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FacebookIII Corps staff ride: Mission Command and its relevance at the Battle of Vicksburg
May 17, 2012 | Editorial
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DeliciousModern Army leaders need to understand history. It’s not just a question of academics for
us. There are enduring lessons to be gleaned from our past. Lessons that can help us meet the challenges of our modern missions today.
The III Corps staff and separate brigade commanders participated in a team-building staff ride to Vicksburg, Miss., from May 7-Friday to examine arguably the most decisive battle of the Civil War.
This staff ride provided the III Corps staff perspective on the command challenges facing the likes of Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Rear Adm. David D. Porter, Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton, and Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman. Through the telescope of today’s doctrine, the III Corps staff studied the decisions these men made as they employed their version of mission command and commander’s intent.
Mission command, as a warfighting function, integrates those activities enabling commanders to balance the art of command and the science of control. This fundamental philosophy of command places people, not technology or systems, at the center. Under this philosophy, commanders provide guidance to drive the operations process through their activities of understand, visualize, describe, direct, lead, and assess.
The purpose of the staff ride is to encourage learning in our Profession of Arms by providing a venue in which III Corp staff officers and subordinate commanders can better understand their role in Unified Land Operations (ULO) and prepare for future deployments. The discussion and learning for the Vicksburg staff ride was facilitated by Dr. Curtis King and Kevin Kennedy of the Combat Studies Institute (CSI). They instruct field-grade officers at Intermediate Level Education (ILE) at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Both men were subject-matter experts on the battle and were able to provide historical context through group discussion on Civil War-era tactics and operations. They encouraged relevant dialogue by linking to the Army’s new doctrine of Unified Land Operations. King and Kennedy emphasized the tenants of mission command through a “hands-on approach of “seeing the terrain,” “seeing the enemy,” and “seeing yourself” by guiding the III Corps staff from each phase of the battle, culminating in the Siege of Vicksburg.
Each staff officer or commander was given the profile of a key leader of either Union or Confederate Army to study and become a subject-matter expert on his role in the Campaign for Vicksburg. Additionally, participants read “Vicksburg is the Key” by William Shea and Terrence Winschell. This book provided a detailed overview of the campaign. The staff, in turn, gained knowledge of how Union and Confederate commanders exercised the science of control through the issuing of guidance and mission-type orders. In doing so and through the development of trust, they developed teams, within their own organizations.
The Vicksburg staff ride provided the III Corps staff and separate MSC commanders the opportunity to “see themselves” through the analysis of decisions made by key decision-makers of the Vicksburg Campaign. An understanding of this battle is relevant to today’s train-up for the upcoming III Corps Warfighter in June 2012. Only through shared understanding, team-oriented efforts, and mutual trust can a staff provide the best assessments to support the decisions of the Commander and future deployments in support of combat operations.
us. There are enduring lessons to be gleaned from our past. Lessons that can help us meet the challenges of our modern missions today.
The III Corps staff and separate brigade commanders participated in a team-building staff ride to Vicksburg, Miss., from May 7-Friday to examine arguably the most decisive battle of the Civil War.
This staff ride provided the III Corps staff perspective on the command challenges facing the likes of Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Rear Adm. David D. Porter, Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton, and Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman. Through the telescope of today’s doctrine, the III Corps staff studied the decisions these men made as they employed their version of mission command and commander’s intent.
Mission command, as a warfighting function, integrates those activities enabling commanders to balance the art of command and the science of control. This fundamental philosophy of command places people, not technology or systems, at the center. Under this philosophy, commanders provide guidance to drive the operations process through their activities of understand, visualize, describe, direct, lead, and assess.
The purpose of the staff ride is to encourage learning in our Profession of Arms by providing a venue in which III Corp staff officers and subordinate commanders can better understand their role in Unified Land Operations (ULO) and prepare for future deployments. The discussion and learning for the Vicksburg staff ride was facilitated by Dr. Curtis King and Kevin Kennedy of the Combat Studies Institute (CSI). They instruct field-grade officers at Intermediate Level Education (ILE) at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Both men were subject-matter experts on the battle and were able to provide historical context through group discussion on Civil War-era tactics and operations. They encouraged relevant dialogue by linking to the Army’s new doctrine of Unified Land Operations. King and Kennedy emphasized the tenants of mission command through a “hands-on approach of “seeing the terrain,” “seeing the enemy,” and “seeing yourself” by guiding the III Corps staff from each phase of the battle, culminating in the Siege of Vicksburg.
Each staff officer or commander was given the profile of a key leader of either Union or Confederate Army to study and become a subject-matter expert on his role in the Campaign for Vicksburg. Additionally, participants read “Vicksburg is the Key” by William Shea and Terrence Winschell. This book provided a detailed overview of the campaign. The staff, in turn, gained knowledge of how Union and Confederate commanders exercised the science of control through the issuing of guidance and mission-type orders. In doing so and through the development of trust, they developed teams, within their own organizations.
The Vicksburg staff ride provided the III Corps staff and separate MSC commanders the opportunity to “see themselves” through the analysis of decisions made by key decision-makers of the Vicksburg Campaign. An understanding of this battle is relevant to today’s train-up for the upcoming III Corps Warfighter in June 2012. Only through shared understanding, team-oriented efforts, and mutual trust can a staff provide the best assessments to support the decisions of the Commander and future deployments in support of combat operations.
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