Photo By Lori Stewart | A dramatization of a conference between an S-2 and S-3 illustrates a common teaching...... read more read more
by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
THIRD ARMY G-2 DISTRIBUTES TRAINING SKIT
On Feb. 17, 1953, Col. Henry M. Zeller, G-2 for Third Army, distributed to all subordinate units a training skit entitled “A Cycle Built for ‘2’”. With extensive personal experience in military intelligence, he wanted to indoctrinate all unit personnel in its importance in combat operations. The skit was a means to “bring intelligence subjects before the troops” in an entertaining and educational manner.
In late February 1953, Colonel Zeller prepared to depart the sunny climes of Third Army headquarters at Fort McPherson, Georgia, for chilly Fort Richardson, Alaska. His association with the Third Army extended back to May 1944, when he had been appointed G-2 of XX Corps during the war in Europe. Born in Texas in February 1906, this graduate of the West Point Class of 1927 was also a veteran of the ongoing Korean War.
Education was important to Colonel Zeller; he regularly distributed an Intelligence Bulletin covering topics about the Soviet armies. In his final months at Third Army, he distributed two thirty-minute skits to all subordinate units to “[orient] all personnel in the functions of combat intelligence.” The first skit, titled “If It’s For the S2, It’s Also For You, [a] one-act play illustrating the intelligence process at a battalion level,” was issued on Jan. 8, 1953. Colonel Zeller sent out the second skit on 17 February. It was titled “A Cycle Built for ‘2’, a one-act play in three scenes depicting the operations of a G2 Section in a combat situation at division level.” Both skits had been developed by the 525th MI Service Group at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and the 411th Strategic Intelligence (Research and Analysis) Team at Fort McPherson under the supervision of Colonel Zeller’s office.
In keeping with the educational nature of the skit for non-intelligence personnel, “A Cycle Built for ‘2’” opened with a discourse on the continuous intelligence cycle, beginning with the delineation of Essential Elements of Information (EEIs) that drove the information collection plan and ending with the development of an intelligence estimate of the enemy’s capabilities and likely courses of action. The skit’s opening remarks further described the process of recording, evaluating, and interpreting collected information to convert it into intelligence and then the dissemination of the intelligence “to every unit or agency whose actions will be affected or influenced by the intelligence just produced.” The script discussed how this brought the intelligence officer back to the starting point to revise the original EEIs in light of the new intelligence. The three scenes of the skit that followed dramatized the employment of the intelligence cycle just described.
For the scenes, the script laid out everything units needed to conduct the skit in a standardized and professional manner. It detailed the general situation for both friendly and Aggressor forces, the G-2 situation, the terrain, and the weather. A detailed “Setting” section outlined the appropriate props and locations of each on stage to present a realistic scene. Finally, the script provided the full dialogue and directions of onstage movements of the cast of characters, each of whom is described in terms of general physical appearance and demeanor. The dialogue injected humor where appropriate to keep the interest of the audience.
Colonel Zeller’s directives for the skits stressed his desire for “instruction on a high professional level despite the shortage of trained intelligence personnel.” He wanted casts “selected for their acting or speaking ability” to enhance the effectiveness of the instruction and “further the prestige” of intelligence personnel and organizations. Furthermore, he warned, “Final rehearsals must approach perfection” before they could be performed for an audience.
Dramatizations like those Zeller distributed were not unique. The skit was a common teaching method used in Army intelligence training during World War II and at the Army Intelligence School at Fort Holabird, Maryland, throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
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| Date Taken: | 02.14.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.14.2025 13:10 |
| Story ID: | 490835 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 74 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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