German soldiers learn a fixed sequence for leading: Lagefeststellung, establishing the situation, then Planung, planning, then Befehlsgebung, giving orders, and finally Kontrolle, checking. The cycle then starts again. Its essential features were already set out in an army regulation of the Reichswehr in 1924. It is taught from the training of noncommissioned officers up to the general staff course. The German Life Saving Association teaches a similar Führungsvorgang. Its training sheet defines it as ein zielgerichteter, immer wiederkehrender und in sich geschlossener Denk- und Handlungsablauf, a purposeful, recurring and self-contained sequence of thinking and acting.