The Modern Louisiana Maneuvers - US Army Center Of Military History

ties and programs for all to see. While these
additional displays should have been of some
use to the synchronizers, more cynical observers
noted the presentation of many
proj ects within the displays, particularly
those with catchy names followed by "XXI,"
and suggested that the purpose was to ensure
the continued viability of the agencies'
programs 8
During BG Ohle's tenure as Task Force
Director, June 1994 to June 1995, the Task
Force conducted six ever-larger SWG meetings,
which became consumed with informational
briefings. The need for presentations
at the SWGs about all of the activities
within the axes and lanes was a primary reason
for this growing absorption with merely
presenting information. The presence of
those interested in each lane and axis accounted
for much of the greater size of the
meetings. As the LAM Task Force's synchronization
process sought to accommodate
ever larger numbers of people and amounts
of information, it also became more cumbersome
9
As useful as its efforts were to the initial
coordination of the Force XXI Campaign, the
Task Force's ability to synchronize the campaign
was severely weakened by its lack of
directive authority. In this respect, whatever
procedure the Task Force emplaced would
prove to be only as effective as the willingness
of the other participants to cooperate
allowed.lo
Challenges and Tensions
Sullivan's relocation of the Task Force was
bound to create tensions. First, it ran counter
to DOD policy at the time to reduce the size
of service headquarters and to move as many
headquarters agencies away from the Washington
area as possible. The transfer of even
a forty-member agency into the National
Capital Region, and possibly into the Pentagon,
set off alarms throughout the Department
of the Army. Furthermore, the Task
Force had only recently begun to move into
the newly renovated Old Post Office building
at Fort Monroe, and the prospect of up-
64
rooting the many families and civilian employees
involved and resettling them in the
Washington area was a dauntingly expensive
proposition.
In the end, after an unavailing search for
leased space in the Crystal City area of Arlington,
Virginia, the Director of the Army
Staff, LTG Charles E. Dominy, and the DA
Space and Building Management Services
office temporarily placed the Task Force in
a two-room Pentagon office suite in the
ODCSOPS area. The size of the space available
and considerations of cost and politics
dictated that less of the Task Force move
north than originally envisioned. In the end,
BG Ohle, his secretary, and the Washington
elements of the Initiatives and Issues Directorates
occupied this exceedingly cramped
space. Also, the Army diverted several incoming
uniformed personnel from Fort
Monroe to the Pentagon so that, in the end,
only a few individuals and families had to
move from Monroe to Washington. Thus, the
Task Force's organizations in the Pentagon
consisted primarily of military personnel,
largely because of their inherent mobility.
The Pentagon office became operational in
July 1994, but only in late January 1995
would much of the Task Force's Washington
element move into spaces in the Hoffman
BUilding. II
The relocation to the Pentagon of the Task
Force's headquarters and the split Initiatives
and Issues Directorates, though forming a
smaller element than Sullivan had envisioned,
also served to eliminate much of the
need for the former relationship between the
Task Force and the TRADOC Commander.
This was as Sullivan had planned, at least as
early as June.l2 Although LTG William W
Hartzog was supposed to become the
TRADOC Commander, the Senate had not
acted on his nomination, and GEN Franks
continued to serve beyond his original retirement
date. When Franks finally turned
over his command to Hartzog in October,
BG Ohle already had moved to the Pentagon
from Fort Monroe, leaving the remnants
of the Task Force tenant on Fort Monroe. By
The Modern Louisiana Maneuvers