By the time noon arrived, all of the First Battalion was assembled in the training room, wondering what their Commander was planning to assess.
“Company Commanders, to me please,” Max called, bringing the three of them over with their executive officers following.
“Pay close attention not only to test results but their personal interactions. This is your chance to rearrange the wings for optimum performance.” Max explained and the officers nodded in understanding.
All of the Mecha would be in one of the limited numbers of standard patterns for the experimental Mecha, so how well the wings worked together would make all the difference.
There were no substandard Pilots in the Battalion, they had all been carefully selected for the assignment, but Max could see that some clearly didn’t get along easily with each other. It would be a test for the Company Commanders to get them organized in a way that minimized problems within their unit.
“Didn’t the Regimental Commander already assign the wings?” One of the technicians asked politely, making the Pilots laugh.
“He absolutely did, and now we use our authority as Company Commanders to reassign them based on personality and equipment conflicts.” His Pilot explained.
“Discipline and Doctrine, Chapter 16, section 3 Paragraph 7. Matters of interpersonal conflict and morale are under the purview of Company Command Officers, until such time as they must be escalated to reach an amicable conclusion.” Max agreed.
The other officers nodded their agreement, all of them having been Company Commanders in the past. They were well aware of what they could and could not do to alter and modify the orders that came down from above to make them work for their troops.
Every wing went through a short assessment mission in the simulators, to determine compatibility and shortcomings, but most of the answers that the Commanders needed were already obvious before the teams even made it that far.
In a group of equals, such as a Mecha wing, a leader would be chosen to keep things clear and concise in combat. But not every wing could agree on who that should be. Egos clashed and personalities conflicted all the time. Not every wing would be perfect, but they could only do so much with a bunch of prideful elites.
Once they had done a single run-through in the default formation, Max addressed the Pilots. “If anyone has a request for their Company Commander, please inform them now. If not, we will be making some alterations to the wings under the recommendation of the assembled Command Staff for the First Battalion.”
A few soldiers approached, requesting a transfer, none of them a surprise, though one was a request to have a member moved, instead of the Pilot asking themselves for a different wing. The pilot in question was undoubtedly obnoxious, even in combat they wouldn’t shut up and questioned everything constantly.
“We understand. Give us ten minutes to arrange the wings by their requests and we will see what can be done.” Max informed them, while Nico worked with the Commanders to set a new wing plan, based on what they had observed of the potential personality conflicts.
There was some support for forming a wing of all the obnoxious people that nobody else really wanted, but that would leave one Company a full wing under strength, since they were unlikely to work well with each other, so instead they took the time to place them under Wing Leaders with strong personalities. It would surely annoy some of the Pilots, but it was their best option to get everyone working well as a Unit.
“Listen up troops. We will be running a second assessment starting now. Adjusted wings are up on the screens. Unless there is a serious issue, this will be the last adjustment until after the first live test, so make it work unless you want to end up grounded.” Max ordered, sending the Pilots to check the screen on the wall for their new assignment.
“This is crap, how am I not a wing leader?” The Pilot who got punted from their wing for their constant questioning of every action yelled loud enough for the commanders to hear.
That’s what the Company Commanders had expected. But to get the position as wing leader you need to have good ideas, not just whining about the ideas that the leader put forward, and the Pilot had not shown any sign of better battle plans during the first assessment.
“Not every asshole that thinks he should be the leader is competent enough to actually earn it. Now shut up like a good little boy and get your ass in the simulator.” Someone called back, causing a wave of laughter.
The Pilot looked a bit sheepish, but they were the last Pilot from their wing that wasn’t ready, and they had to run to get to the simulator before they timed out and the simulation started without them.
Nico handed Max a summary of previous postings, and he noticed that over half the pilots here had led a wing at some point in the past, either as Line Mecha Pilots, or in their current Mecha, so a few disgruntled voices were to be expected, but one argument that he could hear going on was particularly interesting.
Three of five Pilots wanted to change their wing leader. Not because he wasn’t a good leader, but because the fifth pilot had a very sexy radio voice, and they didn’t want to listen to him talk all day. They were both competent Pilots, suited for the task, but she didn’t want the job, and the assigned leader was staying out of it.
“That reminds me how you used to scare everyone with the altered voices over the intercom.” Max joked with Nico, who smiled in reminiscence.
“You say that like I’m not planning to do it again. I’ve got all the voice augmentations saved to my voice box.” Nico responded in a deep demonic growl that shocked the other Company Commanders.
“Can you imagine waking up to that voice in the middle of a war zone? Half the unit would have to change their drawers before they could put their Suits on.” Major Ivanov, leader of Able Company laughed while his Technician nodded in agreement.
“Well, let’s see how they manage this time.” Petrova sighed, watching the team with the chatterbox make their way through the mission. It was better than the first group, but that wasn’t saying much. At least this group seemed to have a better handle on how to shut the Pilot up and get them to focus.
After the lecture, everyone else was doing their best, with some pushing hard to try to convince leadership that they deserved a Wing Leader position once a spot came open. With a whole day wasted, but no major failures noted, they deemed it a success and sent everyone to the Mess Hall for dinner.