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Thread: The Human Dimension

  1. #1
    Small Wars Journal SWJED's Avatar
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    Default The Human Dimension

    Another recurring theme in many of today's discussions was the human dimension of Army operations and the requirements this dimension places on TRADOC to ensure Army requirements are met. As background, please see TRADOC Pamphlet 525-3-7-01, 1 Apr 08: U.S. Army Study of the Human Dimension in the Future 2015-2024.

    Summary. TRADOC Pamphlet (Pam) 525-3-7-01, The U.S. Army Study of the Human Dimension in the Future 2015-2024 is the first of two human dimension documents. It provides the background study and analysis for the follow-on concept, The U.S. Army Concept of the Human Dimension in the Future 2015-2024. This pamphlet is a comprehensive research document outlining the future operational environment and its impact on the triad of the moral, cognitive, and physical components of the human dimension. It addresses as well the impact and considerations of stress, human capital strategies, science and technology, and leadership on the human dimension. This pamphlet contains a series of questions for further study and required capabilities to support the human dimension across the DOTMLPF domains.
    The human dimension comprises the moral, cognitive, and physical components of Soldier and organizational development and performance essential to raise, prepare, and employ the Army in full spectrum operations.
    At times I had a hard time grasping just what the human dimension was and what it wasn't, but that was probably me and how I think about such things. On a break I asked a COL to explain it to me – to break it down into its most basic level – and he did - it's about putting the right soldier, in the right place, at the right time. While that might sound like a simple task, it really isn't in regards to how many define the future operating environment.

    Thoughts?

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    Default Human adaptability will be tested

    The conference spent much of afternoon today discussing a long list of personnel management issues. These included enlisted recruiting, enlistment contracts, managing headcount around deployment schedules, reforms to NCO education, officer education, and more. Several leaders explained the consequences a variety of quotas and timelines were having on personnel management.

    The Army is formulating personnel plans based on assumptions regarding the future operating environment and the combat taskings and headcount that will result from these assumptions. That is prudent planning and a reasonable reaction by leaders held accountable for results.

    But they and everyone else knows that what actually happens will be far different from what they plan for. The need for adaptation is the underlying theme of this conference. Over the next five years the Army’s personnel system, and the personnel themselves, will feel the burden of adaptation when events end up differing substantially from projections.

    -Robert Haddick

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    Council Member Ken White's Avatar
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    Default It's not simple in any environment...

    Quote Originally Posted by SWJED View Post
    Another recurring theme in many of today's discussions was the human dimension of Army operations and the requirements this dimension places on TRADOC to ensure Army requirements are met...to break it down into its most basic level...it's about putting the right soldier, in the right place, at the right time. While that might sound like a simple task, it really isn't in regards to how many define the future operating environment.
    Regardless of the future operating environment -- which we can only guess at -- the ability to put the right soldier, NCO or Officer in the right place at the right time is highly likely to be constrained by Congress who will insist on 'objective criteria,' 'fairness' and 'accountability.' All word that mean different things to different people. The Army wants to put the right person in the right place at the right time; I have no doubt they can do it far better than is now the case although never perfectly. However, I question whether they will be allowed to do so...

    I believe the human adaptability factor is not difficult -- the Troops are capable of far more than we let them do; they are also capable of adapting to chaos with little problem. Institutional adaptability is far more likely to be the issue. Institutions do not do chaos well. When confronted with it, they tend to go into denial and seek a comfort zone -- see the entire US and the Armed Forces in particular during the period 1989-2001.

    That's what this conference is all about -- adapting the institution...

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