Calling All Stars!

Brig. Gen. Charles Flynn (U.S. Army Photo)

This photo captures a rare moment in today's Army, a general officer talking seriously to a serious crowd about Army doctrine.  Brigadier General Charles Flynn, acting commander of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth holds forth on the just released Army Doctrine Publication 3-0, Unified Land Operations, at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) conference in Washington, D.C.  BG Flynn has been talking doctrine at the conference for three days straight, so this wasn't just a photo op.

I was a doctrine writer for four years.  Brig. Gen. Flynn has talked more about doctrine to more people in the past three days than I heard from any group of ten general officers since I started learning about doctrine back in 2007.

Part of the reason for the huge backlog in doctrine development, cited recently by the TRADOC commander, General Robert Cone (here) is because general officers aren't following Brig. Gen. Flynn's example.  They are not getting out in front of the public and they are not talking to their commands about Army doctrine.  As a result, the unintended message sent is that doctrine is not all that important.  If something's not important it's very easy to build up a 436-year back-log in developing whatever it is -- which, in this case, is the “Fundamental principles by which the military forces or elements thereof guide their actions in support of national objectives.”

Visit the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center Facebook page and you will more photos like this one and video footage of Brig. Gen. Flynn and others talking about some really importing, cutting edge stuff, things like:

• Doctrine 2015.
• Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications.
• Mobile Applications.
• The Training Brain.

And a lot more.

The Army and Emerging Technology, Part II -- Military Apps

http://tonyhowardsblog.blogspot.com/  

TRADOC Commander Drops a Little Doctrine Factoid

In a recent Army Times article, General Robert Cone, commanding general of the U.S. Army's Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), told his audience what to expect in the near future as the Army begins to transform again.  "Expect a lot of training," he said, "in leadership principles, the profession of arms, autonomous squad operations, combined arms maneuver, and wide-area security."  Elaborating a bit, the general explained--

"What is needed are training programs that amplify the complexity and sophistication of combat, he said. Cone pointed to his time as the “head lessons-learned dude” early in the Iraq war. He described how soldiers arrived trained for major combat operations, but didn’t get a lot of help from doctrine when the mission transitioned to counterinsurgency. Soldiers on the ground responded by forming their own solutions .... The challenge is to ensure the same evolution that takes place on the battlefield — birthed by necessity in the most demanding of circumstances — continues in training."

But what really caught my eye was a comment General Cone made concerning doctrine.  He cited "a backlog of 436 man-years in doctrine development, according to a Sept. 21 Government Accountability Office report."  That includes assessment, research, writing, editing, and publication.  A 436 may-year chasm!  Stating the issue slightly differently, the general said that "only 37 percent of the [Army's] 447 doctrinal publications are current.

In terms of signal doctrine, my estimate is that doctrinal publication currency is running about half of the Army-wide percentage.


http://tonyhowardsblog.blogspot.com/

The Army and Emerging Technology, Part I -- Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications

Crest-fallen

WARNING:  use of these products
may be hazardous to your health

If you've been using Crest products for your dental hygiene, I recommend that you stop, now.  Here's why.

President Bush Speaking at Flight 93 Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11

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The Road Less Traveled by, Again

A favorite of mine, and of many, by Robert Frost (1874-1963).  The odd thing about it is that, while the story seems to describe a one-time event, it is really something that occurs over and over again ... at least it has seemed that way to me.

Way leads on to way ... always.

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.