Vojenské rozhledy / Czech Military Review Nr. 3/2018: 75-92
Perfecting the Instrument: Learning Operations at the Beginning of CampaignsReviewed - Review
Uncertainty is a constant in war. Militaries regularly go into conflicts with operational concepts that are not relevant in the face of the enemy and his plans. The authors propose a way to reduce uncertainty and rapidly check, then adapt, the operational concept - designed learning operations at the beginning of campaigns. These relatively small operations will create friction with the enemy, giving learning teams crucial information to assess their operational concepts. Learning operations offer conventional militaries a way to maximize their advantages over sub-state enemies, by concentrating learning at the outset of the fight and adapting first.
Keywords: Adaptation; Friction; Israel; Israel Defense Force; Protective Edge; Learning; Learning Operations; Military Learning; Organizational Learning
Published: September 15, 2018 Show citation
References
- S.L.A. Marshall, Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command, (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1947), 20.
- Meir Finkel, On Flexibility: Recovery from Technological and Doctrinal Surprise on the Battlefield (Tel Aviv: Ma'arachot, 2007), 101-105, 200-201. (Hebrew)
- Meir Finkel, "Learning Operations at the Beginning of Combat - On Attack Tunnels during Operation Protective Edge," Ma'arachot 457 (2014), 16.
- Interview with MG Sami Turjeman, April 25, 2018.
- Yoav Ziton, "The IDF enters with Major Ground Forces into Gaza," Ynet, July 14, 2014. https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4545568,00.html. (Hebrew).
- Brian McAllister Linn, The Echo of Battle - The Army Way of War, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007), 117-149.
- Blumenson, Kasserine Pass, 261.
- Jessica Marie (Timmerman) Kunert, Command and Initiative in North Africa: Patton vs. Fedendall, and the Battle of Kasserine Pass - A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Department of History East Carolina University, (2016), 82; SHERWOOD, pp. 83-133.
- Daniel Marston, "Rise of the Phoenix: The XIV Army in Burma," lecture at Chief of Army History Conference 2017. https://www.cove.org.au/breakin/video-chief-of-army-history-conference-2017-prof-daniel-marston/
- Interview with Meir Finkel IDF Dado Center Commander, April 12, 2018.
- Interview with Eado Hecht, Academic Instructor at the IDF Command and Staff College, April 2, 2018.
- Australian Army Headquarters, Army's Future Land Operating Concept, (Canberra, 2009), 33. https://www.army.gov.au/sites/g/files/net1846/f/acfloc_2012_main.pdf
- Finkel, "Learning Operations," Ma'arachot, 17.
- Finkel, "Learning Operations," Ma'arachot.
- Interview with Turjeman, April 25, 2018.
- Interview with Eado Hecht, April 2, 2018.
- David Garvin, "Learning in Action: A Guide to Putting the Learning Organization to Work," (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2000), 25.
- Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Chap. VI, 23.
- Amos Harel, "Top General in Gaza War: We Could Have Retaken the Strip", Haaretz, October 10, 2014.
- IDF J3-TRADOC, The Dictionary of Doctrine Terms, (1998), 659. (HEBREW)
- IDF J3-TRADOC, Core Security and Defense Documents, (2016), 39-40. (HEBREW)
- Peter Drucker, "The Theory of the Business," Harvard Business Review, (September-October 1994). https://hbr.org/1994/09/the-theory-of-the-business
- David A. Garvin, "Learning in Action: A Guide to Putting the Learning Organization to Work," (Cambridge: Harvard Business Review Press, 2000), 25.
- Headquarters, Department of the Army, FM 3-90: Tactics, Chapter 13.
- Interview with Meir Finkel, April 12, 2018.
- Brian A. Jackson, with John C. Baker, Kim Cragin, John Parachini, Horacio R. Trujillo, Peter Chalk,, Aptitude for Destruction: Organizational Learning in Terrorist Groups and it Implications for Combating Terrorism, Volume 1 (2005), 6-12. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2005/RAND_MG331.pdf
- Interview with Turjeman, April 25, 2018; Raphael D. Marcus, "Learning 'Under Fire': Israel's improvised military adaptation to Hamas tunnel warfare", Journal of Strategic Studies, 2017, p. 19. Marcus envisions learning operations of two brigades but the authors argue that this is too small a force.
- Interview with LTC (res.) Dr. Dotan Druck,past Head of Doctrine in IDF Ground Forces Command, Glilot, Israel, March 22, 2018.
- Interview with LTC (res.) Dr. Eado Hecht, Academic Instructor at IDF Command and Staff College, April 2, 2018.
- Steven Mains and Gil Ad Ariely, " Learning While Fighting - Operational Knowledge Management That Makes a Difference", PRISM 2, no. 3, 2013, pp. 170-171.
- Interview with Meir Finkel, April 12 2018.
- Interview with MG Turjeman, April 25, 2018.
- Interview with LTC (res.) Dvir Peleg, Dado Center researcher, Glilot, April 16, 2018.
- Shimon Golan, War on Three Fronts: Decision-making in the High Command in the Six-Day War, (Tel Aviv: Ma'arachot), 84-85. (HEBREW
- Interview with Meir Finkel, April 12 2018
- IDF J3-TRADOC, Dado Center, Design- Learning Processes and Knowledge Development for Developing Concepts in the General Staff and in the Major HQs, (2015). (Hebrew)
- Telephone interview with LTC (res.) Dr. Gilad Arieli, April 3, 2018.
- Interview with COL Udi Zechariah, April 18, 2018.
- Ibid; Interview with MG Turjeman, April 25, 2018.
- Finkel, On Flexibility, 200-201.
- Alon Ben-David, "Decision against Hezbollah will be achieved not only through attack, but also through effective defense," Maariv, September 9, 2017.
- Or Heller, "The Preparation for the Third Lebanon War," IsraelDefence, July 21, 2016.
- Interview with Turjeman, April 25, 2018.
- Finkel, On Flexibility, 135-147.
- Interview with Hecht, April 2, 2018.
- Alon Kadish, "Not by the Air Force Alone - The IAF and IDF in the Six-Day War," The Dado Center Journal 11-12, (Dado Center, 2017) 27, 33; and Ephraim Segoli and Rafi Rudnick, "Operation Focus - Conceptual Anchor or Weight," The Dado Center Journal (Dado Center, 2017), 111-128. (Hebrew)
- Finkel, "Learning Operations", 19.
- Interview with Eado Hecht, April 2, 2018.
- Interview with MG Turjeman, April 25, 2018.
- Interview with Turjeman, April 25, 2018.


