Movement--Complexities and the Operational Planner

This monograph addresses a common experience and training deficiency for operational planners in the United States Army. This deficiency is the planning of large scale road movements. The monograph postulates that three distinct problem areas arise for operational versus tactical level movement planning. These problems are 1 the lack of experience in conducting large scale movements 2 the expanded data requirements associated with such moves and 3 the necessity to understand and utilize automation in order to quickly determine movement sequencing and timelines. The monograph provides a simple paradigm for approaching movement problems. It then proffers numerous essential data elements which must be considered by operational planners. The monograph also presents an automated spreadsheet Lotus 1-2-3 or Microsoft Excel compatible that could be used to plan movements. It allows the planner to conduct what if analysis. The spreadsheet calculates movement timelines on a single sheet of paper in an easy to understand and easy to fax format.