Crowd Sourcing Fleet Tactics to Spur Naval Innovation

US Navy Photo

Today's guest is LT Rob McFall, U. S. Navy.

Since it’s forming in 1775 the United States Navy has been an innovative force.  Naval Ships have evolved from sail, to coal, to gas turbine to nuclear. Naval Weapons Systems went from black powder cannons to the Aegis Weapon System, Cruise missiles, carrier aviation, and now unmanned systems. Innovation around the world is stepping up and there is a real question as to whether our naval force is innovating fast enough to maintain our preeminence long term. Therefore, the Navy has decided to renew its focus on innovation. To head the innovation charge, the Naval Warfare Development Command (NWDC) was deemed the Navy Center for Innovation. The question begs though, how should the navy steam ahead to foster new ideas and innovation in the fleet? The answer to that question is a crowd sourced conversation on fleet tactics.

Crowd Sourcing

If you aren’t familiar with the TED Conference, it stands for Technology Entertainment and Design and it is a fantastic series of conference lectures that take place around the world and are available online. TED brings in phenomenal speakers to share their thoughts and insights. Lectures range from lessons on the composition of the brain to wheelchair design. TED’s Chris Anderson gave his own TED Speech in July of 2010 called “how web video powers global innovation”.  He argues that Crowd Sourced Innovation on web forums like YouTube is changing the world. Innovation companies like Quirky are already showing the power that crowd sourcing is having on innovation in the private sector. Anderson says that in order to have crowd sourcing you have to have three things; a crowd, the desire, and light. Once these three things are achieved, through crowd sourcing, innovation can occur in any arena from breakdancing to the United States Navy. 

Build a Crowd
   
The first thing that the navy needs for crowd sourced innovation is to transform an audience into a crowd. An audience is a group of people that listens, whereas a crowd is one that provides interaction and feedback. By history and structure, the navy is an organization that fosters an audience. This huge, 320,000 strong audience needs to be converted into a crowd that can be the source of creative wealth from which the Navy is to draw from. In order to do that there are a number of divisions that have to be mended.

Generational Divide

“If the current leadership in the public and private sectors learns to accept, deploy, and manage Generation Y effectively, the millennial could even provide an echo of the grit and selfless heroism that inspired journalist Tom Brokaw to label their grandparents “the greatest generation.” On the other hand if the leadership fails to understand and adapt- if it insists on harnessing millennial with outdated mindset, rules, and processes- it could squander a historic opportunity to reinvigorate the military and rekindle an idealistic, can-do spirit in a wide variety of institutions. “

- Military of Millennials - Booz Allen Hamilton 2008

The first major divide within the naval force is generational. Due to the age difference between our senior admirals and our new recruits generational divides within the navy are a normal but they manifest themselves in different ways. The Boomers currently make up the Navy’s senior leadership and Gen X makes up the midgrade officers. The millennial generation, born after 1981, is the most recent addition to the professional dialog and desperately wants to be recognized as an influential part of the greater conversation.  With this generation, Internet usage is up, printed news is down, unconventional warfare is the norm, economic insecurity is a new reality, cyber crime is the nuclear threat of the day, and a globally interconnected environment is a fact of life. Within the Navy both young and old alike need to recognize the characteristics of their own generation. One of largest difference between the generations currently represented in the military is the way in which they communicate. This communications divide can be bridged if members recognizing how each other communicates, respect what others can add to the conversation, accept the challenges that the community faces and together lead the Navy into the next generation.

It is important to state that this new generation of Officers and Sailors are proud to be a part of their chosen profession and embrace those things that are timeless to the service. Chiefs still lead sailors at the deckplate level. All enjoy a good sunset at sea, a dark night with an open sky full of stars, going fast, and shooting big guns.  Officers still have to work with Chiefs to ensure the maintenance is getting done, black coffee makes all things possible, deployments still mean long periods away from home and spending time in dry dock is still a miserable existence. When junior and retired officers talk about their time in service they can always relate. There is a special bond. There is a common sacrifice, common hardship, and a common leadership experience at sea. Of course old timers give a hard time about air-conditioned engine rooms and Internet connectivity, but that doesn’t take away from the larger picture. Active duty sailors today have been intimately involved in real world Tomahawk missile strikes, pirate captures, deployment of Marines in combat, Riverine Operations, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief missions, as well as ground combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.  All are still proud to be a part of a community that can project American might around the world.

Critics are quick to point out that the millennial generation also has its shortcomings, and that is absolutely true. As a generation, the millennials always want to give input, are less patient, privacy is less important, instant accessibility to information is desired and constant feedback is expected.  Both the positive and negative generational characteristics provide a framework for senior leaders to view juniors from; however, each person should be taken as an individual because it is his or her own background, life experiences, and environment which will determine which of these characteristics are exhibited. It is the desire to provide input and receive feedback thought that should be harnessed to transform the audience into a crowd.

Senior and retired military members have the expertise. They have been there and know where the sinkholes are. Only by learning what has been done before can we keep from making the same mistakes over again. NWDC’s Innovator’s Guide says that “junior leaders are often uniquely positioned to recognize emerging problems and propose new ways to employ the latest technology”. Through a professional dialog that bridges the generations we can link the experience of those that have gone before with the energy and creative spark of those that are just joining the fleet. As the Law of the Sea states, “the strength of one length of the cable, determines the strength of the chain”. We still have the strongest links, but we have to bring them together to ensure a mighty chain. 

Community Divide

The Naval Service is also divided along community lines. Aviators and the airwing operate separately from the ship drivers who are separate from the bubbleheads. Every community fosters a tight knit group within itself. Among the leadership who define the culture of a community there is no shared tactical language that crosses the community barriers. The Marine Corps is perhaps the best example of a cohesive fighting force that broke down those internal barriers. Because every Marine is a rifleman and all the officers went through TBS, they are able to speak the same language, whether they are in the air or on the ground.  This is a trait that distinguishes them and makes them a much more deadly force than they would be as individual units.

As a SWO I would love to say that every Naval Officer should be a ship driver but that is impossible for many reasons, least of which that we do not have enough ships to facilitate it. However, there does need to be some common thread, some common tactical language that can be fused together so that the Navy, if required, could move forward as one Fleet and know exactly what to expect from the other units in the force. Not only can we as a naval service step up and have a more robust conversation that brings in junior and senior officers alike, but can come together as one so that aviators understand and predict what the SWOs are going to do in a tactical engagement, and SWOs understand what the Submariners are going to do etc. Now that the money is drying up, we have to be more effective with what we have, and the best way for us to be more tactically effective is to be a more cohesive fighting force.

US Navy Photo LT Rob McFall (NWDC Facebook)

Desire: Solve Warfigher Capability Needs

I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors. 

- Thomas Jefferson

Mankind has an inherent desire to innovate the institution that he is a part of. On June 6, 2012, The Naval Warfare Development Command held a Junior Leader Innovation Symposium which was remarkable for several reasons but one in particular stood out. Over four hundred junior leaders participated from around the fleet either in person in Norfolk, or on Defense Connect Online. This turnout was evidence that the desire to innovate is in the fleet. To perpetuate that desire the service can create a vibrant conversation in which everyone feels they can contribute and wants to provide feedback to. As a generation the millennials want to provide input and receive feedback. There is one single conversation that can harness this desire, motivate the crowd, focus on the warfighter and identify capability gaps that can be filled through innovation; Fleet Tactics.

Twenty-six years ago, Captain Wayne Hughes wrote Fleet Tactics: Theory and Practice, which is still regarded as one of the preeminent works on Naval Tactics.  In it he stated “Good tactics in wartime derive from good tactical study in peacetime”.  Everyone in the Navy, from SN Timmy that learns about SPY to the CNO has an impact on tactics. JAGs learn about ROE. Intel officers collect information on the capabilities of the adversary. SWOs, Aviators, and Submariners all learn about the capabilities of their current platforms, how to employ them in combat, and what aspects of their platforms can be improved. Scientists know what is possible now and what the emerging technologies are that will push the limits of current tactics in the future. The navy has many schools that focus on sharpening tactical skills. These schools, in combination with vibrant discussions in wardrooms and ready rooms around the fleet can effectively provide the tactical baseline for each community; however, the connective tissue that forms the bridge between communities, known as Fleet Tactics, is left completely void.        

Give it Light

Articles on tactics should dominate the Naval Institute Proceedings, as they did in the period from 1900 to 1910. The hard core of the Naval War College curriculum should be naval operations, as it was in the 1930s. War games should stress not merely training and experience but the lessons learned from each game’s outcome, as in the 1920s and 1930s.

- Professor Wayne Hughes, CAPT USN (ret)

The conversation on professional naval issues is alive and well. It happens in many forums. From seamen on the mess decks to admirals in the Pentagon, wardrooms to Proceedings, the conversation is happening, but we are talking past each other for two reasons:

First, the generations are rarely talking in the same forums. As mentioned earlier, the millennials have had a computer for a majority of their life and want instantaneous feedback. Therefor they seek out forums in which they can fulfill those requirements. Discussion boards like Sailorbob, and The Stupid shall be Punished have grown in notoriety among Gen X and Millennials. Blogs such as the USNI Blog, Information Dissemination, Small Wars Journal Blog, Next War at CIMSEC and Disruptive Thinkers have also flourished among this demographic. Social Media outlets like Facebook, Linkedin, Flicker and Twitter facilitate further disseminating the conversation among younger users. Hundreds of active duty sailors come together daily in these forums to talk about everything from the latest promotion board to the capabilities of the LCS. Meanwhile more senior officers tend to stick to traditional means of communication such as printed periodicals like Proceedings, Surface Sitrep, Naval History and email groups such as Alidade, the Strategy Group, and the Warlord Loop. It is important to state that these are all excellent means of communication, they just appeal to different demographics and therefor the gap exists.

Second, the conversation is happening at different levels. The discussions of senior officers, and the therefor the forums that they participate in, are weighted heavily towards strategic level issues. Heated discussions occur on how many ships should be in the Navy? How many carriers should we have? Is China the next Russia? These are all important conversations that should continue. Junior Officers and enlisted sometimes join these conversations but it is not where they spend most of their time. Unlike most Captains and Admirals of the fleet, Junior Officers and enlisted operate on a daily basis in the tactical realm. That is where their duties are, there short term interest is, and where they can provide useful insight. But in order to not fall into the same traps that have occurred through history, the youth of today need to share a conversation with those that have the experience and expertise of many years in the service. Senior and retired officers often know where the pitfalls are and can add that valuable insight to the innovative process.

One thing that is hindering the open discussion of tactics is the concern that it will endanger classified information. Many believe that it is impossible to have a true discussion of tactics in an unclass forum. This is not true. Obviously all have to be careful not to share classified information but there are plenty of important conversations that can be debated and learned from in an open forum. The use of historical examples, hypothetical environments, and general tactical principles all provide ways to give the discussion light without crossing the boundary into the classified realm.

Conclusion

In order to crowd source fleet tactics to drive naval innovation, this dynamic discussion must happen in print, online, in symposiums, around the wardroom, and in school houses. The desire exists. The Navy has the audience to make a crowd and the means to give it light. A crowd sourced conversation on fleet tactics that goes viral, can identify capability gaps and innovation is possible today in ways that have never been possible before. We have the opportunity to cross the generational and community divides and Crowd Source a tactical conversation that will ensure we stay the most capable Navy in the world. Once again it is time for us to read, think, speak and write about tactics.

LT Rob McFall is a Surface Warfare Officer that did two tours on USS WINSTON S. CHURCHILL (DDG-81). He is currently stationed in Washington, DC where he is the Editorial Board Vice Chairman for the United States Naval Institute and is on the Board of Directors for the Surface Navy Association.