“The typical staff officer is the man past middle life, spare, unwrinkled, intelligent, cold, passive, non-committal; with eyes like a cod-fish, polite in contact but at the same time unresponsive, cool, calm and as damnably composed as a concrete post or a plaster-of-Paris cast; a human petrifaction with a heart of feldspar and without charm… Read More
“What troops and subordinate commanders appreciate is that a general should be constantly in personal contact with them, and should but see everything simply through the eyes of his staff.” Field Marshal A.P. Wavell (1953) Soldiers and Soldiering. London: Jonathan Cape.
“I will give you two simple rules which every general should observe: first, never to try to do his own staff work; and secondly, never to let his staff get between him and his troops.” Field Marshal A.P. Wavell (1953) Soldiers and Soldiering. London: Jonathan Cape.
In 2015, the British Army had four 3-star (OF-8) posts within Army Command: Deputy Chief of the General Staff (DCGS). Commander Field Army (CFA). Commander Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC). Commander Personnel Support Command (PSC). The CFA had four 1-star (OF-6) posts within their span of control: Assistant Chief of Staff Commitments (ACOSC). Assistant Chief… Read More
“Every plan of campaign ought to have several branches and to have been so well thought out that one or other of the said branches cannot fail of success.” Pierre-Joseph de Bourcet (1700-1780) A French engineer and artillery officer who has been credited with initiating the use of the all-arms division as a tactical formation… Read More
“Without a staff, an army could not peel a potato.” Lieutenant General Hunter Liggett (21 March 1857 to 30 December 1935) A US Army General with 42 years of service spanning the period from the Indian campaigns to World War I.
“The main thing is always to have a plan; if it is not the best plan, it is at least better than no plan at all!” General Sir John Monash (1865 to 1931, Australian Army General during World War I), attributed to a letter written in 1918. References Australian War Museum (2016) 1918: Australians in France… Read More
