got risk?

Risk aversion, according to military pundits and economic zeitgeist, is when someone is too scared to make a decision that accepts risk -- in effect, staying in one's comfort zone.  By being the polar opposite of decisiveness, risk aversion can keep a person or organization too safe, thereby missing opportunities or perhaps disenfranchising certain population segments.  Some current military critics argue that "risk aversion is rewarded" in our military, a supposition that is apparently causing our best and brightest to leave in droves.

Fort Leavenworth is not immune.

Last month, I was informed by the base's finest that Grant Avenue, the only four-lane road on this small post, is the only road where bicycles are prohibited due to high volumes of traffic on normal work days.  After I filed a formal online complaint suggesting that the road be open to cyclists on the weekends,  I actually got a response from the garrison's Command Sergeant Major (sort of the senior "Town Hall" representative, like a deputy mayor).  We met later and he informed me that he was examining the complaints from me and others to determine the best course to accommodate everyone.  This was refreshingly positive -- especially since at Fort Sill (my last post), any complaint I ever submitted was ignored, or else I was told where to go and how to get there.

But, here is the rub:  the CSM said that some of the leaders involved (probably retired senior officers who don't ride) stated, "...if we open up Grant to cyclists, we have to include 65-year-old grandmothers and 10-year-old kids.  That's too dangerous."

Which of course is like saying I need to dig a foxhole in my front yard in order to keep the elephants away.

The grandmothers, kids, and especially perambulators are the very ones cyclists like me are trying to avoid at 20 mph on the narrow, cracked sidewalks, never mind that the roads we are allowed on are narrower and, at certain times just as busy, ergo making those routes inherently more dangerous -- or that almost every traffic light along Grant has  signs facing the cross streets that say, "WATCH FOR CYCLISTS."

So yet again, another Army post is subjected to silly rules enforced by the whims of people who don't really think things through or perhaps overthink them -- all in the elusive name of safety.  They might as well ban all bikes on all roads, period.

Now, this is obviously too trivial to make me want to retire, but the issue is indicative of the larger problem of risk aversion -- which has ended up with our military in deep trouble more times than I'd like to admit.

Clausewitz: On Poker

While researching this evening for a history paper I have to write about the great military theorist Carl von Clausewitz, I ran across this interesting gem.  In it, the author compares Clausewitz's seminal philosophical work, On War, to the game of poker -- and even suggests that the military should adopt poker into its training regimen as fervently as it does physical training.

Need I mention this was written by a Marine?  At least he does quote the late Colonel David Hackworth, one of my personal heroes.

Shades of "Pentagon Wars"

Did someone hit their head on a toilet before dreaming up this monstrosity?

Read the article here.

I feel sorry for the SIGO's that have to deal with this nightmare.  Might as well paint a bright red target on it too.

For those that don't get the title's movie reference, the military's R&D and acquisitions process is just a little... shall we say, tweaked.  Suffice it to say that here at Majors' School to explain the complexities and politics of the DoD's acquisitions process, we recently played a card game.  You read that right: a card game.

The game, for what it is, is pretty simple.  At the start, each team gets $150 notional dollars to buy five of any 10-A card, at various prices each up to $56.  There are 5 cards lain face-up, in sequence, lengthwise on the table -- 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.  In each round, teams lay one card face-down next to their target card.  The highest card wins the face-value points, and certain suits are higher than others.  Ties result in no points for either team, and the losing card goes back into the deck.  In all subsequent rounds, each team gets $50 more to spend and must always have five cards at the start of every round.  The winner is the first to get to 51 points, or the highest after five rounds.

And that, folks, is how the services each get money each year for big-ticket programs from Uncle Sam.  No kidding.

I haven't actually seen the whole movie yet, and until Netflix streams it I probably won't.

quotable Rooney

Andy Rooney, from his last essay on 60 Minutes (last night):

"There aren't too many original thoughts in the world; a writer's job is to tell the truth."