MCTP team uses staff ride to strengthen doctrinal coaching for warfighter exercises

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. - Mission Command Training Program Operations Group Juliet personnel examined leadership, intelligence and civil considerations during the Battle of Westport Staff Ride Oct. 1-2 to strengthen the doctrinal coaching they provide during Warfighter Exercises.

Conducted by the Army University Press Staff Ride Team, the two-day program used Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's 1864 Missouri Expedition to explore how terrain, competing priorities and relationships with civilian populations influenced operational and tactical decisions.

Lt. Col. Cliff Harris, an MCTP special operations scenario planner, said the experience will help the group provide more informed feedback to special operations and conventional Army units as they build integration, interoperability and interdependence during exercises.

"The staff ride … was an excellent opportunity for us to study and assess the operational and tactical decision-making on both sides of the conflict from their physical vantage points," Harris said. "Also, getting the team out of the office, into the classroom, and onto the battlefield, gave us an opportunity to reinforce relationships and unit cohesion."

Army University Press historian Gary Linhart led the three phases of the staff ride: preliminary study, field study, and integration.

Linhart said staff rides enhance professional military education, providing a three-dimensional classroom to analyze and better understand the timeless insights of the art of war.

"What makes this an exceptional and unique tool is the use of terrain," Linhart said. "Participants conduct a deep historical study of a battle or campaign and then apply that knowledge on the actual location of the event."

During the preliminary study, Linhart provided an overview of the opposing forces, weapons, tactics and events leading to the Battle of Westport, placing participants in the operational environment of the 1860s.

Participants also examined how political pressure and competing priorities, often described by historians as a 'civil war within the Civil War,' complicated the campaign for both sides.

On the second day, participants traveled to battle sites, where Linhart used terrain and contemporary accounts to illustrate factors that affected military decision-making and outcomes.

During the integration phase, Harris said Price's unclear objectives and weak campaign cohesion ultimately led to his defeat.

"They had a laundry list of objectives, but there wasn't the objective," Harris said. "The different players had personal objectives and there was a lack of cohesion overall."

Lt. Col. Brandon Doggette, MCTP intelligence chief, said he believes a trusted cavalry officer or a more effective intelligence system could have helped both sides avoid flawed decisions.

"This … reinforces, for me, the importance of a staff. And more importantly, the staff applying military science to enable leader decision making," Doggette said.

Maj. Esteban Carrera, MCTP group chief of operations, noted that commanders cannot always wait for ideal conditions, complete intelligence or additional time to develop subordinate leaders.

"This was a time where … you just had to keep driving forward and find a way to win," Carrera said. "Adaptability and agility is absolutely critical in any fight and if you can't adapt and be more agile than your enemy, then you are going to lose."

Operations Group Juliet also chose to investigate and share perspectives on integration of irregular and guerrilla forces, role of the civilian population, and psychological effects.

"Price's failures underscore the importance of planning for the human dimension of war and thoroughly vetting irregular forces before sponsoring them," Harris said.

The Army University Press Staff Ride Team conducts traditional and virtual staff rides that help Army organizations use historical battles to examine leadership, military operations and decision-making. By publishing staff ride handbooks and atlases, the team enables organizations to conduct their own staff rides.

Visit https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Staff-Rides/ to learn more.