Favorite TV Shows of the Past: Adam-12

A Month at Fort Belvoir

Near the front gate at Fort Belvoir

Every now and then, one's professional life leads to unexpected events or at least certain events that are out of the ordinary.  One learns to face these with equanimity knowing that, on balance, they tend to add interest to the time and value to the resume.  Recently, a mandatory training requirement led me to have to spend four weeks 450 miles from home in Virginia, enrolled in the Force Management Course at the Army's Force Management School at Fort Belvoir.  Having already written several posts on the course itself, let me spend this one in relating how I endured the long time away from home.

Of course, on such an extended trip, I had to do my own grocery shopping, laundry, and ironing.  It was a challenge but, once I got a rhythm going, it was a lot easier than I expected.  I ate a lot of oatmeal and Ramen noodles, but it wasn't bad.  The laundry room was in the basement, just one floor down from me, right under my room actually.  I could hear the the washers in their spin cycles if I was quiet enough.  I expected a crowd and to have to wait a long time but that never happened.  My ironing routine was just like at home, except that instead of Connie doing my shirts it was me.

Your Tax Dollars at Work

Via: Heritage Foundation

Source: http://www.askheritage.org/what-are-your-taxes-going-to-infographic/?utm_source=AH_Weekly&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=2011-04-22&utm_campaign=2011_Brand

Army Force Management School, Part VI

In the back of my mind since I started the Force Management Course is what will I learn here that will make a more effective doctrine writer.  I am starting to figure out the answer--at least the short answer:  nothing.

The course teaches how the army "runs," purposely avoiding the word "operates."  The course arms those working in generating force positions with the knowledge necessary to develop and field the organizations and capabilities required by the operational Army.  Doctrine doesn't explain the generating force (except for FM 1-01 where it provides a sort of Generating Force 101 overview).  You won't pick up a field manual to learn anything about the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development Process or the Defense Acquisition System or the Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution system.  Nor will a doctrinal publication shed any light on how to conduct a Total Army Analysis, figure manpower requirements, or how to field an organization.  There are no FMs on Army databases, training development, or cost-benefit analyses.  These are all examples of how the generating force does its business.  Policy and regulations guided these kinds of activities.  Policy and doctrine are different animals altogether.

Bach: Komm Süsser Tod

Krauthammer on Obama's Budget Speech: "It was a disgrace."

What General Dempsey is Like

Army Chief of Staff
General Martin Dempsey

General Dempsey--

"Every morning on the way to work, I walk past the pictures of all the former Chiefs, and then I drive past row after row of the headstones in Arlington National Cemetery.  If you find me eager to get things done, that’s why."

Small Wars Journal has posted the general's entire (four slides) introductory briefing here.

Army Force Management School, Part V

L3-MPRI logo

The instructors teaching the Army Force Management Course are contractors. Each is an employee of a company called L3-MPRI, a division of L-3 Communications Corporation, and each is a retired Army officer with an advanced degree. Each probably has more than 30 years experience in the Army if you combine their service time with their experience afterwards as defense contractors.

I learned this morning that one of the instructors is a retired signal officer, Dr. Gregory Hamlett. Dr. Hamlett recognized right off the bat that I was from Fort Gordon and wanted to know if I worked in the towers (Signal Towers). I am hoping I will get an opportunity to have a conversation with him later in the course to get his thoughts on signal doctrine. He taught two classes this morning, the requirements validation and approval process and materiel development roles and missions.

A lot was thrown at us today. In addition to Dr. Hamlett's classes, we learned about materiel acquisition strategies and contracting; the materiel oversight and review process; and two courses on materiel acquisition, pre-systems acquisition and systems acquisition and sustainment.

Tomorrow afternoon we are expecting the director of materiel from the Army G-8 Force Development staff to come speak to us.

Army Force Management School, Part IV

Sean Naylor's book

The biggest challenge of the last couple of days in the Army Force Management Course has been to stay awake. We had had our first test on Friday (I passed) then settled in to learning about the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS).  I went through a two-week course on JCIDS back in October, so going through the chain of documents and milestone decisions for a second time is, to use a military euphemism, a challenge.  The most interesting blocks of instruction (death by PowerPoint) have been the Future Force Warfighting Concept Development and Experimentation; Science and Technology and Army Modernization; and, believe it or not, the class on Cost-Benefit Analysis Overview.

During my down time, I am enjoying reading Sean Naylor's account of the early days of the war in Afghanistan, Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda.  I actually started it back home, but because of I was so busy and had several other books started, it was difficult to get in to; but, with all those distractions removed, I'm finding it a riveting read.  There is a very interesting review of the book on the Pritzker Military Library's website, here.

Guidance to the DoD Workforce from Deputy Secretary of Defense

Three-page memo from the DEPSECDEF:  guidance to military and civilian employees and contractors of the DOD.  Lead paragraph reads--

"The Department remains hopeful that a government shutdown will be averted.  The president has made it clear that he does not want a government shutdown, and the Administration is working to find a solution with which all sides can agree ...."

Yeah right.

Army Force Management School, Part III

Today's excursion into force management lore brought us to consider the Army Force Generation model, aka ARFORGEN.  Formally defined, the ARFORGEN model is the structured progression of readiness over time, to produce trained, ready, and cohesive units prepared for operational deployment in support of combatant commander and other Army requirements.  It is a cyclic system that allocates resources to units based on unit deployment schedules.  The model has three phases:  RESET, Train/Ready, and Available.  It is an "evolving" process--the instructor kept saying that there are still a lot of imperfections in the system.

Army Force Management School, Part II

Timothy Keating, an MPRI
employee, one of the
AFMS instructors.

Just finished Day 3 of the The Army Force Management Course (AFMC) at Fort Belvoir.  The AFMC is one of the courses of instruction taught at Fort Belvoir's Army Force Management School.

Here's an overview of what we have covered in three days--

General Dempsey on the Army Capstone and Operating Concepts

On April 11, 2011 General Dempsey will succeed General Casey as the Chief of Staff of the Army.

Army Force Management School

Army Force Management School

My turn has finally come to take the four-week Force Management Course at the Army's Force Management School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

What a way to spend an April.  Death by PowerPoint.  Happily, the first two days are in the can.  Not that bad.  Only eighteen more to go.

For the duration, I am quartered in Knadle Hall, a transient billeting facility within walking distance of the school.  It's no Hampton Inn, but it's survivable.