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Since we are in the COI Spring season, thought I would give an AAR on the one of the finest I have ever attended this past weekend.
I was fortunate enough to spend a day as part of an officer training course sponsored by the Northwest Civil War Council, an Oregon mainstream organization with a motivated US battalion commander attempting to upgrade the quality of officer and NCO impressions. Both blue and gray officers and NCO's (and quite a few motivated privates with aspirations) attended.
The instructors were two of the best, Dom and Steve Dunfee of the AoP. I have never seen this level of excellent classroom instruction on everything from uniforms and drill to what it really means to be a 19th century army officer. Most of the course was directly out of Kautz, the drill manuals and sources such as Craighill and Butterfield. There was a question and answer session and detailed format. So much discussion in fact that we ran way over the alloted time.
Particularly impressive was their tailoring of the message in a non-elitist way to a mostly mainstream audience. Not an easy thing to do.
On drill Dom concentrated on School of the Battalion. He sited his books of course but in the next breath advised that there is no substitute for a thorough understanding of the manuals. PIE and IGP are just a start. His talk on the evolution of the manuals, from Von Steuben to Upton, was superb.
One of the most valuable portions of the battalion drill instruction was the need to develop a proper sense of "maneuvering space" and the ability to conduct the battalion evolutions with a feeling for neighboring battalions, whether present or not. I think all to often we have tactical events that end up being paint ball fights because we forget that to our left and right, there would have normally been other troops. Call it "linear tactical imagination" or some such. Virtual connecting to an imaginary Brigade or battalion (if a small company event) in terms of paperwork, reporting, duty etc was also discussed.
He spent more than a little time discussing the "optimum" manuevers to use for specific tactical circumstances, such as when to use change front forward vs turns or wheels; "right into line" (from a column of companies) vs "by file right into line" from a column of fours (next to worthless if speed is important). Using double columns of companies vice single was another valuable portion.
As good as the drill portion was, equally valuable was Steve Dunfee's officer leadership presentation. In real life Steve teaches leadership and management to business, and he deserves every penny he gets paid. I have seen a million of these over the years in the military and business, and Steve gets very high marks. He has quite a message for those that would become NCO and officers in this hobby...almost like having August Kautz in the room.
The AoP remains one the best battalions in the hobby for one main reason - it is full of soldiers, all of whom know their business, led by officers who know theirs. They attend larger events and besides controlling their battalion environment...they influence by example the larger portion outside the battalion. That is why they created the AoP - it was no good being an authentic company at a mainstream event, or attending only small living history events. They have what I consider to be the finest sense of inclusivity and vision for improvement in the hobby as a whole. Instead of turning away from the larger hobby, they wade right in and provide a solution for improvement and a great example.
It was a treat - not sure if this will turn into a road show...but the demand is certainly there.
I was fortunate enough to spend a day as part of an officer training course sponsored by the Northwest Civil War Council, an Oregon mainstream organization with a motivated US battalion commander attempting to upgrade the quality of officer and NCO impressions. Both blue and gray officers and NCO's (and quite a few motivated privates with aspirations) attended.
The instructors were two of the best, Dom and Steve Dunfee of the AoP. I have never seen this level of excellent classroom instruction on everything from uniforms and drill to what it really means to be a 19th century army officer. Most of the course was directly out of Kautz, the drill manuals and sources such as Craighill and Butterfield. There was a question and answer session and detailed format. So much discussion in fact that we ran way over the alloted time.
Particularly impressive was their tailoring of the message in a non-elitist way to a mostly mainstream audience. Not an easy thing to do.
On drill Dom concentrated on School of the Battalion. He sited his books of course but in the next breath advised that there is no substitute for a thorough understanding of the manuals. PIE and IGP are just a start. His talk on the evolution of the manuals, from Von Steuben to Upton, was superb.
One of the most valuable portions of the battalion drill instruction was the need to develop a proper sense of "maneuvering space" and the ability to conduct the battalion evolutions with a feeling for neighboring battalions, whether present or not. I think all to often we have tactical events that end up being paint ball fights because we forget that to our left and right, there would have normally been other troops. Call it "linear tactical imagination" or some such. Virtual connecting to an imaginary Brigade or battalion (if a small company event) in terms of paperwork, reporting, duty etc was also discussed.
He spent more than a little time discussing the "optimum" manuevers to use for specific tactical circumstances, such as when to use change front forward vs turns or wheels; "right into line" (from a column of companies) vs "by file right into line" from a column of fours (next to worthless if speed is important). Using double columns of companies vice single was another valuable portion.
As good as the drill portion was, equally valuable was Steve Dunfee's officer leadership presentation. In real life Steve teaches leadership and management to business, and he deserves every penny he gets paid. I have seen a million of these over the years in the military and business, and Steve gets very high marks. He has quite a message for those that would become NCO and officers in this hobby...almost like having August Kautz in the room.
The AoP remains one the best battalions in the hobby for one main reason - it is full of soldiers, all of whom know their business, led by officers who know theirs. They attend larger events and besides controlling their battalion environment...they influence by example the larger portion outside the battalion. That is why they created the AoP - it was no good being an authentic company at a mainstream event, or attending only small living history events. They have what I consider to be the finest sense of inclusivity and vision for improvement in the hobby as a whole. Instead of turning away from the larger hobby, they wade right in and provide a solution for improvement and a great example.
It was a treat - not sure if this will turn into a road show...but the demand is certainly there.