Photo By Sgt. Maj. Daniel Shapiro | The 1st Theater Sustainment Command commanding general and primary staff officer and...... read more read more
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FORT KNOX, Ky. -- 1st Theater Sustainment Command staff directors and noncommissioned officers in charge completed a staff ride to the Civil War battlefield of Perryville, Kentucky, Mar. 29.
Maj. Gen. Michel M. Russell Sr., commanding general of 1st TSC, directed the staff ride to build camaraderie and synergy among the staff, in addition to generating lessons learned from the battle and how they can be applied to current operations in the U.S. Central Command area of operations.
“This is great historical context in terms of mistakes,” Russell said. “There are some good things that they did in consideration of logistics and how they tried to support maneuver… Then we bring it to current day. I want you to look at it in terms of [Diplomatic, Information, Military, and Economic]; so we can get after the four main elements of political power and will. And then, we try to figure out what we do as we apply this downrange. Because we have to do the same exact thing today.”
The Battle of Perryville is a lesser-known battle of the Civil War. It was the last battle fought in Kentucky and had strategic implications for the war as it progressed. The course of events leading up to the battle and the battle itself holds a variety of lessons for leaders and Soldiers ranging from mission command to battlefield logistics.
The battlefield is located approximately 75 miles southeast of Fort Knox. The 1st TSC Religious Support Team, headed by Chaplain (Col.) Douglas Swift, command chaplain, coordinated the event with Bryan Bush, park manager of the Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site.
“Good morning, everyone. This is Bryan Bush, park manager, and historian… The park is actually closed today. He graciously gave up some of his personal time to open [the park] so we could do this,” Swift opened. “He’s going to escort us around to the various places of interest and give a short [synopsis], and you already have your assigned stations where you’ll be able to brief 2-3 minutes on your area of expertise.”
The team thanked Bush for his generosity with a round of applause and gave the floor over to him to begin the discussion.
“Thank you, general, for what you do for our country, and now you’re going to see some of your ancestors before you,” Bush stated.
Bush then detailed the conditions present at the time of the battle for the residents of Kentucky, the status of the Union and Confederate forces, and their leaders. He led the group of First Team officers and NCOs through the battlefield stopping at each important location to describe the events there and then allowing the different staff sections to brief their lessons learned from their staff functions.
“The Army is extremely good at doing the lessons-learned concept. So we come to these and we do this so we can say, ‘hey, back then if a casualty happened, the commander wasn’t getting the feedback or information as timely as we do today,’” said Sgt. Maj. Marshall Rader, sergeant major of the 14th Human Resources Sustainment Center. “Families weren’t getting the notification as timely as they do today because we’ve taken all the lessons we’ve learned and we built into the Army the casualty reporting processes to make sure commanders, leaders and families have the information as fast as possible. That’s why I’m impressed that we get to do these kinds of things. Because that’s where we improve ourselves, and we take these lessons learned and we improve the way we do business on a day-to-day basis.”
The staff section offered insight into the lessons that related to their warfighting functions from casualty assistance to personnel to intelligence to knowledge management. However, deteriorating weather cut the staff ride short a few stops. Before the team left the battlefield, the commanding general closed the session out.
“Take what you learned today and share it with the folks who could not be out here… share the lessons learned, and go back and look at all the science projects I have you do constantly and then add some sanity to it,” Russell said. “Because when you’re in a staff position, you have to ensure the products you develop translate to what the Soldiers do on the ground. Always think that way. Take the plan and give it to the private, the contractor, and DA civilian to see if they can execute it based on the environment we put them in. If they don’t connect, then we did a bad plan. We do planning, we have to make sure it’s the right kind of plan and its executable.”
The staff ride ended with an indoor brown bag lunch and museum tour. During lunch, Bush continued to educate the team about some of the ammunition used during the Civil War and passed around replicas. Then Russell presented Bush with a Certificate of Appreciation and made him an Honorary Logistician on behalf of the command.
Despite the weather, the staff ride was a positive experience for those in attendance.
“I thought the staff ride was very informative, very eye-opening and relevant for what is going on today,” said Lt. Col. Akaninyene Okon, G-5 plans officer.
Due to the positive feedback received, Russell directed that the opportunity to be extended to other staff members in the future.
| Date Taken: | 03.30.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 05.23.2022 09:43 |
| Story ID: | 421269 |
| Location: | FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 45 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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