The Army Goes Rolling Along

Standards: The Army Goes Rolling Along

Ward A. Thorp, Jr.

BUS610

Prof. Bari Courts

January 17, 2011

Standards: The Army Goes Rolling Along

General Dwight D. Eisenhower stated, “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensible” (Inspirational Quotes: Soldiers, 2010, p. 1). What I believe that Eisenhower meant is that planning is absolutely vital in order for a military operation to succeed but the plans themselves are just paper. I have seen many operations orders throughout my twenty-three year military career that wasn’t worth the paper they were written on. They were confusing because they either had too much or not enough information and the intended audience spent more time trying to decipher the intent than to actually plan for the mission. Even worse are not knowing or assuming the wrong intent and therefore never reaching the commanders goals. On the other hand, I have seen and utilized operations orders that were so well thought out and prepared that there was very little outside research that had to be conducted.

On the 30th of July 2009, the United States Army sent out a message to the entire workforce that stated all Army units will ensure that all Individual Training Records (ITR) on all soldiers are updated in Digital Training Management System (DTMS) no later than 30 September 2009. As of today, the Second Infantry Division has not completed this task most likely due to the high turnover of personnel. The Second Infantry division, since it is headquartered in South Korea which is still in war with North Korea is a one year tour of duty and two years if you bring your family. This means that a soldier that arrives and spends two weeks in processing and two weeks out processing has 11 months left on his tour. If you take away three months for on the job training, that leaves just eight months of work and seven if he takes mid tour leave. The Division Special Troops Battalion (DSTB)...