The rules for after-action reviews at the Army’s Joint Readiness Training Center say the review is “not a critique.” It is “a professional discussion that requires the active participation of all attendees.” Army guidance asks leaders to “encourage people to give honest opinions.” A key rule is that “everyone gets a chance to enrich the discussion, from the company commander to the newest private.”
A 2007 report by the Army Research Institute found a limit. When senior leaders spoke first, it was “very difficult for junior personnel to think of anything new.” Starting with the lowest-ranking soldier “appears to elicit more responses.”