The Modern Louisiana Maneuvers - US Army Center Of Military History

1 GEN Sullivan to BG Mountcastle, 17 October
1997, pp. 2 and 18. Historian's files.
2 On the challenge of trying to mount a significant
change effort during a period of increased austerity,
Sullivan later observed (Letter to Mountcastle,
6 June 1998), "I can't state with certainty the impact
of the budget/POM wars on LAM , writ large , but it
did, I know, create a trade off environment filled with
tension - the tension is best summed up as [a] today/
tomorrow balance." This environment persisted
throughout Sullivan's tenure.
3 Sullivan L01, 22 May 1992, see Appendix H.
4 Memorandum for Brigadier General Tommy R.
Franks, Director, Louisiana Maneuvers Task Force,
from Gen. Franks, 8Jun 1992, sub: Organizing Louisiana
Maneuvers, was sent to BG Franks at Fort Sill,
in LAM TF Files, Box 1, File 3-2d. See also GEN
Franks to BG Mountcastle, 23 February 1998. GEN
Franks followed up the 8 June 1992 memorandum
with his signature of a memorandum of instruction
on LAM Task Force stationery to BG Franks, 6 January
1993, sub: Louisiana Maneuvers, which details
the relationship between TRADOC and the LAM TF,
in LAM TF Files, Box 2, File 3-4g1.
5 Interview, Rodgers with Yarrison, 28 June 1996,
pp. 4-8; Interview, Radda with Yarrison, 21 August
1996, pp. 6-13; Interview, Blodgett with Yarrison,
1996, pp. 5-14.
6 See above, Chapter 1, n. 58-61.
7 Briefing packet, "Resourcing Louisiana Maneuvers,
MDEP TLAM," 21 December 1993, presented
by LAM TASK FORCE to the Army Staff, in LAM TF
Files, Box 4, File 3-7c. See also Louisiana Maneuvers
Task Force, Louisiana Maneuvers Significant Activities
Report, 24 June 1993, widely distributed, which
contains a breakout of funds allocated to issue proponents
for issue investigation, in LAM TF Files, Box
3, File 3-5i. See also Letter, Charles M. Valliant to
Yarrison, 6 November 1997, describing the funding
allocation procedure, in historian's files. BG Franks
proposed to MG Theodore G. Stroup, the Director of
Program Analysis and Evaluation, OCSA (Eyes Only
Message, 241700Z Dec 92, sub: Integration of LAM
Requirements into PPBES), that as a means of institutionalizing
funding for LAM requirements in PPBES,
issue proponents submit requirements for funding
through the LAM TF for prioritization and forwarding
to DCSOPS. MG Stroup replied (Eyes Only Message,
081 300Z Jan 93, sub: SAB) that given the fiscal
climate, he believed continuation of current practices
for funding unfinanced requirements would be the
most politically feasible, in LAM TF Files, Box 3, File
3-6e1.
8 See, for example, from a slightly later period,
Memorandum for BG Ohle from COL Richard Cowell,
Notes
22 December 1994, sub: 18-22 December 1994 Results,
which describes some of the technologies and
companies Cowell had turned up that could provide
useful enhancements to the operational Army. In LAM
TF Files, Box 1, File 3-3d.
9 One result of the Operations Directorate's search
for new and better research tools was Mr. Richard
Maruyama's compilation, The Tools: Models and Simulations,
which the LAM Task Force published and distributed
on 27 May 1993. This compilation includes
descriptions of 74 models and simulations then available
and categorizes them for the subj ects for which
they were appropriate evaluative tools. In LAM TF
Files, Box 10, File 5-1. On technology scouting, see
particularly Interview, LTG (Ret.) Paul E. Blackwell
with Yarrison, 16 October 1996, pp. 10, 13-14. See
also letter, Ronald J. Radda to Yarrison, 18 October
1997, p. 4. Historian's files.
10 Interview, BG (P) Tommy R. Franks with Dr.
Anne Chapman, TRAD OC History Office, 8 April
1993, pp. 5-9.
11 The procedural guide for proponents' action
officers was developed over time but was finalized by
the West Point Department of Mathematical Sciences
in early 1994. Copy in historian's files, provided by
LTC Kirby Brown.
12 Interview, Rodgers with Yarrison, 28 June 1996,
pp. 10-13. LAM TF Roundtable, Afternoon Session,
14 May 1996, pp. 128-130. See also letter, Radda to
Yarrison, 18 October 1997, p. 5. Historian's files.
13 The group also included the British military
attache, a brigadier, and the French liaison officer to
TRADOC. In addition, the author attended these sessions.
See also Interview, Rodgers with Yarrison, 28
June 1996, p. 8. Rodgers observed: "You had some
strong personalities in there . . . . I was concerned [in
the next iteration] about how do we level the playing
field because you literally have some generals in there
who could suck the air out of a room. They would
dominate the discussion."
14 Read-ahead packet, Board of Directors, First
Meeting, 14 October 1992, in LAM TF Files, Box 5,
file 4-2, and associated notes from the first parts of
the meeting, in historian's files. Only the Board members
attended the session in which issues were discussed.
See also Sullivan's message, DACS-ZA,
191223Z Oct 92, sub: Louisiana Maneuvers Board of
Directors Meeting, 14 Oct 92, Personal for the members
of the Board of Directors , with information copies
to the ARSTAF and other participants, in LAM TF
Files, Box 5, file 4-2. Sullivan described the meeting's
results enthusiastically and sought comments and
suggestions from participants on how to improve and
refine the process. His enthusiasm resulted in the
LAM TF's production in the next few weeks of a
The Louisiana Maneuvers Process in Action, 1992-1994 51