Fog of First Responders

The most frequent comment these days on CNN Breaking News may well be "the first reports are usually wrong."

There are a number of news stories about recent police shootings.  The Cincinnati one has resulted in a campus police officer being charged with murder.

Col. Alan D. Campen, USAF (ret) wrote about the "Fog of War" in Signal Magazine several years ago.  A Google search will identify several articles in Signal.

Wikipedia currently has an entry on the Fog of War.  It says:

The fog of war (German: Nebel des Krieges) is the uncertainty in situational awareness experienced by participants in in military operations.  The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding one's own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an engagement, operation, or campaign. Military forces try to reduce the fog of war through military intelligence.

The Wikipedia entry defines this for five (5) Levels:

1.  Grand strategic
2.  Military strategiv
3.  Operational
4.  Tactical
5.  Emotion/Computational

The Tactical Level entry states:

"Ambiguity stems from several factors at the tactical level, both by deliberate means by the enemy (including active deception and/or electronic attack on communications and sensors) as well as factors inherent to battle resulting in lack of comprehension by commanders as to the tactical environment, the logistic status of their own units, how they are interacting with each other, or their intentions. This lack of comprehension can stem from many factors, individually or in combination, such as poor reconnaissance; inaccurate intelligence; or faulty communication. The tempo of decision making at the tactical level is much greater than at other levels, increasing the risk of escalating ambiguity as assumptions build and resources are allocated based on those assumptions."

A former SEAL, described the First Responder arrival at the Navy Yard in July 2015, in Washington, DC, as "everybody show up".

The Fog of War at the Tactical Level is experience by First Responders.  When a policeman interacts with the community, there is a risk of the situation escalating and "getting out of control," if not "out of hand."

Since the O. J. Simpson case, all liberals have been concerned about Domestic Violence.  My personal observations indicate that this has led to serious abuse of 911 calls.  I was present when my ex-spouse called 911 reporting that someone was "breaking in."  Fortunately for me, there was a third person present.

My ex-spouse has not been punished for abusing 911.  She should be.

Every 911 call exposes the First Responder to a situation which is similar to the Fog of War.

I guess I need to hire Gloria Allred.