The Modern Louisiana Maneuvers - US Army Center Of Military History

1 Memorandum for See Distribution from GEN
Tilelli, VCSA, 26 July 1994, sub 12-14 July 1994
Force XXI Board of Directors Meeting, Carlisle, PA;
in LAM TF Files, Box 7, File 4-1 1. Sullivan's decision
to move the Task Force to the DC area was not universally
popular. Although he is said to have discussed
the move with GEN Franks (see Interview, Frank J
Henry with Yarrison, 7 August 1996, pp. 18-19, for
an account of a late May 1994 meeting at which the
timing of the move was discussed) , Franks claimed
that he was not part of the decision and objected
strenuously to it (see Interview, Franks with Yarrison,
18 February 1997, pp. 35-36) . Franks commented
later (23 February 1998) that he : "opposed the move
because he felt LAM would be compromised in the
Washington environment, losing their experimental
focus, and eventually be neutralized by forces on the
DA Staff who still saw LAM as unnecessary and a
threat." See also Interview, MG David Ohle with
Yarrison, 8 August 1996, pp. 3-6. Interesting also is a
draft memorandum to Ohle from Sullivan dated 24
May 1994, sub: Letter of Instruction for the Louisiana
Maneuvers (LAM); in LAM TF Files, Box 1, File
3-1. This letter, which was initially drafted by the LAM
TF but which was reviewed by the CSA's Staff Group
(and, presumably, Sullivan) lays out the way in which
Sullivan envisioned the LAM process serving as the
catalyst to focus the leadership's intellectual energies
and to help them synchronize execution of the campaign
plan. The letter also requires Ohle to provide a
recommendation to the CSA on how the Task Force
should be organized to support the charter, including
options for relocating selected staff elements to
the Washington, DC, area. The content of the letter
became Ohle's marching orders.
2 Draft Memorandum for Brigadier General David
H. Ohle from Sullivan, DACS-ZAA , 24 May 1994, sub
Letter of Instruction for Louisiana Maneuvers (LAM),
para. 2cO). See LAM Task Force Roundtable, Morning
Session, 15 May 1996, pp. 5-16. The use of
"economy of force" is not the classic one, but implies
Sullivan's use of an instrument in being already fully
under his control to which he could eaSily assign the
task. As it happened, bureaucratic struggles over space
in the Pentagon precluded making the sim center
operational before the Task Force was disbanded in
1996. See Memorandum from LTC (P) Michael R.
Thompson, DACS-LM, to Mr. Joe Sacco, Management
Division, Pentagon Renovation and Planning Office,
OSD, 19 May 1995, sub: Force XXI Simulation Center;
in LAM TF Files, Box 3, File 3-7a. In truth,
Sullivan might well have asked whether or not, given
the campaign's scope and inclusiveness, he should
better assign its coordination immediately to an existing
agency within the ARSTAF He rejected this al-
72
Notes
ternative, probably so that this small group, over
which he exercised personal control, could quickly
begin moving the campaign forward-one of the same
reasons that he had decided to form the Task Force in
the first place.
3 Letter, Sullivan to Blackwell, 15 June 1994, no
subject. Copy in historian's files.
4 Briefing, LAM Task Force, 29 September 1994,
sub: Louisiana Maneuvers in Transition . Status
Report as of 29 September 1994, shows all of the
Monroe contingent except a seven-man Monroe Directorate
relocating to the Washington area. In LAM
TF Files, Box 3, File 3-7b.
5 Dave Blodgett et al., Future Status and Command
and Control oj the Louisiana Maneuvers Task Force
(McLean, VA : SAIC, 1995), pp. 10-11. In LAM TF
Files, Box 4, File 3-7e.
6 LAM Task Force Roundtable, Morning Session,
15 May 1996, pp. 49-52. The LAM Task Force Significant
Activities Report 31 Oct -6 Nov 1994, 7 N 0vember
1994, is the first to list the Directorates by
their new designations; in LAM TF Files, Box 3, File
3-5g. Ohle finally approved the assignments of new
duties to each task force member at a Task Force
Director's meeting, 3-4 January 1995, at the
Leavenworth Directorate. See Memorandum for
Record, DACS-LM, 8 January 1995, sub : Director's
Meeting, 3-4 January 1995. Obviously, many of these
individuals had been performing these duties since
at least late July 1994. In LAM TF Records, Box 1,
File 3-3a.
7 LAM TF Memorandum for Vice Chief of Staff,
Army, probable date 20-25 July 1994, sub Force XXI
Campaign Synchronization-INFORMATION BRIEF­
ING, discusses the subj ect briefing, scheduled for 27
July, and outlines the synchronization methodology;
in LAM TF Files, Box 13, File 7-2. LAM TF Message,
201500ZJuly 1994, sub: Force XXI Synchronization
Working Group (Synch WG) , announced this first
meeting; in LAM TF Files, Box 3, File 3-6i. See also
Leavenworth Directorate Memorandum for Synchronization
Working Group Attendees, 9 August 1994,
sub: Force XXI Synchronization Working Group, 27-
28 Jul 94, which describes step-by-step the course
that discussions took, including areas of unresolved
disagreement. In LAM TF Files, Box 7, File 4-12.
LeCuyer, while a major, had been then-MG Vu ono's
Force Integration Cell chief, managing the simultaneous
reorganization, restationing, and reequipping
of the 8th ID in Germany, 1982-1983, while still maintaining
the division's readiness to execute its GDP
mission. Thus, he had considerable experience of Just
this sort of deconfliction. See Interview, LeCuyer with
Yarrison, 23 October 1996, pp 20-2 1, 46-53. See also
Interview, Blackwell with Yarrison, 16 October 1996,
The Modern Louisiana Maneuvers