_The Director_: “You see the process we have gone through to determine
that we are going to send out a patrol of five men from the support. You
see how many things you have to consider in arriving at a decision as to
what you are going to do. This is what we call making an ‘Estimate of
the Situation.’ It is merely a process of sizing up the situation and
deciding on what you are going to do to meet it. An officer who fails to
do this will in the end make a failure of the soldier game. The one who
does it habitually has far greater chances for the operations he is
conducting to turn out a success. Just a few minutes’ systematic thought
will save you a lot of military blunders.
“Based on this estimate of the situation we arrive at a decision to send
out a patrol of five men to secure information of the enemy. Lieutenant
Barry, assume that you are Lieutenant A, commanding the support. Can you
give us the orders necessary to put the decision into operation?”