After General Conference, it is often said that we have received our marching orders for the next six months.
That idea comes from President Ezra Taft Benson, who was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles when he gave a devotional address at Brigham Young University on 26 February 1980.
The talk was entitled Fourteen Fundamentals In Following The Prophet. In it, he said:
“The living prophet has the power of TNT. By that I mean “Today’s News Today.” God’s revelations to Adam did not instruct Noah how to build the ark. Noah needed his own revelation. Therefore, the most important prophet, so far as you and I are concerned, is the one living in our day and age to whom the Lord is currently revealing His will for us. Therefore, the most important reading we can do is any of the words of the prophet contained each week in the Church Section of the Deseret News and any words of the prophet contained each month in our Church magazines. Our marching orders for each six months are found in the general conference addresses, which are printed in the Ensign magazine.”
The term marching orders doesn’t mean what most people think.
Marching orders are not orders to a resting army to get it up and headed somewhere, they are orders given to an army while it is on the march.
The idea was developed in the French army in the 1700s. As the army was on the move, leaders on horseback would tell the troops where they were headed and what was expected when they got there. Orders had to be simple and clear so that marching soldiers could understand them, yet detailed enough so the troops knew what they were supposed to do.
Isn’t marching orders a good term for direction the Church receives today? We don’t sit around doing nothing, waiting for General Conference so we can be told what to do. We are an army already on the march.
We are marching, progressing, through services to each other and to others. We are marching, progressing, in Scripture study. We are active in church callings. We are seeking the influence of the Holy Spirit. We are striving to keep the Lord’s commandments. We are active in temple work.
We are working to fullfill the three-fold mission of the Church: Proclaim the Gospel, Perfect the Saints, and Redeem the Dead.
When General Conference comes, rarely are we told anything new and startling; rather we are given encouragment and special intructions to help us in our march, to help us better understand our mission, and to help correct our course.
Conference talks help us improve the speed of our march, avoid evils that may befall us along the way, try harder to fulfill our righteous desires.
The French marching order, over time, developed into the U.S. Army’s five-paragraph operation order that is used today.
The five-paragraph operation order is ususally not given while troops are on the move, but is designed to be prepared quickly, often in as little as 15 minutes, and to be given quickly, in as little as seven minutes.
Because a leader is using a specific format for an order, and because soldiers are familar with that format, it makes communication of the order quick and effective.
As the name suggests, there are five paragraphs: Situation, Mission, Execution, Service and Support, and Command and Signal.
Situation includes information about enemy forces, friendly forces, and attachments and detachments.
Mission tells the who, what, when, where, and why of what is supposed to be done.
Execution tells how it is to be done, and includes a Concept of the Operation, Missions of subunits, and Coordinating Instructions.
Service and Support talks about the four Bs: beans, bullets, bandages, and bad guys. That is to say, how the troops will be fed and sheltered, what weapons and ammo they will carry, how medical help will be provided, and what to do with enemy prisoners of war.
Command and Signal tells just that. What the chain of command is, where the commander is located, and what signals and passwords will be used.
An interesting exercise might be to use a simplified version of the five-paragraph operation order as a notetaking device for Conference talks. Not everything will be filled in during a talk and certainly not in order, but it could be a good way to organize notes on what is said.
If pornography or dishonesty or breaking the Word of Wisdom is mentioned, for example, it would be noted under Enemy in the Situation paragraph.
If visiting or home teachers or youth leaders or bishops are mentioned, or the Holy Ghost, these would be written under Friendly forces.
Specifics of what the speaker encourages us to do would be entered in Mission and in Execution.
Experiences and stories that support the speakers theme could be entered under Service and Support.
References to specific Scripture verses could be entered under Command and Signal
And so on.
This may not be an effective note-taking procedure to use all the time, but it could, for a single talk or a single session or a single Conference, be a useful way to focus on what is being said. Marching orders, after all, are marching orders.
1. Situation
A. Enemy
B. Friendly forces
2. Mission (What we are being asked to do)
Who:
What:
When:
Where:
Why:
3. Execution (How we are being asked to do it)
4. Service Support
5. Command and Signal
