A staff ride, mostly rooted in army history, is an examination of the terrain of a battlefield, to help the staff (or military students) to understand how the terrain affected the decisions of officers and non-commissioned officers and their soldiers who attempted to implement a plan of battle. The tradition predates the western world, tracing back to Ancient Chinese General Sun Tzu in the year 500 BC. The ride part, today, mostly means by automobile, whereas it used to mean on horseback.
Today’s educational staff rides directly connect with army staff functions: verify terrain, determine the disposition of enemy soldiers, and spot weakness in enemy defenses prior to combat, so that the staff’s commander can have “eyes on target” information from his or her trusted staff prior to making a decision to turn a plan into a campaign (a coordinated maneuver of many tactical operations that complement each other during either an army or a Joint/Combined (multiple U.S. military forces/Allied forces) operation.
The staff members are usually hand-picked by the General or Flag Officer, quite often known to him or her in previous assignments, an admixture of personal loyalty within the best and brightest soldiers who are subject experts in each of the skill sets needed on staff. There can be civilian subject matter experts on the staff as well. Today, during combat, it would be both unnecessary and unusual for the General and his staff to get too close to the firing line. Today’s weapons are very accurate and today’s intelligence capabilities provide the General with most of the information that would be sought in a staff ride. During the American War Between the States, it was most common for one or more scouts to be sent out on horseback from the staff to reconnoiter (probe, explore, observe) the ground in front of the army’s present position and enemy movements upon that ground.
However, during maneuvers (movement of troops), the senses of the soldiers are heightened, and if significant weakness in enemy troop dispositions is found, their blood is up for combat! Such latitude of decision given to them by their general could kick in fast to enable them to exploit the enemy weakness and try to achieve a great gain. In other words, the army might quickly advance beyond what had been planned for that day’s combat, to attack and pursue enemy weakness. It could be an enemy trap, or the army might encounter enemy strength just beyond the weakness, or it could be true (the means to crush the enemy and drive his forces from the field).
It is during that heightened adrenaline, with a mixture of intelligence and confusion (called the “Fog of War” by Prussian General Clausewitz) that the General might ride forth with his staff “to the sound of the guns” to get the battlefield information first hand so that the staff could “plan on the fly” and keep the momentum of the attack going until the enemy breaks and flees. It happened for the Army of Northern Virginia as the Battle of Chancellorsville unfolded in darkness. One of General Lee’s “Corps” (a force with two or more Divisions of soldiers) Commanders (Stonewall Jackson) maneuvered his Corps (unseen) in front of the Union 11th Corps to position in strength on the 11th’s exposed right flank. Jackson attacked headlong, rolling the entire 11th Corps up like a garden hose, sending the 11th’s terrified troops into lines of other Union Corps, terrifying them to flee as well.
Not wanting to miss the opportunity to find and exploit more weakness in Union troop dispositions, Jackson and his staff rode through the combat to reconnoiter the ground ahead. Satisfied with what he and his staff learned, they attempted to return to their lines. In the darkness, they were not recognized by one of their own North Carolina infantry regiments, who mistook them for a troop of Union cavalry; they opened up with rifle fire on Jackson and his staff. Jackson lost four of his staff killed, others badly wounded, and his left arm was mangled. He lost that arm, then lingered for 8 days until death took him. Web search The Battle of Chancellorsville to see many interesting details from many points of view. Also web search “Staff Rides.” You can organize one for your friends at a National Military Park, to experience an echo of the adrenaline rush that the soldiers felt more than 150 years ago.
