The U. S. Army over the past ten years, has enhanced the ability of heavy brigades to conduct offensive reconnaissance operations, yet brigades have not significantly attained a higher rate of success. Success is defined as the commander receiving the intelligence he requires in time to make and execute operational decisions. Systems theorists have developed a technique called 'systems thinking' to gain perspective on such difficult problems. This monograph will determine if systems thinking can identify the source of the reconnaissance problem. The Army began to recognize the reconnaissance problem at the National Training Center (NTC) when it began training rotations in the early 1980s. This monograph will examine four studies that examined this reconnaissance problem at the NTC. The first three studies observed training rotations in the mid-1980s. Their conclusions and recommendations were largely implemented by the Army by the early l99Os. Unfortunately, the fourth study, published in 1996, determined that the heavy brigades still had significant problems conducting reconnaissance operations. Using a theoretical systems model based on the physical and moral environment of war, the monograph examined the mental model of the reconnaissance studies and found that the true problem is not seen. The cybernetic feedback process in the complex-adaptive command system acts as a stabilizing force. In the NTC mental model, this stabilizing force does not exist. A solution to recognize this system feedback is to educate leaders and soldiers in the moral aspects of war and its enabling and disabling effects. The training scenario should incorporate these effects as much as possible and discuss them in after action reviews. Additionally, commanders need to combine the synergistic effects of all the ground, air, and technical reconnaissance assets. Commanders need to understand what combinations of these reconnaissance assets work, when, and how. The critical variable in the system is the commander. Success is largely determined on his intuitive ability to anticipate and adapt to the situation as it is, in the environment that it exists.

ADA 339579 Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)