Sound Military Decision Part 30

A single journal may be maintained for the commander concerned; or, if so desired, separate journals may be kept, for their respective purposes, by the several princ.i.p.al officers of his staff.

The journal itself and its use are readily adaptable to informal methods of preparation and maintenance. The Journal Form may be prepared hastily, as needed or desired. Where appropriate, the Journal Form may be made up in quant.i.ty by printing, multigraphing, or other practicable methods.

Journal File. The file to support the journal is merely an a.s.sembly of the records (messages, records of oral orders, and the like) from which the journal is compiled. Each item of the file bears a serial number corresponding to that of its entry in the journal. An ordinary spike-file is frequently adequate for safe-keeping of these records while in use. When the journal is closed, the corresponding journal-file is filed with the journal, in accordance with standing instructions or in compliance with any particular disposition directed by the commander concerned or by higher authority.

Work Sheet. The usual form of the work sheet follows the form of the estimate of the situation. A single work sheet may be kept for the commander concerned, or, if so desired, separate work sheets may be maintained, for their respective purposes, by the several princ.i.p.al subdivisions of his staff. If a single work sheet is maintained, entries by the several staff subdivisions may be facilitated by dividing the work sheet among them, provided that the entire doc.u.ment can always be promptly a.s.sembled for use as needed.

The work sheet, while an important official doc.u.ment, is ordinarily informal in nature. The various headings, items, or t.i.tles (other than the main heading) are merely copied, ordinarily, from the usual Estimate Form. An example of a work sheet is as follows (see next page):

WORK SHEET (For Running Estimate of the Situation)

(Organization, staff subdivision, etc.)

From: ..................................

(Date and hour)

To: ....................................

(Date and hour, if pertinent)

Place: .................................

I. Establishment of the Basis for Solution of the Problem.

A. The Appropriate Effect Desired.

(1) Summary of the Situation.

(Note: No other heading would be entered on the first page.)

(2) Recognition of the Incentive.

(Note: No other heading would be entered on the (initial) (second) page.)

(3) Appreciation of the a.s.signed Objective.

(Note: No other heading would be entered on the (initial) (third) page.)

(4) Formulation of the Mission.

(Note: No other heading would be entered on the (initial) (fourth) page.)

B. (Note: This and subsequent headings are entered in the manner indicated as to Section I-A, above.)

The remaining necessary headings and subheadings of the Estimate Form would be entered similarly, in due order, on succeeding pages.

The use of a voluminous work-sheet is facilitated by entering item headings in a narrow column at the left, and by cutting away unused s.p.a.ce below the several headings in such column, so that all the headings (or the more important ones) can be seen at a glance. A person using the work-sheet can then readily find any page desired.

The main heading (top, first page) is filled out in the same manner as for the journal.

The other headings, for subdivisions of the work sheet, are ordinarily transcribed from the usual Estimate Form, according to the needs for the purpose of the particular work sheet. Such needs will vary with circ.u.mstances. As has also been noted, the Estimate Form, itself (Chapter VI), varies with the situation. For these reasons, the work-sheet form is necessarily flexible, and will rarely be prescribed in detail. Reproduction by printing, etc., will not be so frequent as in the case of more rigid forms. The work sheet is authenticated only if it is filed (see below), or if authentication is desired for other reasons. The work sheet is, in fact, as indicated by its name, merely a vehicle to facilitate the performance of important mental work.

When the work sheet has served its purpose, it is usually destroyed.

It is not, ordinarily, a permanent record, since such purpose is served by the journal and its file. When a formal Estimate is made up from the work sheet, such Estimate may serve the purpose of an additional record. If no formal Estimate is made up for a given period and the commander desires the corresponding work sheet to be preserved for record, he may so direct.

Ordinarily, the work sheet is not destroyed or filed (and a new one started) at any specified time. The work sheet is kept current by marking out old entries no longer applicable; by inserting new entries; and by inserting fresh pages when old ones have been filled.

The old pages, unless otherwise desired, may be destroyed.

A separate page of the work sheet is ordinarily used for each item under which entries are to be made. This procedure applies not only to princ.i.p.al headings, but also to subordinate t.i.tles, according to the convenience of the user.

The procedure of devoting a separate page, initially, to each item of the form enables additional pages to be inserted, where needed.

Manifestly, the amount of s.p.a.ce needed for particular items of the form cannot always be foreseen. The entries, for example, under the "Summary of the Situation", in Section I-A of the Estimate Form, may require little s.p.a.ce or a great deal, depending upon the occurrence of events and upon the period of time covered by the particular work sheet. The same considerations are applicable as to other items.

When a work sheet is used as the basis for rendering special reports (e.g., as to intelligence or operations), its form follows that used for such reports. It is, therefore, in essence, merely an outline-form, for entry of applicable data.

Procedure as to Entries. When a report, a plan, a dispatch, or other pertinent item is received, its applicable content may first be entered on the chart (or charts) maintained by the commander (or by his staff). Thereafter the usual procedure would be an entry in the journal, followed by a corresponding entry in the work sheet. The doc.u.ment so received and recorded would then be placed in the journal file. This procedure is subject to proper variation, as desired.

Immediate entry of data on the chart enables the commander and staff to study the implications of the item, without waiting for completion of routine clerical work.

Outgoing messages, instructions, etc., after approval or signature by the commander, are handled by a similar routine. Where applicable, such routine involves appropriate entry on the chart, in the journal, and in the work sheet. The routine of entry is preferably based on a copy (or copies), in order to avoid delay in dispatch.

Staff Organization and Functioning. The commander may desire important doc.u.ments to be handed to him at once, on receipt. He may, of course, call for them at any time. He naturally will not, however, permit any unnecessary delay to occur in the usual routine disposition of such items. The routine exists to a.s.sist him, and its arbitrary disruption, if he has properly defined the essential routine in the first instance, cannot but work to his disadvantage.

Few things are more disturbing to the functioning of a staff than undue eccentricity on the part of the commander or of senior members of the staff. For instance, a personal habit to be rigorously suppressed--a habit not infrequently in evidence, especially under strain of active operations--is that of absent-mindedly pocketing doc.u.ments needed in the work under way. This subject might, but for limitations of s.p.a.ce, be ill.u.s.trated by numerous other examples whose homely character may not safely be permitted to detract from their considered importance to unity of effort.

Where circ.u.mstances permit, it is desirable that incoming and outgoing items be reproduced in quant.i.ty sufficient to supply separate copies for the commander and for the several interested members of his staff.

A competent staff brings to the commander's attention all the items necessary--but only those necessary--for his proper performance of his duties. Inordinate attention by the commander to unnecessary detail cannot but tend to distract his attention from his proper duties.

The importance of smooth and effective functioning of a staff emphasizes the need for an established, though flexible, procedure.

Such procedure, if reasonably standardized, facilitates unity of action, not only within staffs, but also among the several commanders, and their staffs, throughout the chain of command.

The same fundamentals apply as to staff organization. If proper functioning of staffs is generally understood, and if staffs are correctly organized to perform their functions, the basis for their sound organization will become a matter of general understanding. Such organization, so understood, becomes a powerful influence in behalf of unity of effort.

Staff functions--i.e., characteristic activities of staffs--divide fundamentally into two cla.s.sifications. These may be referred to, for convenience of terminology, as "general" and "special".

The latter have to do with the characteristic operations of the command, rather than of the commander; they therefore relate to such matters as routine administration and to the technical aspects of movement, of the use of weapons, and of supply, sanitation, and hospitalization. The administrative, technical, and supply staff, thus broadly considered, may be said to be concerned with special functions relating to the operations of the command.

By contrast, the functions of the commander, as such, have to do with the necessary supervision of these special functions and, more especially, with the important duty of planning for the future employment of the command. The supervisory and planning activities may, for purposes of differentiation from the specialties noted above, be properly described as general functions. They relate more particularly to the duties performed personally by the commander or, where such duties become too onerous for performance by one person, by specifically designated members of his staff.

In our naval service, the higher commanders are provided, where appropriate, with a chief of staff, who coordinates and supervises the work of the entire staff. Provision is also made, where the nature and amount of the work to be done calls for such a.s.signment, for the detail of additional staff officers to perform the important general functions mentioned above. Appropriate provision is also made for staff officers to care for the special functions inherent in the character of the particular command.

The important general functions referred to are those relating to intelligence duties, and to operations. Intelligence duties have to do with the collection of information as to the enemy and the theater of operations, the a.n.a.lysis of this information, its evaluation, its conversion into intelligence by the process of drawing conclusions, i.e., by interpretation, and, finally, its dissemination to the command or to other appropriate destinations (page 161). Intelligence estimates and plans have been discussed previously (Chapters VII and VIII).

Operations, in the sense in which the term is employed in this connection, relate to the strategical or tactical activities of the command, as distinguished from routine functions pertaining to such matters as administration and supply. Operations, therefore, as a term employed in contradistinction to intelligence activities, refer more especially to the performance of the commander's own force, while intelligence functions are oriented more particularly with respect to the activities of the enemy. Operation plans, which may include subsidiary intelligence plans, have been discussed previously (Chapters VII and VIII).

Further details in this connection are touched on hereafter with respect to rendition of reports and estimates.