JTF staffs - Letters …

Joint Force Quarterly, Autumn, 2002 by Thomas G. Patterson

To the Editor--The Armed Forces invest a lot of time to train officers who, in turn, then spend years in units to become professionals, Eventually some are assigned to staffs. They might attend staff college before or early in their tours. And as they become proficient as staff officers, they may not remain equally proficient in their combat specialties.

Most staffs function pretty well on a daily basis. But when a crisis arises it may be necessary to partially gut unified and component commands to organize JTF headquarters. This process disrupts the competence of staffs while demanding much from personnel who lack the time to learn and apply joint operation planning and execution system procedures, develop relations to accomplish their tasks, and cope with routine administrative affairs.

Joint Pub 5-0, Doctrine for Planning Joint Operations, states that "principal players need to know what others are doing. All players need to know what is expected of them." JTF members must develop such an appreciation. That may sound like an endorsement of standing joint force headquarters, but they are not the only option. Instead of taking assets from unified commands for headquarters, it may be better to retain such organizations and, in a crisis, put routine duties on hold and refocus existing staffs. In that way relationships remain intact, which preserves organizational efficiency. JTFs do not always communicate effectively with the staffs of combatant commands.

Finally, when establishing a standing joint force headquarters, its staff should come from unified or component commands with a minimum of two years experience.

Thomas G. Patterson

Plan and Policy Directorate

U.S. European Command