The Army's Strategic Failure to Train Its Staffs on Design

Abstract

The U.S. Army has fought the vast majority of its conflicts, including the current Global War on Terrorism, in low intensity environments. Why then, even with this vast of experience, is the United States Army still struggling to train its staffs in Design? Even after seven years of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Army has failed to establish a base line training program across all branches to instruct its officers in the fundamentals of design and planning. This SRP begins with an analysis of how this lack of training is impacting the current battlefield. This discussion is based on firsthand experience and peer accounts of our struggle to train staffs on design while simultaneously conducted combat operations. The paper reviews the Army's current school curriculums to determine whether they are now adjusting to fix this strategic void. The Army must establish a creditable training program to train its commanders, who are responsible for leading their staffs and training their staff officers, who themselves have the burden of building and executing the commander's vision. It closes with recommendations on where and how the Army should be training its future commanders and staff officers on the fundamentals of Design.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2010
Accession Number
ADA518126

Entities

People

  • John W. King Ii

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Army Training
  • Civil Affairs
  • Curriculum
  • Department Of Defense
  • Deployment
  • Doctrine
  • Education
  • Leadership Training
  • Military Education
  • Military Science
  • Military Training
  • Schools
  • Students
  • Training
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.