Strategypage has a story on misidentifying lessons learned on the battlefield. A key point is how services do not want to accept any lessons that will reduce their chances at getting fat budgets in future funding fights.
What no one really wants is a totally dispassionate look at the lessons learned. No one wants the chips to fall where they may. Too much collateral damage that way. Yet, in the end, truth and logic will have their way. The true meaning of each lesson learned will be there on the next battlefield, whether you have come up with the best implementation of the lesson or not.
This simple fact of life is one of the key reasons why civilians need to be included in the process of 'lessons learned'. We don't have any dogs in the fight of whether the army gets more money or the airforce. We just want the maximum number of our countrymen to come back safe after the next war period with victory achieved in the most efficient manner possible.
Of course the problem with including civilians is that too many of us want to play gotcha games in an effort to hold down military spending period. There is no perfect solution but we could all do a lot better.
Posted by TMLutas at December 2, 2003 01:50 PM