Category Archives: Case Study

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Rate of Fire Against Men

A Quantitative Assessment of Fire Team Lethality

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Live fire ranges must deliberately measure marksmanship if they are to achieve their purpose of training soldiers and junior leaders in the skills needed to win close combat engagements.  Training Circular 7-9 describes marksmanship as “one of the most important” areas that live fire exercises (LFXs) train; we argue that it is the most important, full stop.[1] Nothing else in a LFX matters, no other training objectives have any validity, if the rounds soldiers fire do not eliminate their intended targets.

5-20 IN conducts a grueling 36-hour exercise designed to test soldier readiness and war-fighting skills. (US Army Photo retrieved from 1-2 SBCT Facebook Page)
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U.S. Army Watercraft Are Overlooked, Until You Need Them

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In the Spring of 2024, a minor flotilla of Army vessels crossed the Atlantic. The eyes of Gaza watchers were held by the Army’s curious navy, and the utility of the flotilla was brought to full-light in the service of humanity. But one week prior to this mission, the demand for Army watercraft was near-invisible. Although employed as an instrument of peace, this deployment displayed a capability that large scale combat operations will demand. Army watercraft are invisible until they’re needed – and it’s often been that way.

USAV SP4 (LSV-6) underway on the James River on March 12, 2024. USNI News Photo originally found HERE.
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LSCO Ready

Organizing and Equipping for Airborne Medical Care in World War II

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Late September, 1944—Nijmegen

Medical personnel shuffled litters in and out. Outside the doors, the courtyard teemed with humanity. Clusters of aid-men loitered in anticipation of the jeeps, which were operated by their casualty collecting detachments. Like foraging ants they traversed the division area, to and from the regimental aid stations, and they would return direct to the imposing walls of the seminary. The seminary looked like an institution of classical learning, if nothing else for the blanket of vines which clung in patches to the dull brick construction. It was the most suitable location they could find for a division hospital. Mostly because of its size.

Had one of the early developers of the American airborne been able to peer into the future and see this sight, it would have surpassed all comprehension. The scale, the efficiency were beyond anything they envisioned, which wasn’t much. If casualty care in Nijmegen could be considered near seamless, it was not a product of the vision of early airborne developers in the US Army.

It was a gradual acceleration to the display of efficiency on the grounds of the Nijmegen seminary. But the only question that mattered is did it work?

Based in Fort Liberty, North Carolina, the chorus represents the 19,000 Army soldiers that serve in the 82nd Airborne Division. (Staff Sgt. Javier Orona/Army)
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The Battalion Battle Captain

A Staff Lieutenant at JRTC

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Life as a staff lieutenant has many demands. As the battle captain, you will be responsible for managing all of the information coming in and out of the Main Command Post (MCP) and control all current operations. Your command team, staffs, and company leadership will lean on you heavily for an updated status of the operation. You will have minimal guidance and instruction yet will be expected to perform at the level of a career course-qualified Captain. Too easy, right?

Life at a CTC for a staff lieutenant often means a similar surrounding of radios, maps, and trackers inside an command post tent or expando van. (U.S. Army photo submitted by author).
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Preventing Disappointment through Counseling

Connecting Army Tools to Develop Leaders

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Have you ever been disappointed with the performance of a new team or new leader? Perhaps your expectations were too high or something else went wrong. How do we close this gap between expectations and the desired end-state? Maintaining performance through transition requires the commander to over communicate the vision and guide their people through the discomfort zone. The best commanders will also listen to feedback in stride to best direct resources towards changing priorities or emerging risk. 

U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Randolph Delapena, the 82nd Airborne Division Command Sgt. Maj., speaks with Paratroopers assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, prior to conducting a Joint Forcible Entry (JFE) for exercise Panther Giant on Fort Bragg, North Carolina, March 8th, 2023. Exercise Panther Giant is a validation exercise for elements of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team to demonstrate readiness and lethality before attending the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC). (Sgt. Jacob Moir, U.S. Army)
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Parapacks over Holland

Operation Market Garden's Lessons in the Fight for Supply from the Sky

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Since the release of the hit miniseries Band of Brothers and Hollywood-classic Saving Private Ryan, the story of American paratroopers in the Second World War has become cauterized in the minds of history connoisseurs and students. The story has all the elements of a homeric epic: young, fit men strapping on a parachute and leaping from planes to land amongst the enemy. They were a live military experiment in an entirely new form of warfare. The two Hollywood productions were followed by almost two decades of literature from historians and popular authors alike analyzing and dissecting the fire and brimstone shooting matches fought by these men. But little analytics have been devoted to the factors that made these battles possible.

U.S. Army photo retrieved from U.S. Army W.T.F! moments Facebook page.
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SFAB Request for Forces Team in Theater

A View from Inside 3rd SFAB TM 3331

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No one warned us that Russia would invade Ukraine in February 2022. As a response to the ongoing effort to defend Europe against Russian aggression, Operation Assure, Deter, and Reinforce was introduced to bring to the EUCOM Theater 2 Armored Brigade Combat Teams, 1 Infantry Brigade Combat Teams, and 1st Security Forces Assistance Brigade (SFAB) Force Package comprised of twenty teams. The operational and support framework of an SFAB maneuver advisor team in a theater can serve as a strategic combat multiplier in the region.

U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Navarro, first sergeant of Ares Company, 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division receives a coin from Command Sgt. Maj. Ruslanas Gulevas, command sergeant major of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Algirdas Battalion during the closing ceremony of Exercise Iron Wolf 22 at Pabradė Training Area, Lithuania, Oct. 28, 2022. The 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division is among other units assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, proudly working alongside NATO allies and regional security partners to provide combat-credible forces to V Corps, America’s forward deployed corps in Europe. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Lianne M. Hirano)

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The Black Hornet as a sUAS Platform

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Drones have become more prevalent among small-unit tactics recently, specifically nano-unmanned aerial vehicles (NUAV) such as the FLIR Black Hornet. The Black Hornets, or Hornets, are intended to be a Soldier-borne sensor (SBS) for Infantry units that can be deployed faster than a Raven or Shadow and quieter than both UAVs. We used the Hornets with success during a defense training exercise and an offensive company-level live fire exercise (LFX).  There are limitations, as with any piece of equipment, but the benefits out-weighed limitations in both cases.

The Black Hornet PRS equips the non-specialist dismounted soldier with immediate covert situational awareness (SA). Game-changing EO and IR technology bridges the gap between aerial and ground-based sensors. It provides the same SA as a larger UAV and threat location capabilities of UGVs. It is xtremely light, nearly silent, and with a flight time up to 25 minutes. The combat-proven, pocket-sized Black Hornet PRS transmits live video and HD still images back to the operator. Image retrieved from flir.com.
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Successful Sustainment

Logistics 101

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It’s Summer 2019 at the 25th Infantry Division’s Lightning Academy. I report to the 40-foot tower for my hollywood-style rappel. A Staff Sergeant affectionately known as “Air Assault Sergeant,” calls me forward to his line atop the tower. I sound off with a loud and thunderous “right hand brake hand,” and step forward. He inspects the stitching on my gloves and my rappel seat, finishing with the instructions of “hook in.” I get into position and while assessing me, he asks what I do. “I’m a logistician Air Assault Sergeant,” I say. He turns to the other instructor shouting, “this kid says he only eats vegetables.” They both laugh. From that day forward, I have continued to reflect on the unique relationship between logisticians and our customers of whom we support.

The United States Army and Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI-AD Indonesia Armed Forces) conduct a two-week joint exercise, Garuda Shield 21.

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The CBRN RECCE Platoon

Training and Preparing for JRTC and Beyond

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In December 2017, as part of the 3BCT, 101st ABN (AASLT) Brigade Field Training Exercise, my Dismounted Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and (CBRN) Reconnaissance (RECCE) Platoon received a mission to support an infantry battalion task force air assault operation to seize an objective with an underground storage facility for chemical weapons. In planning and executing this training mission, we validated many aspects of our individual and team collective training leading up to this BCT collective training exercise. We also identified many of the challenges and gaps in our training both internal to the CBRN RECCE Platoon and ways the Brigade Engineer Battalion and the BCT could facilitate better training.

Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers; engineers; chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) specialists; as well as medical units conduct Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) training to help prepare them to respond to a CBRN catastrophe at home or abroad. (Sgt. 1st Class Brent Powell)