Operations research (OR) emerged during World War II as an important means of assisting civilian and military leaders in making scienti?cally sound improvements in the design and performance of weapons and equipment. OR techniques were soon extended to address questions of tactics and strategy during the war and, after the war, to matters of high-level political and economic policy. Until now, the story of why and how the U.S. Army used OR has remained relatively obscure, surviving only in a few scattered o?cial documents, in the memories of those who participated, and in a number of notes and articles that have been published about selected topics on military operations research. However, none of those materials amounts to a comprehensive, coherent history. In this, the ? rst of three planned volumes, Dr. Charles R. Shrader has for the ?rst time drawn together the scattered threads and woven them into a well-focused historical narrative that describes the evolution of OR in the U.S. Army, from its origins in World War II to the early 1960s. He has done an admirable job of ferreting out the surviving evidence, shaping it into an understandable narrative, and placing it within the context of the overall development of American military institutions. Often working with only sparse and incomplete materials, he has managed to provide a comprehensive history of OR in the U.S. Army that o?ers important insights into the natural tension between military leaders and civilian scientists, the establishment and growth of Army OR organizations, the use (and abuse) of OR techniques, and, of course, the many important contributions that OR managers and analysts have made to the growth and improvement of the Army since 1942. In this volume, Dr. Shrader carries the story up to 1962, the beginning of the McNamara era and of America’s long involvement in Vietnam. The subsequent volumes will cover Army OR during the McNamara era; its application in support of military operations in Vietnam; and its significant contributions to the Army’s post–Vietnam recovery and reorganization, ultimately leading to a victory (after only 100 hours of combat) in the first Gulf War in 1991 and the emergence of the U.S. Army as second to none in modern weaponry, tactical prowess, and strategic vision.

'History of Operations Research in the United States Army,' a comprehensive 3-volume set with each volume covering a different time span, offers insights into the natural tension between military leaders and civilian scientists, the establishment and growth of Army Operations Research (OR) organizations, the use of OR techniques, and the many contributions that OR managers and analysts have made to the growth and improvement of the Army since 1942.

The new science of operations research played an important role in the winning of World War II and must be reckoned with the other major scientific discoveries of that era--radar, sonar, rockets and guided missiles, the proximity fuse, and the atomic bomb. In the ensuing half-century, ORSA techniques have been applied to the solution of a broad range of complex problems, and Army leaders have come to rely on ORSA analysts to assist them in the development of weapons, organization, tactics, training, management, and indeed all the fields of military endeavor. The success achieved by Army ORSA managers and analysts in their appointed task is amply demonstrated by the rapid buildup of forces in the Persian Gulf in 1990-1991 and the victory of U.S. and allied forces in the 100-hour ground war against Iraqi forces that followed in February 1991. That victory was the product of nearly fifty years of steady progress in the application of operations research/systems analysis to Army decision making.

Operations research (OR) emerged during World War II as an important means of assisting civilian and military leaders in making scienti?cally sound improvements in the design and performance of weapons and equipment. OR techniques were soon extended to address questions of tactics and strategy during the war and, after the war, to matters of high-level political and economic policy. Until now, the story of why and how the U.S. Army used OR has remained relatively obscure, surviving only in a few scattered o?cial documents, in the memories of those who participated, and in a number of notes and articles that have been published about selected topics on military operations research. However, none of those materials amounts to a comprehensive, coherent history. In this, the ? rst of three planned volumes, Dr. Charles R. Shrader has for the ?rst time drawn together the scattered threads and woven them into a well-focused historical narrative that describes the evolution of OR in the U.S. Army, from its origins in World War II to the early 1960s. He has done an admirable job of ferreting out the surviving evidence, shaping it into an understandable narrative, and placing it within the context of the overall development of American military institutions. Often working with only sparse and incomplete materials, he has managed to provide a comprehensive history of OR in the U.S. Army that o?ers important insights into the natural tension between military leaders and civilian scientists, the establishment and growth of Army OR organizations, the use (and abuse) of OR techniques, and, of course, the many important contributions that OR managers and analysts have made to the growth and improvement of the Army since 1942. In this volume, Dr. Shrader carries the story up to 1962, the beginning of the McNamara era and of America’s long involvement in Vietnam. The subsequent volumes will cover Army OR during the McNamara era; its application in support of military operations in Vietnam; and its significant contributions to the Army’s post–Vietnam recovery and reorganization, ultimately leading to a victory (after only 100 hours of combat) in the first Gulf War in 1991 and the emergence of the U.S. Army as second to none in modern weaponry, tactical prowess, and strategic vision.

History of Operations Research in the United States Army, 1942-1962 is the first of three planned volumes, each to cover a different time span, that will eventually be integrated into a single formal volume. Operations research (OR) emerged during World War II as an important means of assisting civilian and military leaders in making scientifically sound improvements in the design and performance of weapons and equipment. OR techniques were soon extended to address questions of tactics and strategy during the war and, after the war, to matters of high-level political and economic policy. Until now, the story of why and how the U.S. Army used OR has remained relatively obscure. This comprehensive history offers important insights into the natural tension between military leaders and civilian scientists, the establishment and growth of Army OR organizations, the use of OR techniques, and the many contributions that OR managers and analysts have made to the growth and improvement of the Army since 1942. The upcoming two volumes will take the story up to modern times. This account should be of interest not only to the Army's analysis community, but also to civilian leaders and military commanders and staff officers at all levels.