One of the earliest aspects of teaching I picked up on was the use of attention getters to begin a class. Throughout my time on the faculty at the Joint Forces Staff College I have used YouTube Clips to begin instruction on topics ranging from ethics to command and control to each step of the joint planning process (JPP). I present here my playlist, links to the video are embedded in the section title.
Ethics and Ethics and more Ethics
One of the best recent military movies that involves ethics and morals is Eye in the Sky. Any movie with Helen Mirren and Alan Rickman (in one of his last roles) is sure to capture a classroom’s attention. These three scenes from the film capture the realities of modern day conflict, the evolution of military technology, a modern day kill chain, all wrapped around the decision making of people who have to consider the ethics of what they do. Should they fire the hellfire risking one innocent life to save scores of others? There are no easy answers.
The video is useful to bring some entertainment into what often turns into an emotional conversation. Once we move past the video the discussion turns to the implications of their readings from the previous night which include The Bathsheba Syndrome and Lying to Ourselves. The latter, an essay by Dr. Wong and Dr. Garras has a terrific video presentation by Dr. Wong at The USAHEC video site on YouTube and is worth the hour and 20 minutes to watch.
Perhaps one of the most widely shared video clips from the War on Terror is a clip of Leeroy Jenkins charging into the room during a session of World of Warcraft. With over seventeen million views on Youtube, the clip is easily recognizable by students who can quote the clip just as easily as generation-X officers can quote Zoolander, or Caddyshack.
I use this clip to introduce what can happen when there is a lack of command and control, specifically the principle of unity of command. Clearly there is nobody in charge of this group, and the initiative that Leeroy displays serves only to destroy his team. I know when I play this to lead off the discussion, there is a 32.33 (repeating of course) percent chance of a successful lesson.
Strategy = Ends +Ways + Means / Risk
There are many definitions of strategy ranging from Clausewitz’s definition of “the doctrine of the use of individual battles for the purposes of war” to B.H.L. Hart’s definition “the art of distributing military means to fulfil the ends of policy.” Others define strategy as a theory of victory. One of my personal favorites comes from my daughter who told me that strategy is thinking about the future and writing a story about it. No matter how one defines strategy or develops a strategic approach, throughout the Department we communicate strategy through ends, ways, and means. Any imbalance of the three turns into risk.
The clip from The Office is useful in that I have the students write down what the strategic guidance or given ends were (double growth from 4% to 8%), followed by identifying the ways and means through which Andy looks to attain his ends. It’s a fun exercise, and I find many of my students who tend to be in their mid-30s to mid-40s still find references to The Office relevant.
Design
Current Conditions and Desired Conditions
In the first steps of design, the planner must consider and think deeply about the current conditions and the desired conditions. Although not a war film, this clip from Miracle serves as a nice example of Coach Herb Brooks explaining the current state of U.S. Olympic Hockey and the conditions he seeks to attain (win a gold medal and defeat the Russians). Moreover, Brooks lays out how he will accept risk of having lesser skilled players in favor of a more cohesive team that can play as a single unit. Brooks understands the problem, and has lines of effort to overcome said problem (training, schedule, style of play).
The movie in its entirety can show nearly all the elements of operational design. For example, Coach Brooks has decision points in assembling the initial team, a decision point each time he cuts a player, and a decision points for building the coaching staff. There are decisive points throughout, as the team attains unity, and achieves victories against other nations. Indeed, one can almost break down the phases of Coach Brooks’ plan on his way to the Olympics.
This is an easy clip that plays well with the class. Like my introduction of ends, ways, and means, I have the class use this scene and analyze it through the elements of creating a problem statement. The dialog between Billy Beane and his scouts serves as an illustration of what is the proximate cause (losing Giambi) and the root cause (being 50 feet of crap below poor teams) of a problem.
However, as I use the Moneyball scene as a method to demonstrate a method to determine the problem, I use this clip from Lost where John Locke talks about Michelangelo as an opening video. The scene represents the idea that we need to think about the problem, take the time to understand it, and figure out what we need to do before we start doing it.
Understanding Strategic Guidance
Strategy formulation is a dialog. In the first two weeks of our class we introduce students to national strategic guidance documents such as the National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy, and National Military Strategy. While these documents are useful for deliberate planning when time is not in a crunch, they are less helpful in times of crisis.
This scene from the movie 13 Days is a nice example of leaders engaging in a dialog, albeit a contentious dialog. During times of crisis consistent communication from one level of war to the next is critical to avoid poor decisions in the heat of the moment. Guidance during these times can come in the form of a speech, a tweet, telephone calls, or video teleconferences. What’s interesting in this video is the disparate interpretation of strategic guidance, and the ability of standing operating procedures (SOPs) to influence events.
At the culmination of the design phase, a commander should write (often with the assistance of the staff) a commander’s initial planning guidance. This guidance includes an intent. At a minimum, a commander’s intent should include purpose, endstate, and risk. In this scene from Generation Kill, then Major General James Mattis communicates a clear intent to his subordinate brigade commander. General Mattis recounts this story in his book Call Sign Chaos, albeit with fewer swear words.
Defense Support to Civil Authorities (DSCA) and Homeland Defense
DSCA is an underrated mission in the Department of Defense. However, as of 16 January, 2020, nearly 20,000 National Guard members deployed to the National Capital Region with approximately another 10,000+ deployed in support of COVID-19 relief. Combine this with the annual missions to fight wildfires, flooding, and hurricane relief, the most likely mission a national guard member will deploy for is not to fight Russian hoards coming across Europe, but to support state and local authorities and their fellow Americans in times of need. This clip from Outbreak is a wonderful example how the military must always ensure that supporting and defending the Constitution is our purpose. Moreover, it is useful to spark discussion in the seminar on what is appropriate and what is not an appropriate use of Title-10 / Active Duty military within the homeland.
As an aside, the actor J.T. Walsh also played Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Markinson in A Few Good Men. He is one of the best character actors of his time.
Homeland Defense is the protection of the United States sovereignty, territory, domestic population, and critical infrastructure against external threats and aggression. If the Department is going to conduct DSCA, there is always a possibility that it will be the result of a failure in homeland defense. The clip from Spies Like Us offers an example of Homeland Defense and more specifically Ballistic Missile Defense gone awry.
At the Joint Forces Staff College, the overwhelming majority of in-residence students are active duty officers. We provide a lecture on various aspects of the Reserve and National Guard. This clip from In the Army Now hammers the point that there are specific capabilities that only exist in the reserve and guard components. The United States cannot sustain a war without these critical enablers.
The Joint Planning Process
In this scene from Gettysburg, General Lee (portrayed by future president Jed Barlet) talks through nearly every step of the Joint Planning Process (JPP). From discussion of enemy and friendly forces to describing the course of action and wargaming the action as he spoke. While I don’t expect my students to plan at this pace, the scene opens discussion in the seminar on the value of planning, challenging assumptions, and the use of wargaming to find holes in the plan.
This is where I begin to show clips from A Bridge Too Far. Mission analysis is a series of subsets ranging from facts and assumptions to identifying specified and implied tasks. Further, it is the step where the initial risk is presented to the commander. The “Landing Zone Dilemma” scene is a way to show the dialog of what mission analysis looks like at the operational level of war. Much like strategy development it is indeed a dialog where commanders and staffs can make their initial estimates and ensuing demands on higher headquarters.
A second option, and one I often play in addition to the Landing Zone Dilemma scene is the clip where “Rundstedt takes Control.” Upon assuming command of German forces Rundstedt methodically takes in the current state of his forces ranging from equipment, personnel to unit morale. Sun Tzu advises military strategists to know oneself and one’s enemy. This is an aspect of mission analysis as well, identifying the forces available and the capability shortfalls.
Continuing scenes from A Bridge Too Far, the “Plan for Market Garden” scene shows a course of action development brief from one level of command to subordinate levels. At the end, there is a nice scene of the German planners developing their own course of action. What is nice about this clip is the display of Clausewitz’s idea that war is a dual. As one side is developing their plan or strategy, another side is doing so concurrently. Less of a dual where one side acts followed by a reaction of another, the planning and action resembles a wrestling match where both sides are acting and reacting simultaneously.
Course of Action Analysis / Wargaming
Wargaming serves to identify weaknesses or shortfalls in the plan. In this scene General Gavin approaches the British with his identified shortfalls which include tank support and boats. I use this to display a failure of wargame prior to execution of the mission. Had a proper wargame been conducted, the capability shortfalls may have been identified beforehand. Often, commanders and staffs will skip the wargame step, or shorten the planning time at the expense of a proper wargame.
A second clip comes from Patton, and is a nice way to show two distinct courses of action. One comes from the British, the other from Patton himself who offers to attack with three divisions in 48 hours. Others in the meeting doubt the feasibility of his COA, but we all know how it turned out in the end.
This is the final scene I use from A Bridge Too Far. In this scene known as “Horrocks Speech,” General Horrocks describes the plan to the British military leaders. The scene works well in that the speech presents a clear and concise description of the plan. In less than three minutes Horrocks describes a complex plan communicating the objectives of Market Garden and the ways in which they intend to accomplish the mission. Further, Horrocks describes timelines, risk, and leaves his men motivated and ready to execute the mission.
Post Combat Operations Planning (formally Phase IV)
In both our contingency planning and planning in crisis scenarios, students in the seminar plan an operation from pre-combat and deployment to major combat operations and through post-combat operations. If the past 20 years has taught us anything, the post combat (formally Phase IV) phase can be the decisive phase of an operation.
In this clip, Professor Terguson played by the late and great Sam Kinison leads off his class with a simple question of “Why did the United States fail to achieve victory in the Vietnam War?” The scene is recognizable by most students and offers some humor prior to the discussion of the more serious topics of post combat operations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Both Iraq and Afghanistan offer parallels and lessons that we apply to the operational approach for post combat operations.
Planning in Crisis (formally Crisis Action Planning)
Once again we find future President Jed Bartlet moving through the entire Joint Planning Process in a matter of minutes. Truly a mastermind in the arts and science of war.
Administrative
As a method of motivating the seminar prior to their final exam, the academic evaluation of Thornton Mellon fits the bill.
This is a clip from Canadian comedian Gerry Dee. “Mr. D. was a teacher before he turned his teaching experiences into stand-up comedy which in turn led to his own sitcom on Canadian television. Of course, this is not how I grade papers, but it serves as a humorous way to break some tension in the class after they receive feedback on their first writing assignment.