Staff Ride Selection

One of the most important decisions a staff ride leader must make is the selection of an appropriate campaign, operation, battle or event. Staff rides may be conducted wherever a significant activity occurred, but not all topics automatically make suitable staff rides. Staff ride leaders should seek to answer the following questions in order to help them select an appropriate study topic:

• What is the staff ride’s main learning objective? For example, if you want your students to understand learning curves in battle, you might select the first engagement of a war or a unit, or a particularly difficult battle that resulted in failure. Similarly, you might choose a unique problem. If examining defensive operations, you might choose a campaign-level problem such as defending Canada’s west coast in the Second World War. Or you could opt for a tactical-level problem such as defending a string of key terrain and vital high ground during the Battle of Kapyong in the Korean War.
• What levels of command, intelligence, manoeuvre, force protection or logistics do you want to examine? Small engagements or skirmishes might offer excellent topics for the study of command or manoeuvre, but larger operations and campaigns may be better suited to studies of intelligence or logistics. Make sure that your chosen topic offers your staff riders enough substance to dive into the desired learning objective.
• What type of terrain or formation/unit are you examining? If you are trying to engage students in the tactical problems associated with battle group operations in Central Europe, for example, you are not going to study a company-level skirmish in the desert. Similarly, if you are trying to examine the problems of land–air cooperation in operations, 18th- and 19th-century battles will not provide sufficient substance.
• Do you have access to ample resources to conduct the staff ride? Specifically, is there enough developed historical literature for the students to examine during the preliminary study phase? If you plan to conduct a physical staff ride, is the integrity of the historical setting still intact enough to examine? Do you have sufficient administrative and financial support to cover transportation, accommodation, meals, etc.?
• Do you have enough time to achieve your learning objectives? Have you marked off the calendar for all three phases? Staff rides require time to complete and some topics may simply be beyond the reach of your formation or unit. An alternative to this is the conduct of a virtual staff ride, but these can also require additional time for adequate preparation.