Retooling the Artilleryman

[Rob Thornton]

Steve, good point - the targeting cycle has been around for a long time - since when people had to make choices about what (and how) to attack/influence, where and when to do it, again with how best given resources, and then if they were successful enough not to have to go after it again. I think that has been some of the unspoken thinking - we've been doing EBO stuff for a long time - we just did not need to obfuscate it with seemingly complex processes. I don't mind that we've written down how we might think about it, but the problem with doing so is that if you put it down into a Joint doctrine there is enough disparity and culture generated by the means and ways of doing it that it can create some real arguments as to how it plays out.

The other thing I'd say is that it also gets at something Steve Blair wrote me the other day about the dichotomy in war - "Everything in war is very simple but the simplest thing is difficult - dead Prussian theorist." There is allot of friction that goes into D3A as it plays out on the ground, not the least of which are the unintended consequences generated from action in a complex and interactive environment charged with fog, friction and chance. I think that is the reason that as a mantra you'll find "Decide-Detect-Deliver-Assess" more culturally acceptable in the USAF and USN then the USA. That is not to slight our other services, but it does recognize that there are some unique conditions in which ground forces, air forces, and naval forces predominately operate in.

Best Regards, Rob

[slapout9]

Hi Rob, I agree about the friction part. Friction is most likley to reveal itself on the ground IMO. It is not something that the AF or USN would see or have to deal with like the Army would. From their world friction is almost none exsistant... fly a plane..drop bomb....go home...check if you hit it. Meanwhile the army sees that there is a ton of rubble blocking a road so a food shipment can't get through or an ambulance or whatever. The Army has to deal with that right now. "The Remore Control Services" just kind of wonder what the problem is. The final effect is best understood from a "Ground Assessment" before you start the cycle over again. Again just my opinion.