Operational Art Thinking - US Army Campaign Design - Case Study Example

Operational Art in campaign planning for OIF in respect to Ends, Means, Ways, and Risk as well as Art and Science Introduction: The U.S Army commanders Appreciation and the campaign design (CACD) is one of the cognitive models that is aimed to be used by commanders who are charged with coming up with design, plan and execution of the military complaint (Author 24). It was built for duration of four years as a result of series of operational-level seminars, strategies and war-games. The CACD proposes a defined technique for commanders to develop a shared understanding of some complex operational problems within their commands as well as designing a broad approach for trying to resolve problems that links actions to strategic aims. For instance, Operational IRAQUI FREEDOM (OIF) is likely to have war aspect among people as a result of the goal being aimed at establishing political and social conditions. Due to complexity of today’s operational environment, it is necessary that a different approach be used in solving such problems. Therefore, it is a requirement that the commander directly participate in an inductive heavy reasoning process up front. Once this process is put in place, it must create a well-framed and an associated campaign design of a better solution that can be handed off to a more deductive analysis procedure which is executed by those staffs that are under the directions of the commander, which intern gives executable plans as well as orders for implementation. Campaign design and plan: For any campaign design, it must account for achieving the strategic aims allocated to the organization, improving any prospects for enduring stability referred to as a self-regulating solution to the underlying strategic problem. This includes: transition from civilian control to the international control, transition from military civilian control and then hand over from international interest to the indigenous control. The campaign design must give sufficient direction to subordinate commander, staff and parallel efforts in order to allow the begin supporting operational plans; develop the campaign plan and parallel strategies to accomplish the designated strategic aims (Author 28). At the same time guidance to campaign design must be able to offer an account of the entire approach in trying to achieve campaign objectives. On the other hand, the campaign plan has to be broad and conceptual. It must be able to explain the problem that needs to be solved as well as the campaign framework design. Therefore, it is essential to make sure that the planning horizon of the campaign be extended to the end of the campaign. This makes it a requirement that all the lower operational and tactical directives must shell within the design of the underlying campaign plan. The task must drive a list of available resources and capabilities for each operation in the campaign and ready to indicate whenever they are required. The two compelling reasons that drive the preference for a greater and lesser emphasis on the conceptual approach where both of them are driven from temporal dimension of the typical campaign are: First, is the addition of a great detail for operation not scheduled to commence within the near terms is a wasted effort as the precise starting conditions are almost impossible to determine in advance. Secondly, it is always the staffs of the campaigning unit that are focused on working out very tactical detail for a distant operation. It is very likely that the intellectual effort is destructed from the campaign design that is far more important to do well. The design has to clarify the link between operational goals, tactical objectives, & strategic aims & clearly define the range of acceptable outcomes. In addition, it explain the relationship between operational which constitutes the campaign & help in arranging operations over time. Operational art analysis: In the past, trying to deal with complexity was carried out by admirals and generals, usually performed by the strategic leaders then downwards to the commanders of the theater of the entire operation in the campaign. But as at today, the commanders who are at the lower level have to master such skills so as to be able to execute their services. For instance, one of the recent experiences of Colonel Sean McFarland, the 1st Armed Division and commander of the 1st Brigade, whereby, in June 2006, Colonel McFarland was commanded and given broad guidance from Tal Afar in the northern Iraq to Ramadan in the West was ordered to determine how to forget the relationship that existed with the resident, and instead take the city back from the insurgent without necessarily launching a general assault (Author 32). This is an example of operational art where it was his responsibility to share the information he understood about the problem with his superiors, rather than the other way round. In normal circumstances, the design process focuses on learning about the unfamiliar problem and even exploiting that understanding in order to create a broad approach in solving the problem. The military planners usually perform the cognitive duties of both the engineers as well as those of the designers. Therefore, the application of operational art in solving any complex problems consists of more than just the cognitive elements of design. A planning process that is commonly used today does assume that there always exist an optimal solution and an appropriate solution can easily be obtained by applying an established rule and technique by the professional body itself. Strategy is used to refer to the art and science of employing and developing instruments of national power in an integrated and synchronized fashion in order to defend the state attention. Its clear that the situation confronting the content and strategic leaders is very unique. Considering the fact that strategic problems are always ill-structured, any template used previously can not be re-used. Therefore, the Ways Means Risk and Ends of the strategy must be crafted for each case. Conclusion: Due to the persuasive nature and ambiguity associated with the complex problem operation, it may hinder the commander in identifying the problem he must solve. Therefore, it is important that he understand the problem and visualize it. In order to visualize what has to be done, the commander has to develop a comprehensive understanding of the existing situation within which the subordinate organization will operate. Problem formulation establishes an initial about a certain characters of adverse, friendly and wide environmental factors that defines the existing situation. It also explores institutional histories, culture narratives, properties as well as strategic trends so as to assume a general structure of factors as well as their relationships. The hypothesis explains the art of any possible warms, what might be missing and anticipate how the solution to the problem might evolve as operations are being executed. In addition, problem framing helps the commander’s discourse with his superiors in defining the problem as well as expectations concerning its resolution clearly. For an effective application of military power, it is necessary to understand the relationship between political leadership of that state and the existing leaders of the armed force. This will enable coordination of policies as well as use of power to reinforce it. A mutual understanding of the problem and its relevant context empowers all leaders at every level to be able to adopt an efficient operation towards the End. Such understanding is the key for unity of effort at all levels of command and even across every instrument of power in the state. This is typically reliant on the period of the campaign which makes it possible for the strategic aim to change at the time of execution, in most cases, in response to emerging conditions. Even if such conditions do not change the strategic aims, they may only create an entire new situation which is different from the one the commander had originally formed. It is always expected that such change will occur in a complex adaptive system. The complexity of the situation as well as the duration of the campaign definitely makes learning and adapting very essential in achieving the operational goals (Author 54). Campaigns are very important in confronting any ill-structured problems that may challenge complete understanding and through knowledge. Thus, the campaigning commander has to continually act so as to learn more. This is possible since actions must always achieve objectives other than just improving commander’s appreciation of the existing situation. Reference: Author, The evolution of operational art: from the Napoleon to the present. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.  Read More