KM for Base Realignment and Closures (BRAC)

To continue the dialog about capturing tacit knowledge and managing human capital, Base Realignment and Closures (BRAC) represents a significant challenge for the United States military to continue operations without compromising mission activities and the soldier in theater. Due to a BRAC move many Commands will be transferring to other locations, while some bases will be closing. Many military personnel will not transition as these bases close and commands move to the new locations. This will undoubtedly cause a loss of personnel resulting in a loss of tacit and explicit knowledge. Leveraging knowledge management (KM) to address this challenge is essential to keep the various commands  fully operational and effective for the solider in theater. The following table represents some contributing factors of a BRAC and it's effect on the Command:

This challenge has to be addressed and I welcome your comments on this important subject.

Capturing Tacit Knowledge

Over the last week there have been messages going back and forth between the members of the Federal Knowledge Management Working Group http://km.gov/  about the ability and validity of being able to capture tacit knowledge and transitioning it to explicit knowledge. The conversation was initiated by Neil Olonoff, Lead Federal Knowledge Management Initiative, Federal KM Working Group. There were many views and opinions voiced on this subject. Some points stand out such as, it is difficult and considered unrealistic to think that you can fully transfer tacit knowledge in its entirety into explicit knowledge, instituting a mentor/protege (apprenticeship) program to transfer tacit knowledge is an optimal way to transition tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge, and are there methods (tools) that can really convert tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge effectively and efficiently.
It has been my experience that you can capture specific kinds of tacit knowledge (declarative, procedural, rules based, ) very effectively and translate it into explicit knowledge and make it available across the enterprise. This knowledge becomes among other things "tips and techniques", "standard operating procedures", and "lessons learned". There are also methods to codify tacit knowledge and that knowledge can be utilized in an expert (knowledge Based) system see UML for Developing Knowledge Management Systems.
Tacit knowledge has been translated into explicit knowledge throughout history, from the ancient Egyptian carvings through storytelling, through the semantic web. Phil Murray, Chief Architect from The Semantic Advantage has an interesting article in KM World: Putting Meaning to Work, that talks about the connectedness we share through semantic networks.
What are your thoughts on this subject? Sharing our knowledge both tacit and explicit is the cornerstone to the success of any knowledge management program!