Brigade Support Battalions (BSBs) are ill-prepared to defend the support area in Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO). This truth bears itself out at every Combined Training Center (CTC). BSBs require a large area, an ambitious enemy force, and a demanding sustainment synchronization to adequately prepare for LSCO or a Decisive Action Training Environment (DATE) rotation at a CTC. This vignette shows how many of the engagements in the rear area unfolds as well as how an engagement can change when properly resourced and rehearsed. At the end of this vignette you will find some discussion questions that you can use to better prepare your BSB to defend itself.
“It’s a miracle that this truck works at all! I mean I’ve been riding out here at all times of day and night and these Atropian roads are just beating my old truck to death!”
“Just yesterday I was out just trying to deliver some brownies to my grandma’s house over in Dezesha and this ol’ blue truck just died. I mean it! “Old Unfaithful” here was DEAD for no good reason. And I was driving it way easier than usual. And then while I’m stranded in the middle of the road, those Americans blew right by me and dusted me out! They didn’t try to help. They didn’t offer me any water. Nothing! And they are the same ones that smashed out all the windows in town for no good reason.
“Yeah, well this time tomorrow night we’re not taking brownies to Grandma. We’re going to bring the heat to those Americans that think that they can just come in here and take over anything they want. It’s the same thing every month. It goes on for at least 10 months a year. I’m not going to take it anymore. I’ve had it and I’m going to bring it to a stop once and for all!
The Bilasuvar Freedom Brigade fighters, frequently referred to as “BFB fighters,” rumbled down MSR Ia Drang armed with machine guns, hand grenades, their not-so-trusty clapped out blue pick-up truck, and vengeance in their hearts. The pair of BFB fighters drove around the American compound attempting to collect some intelligence, looking for weak points that they could use to get inside the perimeter.
The BFB fighters had parked at the bottom of a hill nearby, walked up to the top where they could see most of the area. They observed that traffic was moving in and out of two rudimentary gates constructed using single strands of concertina wire. That single strand continued on past the gates and traced the outline of an area that was almost a kilometer wide. Along the perimeter, there were a few large trucks with Soldiers standing in a gun turret, but they didn’t seem to be doing anything; they might have been sleeping.
The vehicles and equipment were all packed closely together making them a great target for their friends over in the Donovian Brigade Tactical Group (BTG). If the BTG could fire their medium or long-range artillery on these Americans, then they could destroy almost everything with just a couple shots. It was difficult to see everything on the compound though because there was some camouflage net covering a few small areas. It was easy to recognize where the command posts were located though because they were the ones that had really tall antennas and some had satellite dishes surrounding them.
The BFB fighters moved as stealthily as they could from one hill to the next. They expected that they would eventually run into some kind of observation post or a roving guard but instead, they were able to move around completely uncontested and unobserved. Since no American Soldiers cared to challenge them, they made their way back to their truck to have some dinner, watch the sunset that was sure to be filled with vibrant hues of red and orange, and enjoy the cool breeze that tends to follow the setting of the scorching sun.
The BFB fighters commented to each other while sharing a pot of chai tea, “this is going to be so easy! These guys have no idea that we’re out here and they’re never going to know what hit them. When we come back, we will bring a couple of our friends and a lot more firepower.” The BFB fighters sat and watched the Soldiers as the sun went down noticing that nothing changed throughout the transition from day tonight. Just as the darkness was about to fully surround the area, the fighters flicked on Old Unfaithful’s headlights and sped off into the darkness away from the Soldiers to prepare for the next night’s attack.
The following afternoon the BFB fighters hugged and kissed their kids and wives for possibly the last time. They loaded up their machine guns and grenades into “Old Unfaithful, ” the junky old pick up. The BFB cruised through the neighborhood and picked up some friends for the attack. They had to hustle so they could get in position just before nightfall. They went down the same route but before pulling off the road they noticed that something was different. While parked on the road at a distance of about three kilometers the BFB fighters sat and did a final check on their intended target.
There was more camouflage net placed around the area. They could hardly see into the compound at all, not as a large eight-foot-tall earthen berm had been turned up by bulldozers. Out in front of the berm was that single strand of concertina wire that they saw the night prior. Through some tiny gaps in the berm, they could see the turrets on top of armored trucks with heavy machine guns and they were slowly rotating back and forth as if scanning for anything that was moving or looked unnatural.
The tall antennas and satellite dishes seemed to have disappeared, but they eventually realized that they were just smaller and better disguised than before. The rudimentary gates from the night before now looked like a tangled maze of wire with a machine gun nest and at least five Soldiers in the immediate area; that was not the way that they wanted to try and sneak through.
The fighters slowly began to drive down the road again as they assessed their plan and contemplated how to improvise and still defeat the new situation. A moment later they heard a sharp screeching noise accompanied by a blinding flash and a heat far more intense than they had ever felt before. The explosion was heard and felt across the entire Brigade Support Area (BSA). The BFB fighters, their weapons, and “Old Unfaithful” the truck were instantly turned into a smoking crater on the road surrounded by debris and charred metal.
As their spirits floated up from the smoking crater they asked each other, “what happened?”
Little did they know that the Brigade Support Battalion (BSB) that they were targeting had made significant improvements to their defensive posture. Even though the BSB didn’t realize that they were being observed and targeted the night prior, their intelligence officer had received word through his systems that the BFB had become increasingly hostile and were targeting units in the brigade’s rear area. That bit of knowledge prompted a flurry of activity throughout the night and the following day.
The BSB S3 Operations Officer had requested engineering support and received a pair of D7 bulldozers that quickly turned up a berm. Each of the companies had improved their camouflage. The entry control points received both engineering support and manpower from many Soldiers to turn the only paths into or out of the BSA into what could be described as the Black Gate of Mordor from Lord of the Rings.
The BSB commander had convinced the Brigade Commander to give up one Long-Range Advanced Scout Surveillance System (LRAS3) and one Command Launch Unit (CLU) from across the brigade. This now provided the BSA the ability to positively identify BFB fighters at long range and then prosecute them without assistance from anyone else in the brigade. The BSB’s LRAS operator was actively scanning for threats and identified a suspicious vehicle stopped on the road in front of the BSA. The powerful optics package enabled the Soldier to identify the BFB fighters and their truckload of weapons long before the fighters were capable of inflicting any direct fire damage on the BSA.
The LRAS operator notified his nearby buddy with the CLU who then began locating the BFB truck. Simultaneously, the NCO supervising the OP called the BSB Tactical Operations Center to notify them of what was happening. The NCO knew the Rules of Engagement (ROE) and was not asking for permission to engage, but rather simply notifying the TOC of what was happening. When the CLU operator pulled the trigger, he let loose a Javelin missile that ripped through the air, went up to altitude, and then careened back to earth landing directly on top of the unsuspecting BFB fighters resulting in the smoking crater.
The majority of the BSA was briefly awoken by the nearby explosion but was able to continue resting knowing that their battle buddies stood guard and were prepared to use the full force of all the weapons provided to them to defend the BSA.
Discussion Questions
- What are some of the characteristics of a good BSA defense highlighted in this story?
- Are these characteristics that our BSA employs? Why or why not?
- What are the challenges that face us when trying to resource the tools needed to employ these positive characteristics?
- Is there someone on the BCT staff that can help us resource the tools?
- What processes are in place to coordinate for these tools?
- What should the BSA sector sketch look like?
- What engagement area development was conducted?
- What else could be conducted to enhance the BSA defense?
Maj. Dan Cole is a logistics officer currently serving as the BSB Executive Officer Trainer at the National Training Center. He has served in SBCTs, a Light Infantry Division, and Sustainment Brigades at all echelons. Dan has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. He hosts the Ask A Goldminer Podcast, sharing best practices, lessons learned, and exit interviews from the NTC. He holds a BA in Music Education from the Northwest Nazarene University. Dan also has an MS in Business with a concentration in Supply Chain Management from the University of Kansas.
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