This monograph examines tactical initiative and the types of information the commander's intent should provide to guide it. initiative became increasingly important beginning in the l8th Century as the dispersed, fast-paced nature of the modern...
This monograph examines why many commanders continue to have problems writing effective commander's intent statements. Doctrine writers reintroduced "Commander's intent" to United States Army doctrine with the 1982 version of FM 100-5, Operations....
The purpose of this monograph is to answer the research question: does the current process for executing mission analysis give commanders the information they need to develop timely, relevant, and constructive commander’s intent and commander’s...
This study investigates U. S. Army doctrine for the commander's intent statement. The inclusion of the commander's intent statement as doctrine is traced from the 1982 version of FM 100-5, Operations, to the present. Current doctrine for the intent...
With the publication of the 1982 FM 100-5 operations, the U.S. Army officially adopted the concept of decentralized operations. Based on the recognition that success in future warfare would demand soldiers and units capable of fighting on a...
This monograph examines the limited success achieved by the U.S. Army in implementing mission oriented command and control. Evidence from the National Training Center (NTC) suggests that there is a problem with intent communication and effective...
Historically, fog and friction have exacerbated the best laid battle plans of even the most intuitive wartime commanders. To mitigate these ever-present elements, the U.S. Army emphasizes the decentralized execution of AirLand Battle. Paramount to...
This monograph examines the origins of the concept of conveying the intentions of the commander to subordinates from its initial appearance in Army doctrine in 1905 until the present day. While many believe they understand the genesis of this...
A new environment, a new paradigm faces United States policy and decision makers. The bipolar world of superpower control and confrontation has been replaced with an unipolar world lead by the United States. A rapid evolution is occurring. A...
This study examines the proposed 1991 CGSOC curriculum to determine if it is structured to educate and train future AirLand battlefield commanders. First, this paper develops a "Command Process Model” and uses theoretical and historical analysis...
The battlefield's rapidly changing environment requires soldiers to make decisions and use initiative to defeat the enemy. This monograph's intent is to explain why training for uncertainty is imperative in cultivating a unit able to adapt to the...
This monograph examines how the U.S. Army can restructure the decision making process to release initiative on the battlefield. Army tactical units execute missions on a chaotic, uncertain, and disorderly battlefield. Leaders' actions are guided by...
Recent joint force thinking has espoused effects-based operations (EBO) as an evolutionary, some say revolutionary, approach to warfare. The 2003 Joint Operations Concepts document states, “The Joint Force uses an effects-based approach.” With...
This study assesses the sufficiency of the current operations order format through an examination of its form and content. First, the study uses current communications and cognitive theory to evaluate the form of the operations order. These...
This monograph argues that the idea of nested concepts is an inviolate principle which will be even more critical on the future battlefield. The primary research question is: will the future battlefield's environment still require nested concepts...
This monograph addresses the continued relevance of airpower’s master tenet in light of advances in technology. The purpose of this monograph is to examine the doctrinal assumptions used to justify centralized control with decentralized...
Gen. Helmuth von Moltke, the Chief of the Prussian General Staff during the Franco-Prussian War, defined Auftragstaktik as the actions a subordinate took in the absence of orders that supported the senior commander's intent. The use of mission...
Congress governs the United States Armed Forces by writing laws for the Department of Defense (DoD) to implement. In 1993, Congress passed a federal law banning homosexuality in the armed forces. The DoD created a policy to implement the law, but...
This study examines how successful the current heavy brigade fire support system is in facilitating the integration of close support indirect fires with maneuver. The research shows that the supply and demand sides of the current heavy brigade fire...
In November, 1950, the United States Army suffered one of its most devastating defeats ever, in the frozen mountains of North Korea at the hands of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. This defeat fundamentally changed the nature of the Korean...