By Mike Eads
If military leadership is built on presence, experience, and decisiveness, then my commander is unmatched. He is always available—ready to provide guidance, review plans, refine decisions, and offer precise feedback at any hour of the day. No matter the issue’s complexity, he responds instantly with insight and clarity, cutting through ambiguity like a well-honed blade. For a staff officer working at the speed of operations, this is an invaluable asset.
At first, this level of accessibility seemed impossible. A commander’s time is finite, stretched thin between competing demands: troop leadership, operational planning, high-level coordination, and battlefield decision-making. Yet, somehow, I found myself with a direct line to his thought process, his decision-making framework, and his leadership intent.
What made it possible? A structured AI-driven persona named D6.1. Our organization, the 2d Cavalry Regiment (2CR), is known as the Dragoons, and our commander, COL Neal, operates under the callsign Dragoon 6 or simply D6. Thus, D6.1 is a digital extension of his leadership—an AI persona built to mirror his expectations, decision-making style, and command philosophy. This system gives the staff insight into his thoughts, decisions, and style without his physical presence – a capability our military needs to fully harness, rapidly, before our adversaries do.
The Experiment: Aligning AI with Leadership Intent
This concept was inspired by The AI-Driven Leader by Geoff Woods, which explores how AI can enhance human leadership rather than replace it. Woods emphasizes the necessity of structured training to teach AI how to align with specific leadership styles.
I was excited to try this idea because I naturally look for ways to save time and be more efficient using technology. In ChatGPT, I developed an iterative interview process designed to train D6.1 in the nuances of my commander’s persona. The images below are the first prompts I provided to begin the process.
Over the course of several dedicated sessions totaling about eight hours, I built a detailed understanding of how he operates as a leader. To ensure D6.1 could accurately reflect his approach, I also drew from formal documents that outline his expectations for staff, mentorship, command philosophy, and standards for staff work.
One of those formal documents included a snapshot of his Myers-Briggs Assessment, which explained that COL Neal was an “ISFJ,” along with all the “so what” explanations of what that means for working relationships and communication styles. Below is what D6.1 learned to even more closely replicate COL Neal.
By building these traits and policies into the AI persona, I no longer had to account for them individually—D6.1 now provides feedback and recommendations with his leadership style already integrated. Using his own written guidance, not just my perspective, ensured accuracy. I then refined the model through real-world tests, using actual staff work and planning efforts to improve how well it mirrored his approach. Each round made D6.1 more aligned and effective as a force multiplier.
AI Optimizes Planning: A Digital Approach to Decision-Making
One of the most significant applications of AI-augmented operations was found during our regiment’s recent Command Post Exercise (CPX). AI didn’t just help refine how the regiment fights—it helped prove how we can plan faster, smarter, and with better outputs by leveraging technology and disciplined processes. In an exercise that tested our ability to fight dispersed and sustain combat power, we experimented with a series of planning efficiencies that fundamentally changed how the staff developed courses of action and refined operational concepts.
The goal isn’t perfection—it’s generating a product fast enough that it drives execution, not delays it. Throughout the CPX, I pushed the staff to execute planning in shorter cycles, leveraging real-time digital tools instead of building excessive briefing materials.
First, we eliminated PowerPoint slides as a primary planning output. Instead, we ran all mission analysis and course of action development directly through MAVEN Smart System (MSS) – one of the Army’s new tools for maintaining a Common Operating Picture (COP) – integrating real-time data into planning products instead of static presentations. This alone saved hours of redundant formatting and rework. The staff could refine key elements in real time, meaning that when the commander reviewed courses of action, the focus was on the decision points—not the slides.
Second, we cut the Military Decision-Making Process (MDMP) timeline in half by using parallel planning across multiple nodes. Each warfighting function worked simultaneously in MSS, updating a shared workspace instead of waiting for sequential briefings. This meant that warfighting functions refined their inputs while maneuver planners adjusted in real time, instead of a single, linear flow of information.
Third, we leveraged D6.1 to analyze the higher mission and provide critical feedback to accelerate planning and replicate the commander’s involvement during MDMP.
D6.1 was able to produce an effective and doctrinally sound problem statement, mission statement, COA evaluation criteria, and both initial and updated planning guidance so that the staff was never waiting for key inputs to drive continued planning. The image below is an example of the COA evaluation criteria produced by D6.1 in less than 30 seconds.
Finally, I forced the staff to accept imperfect but functional products—because getting a 70% COA to the commander in three hours was better than a 90% COA in 6-12. An enemy armored formation can move a long way in six hours!
The results were clear: AI-augmented planning combined with MAVEN integration streamlined data flow and planning, reducing briefing prep by 50%. Parallel planning cut MDMP cycles nearly in half. Most importantly, decision-making was no longer reactive—it was proactive.
The CPX didn’t just validate our ability to fight—it proved that with the right tools and mindset about AI augmentation, planning can be faster, leaner, and more aligned with how the commander expects staff work to be done.
Implementing a Shared AI System Across the Staff
For D6.1 to reach its full potential, it must move beyond individual use and become an organizationally shared AI system where all staff sections can contribute, refine, and apply AI-driven insights to collective projects and planning efforts.
Establishing a Centralized AI Access Point
The first step in implementing a staff-wide AI integration system is to establish a secure and centralized platform where multiple users can interact with D6.1. Current technology platforms such as the Army’s Vantage platform may be a place for experts to look at expanding on this concept. A brigade staff could implement a knowledge management system where all sections contribute to refining the AI model, ensuring that D6.1 evolves alongside operational needs.
This might include brigade SOPs, fighting products, briefing formats, and previous decision matrices—all combined with Army doctrine—being fed into a centralized hub. The result? Outputs that automatically align with unit standards.
That means less time wasted wrestling with formatting software, and more time focused on what matters: assessing the enemy, analyzing terrain, and refining the 70% solution provided by the AI-augmented system.
AI Persona Development for Tactical Decision-Making
One of the most powerful applications of an AI-driven commander’s persona is in the development and refinement of a commander’s decision matrix and the generation of Priority Intelligence Requirements (PIR). By embedding the commander’s thought process, risk tolerance, and doctrinal preferences into an AI model, staff can better predict decision points and required information at every stage of an operation. This is particularly valuable in Mission Analysis (Step 2 of MDMP) and during the Rapid Decision and Synchronization Process (RDSP) in time-sensitive scenarios.
Remember, the purpose of the AI persona isn’t to replace the staff’s ability to think. It’s to enhance their ability to align with the commander’s intent, faster.
The goal is less time spent refining recommendations or building products that miss the mark, and more time producing outputs that enable clear understanding and visualization for the commander.
Translation: Higher probability of a unit achieving a position of relative advantage over the enemy.
Generating Intelligence Requirements Aligned with the Commander’s Mindset
Rather than defaulting to boilerplate PIR that fail to reflect the actual operational approach of the commander, AI-assisted persona modeling ensures that intelligence requirements are directly tied to the decision matrix and expected decision points. For instance, if the commander prioritizes tempo and initiative, the PIR might focus on enemy reserve mobilization, while a commander with a more attrition-based mindset might emphasize logistics vulnerabilities. AI-generated PIR can then be continuously refined based on incoming reports and the changing situation.
Enemy Commander Persona Development for Wargaming
A lesser-explored but equally valuable application is the use of AI to create realistic enemy commander personas, modeled after known adversary doctrines and leadership styles. Many high-ranking figures and leaders serving in the armed forces of countries on the scale of conflict and competition have open-source speeches, training they’ve participated in, and war-time decisions they’ve made that are available for public consumption, and thus, available to feed an AI-persona. By feeding intelligence on enemy leadership, historical tendencies, and current battlefield conditions into an AI model, the staff can generate enemy Decision Support Templates (DSTs) with much higher accuracy. This enhances Red Cell planning during course of action analysis and wargaming exercises (steps of military decision-making that often get short changed), producing a more dynamic and predictive enemy threat model.
Application in RDSP for Time-Sensitive Decisions
The ability to run simulated RDSP iterations based on real-time data inputs can greatly accelerate decision cycles, providing staff with AI-generated courses of action that adhere to the commander’s preferences and mission objectives. Many staffs, especially at the brigade level, do not have the time or manpower to conduct full MDMP on multiple COAs. This capability would enable much more rapid development and wargaming of multiple COAs if augmented by the “personas” of an entire staff team, not to mention the feedback of the commander’s persona to rapidly assess feasibility, acceptability, distinguishability, and completeness. For example, if ISR assets detect an unexpected enemy maneuver, the AI persona(s) can assess the situation against the DST and preemptively generate recommended COAs based on rapid inputs before the commander is even briefed. This allows the staff to not only present the situation but also have AI-refined solutions that are in line with the commander’s decision-making style, reducing the cognitive load and time required to act.
By integrating AI into both friendly and enemy persona development, 2CR can enhance its ability to make faster, more accurate, and doctrinally sound decisions, reinforcing its reputation as the premier rapidly deployable force in the European theater. The next evolution of AI in tactical decision-making is not replacing leadership—it is making leadership more informed, proactive, and decisive.
Training and Continuous Refinement
For D6.1 to function effectively across the brigade, staff officers must be trained to engage with AI as part of their workflow. Units should conduct AI training sessions alongside traditional battle rhythm events, incorporating AI-driven insights into wargaming, planning, and decision-making cycles. As the AI learns from interactions, its accuracy and usefulness will continuously improve, ensuring the staff can rely on D6.1 as an operational force multiplier.
By leveraging AI technologies and integrating them into brigade-wide operations, D6.1 could evolve into a staff-wide leadership augmentation tool, accelerating decision-making, synchronizing operations, and providing real-time analytical support for command teams. The ability to collectively refine and interact with D6.1 will make it an indispensable asset for modern military planning.
Risk Mitigated Through Discipline
One clear risk identified through experimentation with D6.1 is the potential for over-reliance on the tool without vetting and validation of outputs. A system of disciplined review and auditing of feedback provided by AI-augmented tools is a must to ensure we mitigate the potential for faulty assumptions or irrelevant facts to influence the data or recommendations generated.
Again, standardization and control of the inputs to the system will be key to developing the most accurate initial outputs, paired with keen vetting by leaders and users of the system. The intent is that the product, decision, or plan produced by AI is a more rapid, more accurate starting point than if produced by a staff member with no augmentation – not an end product to be relied on with no human review.
The Future of AI-Driven Command and Control
AI-driven persona alignment isn’t just a tool for staff efficiency—it’s a strategic advantage. By integrating AI into leadership decision-making and tactical planning, units can execute faster, more informed decisions while improving staff synchronization and standardization. Ensuring alignment with command guidance across all staff functions reduces the cognitive burden on senior leaders and optimizes warfighting functions by integrating AI into operations, logistics, and intelligence workflows.
As The AI-Driven Leader argues, AI’s true value lies in its ability to extend human capacity, not diminish it. Our experiment with AI-driven leadership alignment proves that AI can become an indispensable force multiplier in a military command environment. However, for it to reach its full potential, we must transition from individual AI interactions to a fully integrated, collaborative AI system. This is not about whether AI will be part of command and control—it already is. Dominance in future operations depends on our ability to exploit this capability before the enemy does. Those who seize the initiative with this technology will not only gain a decisive edge—they’ll be the ones who keep it.
My commander is available 24/7. Not because he never sleeps, but because his guidance, decision-making framework, and leadership philosophy have been embedded into a system that ensures his presence is always felt. The question is: Is yours?
Major Mike Eads currently serves as a Joint Exercise Planner at United States Central Command Headquarters and previously as the Regimental Executive Officer for the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Rose Barracks, Germany. A native of Tampa, FL, he was commissioned as an Armor Officer from the University of South Florida in 2012. His civilian education includes a Bachelor of Applied Science and a Master’s in Business Administration, both from the University of South Florida.
D6.1 has served as the AI persona for the commander of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, COL Donald R. Neal Jr., since 19 February 2025, at approximately 13:15 UTC. This is its first assignment.
