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A military staff is a group of officers and enlisted personnel that provides a bi-directional flow of information between a commander and subordinate units. Officers oversee staff sections, Senior Enlisted Personnel task personnel in the maintenance of tactical equipment and vehicles. Senior Analysts are tasked with the finalizing of reports, and enlisted personnel participate in the acquisition of information from subordinate staffs and units. The purpose of a military staff is mainly that of providing accurate, timely information which by category represents information on which command decisions are based. The key application is that of decisions that effectively manage unit resources. While information flow toward the commander is a priority, information that is useful or contingent in nature is communicated to lower staffs and units. HISTORY Prior to the late 18th century, there was generally no organizational support for staff functions such as Military Intelligence , Logistics , planning or personnel. Unit Commanders handled such functions for their units, with informal help from subordinates who were usually not trained for or assigned to a specific task. Berthier and Napoleon The first modern use of a General Staff was in the French Revolutionary Wars , when General Louis Alexandre Berthier was assigned as Chief of Staff to the French Army Of Italy in 1795 . Berthier was able to establish a well organized staff support team. Napoleon Bonaparte took over the army the following year and rapidly came to appreciate Berthier's system, adopting it for his own headquarters, although Napoleon's usage was limited to his own command group. Prussian system Prussia also adopted a similar system in the following years. Initially, the Prussian army assigned a limited number of technical expert officers to support field commanders. Before 1805 , however, reforms had added management of intelligence and contingency planning to the staff's duties. Later, the practice was initiated of rotating officers from command to staff assignments and back to familiarize them with both aspects of military operations. A practice that with the addition of enlisted personnel, continues to be used. After 1806 , Prussia's military academies trained mid-level officers in specialist staff skills. In 1814 , Prussia formally established by law a central military command General Staff and a separate General Staff for each Division and Corps . Despite some professional and political issues with the Prussian system, their General Staff concept has been adopted by virtually all large armies in existence today. MODERN UNITED STATES MILITARY USAGE Professional development: specialized staff training for lower, mid-level and senior officers is made available and necessary for both future assignments and promotion. The concept behind the duality of an officer's role in field/staff assignments is to provide field experience that can be later used at staff level. The following are designations used in the United States Armed Forces : 1 is for Administration/Personnel. 2 is for Security/Intelligence. 3 is for Operations/Training. 4 is for Supply/Logistics. 5 is for Public Affairs (Division and above), or, especially in the highest headquarters, Plans & Policy. 6 is for Communications, and Information Systems (Corps and above). 7 is for Joint Operations (Corps and above). Other entities such as staff weather and resource management exist at Division and above. "J" designates a joint command staff, e.g. Army/Air Force, "C" designates a Combined Command, e.g. U.S./ROK ( Republic Of Korea ). At lower command levels, "S" stands for support/subordinate unit staffs (Army), subsections can include S3/operations, S3/planning and others. The series of numbers derive from those used in the French Army . For example, "2" is the number for intelligence for the same reason that the French intelligence service is the Deuxième (Second) Bureau . SEE ALSO
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