Keep The Staff Ride Alive For The 21st Century - Brief Article

Military Police, May, 2000 by James L. Starkey

Ask any mid-career officer what he knows or remembers about staff rides, and the answer is apt to be a passionate response about boredom, hating the Civil War, or less-than-fond memories of his Military Police Captain's Career Course (MPCCC) or Military Police Officer Basic Course (MPOBC). Yet, the United States Army Military Police School (USAMPS) and the Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth receive numerous requests for assistance each year to facilitate and help lead units in the field on staff rides. Every battalion and brigade commander I have served under showed interest in, or actually conducted, a staff ride with his unit. Recently, the Commanding General, TRADOC, instructed all branch schools to include staff rides in as many officer and noncommissioned officer (NCO) courses of instruction as possible. Currently, USAMPS conducts staff rides in its MPCCC, MPOBC, and ANCOC. This article will explain how USAMPS conducts these rides in support of learning current doctrine, tactics, and leadership.

For officers, the Command and Tactics Division, to whom MPCCC and MPOB report, uses the staff ride to develop and train officers in the following areas:

* Analysis and research skills.

* Military information briefing.

* Terrain analysis.

* Weapon capabilities, both modern and vintage.

* Military heritage and the value of espirit de corps.

* Application of the principles of war.

* Tactics.

At the NCO Academy, the above topics are addressed. The NCO Academy's small-group leaders also address the historical and current roles of the NCO in combat. The staff ride helps to enforce the concept of how unique, in terms of leadership, our one-of a-kind NCO corps is. It also broadens the exposure of young NCOs to their role in tactics and doctrine over time. Hopefully, these future 1SGs and CSMs will include the staff ride in their future NCO professional development and not leave it under the idea of "officer business."

The most important learning point that remains is how the field can use this dynamic learning tool correctly. Too many units are taking tours, not staff rides (useful in their own respect), which are not the military professional's tool of choice for the study of military tactics. First, units need to link their current missions to the battle they are about to study in depth. If Gettysburg relates somehow to maneuver and mobility support or area security, then the units must find what parts of the battle they will ride to and how they will bridge the time-doctrine-lessons-learned chasm.

Second, the unit should use the staff-ride event to reinforce or improve existing unit METL or battle tasks, where possible. Items such as the military decision-making process (MDMP), orders process, and oral OPORDS and FRAGOs benefit directly from soldiers analyzing and briefing on past battlefields. Leaders are able to see for themselves the effects of unclear orders or vague intent as they relate to the terrain.

In any Center Army lessons-learned documents, you will notice the pervasive theme of leaders FAILING to use terrain properly. In an era that demands creative and imaginative leaders and trainers, units could reap huge dividends from this training investment. Walking actual battlefields drives home learning points and tactical errors on terrain usage free of cost to human life. This is especially visible in the MPOB course, where most students have yet to attempt to maneuver or lead small units tactically. The staff ride does not replace the field-training exercise (FTX), but supports it as well as other classroom instruction. (Incidentally, the MPOBC still conducts four tactical exercises without troops and a 7-day FTX.)

It is up to us, the remaining regulars, to keep alive the rich traditions and heritage that others have won in war. Some senior leaders hold the opinion that the Army's laissez-faire attitude towards its 225-year-old traditions is shocking and needs to be reversed. Units can use the staff ride to help build on existing unit and Regimental pride, helping to prevent further erosion of our understanding of our past.

When a commander decides that his unit will use a staff ride, it needs to devote at least two days (the bare minimum) to this event. One day should be used for an in-depth analysis of the battle, which serves as the preliminary study culmination. The second day should be devoted to the actual terrain at the battle-field. Travel time, budget, and other events will dictate how much time units will be able to devote. It is a myth, however, that a staff ride will only add speed to an already fast train.

Commanders can link a staff ride to existing reading programs and OPD/NCOPD sessions that are already "locked-in." The more indepth the unit prepares for a staff ride, the more successful the event will be. These sessions should not, and cannot, degenerate into "pain-machine" events only remembered for their trouble. If a unit is too busy to do it right, it shouldn't do it. However, the unit should make sure that the staff ride is replaced by honest training not preempted by another drone-type event.