Quote Originally Posted by SWJED View Post
As an aside, I wrote a "pocket handbook" for the Marine Corps in 1999 - The Urban Generic Information Requirements Handbook (now called Intelligence vice Information). I took great pains to cite all works and all were removed when edited and to print. I have to say I agreed with that decision for several reasons.

1) The handbook was / is a field-ready guide - a check list to determine information gaps, a quick reference to request information and a baseline support tool for forward deployed units. As such the information contained in the handbook was the heart and soul - citations would have added clutter to the essential elements of the document.

2) Deployed units don't exactly have the time or resources to data-mine citations. Again, the essential elements of information are the important items - the who, what, when, where and why - up front and brief.

3) Documents like the UGIRH were designed to fit into a cargo pocket - as such my footnotes would have added another 15-20 (guesstimate here) pages to a document of this size. Clutter, a much larger document and a significant cost for printing when you are talking thousands of copies.

Just my 2-cents on a related issue.

I think you've touched on one the key issues on 3-24. During the big prep session at Leavenworth in February 2005, there were lots of debate over who the audience was. Was it senior NCOs, junior officers who had to go out and do counterinsurgency, or was it the PME system, strategic planners, and senior leaders? Ultimately, the authors tried to address both audiences. And, like any compromise, it ended up not fully satisfying either.

I can see where the conceptual part intended for PME, planners, and senior leaders should be more rigorous in its documentation. Probably it should have been two separate manuals.

Incidentally, I had the same reaction a few years ago when asked to chop on a draft of the "new" Small Wars Manual. I said I couldn't figure out who the audience was since--in stark contrast to the original one--it seemed more appropriate for use in a graduate seminar than to be read by a grizzled gunny while on the boat to some tropical hotspot. I was particularly upset that they took out the guidance on how to load a pack mule.