ABSTRACT
If it can be argued that it was the activity of the civilian reformers which ignited the cognitive crisis and set in motion the professional debate of the late 1970s, it is equally valid to argue that Starry's individual experience in commanding the V Corps in Germany constituted the first positive step in the development of the operational manoeuvre paradigm within the Army.l Leaving for his new field command equipped with the doubts raised by Lind's arguments and deeply impressed by the beginning of the debate, Starry's tenure in the V Corps was a period of incubation for his operational perception, during which the absurd concept of the First Battle was transformed into the operational concept of the Central Battle. He thus anchored the future doctrinal developments in the context of system thinking, and by doing so determined the methodological direction of the process. 2
Thus it happened that with the appointment of Starry as the new head of TRADOC in July 1977, all the necessary conditions for the development of the operational theory matured. The ongoing debate paved the way for a change in perception. Having crystallized in Germany, Starry's systemic approach provided the operational content, while his methodological foresight determined the evolutionary direction for the process.
