A QMN Review - From quiet reflection will come even more effective action: QMN033
Martial Mental Models: The Quartermaster, Monday, 10 June
(Today’s report is a 4 minute read)
BLUF: The Quartermaster's covered a number of transferable military concepts for thinking, planning and executing just in the past few weeks - we've got summaries with links for newcomers today and more to come this week.
Brady here. The Quartermaster Newsletter gained a few new readers last week thanks to Colin Nagy & Noah Brier’s WITI Newsletter. KS, Chris and I appreciate the opportunity to reach a greater audience - and given that we’re just past the midpoint of a 2-month experiment in format and frequency, I thought it'd be a good idea to review everything we've covered so far.
You can breakdown most things we cover along two lines- mental or planning models that an individual can undertake on his own, or practices that govern team behavior. I'll hit most of the major points below with links - the rest we’ll review in a smaller segment throughout the week:
Friction: it's a way of characterizing the cause of so many obstacles that keep plans from being carried out smoothly, or at all. KSA talks about identifying and solving for it in an urban environment and I talk about its early 19th century genesis as an operational concept and how it gave birth to mission command. I’d argue that identifying and working to overcome or use friction has been close to a revolution in military affairs.
The Power of Language: military communications of a few different kinds have the power to compel decisive action quickly and with resolution. KSA describes the power of creeds and oaths to consistently move people toward given actions, and I review how some of the best operation orders and reports were painstakingly brief and direct.
First Steps in Planning: Green Berets start planning by methodically dissecting the true meaning and requirements of the mission and then they assemble a planning approach to fit. They also have a tried and true approach for predicting what their adversary is likely to do that includes considering the battlefield environment first. Any former military intelligence readers out there will recognize this Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield approach and some will be able to complete it in their sleep.
Learning, both personal and organizational: knowing how you learn best is key to effective retention- and seeing it in others is key for Green Berets when training indigenous forces. One very well-written civilian captured this best. Teams in comparison best retain knowledge and skill by developing standard operating procedures (SOPs) and adhering to them in everyday life. Again, a few civilians have explained this better than any Green Beret has - in this case it’s Van Neistat, Tom Sachs and Sam Carpenter.
Mistakes and Bad Decisions: when we don't pay attention and take action when necessary, things go south. KSA describes where the wrong models at the wrong time can get you into trouble and I review how it's humanity’s lot to get lazy in success and pay for it down the road, with Toynbee’s ‘Nemesis in Warfare’. Some good planners have overcome this cycle- at least temporarily.
Time and Attention: Guest host and former Green Beret Chris Erickson describes how he manages time and attention on critical tasks. The Green Beret organizational approach to making sure time is well spent and plans are well made is covered in a modified form of the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP).
Rapport: Sun Tzu gets all the glory when translating military ideas to business ones, but KSA argues that the July 2008 edition of Training Circular 31-73 (Special Forces Advisor Guide) is more applicable to everyday business. I go a bit more in-depth at how and why Green Berets focus on building and maintaining rapport with the forces they’re charged with training.
Frameworks: CPP re-described a few frameworks, went in-depth with CARVER for target prioritization, and I pulled out a few ideas around situational awareness and visualization.
Finally - what’s a Quartermaster? Today’s description (somewhere between logistics professional and supply clerk) has evolved greatly from the first ones (room-arranger for the commander, and then trusted intelligence-gatherer and advance coordinator).
We’ll get our new readers all caught-up with more reviewed points later this week. If anyone’s got anything they’d like to see but don’t yet, please let us know by emailing us at thequartermasternews@gmail.com. (BJM)
INFORMATION OPERATIONS: LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media – An OODA Loop interview with P.W. Singer (4 min) “P. W. Singer and Emerson Brooking tackle the mind‑bending questions that arise when war goes online and the online world goes to war. They explore how ISIS copies the Instagram tactics of Taylor Swift, a former World of Warcraft addict foils war crimes thousands of miles away, internet trolls shape elections, and China uses a smartphone app to police the thoughts of 1.4 billion citizens. What can be kept secret in a world of networks? Does social media expose the truth or bury it? And what role do ordinary people now play in international conflicts?” Social media executives, designers, and consumers would do well to remain cognizant of their - and other platforms - being hijacked by foreign propagandists for influence operations. That said, there are marketing lessons that can be gleaned from the ability to successfully reverse-engineer social influence and apply it to a target audience’s externally observed biases, habits, and engagement styles. (KSA)
BEING DECISIVE ABOUT DEVELOPMENT: The Army's 'Big Six': America Plan to Wipe Out Russia or China In a War (3 min) “The U.S. Army is at a crossroads as the Pentagon is reorienting itself to fight a capable great power opponent after nearly two decades focused on counter-insurgency conflicts. Russia poses a traditional land-power challenge for the U.S. Army with its large mechanized formations threatening the Baltics, as well as formidable long-range ballistic missiles, artillery and surface-to-air missiles. By contrast, a hypothetical conflict with China would focus on control of the sea and airspace over the Pacific Ocean. To remain relevant, the Army would need to deploy long-range anti-ship-capable missiles and helicopters to remote islands, allied nations like Japan and South Korea and even onto the decks of U.S. Navy ships. Almost all the Army’s major land warfare systems entered service in the 1980s or earlier. Five ambitious programs to replace aging armored vehicles, artillery and helicopters consumed $30 billion only to fail spectacularly. Thus, in 2017 the Army formed eight cross-functional teams led by brigadier generals to rapidly cost-efficiently develop a new generation of hardware. These far-reaching modernization initiatives are collectively called the “the Big Six.”” (BJM)
Remarks Complete. Nothing Follows.
KS Anthony (KSA), Chris Papasadero (CPP) & Brady Moore (BJM)