The Director reads the problem aloud, each member of the class following from the copy in his possession. The direction of places mentioned are pointed out.
The Director: “Lieutenant Hunt, give a brief statement of the tactical situation as you understand it.”
Lieutenant Hunt states his understanding of the tactical situation. As he proceeds, the Director makes such explanations as may be desirable. One or more additional members of the class may be called upon to state their version of the situation. All of this is for the purpose of fixing the elements of the problem in the minds of the members of the class and prevent any subsequent misunderstanding of them.
Solution
The Director: “Lieutenant Barry, what do you estimate the mission of our battalion to be?”
Lieutenant Barry: “We are an element of the force sent out to cover the concentration of the Blue forces and prevent the enemy from interfering with it.”
The Director: “We have not yet gained contact with the enemy. Why do we halt at this time?”
Lieutenant Barry: “There may be one or more reasons for it. In the first place, we are a detachment of a larger force (our regiment), and it is probable that before we started out, instructions were given our battalion commander to halt in this locality, so as to be on the general line of all the covering troops.”
The Director: “That is correct. Our battalion must conform to the general plan of the operation.
“Before going further let us consider the process by which our battalion commander arrived at his decision to halt and make the disposition indicated in his order. He has sized up the situation with respect to his mission, the enemy, our own troops; considered the plans of action open to him and the enemy; and the terrain. Based on all of this he decides to halt for the night with the advance guard as the outpost and the other companies bivouacking as indicated in the order. Now, let us see how well this order conforms to the form laid down in Field Service Regulations. Captain Hall, what are the elements of an order as applied to the halt of a command on the march?”