Do We Practice What We Preach? Recent Exercises and the Operational Art

Abstract : This nongraph explores current U.S. operational level doctrine and exercises conducted over the past four years. The principle research question is to what degree is Airland Battle doctrine being applied at the operational level in recent exercises. Research focuses on what we practice versus what we preach. What we preach includes current doctrine in Army field manuals and the views of a variety of contemporary authors. What we practice is extracted from exercises conducted over the last four years in an attempt to determine the extent of doctrinal application in these exercises. The exercises are from two potential mid- to high-intensity theaters: Europe and korea. Conclusions are that exercises tend to focus on the science of operational warfighting with little application of the art. Recommendation are to develop exercises specifically targeted to the operational commander and his staff by combining field exercises with computer simulations comparable to our tactical level exercise facilities.