Lessons Learned American Experience Vietnam War. Assignment

¶ … lessons learned American experience Vietnam War. assignment deal

I actually consider myself to be a strategic thinker, more so than a tactical planner or a logistician. One of the chief ways in which I was able to arrive at this conclusion is by reflecting upon the different functions of these three positions. Additionally, an analysis of the various relationships between these positions helped me to conclude that I am by far more of a strategic planner than the other two positions.

There is somewhat of a hierarchical relationship between these three jobs. A strategic thinker is an individual who is focused on achieving certain objectives that have been denoted as valuable within a mission-driven organization such as the armed forces. The achievement of that particular strategy will require very specific actions or tactics, which are devised by tactical planner (No author, 2009). Finally, in order to actuate such tactics one must ensure that the logistics have been firmly put in place for success. Logistical information is principally handled by logisticians, which allow for tactics to be completed in order to achieve strategic objectives and ensure readiness (Gainey, 2010). Viewed in this particular way, a strategic thinker is the individual at the top of the hierarchy who helps to facilitate and decide long-term objectives.

My own daily life and work demonstrates that I am a strategic thinker in a number of different respects. Although no one in a chain-of-command-based organization like the military has complete autonomy, I have a degree of hegemony that I can assert that I use to decide what the best way of accomplishing a goal is. For instance, I may be given a directive by a superior officer that the barracks need to be reorganized and cleaned by a certain date. I will then sit down and strategize the most effective way of doing so by considering all of the various steps and components that achieving this objective will take. Once I have outlined the overall strategy, I may confer with and issue orders to others who can assist with the tactical and logistical components of fulfilling what is essentially my plan to carry out an order.

As a strategic thinker, I need a considerable amount of input from others to successfully accomplish my tasks. Foremost among the things I need from others is orders of military objectives. These orders, of course, are influenced by the Commander in Chief and other political entities that then dispose orders along the chain of command which eventually reach me. One of the most important things I need from tactical planners -- who are devising the means to carry out the ends that I and others above me in the chain of command have in mind -- is for them to be able to share my vision. They must be able to understand just what it is that I am trying to accomplish so that they can come up with the means to do so in the most effective way possible. It is valuable to get accuracy and veracity from the logisticians, so that both tactical planners and I can be armed with relevant, up-to-date information to carry out our duties.