8/17/2019 The Pershing Cable (Nov 1979)

1/2

 the

Pershing

able

56th Field Artillery Brigade

Vol.

1S,

No.

11

Nov

embe

r

197

9

llllppenJaa Ill e

l/fbl,

1

/lla

l, 1/NtllField

Artlleriel

/4~ Dfuuy

Dragon: a

super bad

tank

killer

The

Anny

ca

lls It the

M-47

Medium Artt\.

Tank

Weapon

.

Most

folks

know

it

as the

Dra

gon

.

Any

soldier

who s

fired it

calls it

a

S\qler.tlad

tank

-killer.

Recently 25 Dragon gunners and assis t·

ant gunners from Companies A and B. 2nd

Battalion.

4th

Infantry, fired the weapon at

the Hohenlel1 MaJor 'l'ralnlng Area. The

soldiers

put 18 trafning rounds

down-rartKC

as partol

he.Ir p~l i f ica t ion

raini

ng

.

The

weapon

Is almost deceptivel> toy-

like in appearance-

just

a

big tube with

a

foam

rubber cap on

each

end.

Put

the

Dragon in the hands of a skilled

ri

r

8/17/2019 The Pershing Cable (Nov 1979)

2/2

November 1979

Pershing

Cable

The rmy is mo ernizing

WASHINGTON

I ARNEWS) -

Much

has

been

said

and written about the Army

·s

in

tention to modernize the force fort

he

l980"s.

But what Is this modemlzatlon ioing to In·

clu

rdinates.

the

abiht\'

to get the maximum outof every indi

'1dual

and every piece or equipment 'ill become

more and more important. This will be par-

ticularly true in areas or reduced resources

such asdollars and manpower."

Because of reduced resources. the gener

al-emphasized the Army will ha\'e to do a

better job of supporting its recruit()rS and

explaini

ng

lo the Army and the American

people that we have fine young men and

women in the Army. capable

of

per orminK

our

mi

ss

ions and objectives.

"

We must

do

a better job or explaining

lhat there is a positive aspect of service in

the military.·· he offered.

··

we have to

co

n

vince people. even those who believe in u

draft. thatwedo have a Y lunteerAnny and

we·re going to ha\'e to give it a chance to

work. We have to take the steps necessary

to get the quality and quanlit>· ol people we

need

inthe volunteer force.

··we have to accept

the

fact that ..-e ha\'e

a volunteer Army. We need to do a

be

t ter jub

ol

explaining to the American publi

c

and

10

Its young men and women the opportun lt,~s

the Army presents or service and personill

deYelopmen1:· Meyer continued. ··1.n turn.

we

in

the Army must provide that meani

ng

ful

experience ror the young person

wh

o

comesin. ' ·

an anybody tell m what

O

is all about

B)·

SSgt.

THOMAS

REED

BrigadeOENCO

, Editors note :

This

is

the

first in a

se

-

ries of anicles dealing withOrganizalional

E Jecti1m~ss OEJ and what

it

mean to

soldiers in todoy 'a Anny. T author is one

o/

90

noncommiswned

o ficers who

are

participants in the Army·s pi14t program

of

OE

.

The OENCO piklt program is being

eooluated by the

Anny

Research Irutitute

lo determine whether

OENCOs

will

be

-

come

an

integral pan of

the

Army s OE

program.,

\\'hat thehell is OE?

I have have been asked that question

many

timesby many people: my

wife, my

parents. friends. commanders. stl\ f ofli

cers command sergeants major. In this

series. I

hope

to answer hal question.

In 1969, the results of the Army War

Col

le~c studies on leadership and profession

alism. the Continental Army Command

Leadership Board and a study of basic

trainee motivation

at

f'ort Ord. Calif . con

verged todevelopan awareness at Depart·

ment of the Army tDAI level that the be-

havioral sciences were not being used to

their fullest potential in

the

Army.

An

additional

DA

study was performed

dwing late 1971 and early 1m. which cul

minated in the establishment or a number

cl pilot projects. Ammg them was lhe in·

stallation-wide implementation

ol

the Or

ganizational Development (OD1 concept at

fort Ord, Calif. The OD project

slowly

ex

panded to include a training course for

mid-level managers and

ended

with the es

tablishment or the Organizational Effec

tiveness Training Center in July t97S. cThe

name has since been changed to the

OE

Center and

School.

What

these studles

showed

was that

se

lected behavioral science and modern

management tecmiques are applicable

to

the Army

. These

findings

led to the intro

dtiction and use ol

OE

on an Army-wide ba·

sis.

,

OE differs from tradltlonal Army ap

proaches to management by including ad

vanced management and behavioral sci

ence techniques which have been

collectiYely relerred to in the civilian sec

tor

as

Organizational Development. While

.

OD

has been used in civilian industry ror

several years to solve many or the same

organizational problems which face the

Army. some ol the OD teem ques

are

not

applicable loa military organizal.on.

OD

methods and skills which compli

ment core Army values and leadership

principles have been selectively adapted

for

use

and are collectively referred to

as

Oqpnizalional Effectiveness.

Thus the definition of

0£

that l use Is

that

it

Is the application or selected

ad,

vanced minagemmt techniques and se

lected behavioral science techniqes to a

military orpnization.

OE is what is called a

·

·total

systems ap

proach

. In

applying OE

to

a military or·

pnization. one looks at

both

the ··people

processes and the

org11nizatlonal

struc

ture. the objective being to Improve the en

tireorganization.

This ls not to say that OE might not in

clude individual management develop

ment of skills, aUllun

the

org11nizalion·s behavior. struc

ture or authority relationships, objectives

and mission accomplishment.

cNext month: a

look

at

how

0£

can

work

with

the unit commander and

hi

s sub:> rdi

nates to improve his

or

her organization.

ssci Thomas

Reed