As one of the most famous battles of Vietnam, the battle of Dong Ap Bia provides a useful case study for the concept of mission command. Infamously known as Hamburger Hill, the high casualties and subsequent abandonment of the mountain caused critics to question the decision of military leaders. As with many battles in Vietnam, the commander, LTC Honeycutt, contended with the enemy while attempting to exert control with incomplete information in jungle-covered mountains. Although he was generally successful in fulfilling the six imperatives of mission command, it does not prove decisive to the U.S. Army’s ultimate victory. LTC Honeycutt’s approach to mission command is both lean and blunt, focused on success in combat.…
For a man who had been in Vietnam and witnessed all the chaos for multiple years, one might think that he would realize his tactics were ill-founded, and that he would check for error and change them to increase effectiveness. This man unfortunately and wholeheartedly believed that more of the same thing would be the best way of going about winning the war. The Tet Offensive was not even enough to open Westmoreland’s eyes. This event consisted of coordinated attacks against many vantage points in South Vietnam, including both military camps and cities. This catastrophe would go on to damage General Westmoreland’s reputation and, furthermore, the public opinion on the war back home (33).…
“Planning is a systematic process in which managers make decisions about future activities and the key goals that the organization will pursue. The necessity of careful environmental scanning has an immediate impact on planning processes” (Reilly, Minnick, and Baack, 2011, sec. 7.2). Making plans for future activities is one of the Army’s key functions; without planning its subordinate commands would deteriorate and lose focus on mission objectives and the quality of work. In the Army, we use the Eight-Step Training Model; for which planning always starts out backwards by starting with the objective and working its way back to day zero. The planning is then broken down into three phases; long term, short-term and near term depending on the size of the organization or unit. I find the planning phase in the Army to be very effective because it is important for employees or soldiers to know what needs to happen in the days ahead. “The design methodology provides a means of approximating complex problems that allows for meaningful action” (Grigsby, 2011, p. 30). Proper use of planning in the Army keeps the employees motivated and goal oriented. When planning in the Army goes wrong, you have Soldiers sitting around waiting on orders, people go unaccounted for, and will eventually negatively affect the other four management functions.…
General William Westmoreland had a responsibility to the people of the United States, the people of South Vietnam and the troops under his command, to lead them to an honorable victory. Instead, General Westmoreland failed to come up with an original strategy to fight the opposing forces and their effective guerrilla warfare. I will be analyzing General Westmoreland’s poor decision to use an ineffective attrition strategy in the Vietnam War and how some people consider him, “the General that lost Vietnam.”(Thompson 2011)…
Tactical planning - A set of procedures for translating broad strategic goals and plans into specific…
During his lecture at Mississippi State, “Withdrawing from Vietnam: How America Left a Long [And Lost] War,” Dr. Gregory Daddis provided an interesting viewpoint of the United States Campaign in Vietnam. Dr. Daddis thesis states that the dysfunctional relationship between military commanders in Vietnam and stateside leadership, was due largely in part to the unascertainable demands of the President back home, and the failure of United States politicians to understand the capabilities of the military overseas.…
Towards the end of the Vietnam War, President Richard M. Nixon’s next step was to ensure that the Vietnamese Forces from the south took full responsibility and control of their country. This whole concept and turning point was known as Vietnamization, leaving a lot of planning and proposals to be conducted due to lack of confidence with the Vietnam Forces. Our role as artillerist at the time were to help and assist the Vietnam forces on Artillery Fires and mold it into an efficient and capable fighting force. On 12 August, 1967 Senior Commanders huddled together and establish that they will emplace a liaison’s within each Vietnam unit so that they can bridge the gap between U.S. artillery forces for fire support and assistance. Some of these…
When the year 1973 came around, the most powerful economic and military force America, were being forced to come to terms with the fact that they had suffered defeat in their war in Vietnam. Despite the vast gulf in financial and military prowess which swung in favour of the Americans, 57,000 of their troops1 had lost their lives or were missing in action2, in a defeat so unanimous that the American armed forces today, use Vietnam as their key example on how not to engage in warfare. The sixteen year period between 1959 to 1975 in which the war took place, is described by the majority, as a prolonged struggle and a war America had no way of winning. ‘However the defeat of a military and industrial superpower,…
The emphasis on firepower and attrition emanated from an organizational structure strongly predisposed to conventional war-fighting approaches. Yet it proved both ineffectual and counterproductive given the unconventional nature of the Vietnam War. The U.S.’s bombing campaigns to try and gain control seemed to back fire as not only were the bombs inaccurate, the North Vietnamese Army continually rebuilt in the bomb’s wake and were undeterred. Our ground troops, who entered the country in 1965, were in unfamiliar territory. They didn’t understand the culture or the Vietnamese language of those they were trying to help and all too often they didn’t understand the reasons they were there risking their lives for a people who didn’t seem want them there in the first…
I have been hired as a consultant for this skilled nursing faculty that is trying to walk their skilled nursing staff through the strategic planning process. And there are several steps that I will take in order to successfully carry out the planning of the strategic plan and guiding their staff through the planning process. I will first have a meeting and introduce myself to the staff, and inform them why I am there. Secondly I will give them a valid definition of a strategic plan, and then begin by process of persuading the staff to give the strategic plan a chance, thirdly will create planning committee with staff member for each department, and the last step will be to begin writing and transition the staff through the strategic plan.…
Of all the Athenian leaders during the time of the Sicily invasion, Nicias possessed the clearest vision and a demonstrated ability to think strategically. He provided a comprehensive interpretation of the problems the Athenians might face. He showed a strategic understanding of the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguous nature of the expedition. Nicias applied critical thinking, evaluated the information that the Egestaeans presented, developed valid assumptions and inferences from Alcibiades’ speech, clarified his concern, and presented his point of view that detailed the implications of the expedition. Once the Athenians made the decision to invade Sicily, Nicias presented a concise strategy detailing the ends, ways, and means that mitigated the risks for possible success. Although the Athenians did not adopt his strategy as a whole, due to internal factors and competing interest, his strategy is a classic example of applying strategic thinking to deal with complex problems.…
References: Adrain, A. L (1997). The Most Important Thing I Know. New York, NY: MJF Books.…
The Vietnam War is referred to as the “longest and most unpopular American War of the 20th century”(Overview), that lasted from 1955 to 1975. In the US, the war began as a result of the U.S. policy of Containment. This policy’s goal was to prevent the spread of communism throughout the world. The Viet Minh is a communist led…
The traditional strategic planning process as informed by NetMBA (2011, online) occurs from top to down and consists of mission, objectives, situation analysis, strategy formulation, implementation and control. However, Hamel’s (1996) “Strategy as Revolution” challenges this viewpoint by stating that strategies have to reflect the viewpoints of employees at all levels in general, and employees from tactical and operational levels in particular.…
“Sayles, Mintzberg, Stewart and Kotter all provide fresh insights and subtleties to the tasks of 'planning*, 'co-ordinating' and 'commanding.”…