FORT STEWART, Ga. — Members of the Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security for Fort Stewart hosted a staff ride at Old Fort Jackson, Oct. 21 in Savannah.
Tour organizers designed this trip to enhance organizational cohesion, leadership and esprit de corps through professional development and team building opportunities.
“We wanted to conduct a staff ride opportunity, which is a tradition within the Army,” said Steven H. Bills, the chief of the Plans and Operations Division for DPTMS on Fort Stewart. “We wanted to learn a piece of history here in our local area.”
A staff ride is a historical study of a campaign or battle that envisions a systematic study, an extensive visit to campaign sites, and an opportunity to integrate lessons derived from each through vignettes and topics for discussion.
The tour exposed participants to the dynamics of the battlefield with the hopes of teaching relevant lessons that can be applied to operational planning today while also learning more about the rich history of Savannah.
Strategically located along the Savannah River, Fort Jackson was built over an old earthen battery from the Revolutionary War, which was once known as the “Mud Fort.”
The fort was constructed in 1808 as part of President Thomas Jefferson’s Second System Coastal Defense Initiative and was named after Revolutionary War patriot James Jackson.
Local Confederate militia units occupied the fort at the start of the Civil War in 1861. The following year, it became the headquarters for Savannah's river defenses after the fall of Fort Pulaski.
Years later, the last Soldiers to be stationed at Fort Jackson were African-Americans of the 55th Massachusetts, a unit of the Federal Army. The War Department abandoned the fort in 1905 and the state of Georgia opened the fort as a maritime museum in 1965.
After the maritime museum closed in 1975, Old Fort Jackson reopened in 1976 as a museum dedicated to educational programming and military history. Tens of thousands of guests visit the fort each year to get a glimpse into a piece of Savannah’s military history.
“I believe it's important to take your time and step back and take an opportunity to look at where we have been as a country and where we are today and how to move forward,” Bills said. “I think we can learn that from history.”
DPTMS opened the staff ride and battlefield tour to participants from the Fort Stewart Civilian Personnel Advisory Center and the Plans, Analysis and Integration Office with the hopes of improving already strong networks between civilian employees on the base.
“This tour was outstanding; it was educational, and it was fun,” said Dan Walters, who took part in the tour. “We gathered so much information and my husband and I had a blast.”
The educational tour brought attention to the foundation and history of the military and highlighted key lessons learned in the past that are still relevant to this day.
“They had excellent planning; some of the things they used or how they planned things back then we still use today, but we just enhance it,” said James Goolsby, an Army retiree and operations specialist for DPTMS
In addition to Old Fort Jackson, participants also ate a meal together at a local restaurant in Savannah, and toured the Green-Meldrim House, which once served as Gen. William Sherman’s Headquarters.
“I believe all that were in attendance learned something,” Bills said. “Not only about our country and local area history, but something about their teammates that they did not know prior to this event.”
DPTMS members and other participants of this staff ride hope for more events like this in the future.
“I have already been asked several times where and when is the next one,” Bills said. “Mission permitting, we intend to start planning for our 2023 staff ride shortly after the first of the year and look forward to many more.”
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