GRA Chicago FIELD MANEUVER FABLES July, 1978

A team of two were assigned to do the last 10 scattered counties of Tennessee, all of which had been tried before. At the end of two days of work with no Town Meetings held or set up, and food and lodging resources running out, we spent the night in the very cheapest (and noisy') motel. During the night we laid our plan: to do 3 Town Meetings the next day, the second one at noon, and that we would remain until this county had a Town Meeting.

As we went for our continental breakfast of free coffee in the lobby we found it to be the gathering place for local truck drivers, motel personnel, prostitutes and drunks -- an ideal spot for our first Town Meeting. We mustered our nerve, pulled out the workbooks, and held a 5 a.m. Town Meeting, literally "awakening local man".

The next Town Meeting took place in Sharps Chapel Post Office, on a back road in the Smokey Mountains. People picking up mail stayed to talk and fill out workbooks, standing around the post office counters.

Only 11:30, and we were on to Town Meeting No. 3 -- an urban county. What to do? Go to a nutrition center. We arrived to have lunch with the senior citizens -- up with the charts, out with the songsheets, a workbook in everyone's hands. The mayor dropped by, the social workers loved it, and we were on the road by 2 p.m.

On to Brush Creek where a previously tentative "yes" was a very hesitant "yes" on our arrival. But, we were riding the wings of 3 victories that day. Thirty­five people showed for a very fine Community Council Town Meeting in the school.

Crawling into sleeping bags in the same school house later we rejoiced in the four Town Meetings that day in being, 4 towns awakened, and the victory that had arisen out of pure necessity and decision.

The House found itself in a defensive position of any public accounting of monies. Doners were asking for a standard­type audit, which we were not prepared to have.

In a development maneuver we called upon the executives of a well respected accounting firm. They offered services rather than making a monetary gift (policy precludes monetary giving; in so doing they were giving us considerable standing in the eyes of doners and potential givers.

This fine offer vs. the wanting status of our finance books put us in a most uncomfortable position. But, we accepted the offer.

Upon hearing our ICA story the accounting firm began working with two guardians representing the ICA (one is an employee of the firm) both to put our records into legally acceptable form and to set up the books for the next few years. They did this same service for all 3 Philippine Houses' program books, and for the Project at Sudtonggan. We have found the credibility in the eyes of this firm to be very strong authorization for the ICA.

At 4 p.m. on a snowy January day the mayor of Theodosia in Ozark County, Missouri, was telling our Kansas City office on the phone that 15 inches of snow were blocking the town hall, making the Town Meeting that night an impossibility. Knowing the orchestrators had been enroute for much longer than the normal travel time, the Kansas City office continued to hold the mayor in conversation. All of a sudden the mayor exclaimed over the phone, "Your people just arrived; I guess we gotta do something"' Fifteen people met in the mayor's home that night for the Town Meeting.

MALIWADA DOUBLE Training 125 in the Maliwada HDTS was all we could manage. Slicker came by to say we needed to train 250 people. That was impossible. But as the prospect of 20 new projects stared at us, we became clear we had to train the 250 for the auxiliaries. Once we had made that decision, we found ourselves standing in a whole new universe. Looking back on our present situation we began to see how to do it. Within 15 days we had a new comprehensive space design for the school which included making and rearranging tables for the Great Hall, converting sleeping space to task force space and constructing dormitories. With task force reconfigurations and faculty additions we miraculously found ourselves ready for 250 people.

VILLAGE MEETING MISNOMER Our task was to initiate Village Meeting Africa. For the first meeting we did not have the expected and necessary authorization. We decided the first village to approach was Sare in western Kenya, the home of one of our sojourners. In order to get around the taboo of a "village meeting" it was called a PTA meeting, using teachers as workshop leaders. It turned into an all­day event of 450 people and opened the way to doing Village Meeting all over that province, with local people setting up more than we could do.

Criteria for our second Kenyan HDP site included proximity to Nairobi and a dry region. We found in Kamweleni an exciting aliveness in the villagers, but the soil was so eroded that it would be impossible to do an agricultural demonstration. Against impossible odds we kept looking for a break in this ideal location. On the second trip we discovered a farmer who had bought land 3 years before, kept his livestock off of it and allowed vegetation to fertilize the soil enough for a demonstration. On the same trip we also discovered a road that would save 18 miles on the trip into the area if it were opened. It had been closed for 23 years and was a series of 3­foot high piles of rocks alternated with eroded ditches. With help from Kawangware villagers we rebuilt the road by topping the rock piles and putting the rock into the trenches. Persistence had divined a way to create the second site.

Sweet Georgia Gold was a set of maneuvers designed to do 135 Town Meetings in a broad geographical sweep of 5 weeks duration. During the first two weeks the number of Town Meetings fell far behind the necessary quota. Even with a "mop­up" team, by the middle of the third week the number of counties not done put the campaign on death ground. On Wednesday it became clear in a phone check that the next few hours were absolutely crucial to the future of the State of Georgia. It was a moment of painful interior remaneuvering to decide to look at the county we'd just come through, and to drive back through it. We looked several times at the map. Several very small communities showed up on thin county road lines off our line of travel. An explosion of determination and destinal resolve lit up the car: we would not leave the county without a Town Meeting done that evening.

We targeted Byne Crossroads where we found 2 houses and a population of 12. Approaching one of the houses we introduced ourselves, saying that the Georgia Committee for Town Meeting was concerned to have Town Meetings in small as well as large towns, and we'd selected Byne Crossroads. Would they have time to participate in an informal demonstration in their home with their whole family. We returned at 7 p.m. The head of the household, a young man with a curious disposition, answered our knock and invited us in. He was of New England background and knew the historic importance of town meetings. He had invited his brother and family over for the evening.

We put up decor, did the entire meeting, had the kids draw the symbol, and experienced awakenment as the head of the family realized his voice counted for something and that he could assume responsibility for the future of that little bit of turf that was Byne Crossroads, Georgia. He followed us out afterwards and filled the gas tank from his pump.

Within two and a half weeks 100 more counties were gold.

CONTEXT: Over the past year we have been writing and doing maneuvers, working to get a clear understanding of the maneuver as a life function and as the tool by which we can bridge the gap from the present to do the necessary task for effecting a positive direction for the future of the planet earth.

1. What do you recall from these stories?

2. What other significant maneuver stories come to mind?

3. What are the elements present in turning an obvious disadvantage into an advantage, or a seeming impossibility into a victory?

4. Where in the midst of the maneuver was the victory actually won?

5. What is the profound maneuver wisdom revealed?

6. How will you be using this new consciousness of the maneuver this coming year?

SAMPLE CAMPAIGN MANEUVER PARAGRAPH: THE SIX SHOWCASE MANEUVER The intent of the six showcase maneuver is to create, with the completion of the six present projects, a dramatic demonstration of what is possible in such a way that we will move to launch the 12 with the strength of a credible record. This involves primarily stating and exacting the definitudes of completion. First, we will create an image of phases toward completion. Each project will study the document epilogue and plan how to realize this vision in social and economic substance by June 30. This will involve putting objective content on our presupposition related to tripling the income of these six communities, transforming the physical space and transferring the leadership from the auxiliary to an iron core of trained people. In addition, we will create a design to powerfully dramatize the shift to completion, including looking at the role and function of acceleration treks over the next four months.

BATTLEFIELD MANEUVER-BUILDING The following steps are recommended for maneuvering or re­maneuvering for short strikes on the battlefield. This planning can be done in 30 minutes: 1. Rehearse the decision to win, remembering the cruciality of the victory and its projected effects. 2. Weigh up the current situation including advantages, vulnerabilities, point of blockage, timing, terrain and troop issues. 3. List the do's, including surprise actions, indirect thrusts, sneak attacks, troop shifts, geographical re­configurations. 4. Talk through the maneuver with team colleague until the breakthrough action is discerned. Take a break if necessary to get the "a­ha". 5. Do brief write­up and a poetic title to hold the maneuver. 6. Move out immediately to accomplish the maneuver.