The Staff Ride

Staff rides represent a unique and persuasive method of conveying the lessons of the past to the present-day Army leadership for current application. Properly conducted, these exercises bring to life, on the very terrain where historic encounters took place, examples, applicable today as in the past, of leadership, tactics and strategy, communications, use of terrain, and, above all, the psychology of men in battle. This historical study, particularly with personal reconnaissance, offers valuable opportunities to develop professional leadership and the capacity for effective use of combined arms on the air-land battlefield. Take Gettysburg, for example. The resolution, initiative, and courage of Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of the 20th Maine reflect valuable principles for study by today's leaders. These leadership principles transcend technological advances and have no historical bounds, no binding parameters of geography and time. After a long hiatus, staff rides have again found their place as an accepted part of professional leadership development, be it at the Army War College, the Command and General Staff College, or a battalion in the Seventh Army. We welcome "The Staff Ride" as an important new Army publication. The wisdom contained within its pages will provide appropriate guidance for those of us who want to utilize the staff ride to enhance the professionalism of the Army. Our turn-of-the-century staff rides stressed those ''elements still important in battle . . . leadership and the psychology of men in combat.'' The participant in a properly conceived and conducted historical staff ride will be rewarded by an enhanced understanding of those key elements and of the essential fact that battles are not systematic, logical undertakings but rather activities of men with all their frailties and strengths.