How important are Staff Rides for Leader development?

2015-07-13T16:01:23-04:00

Have you ever been on a Staff Ride? What are some of the better and unique Staff Rides that you have been? How important and relevant are they in the development of Leaders?

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 13 at 2015 4:42 PM

2015-07-13T16:42:00-04:00

I've only been on them while in the schoolhouse, but I enjoyed them. I'm weak in historical knowledge and they helped me to understand important events that happened and what can be learned from them. Most of the discussions were about moral and ethical issues. Do you have staff rides in FORSCOM?

Response by COL Mikel J. Burroughs made Jul 13 at 2015 8:36 PM

2015-07-13T20:36:09-04:00

CW4 Private RallyPoint Member This question was asked earlier here on RallyPoint, but I didn't want to leave you hanging. I was fortunate enough to know some pretty important folks in the NGB back in the day when I was a Four Year Battalion Commander of an FSB. I was able to put together two staff rides for my entire Battalion Staff and Company Commanders (5 CDRs and their 1SGs) to Washington DC, Manassas, Virginia and most of our School houses on the East Coast. I took them to Gettysburg battlefield, Bull Run I and II at Manassas, Virginia, the Maintenance School in Aberdeen, MD, the White House, all of the monuments along the National Mall, the Pentagon, and National Guard Bureau for briefings on their mission, etc. We also hit Fort Lee, VA home of the Quartermaster school and Fort Eustis, VA for Transportation. Both of these rides conducted 2 years apart were very beneficial and really brought the staff and Command Teams together over my tenure as a Battalion Commander. Don't ask and I won't tell how I pulled this off, but it was!

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 13 at 2015 9:55 PM

2015-07-13T21:55:36-04:00

I actually got to go on one back in ’89 as a driver for some of the staff. We were touring areas of the East/West German border. It was amazing that we had it all planned out. Where the certain assets would be deployed and what assets would be locally available, without going into too much detail. It was truly an eye-opener as to how much planning had gone into the possibility of the communist hoard passing through the Fulda Gap.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made May 16 at 2017 4:54 AM

2017-05-16T04:54:04-04:00

I have uses these resources to help frame the many Staff Rides I have been part of:
http://www.history.army.mil/StaffRide/Staffr/staffr.html
https://www.nps.gov/ande/planyourvisit/upload/conductofthestaffride.pdf
http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/csi/docs/The%20Staff%20Ride%20Overview%20(2%20AUG%2013).pdf

The Staff Ride

Cover: The Staff Ride, painting by Don Stivers, courtesy of the Command and General Staff College. The original was a gift to the college from the centennial class of 1981 and hangs in the main lobby of Bell Hall at Fort Leavenworth.