New to S2, need FM 34-20 and collection management info

[Schmedlap]

There are two sides to that coin.

I have seen two very different JSOTF commanders use UAV assets to observe the operations of a team on the ground. One was an over-caffeinated, nicotine-addicted, micromanaging machine. The other was so laid back that he was actually effective. The former actually used the UAV to inject himself into the operations, actually going so far as to make contact with the team and inform them, "you've got personnel on the rooftops to your east." The latter preferred for the JOC floor to be able to observe operations to have a better idea of how to leverage assets in support of the team. I think the former technique was insane, but that the latter made a lot of sense.

I'm not sure how transparent the JSOTF staff's efforts are to the team, but there was a lot going on in the JOC while a team was doing their work on the ground, and it involved no communication with the team - just observation of their activity and talking to assets in the air. Just off the top of my head, I can recall one mission where an aircraft had no comms with the team, but I was able to watch what they were doing on the screen and, having read the details of the op beforehand, I was able to tell the crew what to do and for how long. Fifteen minutes later, the JTAC came on our net, informing us that he had no contact with the aircraft. I let him know what instructions I had passed to them. His reply was, "that sounds good. Keep that up until (time) or until we call (opsked)." There's a right way and a wrong way.

Speaking from an earlier deployment and from the other end of the camera, I was actually happy to learn, after the fact, that a company-level operation that we did was observed by the Brigade Commander. On that deployment, my impression was that our BDE commander was out of touch and clueless regarding operations occurring more than a kilometer from his palace. Watching via UAV seemed like a good way for him to actually get a sense of what we were doing on a daily basis. It was not an adequate substitute for him coming out to see us with his own eyes, but I don't think that he considered doing that (and I really didn't feel like hosting him), so this seemed like a good happy medium.

[Ken White]

use of assets and lack of micromanagement than there are bad ones. I know that elimination of all bad things will never happen -- but I can hope for more and more good and less and less bad...

I'm too old to also work for it -- you guys will have to do that.