We read every day about the new strategy, plans, and programs to build our defense. This image shows what will or will not permit the “new” plans and programs to succeed or fail. It is called a squad and has been the basis of our Infantry success since time immemorial.
The squad is the bottom firm foundation of our fighting forces. It is the ultimate determinate of our force projection. To denigrate its training and import is to underwrite future failure on the field of battle.
S.L.A. Marshall, chief U.S. Army combat historian of World War II and the Korean War, said that all combat is small unit. Thousands of troops may be deployed for a major strategic objective, but the outcome rests upon the actions of this element repeated manifold times.
The squad is the most important and the most neglected of all military organizations. Its composition and significance is noted but rarely supported to the level deserved. It suffers from choices made by vastly higher decision makers. Tanks, planes, ships, and exotic emerging combat systems win in the allocation of time and money. Yet, despite the deficit, this element somehow manages to clear the village, take the hill, and hold the ground.
The squad is composed of people, not things. It has a soul and a mutually gained purpose that it derives from this people-centered focus. Cemented by an indestructible bond of brotherhood, it consistently overcomes any obstacle, friendly or enemy, to achieve its assigned purpose. Internal to its ethos, it literally succeeds or dies trying. It closes with and destroys any enemy, anywhere, any time. It is truly the pearl without price.
The image is an accurate depiction of what our Grunt Infantry is all about. It also holds the secret of its success. While the unit is of one Service, it could just as easily be Marines in Fallujah or soldiers next to the Pakistan border. It is the Infantry squad.
They listen intently to the next mission, probably given by an NCO, and accept their fate amongst their brothers—the tightest family they will ever know.
Battle bonds these soldiers beyond any degree of time or future act can dissipate. They have painful experience and hard won skills in mortal issues, and they will display them in protection of their small group as determined as the most ardent mother tiger would her cubs.
When all the weapons systems and sophisticated support apparatus costing billions of dollars have expended their total capability, these Grunts will rise from the smoke, mud and dirt and determine the ultimate outcome. Nothing else can do so. They will take and hold the ground, or not. They are both the cheapest, and yet most valuable weapons system in our inventory.
The Mother of Battle has bred them and they serve, have served, and will serve all of us with the highest honor, dedication, and pride. They would permit nothing less. They are all of us, but are also so much more.
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