The Modern Louisiana Maneuvers - US Army Center Of Military History

lMsg, from HQDA, DACS-ZA, 091415Z March
1992, subject: Louisiana Maneuvers 1994, Personal For
GEN Galvin, CINCEUR; GEN Saint, CINCUSAREUR;
GEN RisCassi, Cdr USAEIGHT; GEN Burba, Cdr
FORSCOM; GEN Stiner, CINCSOC; GEN Joulwan,
CINCSO; GEN Franks, Cdr TRADOC; GEN Ross, Cdr
AMC; LTG Corns, Cdr USARPAC; GEN Reimer, VCSA;
LT G Owens, DCSINT; LT G Peay, DCSOPS; LT G
Salomon, DCSLOG; LTG Hilmes, DISC4; MG Carney,
DCSPER; from GEN Sullivan, CSA; para. 1. Document
is at Appendix D. See also Sullivan's remarks to the
Training and Doctrine Command DESERT STORM
Conference, Ft. Monroe, Virginia, 2 March 1992. Both
documents are in Gordon R. Sullivan, The Collected
Wo rks of the Thirty-second Chief of Staff, United States
Army: Gordon R. Sullivan, General, United States Army,
Chief of Staff, June 1991-June 1995, ed. Jerry R. Bolzak
(Washington, D.C.: U.S Army Center of Military History,
1996) (hereafter cited as Sullivan, Collected Works),
pp 103-105 and 44-45, respectively
2Sullivan later observed, "For better or for worse,
we were not unaware of the challenges we faced and
we tried to balance today with tomorrow. It is important
our successors know we knew we were faced with
a number of challenges and we tried hard to control
our own destiny I think it is important for them to
know we were not simply along for the ride." Letter,
GEN (Ret.) Gordon R. Sullivan to BG John W.
Mountcastle, Chief of Military History, 1 July 1998.
Historian's files.
3Particularly useful for the several precursor exercises
in 1938-1940 is Jean R. Moenk, A History of Large­
Scale Army Maneuvers in the United States, 1935-1964
(Fort Monroe, VA : Historical Branch, Office of the
Deputy Chief of Staff for Military Operations and Reserve
Forces, 1969), pp. 23-70. See also Christopher
R. Gabel, The U.S. Army GHQ Maneuvers of 1941 (Washington,
D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History,
1991), pp. 23-24, 59 (hereafter referred to as Gabel,
GHQ Maneuvers); Richard M. Ketcham, "Warming Up
On the Sidelines for World War II," Smithsonian, 21:6
(September 1991), 93-94.
4Gabel, GHQ Maneuvers , pp. 191-194.
5Gabel, GHQ Maneuvers , pp. 5-6.
6See Msg, from HQDA, DACS-ZA, 091415Z March
1992, subject: Louisiana Maneuvers 1994, para. 3, at
Appendix D.
7See Sullivan's reflections on 7 April 1991 , shortly
after being notified of his selection to be Chief of Staff.
The reflections contain quotes from both Collins and
Ridgway In the Gordon R. Sullivan Papers, Personal
Papers, Sketch Books, December 1989-February
1995, Box 1 of 5, Sketchbook #5 , April 1991. The
4
Notes
Gordon R. Sullivan Papers are hereafter cited as
Sullivan Papers. The Sullivan Papers are archived at
the U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks,
Pennsylvania.
8Interview, GEN (Ret.) Gordon R. Sullivan with
Yarrison, 29 April 1997, pp. 36-37. Transcripts of this
and of all interviews cited hereafter are in the
historian's files.
9Interview, Maj . Gen. Sullivan, Deputy Commandant,
Command and General Staff College, with Dr.
Daniel Hughes, CAC Historian, 21 June 1988, pp. 8-
9, in CAC and Ft. Leavenworth Archives, CGSC 1988,
HQ 008. Sullivan's thoughts along these lines had been
further stimulated by a 25 May 1988 informal memo,
subject: Command and Control, by COL Lon E.
Maggart, who would be his chief of staff in the 1st
ID. Maggart argued for using computer-generated
graphiCS to help senior commanders integrate operational
information during command post briefings.
This memo is in the Sullivan Papers, Personal Papers,
Sketch Books, December 1989-February 1995, Box 1
of 5, Sketchbook #1, 1st Infantry Division, September
1988-August 1989.
lOInterview, BG (Ret.) Harold W. Nelson with
Yarrison, 18 September 1996, pp. 3, 13-14. Gabel's
book was finally published in the fall of 1991.
llExcerpt from Interview, Dr. Richard A. Hunt with
COL (Ret.) Michael V Harper, 6 July 1995, p. 21,
appended as addendum to Interview, Harper with
Yarrison, 2 October 1996. The use of "Louisiana Maneuvers"
as a sobriquet for the exercises apparently
first was suggested at Fort Riley during a Saturday
morning meeting there in early 1989. See Interview,
COL (Ret.) Richard A. Cowell with Yarrison, 2 Ju1 96,
pp. 2-3.
12Interview, Cowell with Yarrison, 2 Jun 96, p. 3.
See also Sullivan describing his use of historic symbols
and his use of Louisiana Maneuvers as a metaphor
in this particular case in Gordon R. Sullivan and
Michael V Harper, Hope Is Not a Method: What Business
Leaders Can Learn From America's Army (New
York: Times Books/Random House, 1996), pp. 12-
13, 59-60, 169-170 (hereafter cited as Sullivan and
Harper, Hope Is Not a Method) . Sullivan had made a
habit during his career of using historical terms and
catch phrases, tying programs of substantive innovation
with references to their historical underpinnings
and precursors . He found that such historical analogues
resonated with his intended military audiences.
See also Interview, MG Lon E. Maggart with Yarrison,
27 Sep 96, as it discusses Sullivan's Ready First Country,
Spearhead Country, and Republican Flats programs
(pp. 9-10, 56-57) . While commanding the 1st
The Modern Louisiana Maneuvers