FOREWORD
| "Those
unable to understand the dangers inherent in employing troops are equally unable
to understand the advantageous ways of doing so." --Sun Tsu |
Military history clearly reveals risk as a principle of operations and the severe consequences of not effectively managing it. Military operations are inherently risky and dangerous whether in training or in actual operations. The element of risk, along with the combined effects of terrain, time, and the environment -- and the designed efforts of the enemy to induce failure -- can combine to produce disastrous results. Their outcome cannot be left to play out according to chance or in the hope that things will work out well.
There is no success in military operations without safety -- and safety requires the competent and effective management of risks. The successful leader at every level must know the risks and the hazards he is facing. He must know how to analyze the effects those hazards will have on the successful completion of his operation. He must be able to implement controls to mitigate or eliminate those risks. And finally, he must be ever mindful of the changing circumstances that surround him and continue to supervise and re-evaluate the effects of those hazards.
This is the essence of Risk Management: the competent and effective application of principles to preserve the combat power of your forces for use against the enemy, rather than the squandering of your soldiers against useless accident statistics.
Leaders save soldiers. Studying this newsletter can be very helpful in learning from the lessons of your predecessors!
CHARLES
M. BURKE
Brigadier
General, GS
Director
of Army Safety
General
Dennis J. Reimer's Thoughts on Risk Management
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