Army Operations Research—Historical Perspectives and Lessons Learned

Abstract

This paper provides some of my historical perspectives on Operations Research (OR) in the U.S. Army. It is based on my 40+ years of personal experience and, thus, focuses on the modeling and analysis (M&A) aspects of OR in the Army. I have attempted to highlight the changing problems and growth of M&A in the Army over the past 40 years. Although I refer to approaches taken by others for some of this growth, more information is provided on those of Vector Research,Incorporated (VRI),since all of my experience has been with VRI since 1969. The paper has four main sections. Since OR in the Army started before 1960 and my activities interacted with many others in the Army, the first section briefly reviews the lineage of some of the Army's main OR organizations. The second and third summarize my M&A activities and perspectives for the periods 1960–1989 (the “Cold War” era) and 1990–2000, respectively. Based on this experience, I offer some “lessons learned” for today's military M&A community in the concluding section.