FM 5.0 The Operations Process

https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/public/7796-1/FM/5-0/FM5_0.PDF

Field Manual (FM) 5-0, The Operations Process, is the Army's keystone doctrine on the exercise of command and control in full spectrum operations. No longer devoted exclusively to planning and orders production, FM 5-0 provides doctrine on how commanders and staff conduct all the activities of the operations process-planning, preparing, executing and assessing. This manual focuses on how commanders drive the operations process using battle command.

Additionally, FM 5-0 provides a methodology to assist commanders, staffs, and others in understanding complex, ill-structured problems and ways to develop approaches to solve or manage those problems. Collectively this approach is referred to as design. As such, FM 5-0 provides a guide for cultivating adaptive and creative leadership and approaches to solving problems in ever-changing operational environments.

Civil War Photos

The U.S. National Archives is on Flickr, and has several collections available for public viewing, including a large selection of photographs by Mathew Brady who was, with his studio,was one of the most prolific photographers of the 19th century. His images have appeared in countless books and are part of the public consciousness of the Civil War.

He photographed everyone from Abraham Lincoln to John Quincy Adams, Ulysses S. Grant, Ambrose Burnside, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. His extensive portfolio has been essential to our understanding of the Civil War.

Bradly rarely left Washington, but engaged photographers from his studio to photograph scenes from the Civil War. In 1862 he opened an exhibition of images from the Battle of Antietam entitled "The Dead of Antietam." Many images were extremely graphic, but were new to an American audience whose usual encounters with the realities of war usually were softened by the traditional use of "artists' impressions" in most publications. 

He photographed 18 presidents from John Quincy Adams to William McKinley. Harrison was the only president he did not photograph during this time. His photographs of Lincoln have been used for the $5 bill and the Lincoln penny. Lincoln's last known photographic portraits were taken by Bradly's employee Alexander Gardner in Washington, D.C. in 1865. 

Brady's studio generated around 10,000 plates during the war and he expected the government to purchase many of the photographs when the war ended, but was forced to file for bankruptcy when this expectation was not met. After the death of his wife and his own deteriorating eyesight, he died penniless in the charity ward of a New York hospital in 1896.

Teaching with Documents, from the National Archive:
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/brady-photos/

Selected Mathew Brady Photographs:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/sets/72157622549882756/

The larger National Archives photostream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/

Friday Fun: Censorship

A very serious issue! 

(They're very stern; they've blurred out the nautical bits.)

For more punny pictures, check out http://somuchpun.com

U.S. Army on Flickr

Like this photo? The U.S. Army's Flickr photostream contains over 5,000 more!

Everything from soldiers hard at work to working dogs outfitted with "doggles" (goggles for dogs) can be found in the stream.

Flickr lets you create online albums, tag photos, share with friends, join communities, comment on specific portions of photos and have discussions with fellow photo aficionados. You can subscribe to the Army's photo feed, or create your own at http://flickr.com

Can't get enough National Strategy Documents?

The National Defense University has announced the release of its U.S. National Strategy Documents Collection. It is a comprehensive collection of official U.S. Government strategy documents.

It includes strategies from the Regan Administration to the present, defense strategies, cyber security and homeland security strategies.

The site includes full-text searching in addition to title/author/keyword searches. 


The collection can be found via MERLIN at https://digitalndulibrary.ndu.edu/cdm4/search_strategy.php

8 Wonders of Kansas-Ft. Leavenworth

Fort Leavenworth has made the Top Eight list for historical wonders of Kansas!

The Kansas Sampler Foundation has been running voting for the 8 Wonders of Kansas this year, and Historical Fort Leavenworth has come up as a finalist on their list of historic Kansas locations.

Check out our entry on the Kansas Sampler Foundation website, and keep an eye out for future voting opportunities!

Also, take a look at our competition! We can beat Fort Hays, Fort Scott and Fort Larned, right?

Smithsonian Commons

The Smithsonian is launching a new way of learning about their holdings, and our collective history. It's called the Smithsonian Commons and it includes information and resources for a variety of groups, including teachers and students. It's in the prototype stage, but they hope that it will revolutionize discovery and enliven the learning process.

Check out their plans at: http://www.si.edu/commons/prototype/

Or the current Smithsonian site at http://www.si.edu

Unearthing Popart in the London Underground

Work was being done at a long since retired portion of the Naughting Hill Gate tube station when a host of fantastic 1950s popart was found preserved and untouched on the subway station walls. Take a look at some photos at the great Flickr photo gallery by clicking HERE!

Outstanding SAMS Monographs

We have the Outstanding 2010-01 SAMS monographs available online!

The outstanding monographs are now available at this url:

http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/contentdm/sams.htm

We're working to get the remaining monographs from our recently-graduated SAMS class online. They'll be available as soon as possible. Watch here for another announcement!

Brownbag: JANE'S DATABSE

22 Jun – CARL Brown Bag. A trainer from Jane's will be at the library to show faculty and students how to get the most from the library's subscription. Jane’s is a military equipment and country database, a great source for country/cultural briefs. Come to library room 112 at 1230 to learn how to use this great resource.

Friday Fun: NAP TIME!

Adorable sleepy animals.










Are you yawning yet?

New publication from PKSOI

The Peacekeeping & Stability Operations Institute in Carlisle, PA has released a new document entitled MARO: Mass Atrocity Response Operations: A Military Planning Handbook in PDF format.

Synopsis from the site:

The Mass Atrocity Response Operations (MARO) Project seeks to enable the United States and the international community to stop genocide and mass atrocity as part of a broader integrated strategy by explaining key relevant military concepts and planning considerations. The MARO Project is based on the insight that the failure to act in the face of mass killings of civilians is not simply a function of political will or legal authority; the failure also reflects a lack of thinking about how military forces might respond. States and regional and international organizations must better understand and prepare for the unique operational and moral challenges that military forces would face in a MARO.

CLICK HERE for the document.

More documents like this can be found by subscribing to our RSS feeds.

Friday Fun: Need LOLs?

If you need more LOLs this Friday, check out the Cheezburger Network of sites for your Friday-fill of anthropomorphized animals, re-captioned historical images, and babies making faces.

The original site: I Can Has Cheezburger?, founded by Professor Happycat in 2007, provides LOLs to this day.

I Has A Hotdog provides 'Loldogs n Cute Puppies' for the discerning puppy and loldog connoisseur.

For captioned portraits of Yore, check out Historic LOLs

A complete list of Cheezberger sites, containing everything from So Much Pun and Friends of Irony to Oddly Specific images and your Daily Squee, can be found HERE. Read warnings before clicking--a few are "sorta NSFW," according to Professor Happycat. Cheezburger's main site and other sites dealing exclusively in cute are safe for all ages.

There is even a blog for CUTE FOOD!

(I don't know whether to hug it or eat it!)

Summer Reading: Letter to Parents

Yesterday, this e-mail was sent out to parents regarding some changes in the Summer Reading program. Please read, and pass it on!

Parents and Kids,

Thank you so much for joining us this Summer in our Voyage to Book Island.  The response has been unprecedented!!

Due to our overwhelming success we have had to limit prizes priced at $500 and up to one per child. If you reach $500 bucks the exchange rate will change to $10 bucks per 100 pages.  We want everyone to get a chance at these great prizes!

We'd like the parents to join their children in this adventure.  Please sign your child's reading log each time they total their pages/titles. Please note books on log must have been read this summer.  This is an excellent opportunity to talk about what they've read and what they will purchase with their bucks.

The librarians will also be asking the kids about some of the books on their list in an effort to find the real treasures this summer.

We hope to see you all throughout the summer and at our end of summer party on July 30th.  Children should continue to read in order to save up their bucks as we will have a special purchasing opportunity at this event.

A small reminder to YS and SAS parents, if you didn't leave a library card at SAS or with your YS child, they  will not be able to check out books when they visit with their programs.

We'd like to thank everyone once again for their enthusiasm, and their understanding as we attempt to make the Summer Reading Program the best it can be!

Historicon 2010

Into historical gaming? Maybe you're looking for an opportunity to use the Nafziger Collection of Orders of Battle? Then check out Historicon 2010 in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

From the Historicon website:

HISTORICON is the historical miniatures gaming convention in the United States. Each year, thousands of avid gamers enjoy what the New York Times has described as the "mother of all wargaming conventions." There will be hundreds and hundreds of games, the world's biggest wargame hobby shop, painting events, seminars, and much, much more. Don't miss the fun! Make plans now to attend HISTORICON July 8-11, 2010 at the VFCP in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, USA.

Better yet, go early and visit Gettysburg for their three-day commemoration of the Battle of Gettysburg just a few days before, July 1-3rd. Take tours and participate in historical reenactments before you hit the biggest wargaming convention in the US. 

Past issues of Military Review

Looking for past issues of military review? Here's a PDF that explains all the places you can look!

http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/MilitaryReview/FindPastIssues.pdf

New CSI pub

"To Fight or Not to Fight?: Organizational and Doctrinal Trends in Mounted Maneuver Reconnaissance from the Interwar Years to Operation IRAQI FREEDOM" by Dr. Robert S. Cameron.  

 http://cgsc.edu/carl/download/csipubs/cameron_fight.pdf

Tutor.com

School's out for the summer for most of us, but for those taking summer classes or trying to get a head-start on next year, the homework never stops!

Tutor.com offers assistance with everything from K-12 homework help to college and graduate school-level tutoring to resume and job hunting assistance. There is something for just about everyone!

And the good news is, the DoD has provided access for active military families!

http://www.tutor.com/military-programs gives details on how to access Tutor.com for your particular service.

Army Online Tutoring is available in Army MWR Libraries, CYS Services in the School-Age and Youth Centers and at home 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The tutoring service is closed on the following holidays: Jan 1, Easter, Jul 4, Thanksgiving & Dec 25.

Through Army Online Tutoring, Soldiers, spouses, children and youth can connect live with a tutor for help with homework and college assignments in math, science, social studies and English. In addition tutors will help with adult education, resumes and citizenship.

Don't fall into that category? The State Library of Kansas system also provides access. If you are a patron of any SLK library (such as CARL!), you can request a SLK library card for free, which will grant you access to the Tutor.com system. Details on accessing Tutor.com through the State Library of Kansas (called "KanEd") can be found at: http://www.homeworkkansas.org/


If you're not a CARL patron, or the patron of a public library in Kansas, check with your local library system to see if they have access available.

What in the world IS the Wet Bulb Index?

If you spend a lot of time online on post, you've probably  gotten a pop-up message regarding the Wet Bulb Index.  But what IS it?


According to Wikipedia (which is apparently more accurate than you think):

The Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) is a composite temperature used to estimate the effect of temperature, humidity, wind speed (wind chill) and solar radiation on humans. It is used by industrial hygienists, athletes, and the military to determine appropriate exposure levels to high temperatures. It is derived from the following formula:
WBGT = 0.7T_w + 0.2T_g + 0.1T_d

So it's sort of like the "Real Feel" and other systems used by your local weathercaster to explain how hot/cold it *really* is... only much more accurate and much more complicated.


Some links:

A shortcut to calculating Wet-Bulb:
http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints/170/


USAFETAC's Technical Note on Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature:
http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA229028

The Army Research Institution of Environmental Medicine's substitute for the WBGT (2001):
http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA387455

Other DTIC Wet-Bulb articles:
http://bit.ly/ckRfPv

Air Force Pamphlet 48-151 explains how it relates to military performance
http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/shared/media/epubs/AFPAM48-151.pdf

Need a Father's Day gift for the dad who has everything?

Hows about this attractive polo shirt? It can be yours for a measily $4,000

A $4k polo shirt? For that much money, that thing better stop bullets.

...

What? It does? Well, OK then.

Fresh Polos is offering the Miguel Caballero shirt for $4,000 for the basic model, which can stop a 9mm. Other models can stop an uzi, and are stab-proof.

Other bullet-proof attire direct from the designer: http://miguelcaballerousa.com/

U.S. Army on Flickr

Like this photo? The U.S. Army's Flickr photostream contains over 5,000 more! Everything from soldiers hard at work to working dogs outfitted with "doggles" (goggles for dogs) can be found in the stream.

Flickr allows you to make comments, explore tags and sets, and upload your own photos to your own account.

The Combined Arms Research Libraryalso has its own Flickr feed. Stop by and check it out!

Summer Reading...it's almost here!

The library will be open late this Friday (1630-1800) with special hours just for kids to celebrate the kickoff of our Summer Reading program!

We're going to have snacks, stories, puppets and prizes. Pick up a Summer Reading Kit, get a library card, take in a puppet show, and enjoy the fun! 

And here to endorse our Summer Reading program is our friendly neighborhood Skeleton-Pirate, whom we'll be naming at the Kickoff Party! He's available in the lobby most days for photographs and advice.

Skeleton-Pirate Says: 

"Summer reading is a great opportunity for parents and children alike to read for pleasure, to explore new genres and authors, and to remember the joy of a hot summer day and a good book. It also helps kids retain valuable reading and critical thinking skills over the summer months and allows parents the opportunity to set a good example that says reading is a pleasurable and important every-day activity.

"The summer reading program is a great way to infuse learning with fun, explore new activities, allow kids to show off their imagination and creativity, and to turn reading into a social activity!

"Also, we have prizes and cake. Yarr"

So join in the fun  and help Skeleton-Pirate find a name, starting this Friday at 4:30 PM!

National Security Strategy

The White House has released the latest version of its National Security Strategy.  

The White House has also issued a blog entry on the topic.

From the blog:

The National Security Strategy is guided by a clear understanding of our increasingly interconnected world where the free flow of information, people and goods continues to accelerate at an unprecedented pace promising new opportunities while simultaneously posing challenges that no longer recognize borders: global networks of terrorists and criminals, threats in space and cyberspace, a degrading climate, and technologies with tremendous destructive power. The response systems and international architecture of the 20th century, designed for another time, are buckling under the weight of these new threats. Currently, these realities describe the world as it is.

Throughout American history, we have risen to such moments of transition and faced new challenges head on to help shape a world of greater security and prosperity. The National Security Strategy is a blueprint for pursuing the world that we seek by outlining a strategy to rebuild our foundations, promote a just and sustainable international order, strengthen and integrate national capabilities, all while advancing American interests, security, prosperities, and universal values.

From ensuring strong alliances, which are the foundation of U.S., regional and global security, to leveraging American leadership to encourage sustained international cooperation to address global issues, America has the tools to face the national security challenges of the 21st century while holding true to the universal values our nation has stood for since its founding.