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.

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 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--