A Marine's-Eye View of the Networked Battlefield

Ian Lamont writes "Tyler Boudreau, a Marine veteran of the war in Iraq and a blogger, has written an interesting analysis of the impact of email, IM, and other digital devices upon 'ground-pounders' and their commanders in the field. These innovations were introduced in hopes of increasing situational awareness, rapidly gathering data, analyzing it, organizing it, and then pushing it back out to operators as actionable intelligence. They also provide commanders with the freshest possible information and aid them in their moment-to-moment decision-making. However, Boudreau found that the technologies can lead to micromanagement and deep frustration, trends that he illustrates by describing a shooting incident in al Anbar and its aftermath. He also warns that soldiers can become too dependent upon headquarters for critical decisions, which can lead to dangerous situations when communications get cut off."

Comments

Like with a GPS

[xgr3gx]

If I'm running the GPS in my car, I find myself waiting for it to tell me where to go even if I have a good idea of the directions.
I feel like it cripples my sense of direction when I rely on it too much. I'm sure these combat systems could do the same thing

Re:Vietnam redux?

[smooth wombat]

But while the Infantry School would lecture against micromanagement, I can't say that I saw many of my seniors taking a hands off approach.

We have a quote of the week on our agency's intranet page (which sometimes stays up for two weeks). Earlier this month, the quote was:

If you tell people where to go but not how to get there, you will be amazed at the results. - General George S. Patton, Jr.

Another version of the quote is:

Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.

Regardless, the point still stands. Micromanagement can be a killer both in the private sector as well as the military (though the military version is a bit more serious). Interestingly enough, Erwin Rommel actively pursued the less-is-more command style. He started the process when he first became an officer, wrote about it and refined it over the years. Since Patton was known to read Rommel's books, it is most likely that in addition to his own views on command, Patton learned and applied what Rommel (and others) had written. As any good leader should do.

Based on your comments, it appears there are officers who should also be reading, and heeding, Rommel's words.