in the class.
In this situation, the female IET soldier will be paired with two male soldiers. Your battle buddy will most likely be a different race, ethnicity, or age from you. The Drill Sergeants want you to be able to work closely with someone from a different background. Race, ethnicity, and age are superficialities that will not matter when completing a mission. You will be responsible for how your battle buddy looks, acts, performs, etc. , and vice versa. Your battle buddy will be someone you will never forget, so make a conscious effort to be tolerant toward that individual.
Most likely, those who have a helpful battle buddy will have had a much easier time at basic training. Before every formation, make sure your battle buddy has all the necessary equipment (e. g. paperwork, writing utensil, canteen, etc. ). Every recruit has a bout of depression, anger, or stress that may last a few hours or even a few weeks. Make sure you recognize your battle buddies change of emotions. Picking up his or her slack during times of high stress will be much appreciated when it is your turn to have these bouts of emotion.
Don’t get in the habit of doing your battle buddies work for them, when you get frustrated with your extra chores, the Drill Sergeant will be of little value to you when resolving disputes such as those. Simply learn to recognize when to help your battle buddy out and when to ask for help. The benefits of having a battle buddy greatly outweigh not having one. Essentially, your battle buddy is an extra set of eyes and ears. Suppose you have to go to sick call for the day. When you return, your battle buddy can fill you in on everything you missed.
Now let’s suppose your Drill Sergeant just got finished giving you 10 sentences of instructions. You might retain 8 of those 10 sentences. Your battle buddy also retained 8 of those 10 sentences. Odds are, the both of you didn’t miss the same 2 sentences. So, together you absorbed all the instructions. There is strength in numbers, and the battle buddy program proves this. The system also protects service members since injuries or mental health problems, which a soldier may hide from his or her chain of command, and NCO support channel but it could easily be spotted by their battle buddy.
By helping each other out you know that you will make the mission happen no matter if its conus or oconus. Every Friday units give safety briefs to instill the battle buddy system. If you are going to drink have a designated driver. If you are going to go out of town take someone with you. There is a bond that service members have with each other that cannot be broken, or understood by civilians. When you spend countless hours in Iraq outside the wire with your battle buddies you seem to grow on each other. One day you could hate them and you see them out in a bar and in some trouble with a group of guys that are out for no good.
You know that you are not going to come out of it with a victory but the fact that someone messed with your battle buddy and you are not going to stand for that. The Army wants everyone to have a battle buddy. The system is also setup to make sure soldiers will do the right thing when there is no presence of superiors. Think before you do, you may think that it is the best things to do at the time but you don’t know who is watching or listening and if you have battle buddies there with you they will help you see the right decision.
The military is battling issues like sexual assaults, Carolyn Collins, a program manager for the Army’s Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Prevention program said, “we believe it is the duty of every soldier to intervene and stop incidents before they occur, soldiers who fail to intervene and protect their fellow soldiers from harassment or the risk of sexual assault have forsaken the warrior ethos to never leave a fallen comrade. ” “These are my daughters and you all need to take care of them,” CSM LADD.
The more that we involve ourselves outside of work as well as we do inside the numbers can drop. “Given the fear and stigma associated with the crime, sexual assault remains one of our nation’s most under-reported crimes in both the military and civilian community,” said Dr. Kaye Whitley, the director of the Defense Department’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office.
“The department has been aggressively pursuing efforts to increase reporting and convince more victims to seek care and support services. The analysis found 2,923 sexual assault “reports” in fiscal 2008, which is roughly an 8 percent increase compared to fiscal 2007. But officials cautioned that the rise in reporting — a figure that represents the total number of sexual assaults reported — is not necessarily indicative that more incidents occurred. If the battle buddy system was working like it should the numbers should minimize tenfold. Everyone needs to make a positive change involve everyone that lives in the barracks in weekend plans, do not let individuals make plans to go out by themselves.
In The Military Police Corps we have many missions that battle buddy teams are used. While we work the road we ride with partners. It is to protect the two individuals in the car. When you responded to a call of a domestic and you don’t know if there are weapons in the house or not, you and your battle buddy approach the house with caution while one knocks on the door the other is covering your back just in case someone comes running around the corner. It is also a failsafe four eyes are better than two. What you may miss while you are on scene your battle could have seen it.
While typing the report we put everything into the case that the MPR system wants, then as individuals we type an Investigators statement which is what I observed, heard, noticed. This is to enforce the report that you have already typed and having a battle buddy on scene with you the report will be more in detail. In Iraq my battle buddy was SGT Pruitt, he was the driver and I was the gunner. Whenever I was having a bad day I could always go to him and talk to him and some magical way it was all better.
We discussed everything together we always knew when the other was having a bad day. Countless times he would pull me aside during the day and talk to me as I would do the same for him. This was because our lives depended on each other and being at our 100 percent was important. I couldn’t accomplish my mission without him and vice versa. A battle buddy during a fire fight is the person that will give up his last magazine to make sure that you can continue the fight.
If you get injured your battle buddy is the one that is going to patch you so you can Charlie Mike. A battle buddy is one of the most important things in a combat environment. It is hard to describe it; it is one of those things you have to experience it to understand it. You can be the battle buddy in Iraq that goes everywhere together, talk, play games at the MWR, shop at the PX when you get a chance, but happens when you get back home the whole battle buddy system just gets blown into the wind. We are a family and should act like a family.
Some individuals do act like a family but you also have that small select group of people that don’t and time and time again they are the ones getting in trouble. They didn’t have a battle buddy to help them out. Why this comes about is because we spent 15 months with each other all we want is just a little space. Which is true when I went home on block leave it was a sigh of relief but after 10 days I was missing everyone that I was with in Iraq. I did not think that it would be like that but it was and it is indescribable.
