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
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