Training or Doctrine, Which is More Important?

LTG Moore, earlier this year,
at West Point
(Wikipedia)

And what would Hal Moore say about that?

Today I discovered this blog: Steven Pressfield Online.  I came across it quite by accident during the course of my routine internet research (and promptly added it to my blog list).  What came up was a post on Mr. Pressfield's blog about an interview he had conducted with retired Army lieutenant general, Harold G. "Hal" Moore, Jr. General Moore, as a young lieutenant colonel, commanded the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Brigade, 7th Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of Ia Drang in 1955 during the Vietnam War.  Of course, as an admirer of General Moore (I read the book, "We Were Soldiers Once .... And Young," and watched the move by the same name--twice), I read Mr. Pressfield's post in its entirety.

What prompted me to share this discovery here is the following passage:

Richlands, North Carolina 28574

When I was a boy, I spent part of each summer with my grandparents.  They lived out in the country, we used to  say, in a little one-story white house on an old, two-lane road that connected NC Highway 24 with US Highway 258, in a community known as Haw Branch.  The place was 20 miles or so from Jacksonville, in one direction, and about 30 miles from Kinston, going the other way.  The nearest town was Richlands. At the junction of that two-lane road and US Highway 258, there was a sign with an arrow pointing south, indicating that Richlands lay five miles in that direction.  Back then, all these roads were flanked by tobacco fields, dense forests, the odd house or two, tobacco barns, and more tobacco fields.

Aurora Gene

Rory in hospital pink

Granddaughter number one has entered the world!  Aurora Gene Tappendick was born at 5:05 pm, pacific time, June 27, 2010, at the Madigan Army Medical Center on Fort Lewis, Washington.  "Rory," as she is already being called, weighed in at seven pounds and nine ounces and measured nineteen and three-quarters inches.  Mother and baby are doing fine.  Rory's dad, SPC Gary Tappendick, is currently serving on his second tour of duty in Iraq.

Mr. Sam, the Family Watch Dog

The Road Not Taken

A favorite of mine, and of many, by Robert Frost (1874-1963).

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, 

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveller, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference

LandWarNet 2010, Part I

AFCEA logo

Each year, the Army's chief information officer, known as the CIO/G-6 because he is also a member of the Army staff, partners with the Armed Forces Communications-Electronics Association (AFCEA) to stage a forum concerning LandWarNet, the Army's portion of the military's global information grid.  It is a premier forum of its kind, bringing together key government and industry leaders---and interested parties, like me (I am in industry, but I'm not a leader, at least not according to the leaders)---to openly communicate the latest in commercial best business practices and government implementations of commercial solutions for it communications and information networking requirements.

This year's conference will be in Tampa, Florida.  Its theme will be:  LandWarNet: Providing Global Cyber Dominance to Joint/Combined Commanders.

A Case of Poor Judgment

The recent flap over General Stanley A. McChrystal, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, and the subject of a hit piece in Rolling Stone magazine has led me to one inescapable conclusion ... that the general did indeed exercise poor judgment --- in 2008 when he voted for Barack Hussein Obama.

Some Things I Learned this Week

Recent experiences are proving to me, once again, that one is never too old to learn.

335th Signal Command (Theater)

"Ready Lightning,"
335th Signal Command Logo 

Earlier in the week I was part of a team of doctrine writers that visited the 335th Signal Command (Theater) at its East Point, Georgia headquarters.

What is Military Doctrine?

What is Doctrine?

Joint Publication 1-02, the DOD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, defines doctrine as the fundamental principles by which the military forces or elements thereof guide their actions in support of national objectives.  It is authoritative but requires judgment in application.

Lawmakers want fewer contractors doing training

If you're scratching your head after reading this Army Times article, you're not the only one.  Lawmakers want fewer contractors doing training - Army News, news from Iraq, - Army Times.

"Lawmakers want fewer contractors doing training," shouts the headline.  Plainly, someone in the upper echelons of the the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), or the Army, or in the Pentagon, or in Congress, is shouting fire.  Only there is no fire.  Not a single measurable, identifiable problem was described in the article.

Only perceptions.  For contractors are doing a lot of jobs that government normally does.  And in the current climate in Washington, this is bad.

The Star Spangled Banner Lyrics By Francis Scott Key 1814

By Francis Scott Key, 1814

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Service Contracts and the National Defense Authorization

This is a repost, revised, from an older Blog.  It is closely related to an earlier post on contractors working within the government's work sites.

The National Defense Authorization (NDA), an annual congressional product, has sections that pertain to government contracting.  The last version to make significant changes to government service contracting was the 2008 NDA.

The Capability Brief

Reposted from an older blog.

It is common for contractors to provide capability briefings to government agencies who may at some point require the type of services these contractors can provide. This is a good business practice and it is beneficial to both parties, to the contractor, but especially to the government.

For the government, capability briefings are part its market research. Good market research leads to a good acquisition plan. A good acquisition plan leads to a precise work statement (the guts of an RFP). And a precise work statement makes it a lot easier to keep the contractor on track during the period of performance. Not only that, but a clear, concise performance work statement resulting from thorough market research and acquisition planning tends to ensure that the government actually gets what it's contracting for. That doctrine holds true whether contracting for product development or for services.

Especially for services.

Contractors Working on a Government Site with Government Furnished Property

Reposted from an older blog.

Emphasis of late is on weeding out service contracts.  In TRADOC, requiring activities are filling out detailed worksheets for general officer or SES approval before a requirements packet may go forward to the contracting activity for action.  These worksheets, in part designed as questionnaires, proble for yes or no answers in reference to FAR prohibitions against unauthorized personal services contracts as well as the outsourcing of inherently governmental functions.

Just to make sure, it seems, that no contractor gets away with anything, one of TRADOC's worksheets zeros in on what FAR 7.5 defines as "functions generally not considered to be inherently governmental functions."  These are "certain services and actions that are not considered to be inherently governmental functions [but] may approach being in that category because of the nature of the function, the manner in which the contractor performs the contract, or the manner in which the Government administers contractor performance."  In TRADOC's language, they are functions that are "closely related to inherently governmental functions."

The FAR Side of Government Contracting

Reposted from an older blog.

The entire edifice of government contracting rests upon the foundation of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, the FAR.

The Passing of Coach John Wooden

John Wooden has passed away and that is truly sad news. For he was a very good and decent man and those are few and far between in the world of sports today.

Signal Support to Army Cyberspace Operations, Part II

The new Army command responsible for cyberspace operations, US Army Forces Cyber Command, or ARFORCYBER, will be formally activated in October of this year. It will be the Army's piece of the larger Department of Defense command, US Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM), activated just last month under the command of General Keith Alexander. In doctrinal terms, ARFORCYBER will serve as the Army Service component command to USCYBERCOM.

Coincident with the activation of this new Army command, the Army is revising it's capstone doctrinal manual, FM 3-0 Operations, published by the Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth. Together, these two events have the potential of making a dramatic impact upon the US Army Signal Corps.

Spurgeon's Defense of Calvinism

Mr. Spurgeon at his desk

I reproduce this in full for a couple of reasons. First, it is, for its length, the best written defense of the doctrines of grace I've ever read.  My second reason is that this is what I believe.

"The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach to-day, or else be false to my conscience and my God. I cannot shape the truth; I know of no such thing as paring off the rough edges of a doctrine. John Knox's gospel is my gospel. That which thundered through Scotland must thunder through England again."—C. H. Spurgeon

Signal Support to Army Cyberspace Operations

As the lead author of FM 6-02 Signal Support to Army Operations, the Signal Regiment's keystone doctrinal manual, it seems clear that, sooner or later, there will be a requirement to set forth in signal doctrine the tenets of signal support to Army operations in the cyberspace domain. Without a doubt, the primary driver behind this inevitable requirement is the activation of an Army Service Component Command subordinate to the recently established joint sub-unified command, US Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM).

Bacon Tree

Hat tip to my friend, Cy.

Two Mexicans are stuck in the desert after crossing into the United States, wandering aimlessly and starving. They are about to just lie down and wait for death, when all of a sudden Luis says.........