The Staff Ride

The format is approximately 5.5 inches by 8.25 inches. vii, [1], 30, [2] pages. Wraps. Illustrated front cover. Map. Appendices. There is slight wear and soiling to covers. Staff rides place students on an actual piece of terrain, confront them with an operational situation, and stimulate them to reach conclusions or derive lessons from the experience. This work includes an Introduction, Definitions, Purpose and Objectives, Foundation of Staff Riding, The Instructor Team, Site Selection, The Preliminary Study Phase, The Field Study Phase, The Integration Phase, Sources, Training Aids, Logistical Support, Secondary Benefits and Concluding Remarks. Appendixes address Selection of Stands and Additional Assistance. William Glenn Robertson received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in 1975. After a ten-year career in academic institutions in Virginia, New Mexico and Colorado, he joined the faculty of the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1981, where he worked for thirty years. The term staff ride describes three different types of military exercises and examinations, usually conducted on a particular future battlefield or area of operation for the purpose of preliminary reconnaissance, terrain study and tactical preparation. As the Classic Staff Ride, the Leavenworth Staff Ride and the Decision-Forcing Staff Ride have been subjected to modern military scholarly work, the idea and practice of battlefield examination and exploitation has been documented throughout history. As early as 500 years BC, the Chinese general Sun Tzu emphasized the rigorous study of the terrain. Notable military commanders, such as Hannibal, Napoleon or Frederick the Great have regularly studied the terrain and exploited it to its full advantage. The classic staff ride, a direct translation of the German term Stabs-Reise, is a technique made famous by Helmuth von Moltke the Elder in the second half of the nineteenth century. While serving as chief of the Great General Staff of the Prussian Army, Moltke took his subordinates on riding tours of areas where, in the event of war, significant military events, such as battles or the deployment of large numbers of troops were likely to occur. These exercises served the double purpose of training staff officers to appreciate the operational and strategic significance of particular pieces of terrain and informing contingency planning. The term "staff" refers to the fact that participants in these exercises were originally members of the Great General Staff. The Prussian staff ride evolved to an intermediate stage between table-top war games and army maneuvers. In this expanded form of staff rides, the commanding officers and staffs deployed in the field as if at war, but without troops, with 'teams' for both sides. Reconnaissance and movement orders were given to umpires, who decided what and when units would be sighted or encountered, and passed the information back to the commanders and staffs. The exercise allowed the commanders to war game more realistically than on a table top. Critiques would take place at the conclusion of the staff rides. As an example, the Battle of Tannenberg was largely anticipated in one of Alfred von Schlieffen's pre-war staff rides. The Leavenworth staff ride was introduced by Major Eben Swift of the United States Army, while he was serving as assistant commandant of the General Service and Staff School, today's Command and General Staff College, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Like the classic staff ride, the Leavenworth staff ride was originally conducted on horseback. Rather than studying the role that a particular piece of ground might play in a future conflict, the participants in a Leavenworth staff ride studied the ground associated with a battle or campaign that took place at some point in the past. The staff rides conducted by Major Swift were those of the American Civil War. For example, in 1906, Major Swift led a group of twelve studen. …