I__. - International Military Testing Association

a) SCRIPTED ROUTINES, comprised of,
. Rationale; Components; Chained components; Whole (Insight - Gestalt).
b) ADAPTED ROUTINES, comprised of,
� Pattern recoenition - more of the same situations.
� Repertoire- more routines and variations.
� ���
c) IMPROVISATIONS, comprised of,
� An Act -Watch stream.
7. Scrinted Routines
� A Convergent stream - � process of elimination � working backwards
� partial solution � simplified modes � analogues
� An Enacting stream � via networks � forcing errors � tactics of mistakes
� A Comnetitive stream � using edge of certainty � creating uncertainty for others
Scripted routines are the action equivalent of commodity strategies, or mass production. They
depend for their effectiveness upon speed, precision, predictability and integration of more or less
complex but fixed routines. Realtime thinking is largely replaced by decision loops and redundancy.
The optimal training scenario for such manoeuvre is the rehearsal. In rehearsals, the “big picture”
(e.g., a drill, movement, parade...) is broken down into its constituent components, such as tasks and
actions. These are rehearsed until the trainee achieves complete command. The components are
strung together in progressively longer trains of action until the entire routine is represented. Psychologically,
the process is a direct application of behavioural conditioning (chaining).
The challenge of teaching scripted routines is that the actions involved tend not to be very exciting
or involving. This requires developing imaginative training methods such as competing against the
clock, against scoring systems, or against other teams. Varying the training content will also help:
here it is important to move from board simulations to field simulations at an early stage (e.g.,
convoying in snowstorms, at night without lights...).
8. Adanted Routines
The fundamental training objectives here are to create repertoires of stored situational patterns, and
to match these with “DS Solutions”, or repertoires of behavioural routines appropriate for each situation.
Unlike scripted events, where a workable outcome is effectively guaranteed by rote enactment
of a fixed recipe (e.g., a parade or unobstructed road movement), enactment of adapted routines
requires making more or less continuous judgements and reassessments. Those are necessary, first,
because tactical situations all differ in important detail, and because they change as actions evolve.
These judgements are also necessary to modulate actions and to maintain unit control and external
coordination. Under operational conditions there is precious little time or attention for anything else.
That means that the “basics” of situational appreciaticn (information gathering, interpretation, summarizing
in a working model) then identifying and implementing the appropriate tactical response
must be almost reflexive.
The classical approaches to situational assessment and theoretical doctrine actually work reasonably
well. That is, breaking the processes into stages, and then working through numerous examples of
each stage, starting with simple, small scale examples and working up to more difficult and complex
Cqwight SSC PAR DIV Mar I990
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