Reflections on Building Great Engineers

Abstract

Capturing observations has always been part of our military history. Today s engineers are learning historic lessons as our military conducts domestic and overseas contingency operations, and it is imperative that we, as a professional community, capture these lessons for future use. However, the valuable lessons from operational deployments or training exercises often are not captured. Most United States Army engineers appreciate reading a quality after-action report (AAR) before a project or mission. Our Army knows this and has made significant progress in knowledge management. Indeed, it has been more than 22 years since the establishment of the Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL), an organization that has amassed an unequaled body of knowledge for the military. Other Services and most Army branches have followed suit. The 249th Engineer Battalion (Prime Power) hosts a collection of electrical lessons learned under Lion Lessons, an online body of knowledge named in honor of the battalion s nickname, the Black Lions. With nearly 300 members, Lion Lessons is part of the Power and Utilities Operations Professional Forum in the Army s Battle Command Knowledge System. From field expedient AARs to popular online collaborative sites such as www.companycommand.army.mil, the official structures for sharing lessons learned still rely on leaders capturing their thoughts and reflections.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2009
Accession Number
ADA568694

Entities

People

  • Paul B. Olsen

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Disasters
  • Doctrine
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Fuel Cells
  • Generators
  • Governments
  • Knowledge Management
  • Lessons Learned
  • Military History
  • Military Science
  • Personnel Management
  • Solar Panels
  • Training
  • United States

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Military Training and Readiness Simulation
  • Organizational Process Management (OPM).