Disclosure: my perspective in this article is that of someone who has recently made the switch over to tactical as I am now approaching the half-year mark. I’m not here to speak in absolutes or as an authority figure regarding TSAC but simply to provide insight into what the transition into this world has been like for a coach who recently left the collegiate realm.
This is part II of our series covering S&C in the military. This article focuses on ‘the bad’ but make sure you check out part I, covering the good, by clicking here in order to have a balanced perspective.
The Bad
We’ve all heard the expression regarding anything that seems too good to be true. While I don’t believe the tactical realm is misleading in its potential to improve the quality of life of those who make the switch, it is not without its downsides. I’d be remiss if I did not give this aspect of the job its due diligence so that you, the reader, have a thorough understanding of what some of the difficulties that lie on this side of the fence are and whether this side of the industry suits your needs.
While everyone raves about the job security on the tactical side of the industry, what maybe doesn’t get as much attention is the complications that can come with being a contractor. More specifically, when the company you work for can change on a yearly basis, and with it your pay, benefits, job duties (to some extent), and the organizational hierarchy. I can speak firsthand to the chaos of contracting as I almost found myself unemployed just 2 months after moving halfway across the country to take my current job, only to have the company that was awarded the new contract tells me that I did not meet their requirements for relevant job experience and they wouldn’t be able to retain me. Not to be deterred, I channelled my inner Jordan Belfort and told the company “I’M NOT F@$#ING LEAVING!” and that was that… okay it didn’t exactly go down like that but, fortunately, I was able to find a way to keep my position.
Nevertheless, speaking with those who have been on the H2F team since the pilot project, they will tell you that drama with the contract is as much certainty as death and taxes. So please be prepared for confusion, questions without answers, and collective uncertainty for what the future holds every time a new contract is on the horizon.
As H2F is in the infancy of its implementation, so too is the degree to which we have autonomy and control over what is done for PT and the overall training plan. For those that have dealt with the frustrations of a sports coach that insists on you programming something counterproductive and illogical (but you can usually get away with ignoring), imagine stepping into that same situation except now, the athletes are programming for themselves and you must convince them to turn that responsibility over to you.
As mentioned earlier, many of the officers in charge of leading PT and those at the top involved in decision-making came up in a time without H2F and carry a mindset similar to that of a sports coach (e.g., this is what I did as an athlete/soldier and it ‘worked’ for me). You may witness some truly archaic training that’s poorly structured and poorly executed; bear in mind that your ability to influence and direct training only goes as far as those in positions of power let you. So, before you go in telling them everything they’re doing is wrong (even if it is), be willing to give a lot of ground early on as identity and pride are everything in the military and an attack on the training they do is going to be viewed as an attack on their identity.
That being said, within a given battalion, you may encounter companies/platoons/squads that are fully interested in using H2F and want you to dictate every part of what they do – JUMP AT THIS OPPORTUNITY. As mentioned earlier, improving ACFT scores and reducing profiles is the love language of the military-H2F relationship regardless of the scale you’re achieving those results on. If it’s with one company, it’s a guarantee that the battalion is going to take notice if they’re seeing scores continually go up and injuries going down and eventually the question will be asked “why isn’t everyone doing what they’re doing?” Boom. There’s your buy-in.
This one might be decisive for those who are on the fence about making the switch but as many of us pride ourselves on our “on the floor” skills, but relative to life as a collegiate strength coach you are not going to do nearly as much coaching, at least in the manner you’re used to. Typically, there is just one slot for PT in the morning and with all the chaos that ensues, you’ll find yourself in a much more supervisory role where you’re making sure people are running things how they’re supposed to rather than physically running them yourself. That’s not to say you won’t do any coaching and as you’re able to influence the process more and more you’ll surely be able to do more, but if your sole skill is that you’re a “juice” coach on the floor that’s great at teaching lifts but you have miserable interpersonal skills when it comes to actually effecting change in an organization I don’t think you’ll derive enjoyment from this job.
On top of that, if the thought of having to function as an educator is unappealing to you, then I would tell you outright to stay away from this side of the industry. Due to the sheer size of any given unit you’ll work, the effectiveness of anything you try to implement will always be limited by the extent to which you can educate the relevant NCOs that actually lead the sessions well enough that they are an extension of you. Their ability to properly communicate your intent, teach the movements in the program, and make on the fly decisions at the sub-unit level is pivotal to what you’ll be able to accomplish. It’s like having volunteer interns… except these volunteer interns have no formal educational background… and they might not even be physically active themselves… and they don’t really want to even be in that role… and they’re not too keen on even getting an S&C education in the first place. But other than just your standard volunteer interns!
This last one is certainly not enjoyable to discuss, but it is something anyone looking to get into TSAC (especially working with the military) should at least be cognizant of. This isn’t collegiate/professional sports where sports coaches like to claim that a team is “going to war” before a big game. This is the military, where the equivalent to a “game day” is actually going to war. Presumably, we’re all cognizant of the situation that unfolded in Afghanistan and what implications that could have on future deployments to the Middle East; not to mention the always controversial relationships with Russia, China, and North Korea. With the prospect of deployment always hanging in the balance, so too is the inherent risk for any soldiers from your unit to lose their life on the battlefield (the likelihood of this will vary by what type of unit you’re working with); however, it’s important to recognize that death in combat is not the leading cause of death in US military.
Since 9/11, roughly 7,000 service members have died during military operations in response to that tragedy, but another 30,000 active duty and veterans have committed suicide in the same timeframe. Again, I don’t put this in here as a scare tactic or to suggest that it’s a guaranteed part of the job but as the coach-to-soldier ratio decreases, tensions with other nations continue to ebb and flow, and mental health issues continue to be prevalent, this is an aspect of the job that deserves being acknowledged and something you need to ask yourself if you’ll be able to process and adjust to if it does occur.
This concludes our article covering the bad areas involved with military S&C. Part III will be dropping in the next two weeks, so make sure to check it out to find out all the unknown things that are involved with tactical S&C. For more detailed info on this topic sign up to Strength Coach Network and reach out on our forums and a coach who works in this space will be able to help.
This is part II of our series covering S&C in the military. This article focuses on ‘the bad’ but make sure you check out part I, covering the good, by clicking here in order to have a balanced perspective.
The Bad
We’ve all heard the expression regarding anything that seems too good to be true. While I don’t believe the tactical realm is misleading in its potential to improve the quality of life of those who make the switch, it is not without its downsides. I’d be remiss if I did not give this aspect of the job its due diligence so that you, the reader, have a thorough understanding of what some of the difficulties that lie on this side of the fence are and whether this side of the industry suits your needs.
While everyone raves about the job security on the tactical side of the industry, what maybe doesn’t get as much attention is the complications that can come with being a contractor. More specifically, when the company you work for can change on a yearly basis, and with it your pay, benefits, job duties (to some extent), and the organizational hierarchy. I can speak firsthand to the chaos of contracting as I almost found myself unemployed just 2 months after moving halfway across the country to take my current job, only to have the company that was awarded the new contract tells me that I did not meet their requirements for relevant job experience and they wouldn’t be able to retain me. Not to be deterred, I channelled my inner Jordan Belfort and told the company “I’M NOT F@$#ING LEAVING!” and that was that… okay it didn’t exactly go down like that but, fortunately, I was able to find a way to keep my position.
Nevertheless, speaking with those who have been on the H2F team since the pilot project, they will tell you that drama with the contract is as much certainty as death and taxes. So please be prepared for confusion, questions without answers, and collective uncertainty for what the future holds every time a new contract is on the horizon.
As H2F is in the infancy of its implementation, so too is the degree to which we have autonomy and control over what is done for PT and the overall training plan. For those that have dealt with the frustrations of a sports coach that insists on you programming something counterproductive and illogical (but you can usually get away with ignoring), imagine stepping into that same situation except now, the athletes are programming for themselves and you must convince them to turn that responsibility over to you.
As mentioned earlier, many of the officers in charge of leading PT and those at the top involved in decision-making came up in a time without H2F and carry a mindset similar to that of a sports coach (e.g., this is what I did as an athlete/soldier and it ‘worked’ for me). You may witness some truly archaic training that’s poorly structured and poorly executed; bear in mind that your ability to influence and direct training only goes as far as those in positions of power let you. So, before you go in telling them everything they’re doing is wrong (even if it is), be willing to give a lot of ground early on as identity and pride are everything in the military and an attack on the training they do is going to be viewed as an attack on their identity.
That being said, within a given battalion, you may encounter companies/platoons/squads that are fully interested in using H2F and want you to dictate every part of what they do – JUMP AT THIS OPPORTUNITY. As mentioned earlier, improving ACFT scores and reducing profiles is the love language of the military-H2F relationship regardless of the scale you’re achieving those results on. If it’s with one company, it’s a guarantee that the battalion is going to take notice if they’re seeing scores continually go up and injuries going down and eventually the question will be asked “why isn’t everyone doing what they’re doing?” Boom. There’s your buy-in.
This one might be decisive for those who are on the fence about making the switch but as many of us pride ourselves on our “on the floor” skills, but relative to life as a collegiate strength coach you are not going to do nearly as much coaching, at least in the manner you’re used to. Typically, there is just one slot for PT in the morning and with all the chaos that ensues, you’ll find yourself in a much more supervisory role where you’re making sure people are running things how they’re supposed to rather than physically running them yourself. That’s not to say you won’t do any coaching and as you’re able to influence the process more and more you’ll surely be able to do more, but if your sole skill is that you’re a “juice” coach on the floor that’s great at teaching lifts but you have miserable interpersonal skills when it comes to actually effecting change in an organization I don’t think you’ll derive enjoyment from this job.
On top of that, if the thought of having to function as an educator is unappealing to you, then I would tell you outright to stay away from this side of the industry. Due to the sheer size of any given unit you’ll work, the effectiveness of anything you try to implement will always be limited by the extent to which you can educate the relevant NCOs that actually lead the sessions well enough that they are an extension of you. Their ability to properly communicate your intent, teach the movements in the program, and make on the fly decisions at the sub-unit level is pivotal to what you’ll be able to accomplish. It’s like having volunteer interns… except these volunteer interns have no formal educational background… and they might not even be physically active themselves… and they don’t really want to even be in that role… and they’re not too keen on even getting an S&C education in the first place. But other than just your standard volunteer interns!
This last one is certainly not enjoyable to discuss, but it is something anyone looking to get into TSAC (especially working with the military) should at least be cognizant of. This isn’t collegiate/professional sports where sports coaches like to claim that a team is “going to war” before a big game. This is the military, where the equivalent to a “game day” is actually going to war. Presumably, we’re all cognizant of the situation that unfolded in Afghanistan and what implications that could have on future deployments to the Middle East; not to mention the always controversial relationships with Russia, China, and North Korea. With the prospect of deployment always hanging in the balance, so too is the inherent risk for any soldiers from your unit to lose their life on the battlefield (the likelihood of this will vary by what type of unit you’re working with); however, it’s important to recognize that death in combat is not the leading cause of death in US military.
Since 9/11, roughly 7,000 service members have died during military operations in response to that tragedy, but another 30,000 active duty and veterans have committed suicide in the same timeframe. Again, I don’t put this in here as a scare tactic or to suggest that it’s a guaranteed part of the job but as the coach-to-soldier ratio decreases, tensions with other nations continue to ebb and flow, and mental health issues continue to be prevalent, this is an aspect of the job that deserves being acknowledged and something you need to ask yourself if you’ll be able to process and adjust to if it does occur.
This concludes our article covering the bad areas involved with military S&C. Part III will be dropping in the next two weeks, so make sure to check it out to find out all the unknown things that are involved with tactical S&C. For more detailed info on this topic sign up to Strength Coach Network and reach out on our forums and a coach who works in this space will be able to help.
