Friday, July 8, 2022

We Covered This Already

 re: The Staff - Combat, Disaster, Emergency, Whatever

If only there was a way for a few prepared individuals to advise,
assist, and plan for almost any conceivable contingency.
If only...


















If you're thinking a staff of some sort might be important, that wheel has already been invented.

Welcome to the party, pal.

There's even a great free reference pdf when the Army was such a functioning thing, before it went all Social Experimental Diversity Rainbow 69th Intersectional Dildo Brigade. Download it, learn it, live it, love it, and hand it out to people who can profit by doing that as well.

If you're going to need Personnel, you're going to need an S-1.

If you're going to need Intelligence, you're going to need an S-2.

If you're going to need Training for potential Operations, you're going to need an S-3.

If you're going to need Logistical Support, you're going to need an S-4.

If you're going to need to Liaison with TPTB, other groups, and NGOs, you're going to need an S-5.

If you're going to want to Communicate, up, down, and across, and Medical functions, Finance functions, Chaplain functions, Engineering functions, Press/Publicity, etc. you're going to need S-6 and additional support roles.

It scales down, it scales up, and it works flawlessly when used as designed.

[Pro Tip: It's a BUFFET: Take what you want, leave the rest alone. Duh. But certain functions are irreplaceable, and fundamental, since Sun Tzu, or even Og and Thag in a cave planning a raid on a herd of woolly mammoths for the upcoming tribal BBQ. Figure it out.]

We explained this six years ago, because it works, and you're going to need it. It was invented and fleshed out over a century ago, and it's worked up to armies in the tens of millions since the 1940s, at minimum. It works down to the squad level, FFS. How much more utility can you ask for? (Rank amateurs who started studying this stuff professionally 6 years ago are called captains and even early-zone majors now. Get cracking.)

Find the people, plug them in, delegate, supervise, direct, focus, and turn them loose on the problems every single group is ever going to face, for any given problem, forever.

The sooner you learn it, the sooner you can use it.

And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interestingly enough, The James Caan (All star cast actually), film "A Bridge Too Far" discussed in your Memorial post, highlights good and poor staff work. Put capable people into these roles and not "Yes" men.

Allen said...

as a side note..S2 Underground is quite good...

https://www.youtube.com/c/S2Underground

Robin Datta said...

FM 101-5 was superseded by How to get Afghan goatherd sandal to one's butt.

McChuck said...

And don't forget, kids, that these functions can all be divided among separate groups of people who don't know each other. But it's all pointless without "command" and "action". Don't forget the utility of "agitprop".

John Wilder said...

Excellent summary . . . and delegation (you mentioned) is often underappreciated.