Please read below carefully and use only the material provided. If you use an outside reference, it must be peer-reviewed. TC 7-22.7 is a MUST during the case study and must be on the reference page. Please ask any questions.
INSTRUCTIONS:
-Write an Executive Summary (EXSUM) on the case study “The Charge of the Light Brigade” using the NCO Common Core Competency (NCO C3) lenses of Leadership and Communications.
-Answer the question: WHAT INSIGHTS ARE DERIVED FROM THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE CASE STUDY IN REGARDS TO THE NCO COMMON CORE COMPETENCIES (COC3) OF LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATIONS?
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Please Read and Folow the instructions. Also see attached Rubric and all supporting documents needed. Thanks!
+++USE simple words, straight to the point, NOT passive voice, NO direct quotation; use the word template provided, and do not change the formatting.++++++
How to Write an Executive Summary (EXSUM) Tutorial
This is not like what you might have written in the past , so throw out any experience you have with EXSUMs and read this before starting. You will be merging the concepts of HQDA Policy Notice 25-52 (Staff Action Process and Correspondence Policies) and APA 7 to format your EXSUM.
The EXSUM is divided into 3 sections.
First is the NCO C3 section. This is the most important section and will generally make or break your EXSUM. This is where you break down the two NCO C3s that were assigned. You start by doctrinally defining them according to TC 7-22.7. You MUST use TC 7-22.7! It must be in your Reference page for all EXSUMs. Make sure that how you define your two NCO C3 is relevant to your case study. An example could be Leadership. This is the definition form the TC (p. 2-2): “The Army relies on NCOs capable of conducting daily operations, executing complex tactical operations, and making intent-driven decisions. NCOs must lead by example and model characteristics of the Army Profession. This competency includes: servant leadership, counseling, coaching and mentoring, the Army ethic, Army values, and character development. It also includes a thorough understanding of the leadership requirements model (attributes and competencies), critical thinking, and problem solving.” The entire definition encompasses a lot and probably more than is relevant to your EXSUM if your case study is on a failed tactical operation. So consider making your definition that which I highlighted. After you define the NCO C3 doctrinally according to TC 7-22.7, you move on to breaking it down further in your explanation. To do this well is to excel at EXSUMs. The easiest way to start this is to scroll down from the definition section of the TC and go to the roles and responsibilities under the ranks of MSG. So using the Leadership example, here is what the TC says are the responsibilities of the 1SG/MSG:
Leadership (p. 2-9)
1) Live and demonstrate the attributes and competencies of the leadership requirements model.
2) Exhibit and maintain an atmosphere of respect, adaptability, and resilience.
3) Assess, create, and foster an ethical and positive culture and climate within the organization.
4) Extend influence within and beyond the chain of command to build relationships.
5) Prioritize presence at training and determine daily the most important place to be within the organization.
6) Communicate and drive the commander’s vision and intent by serving as the conduit between the commander and Soldiers.
7) Recognize disciplined initiative within the commander’s intent through competency based talent management.
8) Strengthen the characteristics of trust, honorable service, military expertise and esprit de corps through stewardship of the Army Profession.
9) Coach and foster servant leadership through effective counseling and development.
As you can see there are 9 different roles/responsibilities assigned to the MSG/1SG within the scope of Leadership. You should pick ONE or TWO of these max and use them as the crux of your position on the NCO C3 of Leadership and they need to connect well with the case study. A good example would be to use #6 if your case study is about a failed operation in which subordinates didn’t understand the commander’s intent. Your NCO C3 section would start by defining Leadership and then break down leadership into how NCOs support Leadership through understanding and disseminating the commander’s intent in order to drive tactical operations. The idea is to focus your NCO C3 section to a single concept or point that forms your position such as, the importance of the commander’s intent, importance of shared understanding, or the importance of talent management for three examples. You would only ever use one of them and they would result in the preponderance of what you break down and explain in your NCO C3 section. Remember, always use doctrine to form the basis of your NCO C3 section. Nothing you have ever done will lend you the credibility that doctrine does. You should never have first person nouns or narrative in your EXSUM (There should be absolutely no I, us, we, or our). Every sentence that you take information from a source should be cited IAW APA 7. YOU CANNOT TAKE INFORMATION FORM A SOURCE, WRITE FOUR SENTENCES AND JUST CITE THE LAST ONE OR JUST THE FIRST ONE. YOU MUST CITE EACH SENTENCE THAT CONTAINS INFORMATION FROM A SOURCE. I do not care if you already know the information, citing gives credibility to your information. It tells the reader that if you do not believe me, you can look it up here. The only thing you do not cite is your own analysis or common knowledge. Always remember, I do not care if there are no NCOs in the case study, all EXSUMs are about the NCO C3 of Leadership, Operations, and etc… and must focus on our roles and responsibilities so you MUST use TC 7-22.7 as a reference every time and you will NEVER use the NCO C3 Poster as a reference.
Next is the Brief Synopsis. In your NCO C3 section you gave your position (such as the commander’s intent is critical for tactical operations) and the Brief Synopsis is where you give the evidence to prove that position. You should only take specifics from the case study that support your case. If what you are writing about the case study has nothing to do with the NCO C3 you are using, take it out! The EXSUM is a max of 2 pageL. That does not give you any room for superfluous information. The Brief Synopsis section should only contain specific information, not general. Example would be if the case study describes a battle, you would not say, “The battle went poorly because leaders failed to give their subordinates the commander’s intent.” Instead, you would say, “SGT Leary received his orders from LT Gains but didn’t not understand what he was supposed to do or why he was supposed to do it and subsequently attacked the wrong position at the wrong moment in battle.” The first sentence is just a generalization that requires the reader to actually go read the case study to understand what you are refereeing to while the second gives you a clear example of how key leaders failed to give and understand the commander’s intent. Remember to be specific, be brief, and always cite information from the case study that is not your own analysis.
The Summary and Answer is the last section. It begins with the transitional statement, “The insights gained from the case study are…” and should contain no new information. This is where you summarize your position and the evidence you used to prove it. There should be no in-text citations in the summary. It has three parts and should look something like this: The insights gained are that due to the ineffective Communication within “The Charge of the Light Brigade” case study, the leadership failed to corroborate, provide detailed guidance, thus, subsequently wasting time, directly resulting in the loss of essential territory and over 350 casualties on the battlefield (Positional Statement, How/Why, The Results). The biggest thing to remember in the summary is that if the information was not part of the NCO C3 section or the Brief Synopsis, it should not suddenly appear in the summary. There is no “pulling a rabbit out of a hat” to impress the reader. The insights are not secrets; they are just what you described throughout the EXSUM. You can imagine how often this part is messed up since I spent so much time writing about it down here repeatedly.
4. Grammar, Spelling, Formatting, passive voice, and APA 7 errors all count against you and quickly add up. Make sure you turn on your editor to catch errors. Go to File, options, proofing, then the writing style button and make sure grammar and style are selected. Then go into the setting button next to grammar and style and select all of the boxes. On newer version of word the button is renamed grammar and refinements but it is the same thing.
5. You must study and understand how to format, cite, and create a Reference page using APA 7. Citing a quote versus a paraphrase changes the format and makes a difference. Use the APA 7 handouts to study up on your APA 7 or you will lose many points needlessly.
6. Here are some other reminders:
You must have 3 references according to the rubric for max points.
You must have two transitions. One from the NCO C3 section to the Brief Synopsis and should go something like, “In the case study, The Charge of the Light Brigade, …” The second transition is from the Brief Synopsis to the Summary and Answer Section. It should go something like, “The insights gained from The Charge of the Light Brigade case study are that…”
Although the EXSUM addresses 2 NCO C3s and 2 questions, write no more than 2 pages for your EXSUM length (not including reference page). Therefore, if you go over you will lose points from the Organization section of the rubric. The best EXSUMs are not the ones with the most words, but the ones with best-chosen words. Adding superfluous information will cause you to lose points.
All sentences that are not common knowledge or 100% your own analysis must be cited using correct APA 7 in-text citations in all sections of the EXSUM. If you cited something once then you can freely use the information without having to re-cite it again.
Know the difference between a paraphrase and a quote. A paraphrase is to use someone else’s information in your own words and quoting is to use someone else’s information using their EXACT words. The in-text citation for a quote is different from a paraphrased sentence.
The case studies should be cited using the author given or if they do not then you should use Headquarters, Department of the Army as the author. Always form the acronym for long titles representing authors in the reference page and not in the in-text citation. An example of this is available in your Example EXSUM DL Format with additional guidance document.
