Page 56 - JSOM Winter 2019

finding changed how we think about interoperability: If a first He was a lieutenant in World War II as a US Army officer in
aid provider is among multinational forces that are attempt- a new unit soon known as Merrill’s Marauders, which trained
ing to cooperate and coordinate among partner countries and in India in preparation to fight the enemy in northern Burma.
someone is injured through an accident, then a situation in Ogburn notably graduated from Harvard University, worked
use of a tourniquet model of less familiarity, on average, takes later at Viking Press then as a writer for the Alfred P. Sloan
more time, causes more bleeding, and is harder to use. Such Foundation and as a reviewer at the Book-of-the-Month Club
outcomes are concrete consequences of low interoperability. It before he enlisted in the war as a private. He had no expe-
takes no time, talent, or treasure to suck, but to achieve high rience operating communications equipment yet was made
levels of teamwork, it takes all three. If international organi- leader of the communications platoon (Table 2). He became
zations like the United Nations, the European Union, or the disillusioned with reorganizations, but the ensuing combat op-
African Union are to work together, their interoperability chal- erations also required reorganizations. For example, the unit
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lenges in first aid may be compounded if partnering groups do would switch its tasks among patrols, river crossings, attacks,
not share a common set of standards. The leaders of North At- hasty defenses, and resupply operations. The unit intermit-
lantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have pointedly addressed tently had to replace casualties, reassign roles of individuals,
standardization in order to use resources efficiently and to en- and refit teams to resume combat. War severely tested their
hance the effectiveness of the Alliance’s defense capabilities. ability to work together coherently and effectively. Trying to
Standardizing an organization to one tourniquet model among do so was neither easy nor efficient. After publishing his ar-
individual members may offer payoffs in the fields of opera- ticle, he soon expanded it into a book but omitted whether
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tional work, procedural skill performance, materiel logistics, lessons learned from reorganizing on training grounds eased
and administrative management. However, conceivably asking any of the later stresses of reorganizing on battlegrounds.
a person within a team consisting of a Norwegian, a Cana-
dian, a Lithuanian, and a Spaniard, for example, to suddenly TABLE 2 Equipment Issue of Interoperability Noted by Charlton
use the unfamiliar model of a teammate could have costs in Ogburn, Ex-Book Reviewer
poorer outcomes compared with one’s usual model. There was a critical moment for me at Naubum [Burma]. I was sum-
moned by Colonel Hunter to the lean-to at his headquarters, where
Interoperability does not necessarily require common equip- he was sitting with the commander of the [Chinese] 150th Regiment.
I was reminded for some reason of the meeting of Marco Polo and
ment, yet when equipment is not in common, other aspects Kublai Khan, though not for long.
of interoperability may be newly stressed as by extra needs “The walkie-talkies the colonel has received don’t work,” said Col-
to cross-train on the tools of others. When two or more first onel Hunter. “See if you can fix them.”
aid providers try to work together effectively and efficiently, I had a horrible feeling that for the first and doubtless the last time
a need to translate languages could further complicate care- in my life the national honor was in my keeping, not to mention my
giving among teams thrown together. To have an instructor commanding officer’s face, and I could not imagine a worse repos-
teach tourniquets to a diverse group of African soldiers might itory. If heaven had any further use for me, I thought, now would
require a relay of interpreters as interposed interlocutors (e.g., be the time to show it. There was only one thing I knew about SCR
536’s [walkie-talkies]: if you inserted the batteries head-and-head
Lithuanian English, English French, French Arabic, and Ara- and tail-and-tail—which would seem the natural thing to do—the
bic Bantu). An instructor told one of us that he had a recent set would not work; head-and-tail was the prescribed arrangement. I
similar experience. Translation took a while; time delays and opened the first set . . . and the American eagle, or Bird of Washing-
efforts to talk and teach were interoperability costs. Familiar- ton, was saved, and I with it. They were in the wrong way. Nothing
ity with languages may lessen some costs. An example is in else was the matter.
design of the name NATO-OTAN: OTAN stands for Organ-
isation du Traité de l’Atlantique Nord, which is “NATO” in On finding value in stress by its presenting a challenge, some
French, the other official language of the organization. lessons learned previously are useful to recall. 14–16 A first ser-
geant used to tell one of us: “If it ain’t raining, it ain’t training.”
The first minor finding concerned a value of stress in presenting He wanted the work at hand challenged by a degree to assess
a challenge. Placing stress on a person or a system to perform levels of interoperability and to detect areas for improvement.
can assess readiness. Repeated rehearsals among established Raining and training was a useful conjunction providing a
teammates over time can lead to spiral improvement, devel- mild stress. Another example of a conjunction was when Og-
oped performances, and greater ease, but such is routinely a le- burn (whose commander called him “Oggy”) and his mule
nient test. Interoperability can be tested in new environments, were to get across a river in tandem for his unit’s first prac-
among unfamiliar situations, or with teams reorganized, and tice of a river-crossing. 12,13 He led the battalion’s main body
war can be thought of as a stress test of interoperability. The and amusingly described his “fighting cheek-to-jowl” with
word “war” is associated with “wurst” from an Indo-Euro- his mule, their unproductive segments of swimming in circles,
pean root, wers-, meaning “confuse, mix up.” The etymology his clinging to the mule’s tail so he was not left behind, and
passes through German Wurst meaning “sausage.” 10,11 War the bankside battalion’s watching of some “real fun.” 12,13 Og-
preparations as stressful training can test teams: “We trained burn’s conjunction of river-crossing and muleteering was new
hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form to him and to almost the whole battalion. Even the battalion’s
up into teams we would be reorganized. Presumably the plans description was a triple conjunction—long-range penetration
for our employment were being changed. I was to learn later Special Operations jungle warfare unit. The unit soon experi-
in life that, perhaps because we [Americans] are so good at or- enced in war more-complex conjunctions among the mules,
ganizing, we tend as a nation to meet any new situation by re- the hills, the diseases, and the battles. Stressing a team can be
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organizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the seen as a strategy of “train to failure” to find where a group
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illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, falters first, to detect what breaks when, and to diagnose how
and demoralization.” Charlton Ogburn Jr (1911–1998) in breakdowns occur. “Train as you fight” can act as a stress-test
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1957 published those words in an article in Harper’s Magazine. strategy to find friction points within teams, for individuals,
54 | JSOM Volume 19, Edition 4 / Winter 2019