Category Archives: Warfighting

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Combat, Orders, and Judgement

The Nightingale Series

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Combat is decidedly mortal to the participants. Leaders, officers, and enlisted soldiers, are charged with execution of orders and the strict adherence to commander’s intent as the responsible agents for the men they serve—both above and below them. Failure to do so in peacetime can be professionally suicidal. Failure to do so in combat may be either suicidal or the key to success. The difference is called judgment. And good judgment is the Holy Grail of any combat unit. One case of leaders on the beachhead, on June 6, 1944, provides a sense through which to view disciplined initiative via calculated disobedience.

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TLDR – RE: CAVLOG

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TLDR is a popular culture acronym standing for Too Long; Didn’t Read. Urban Dictionary says it is a “frequently used by […] people in Internet Forums [whose] urge to type exceeds their ability to read…” A few weeks ago we published an Excel tool to aid troop and squadron-level leaders in logistics planning. CAVLOG, posted to The Rucksack, received a lot of attention on Social Media page via The Company Leader, Doctrine Man, and Army Leader Exchange. We appreciated and were humbled by the volume of interest and engagement. Some of it was praise. Other comments provided constructive feedback. And then some commentary fell into the realm of clear “TLDR.” Below, we hope to clear-up a few things about CAVLOG.

A U.S. Army Task Force Brawler CH-47F Chinook flies while conducting a training exercise with a Guardian Angel team assigned to the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, March 26, 2018. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Tech. Sgt. Gregory Brook)
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The Combined Arms Battalion TDE – Defense

Guest Tactical Decision Game

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One aspect of the National Training Center’s (NTC) mission is to identify training deficiencies for Rotational Training Units (RTU). Simply identifying re-occurring or one-off training shortfalls is not enough to improve the readiness and proficiency of leaders, units, and the Army. To provide feedback on home station training, Operations Group and the National Training Center routinely conducts Outreach to the Force. This set of Tactical Decision Exercises (TDE) is one example of that outreach.

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Defend Forward (IBCT CO Defense)

The Company Leader TDG 19-03

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The bitter taste of Army coffee stings your tongue, but the warmth as it goes down your throat makes up for it. The drastic desert temperature swings in Atropia continue to shock your system. It’s March 5th, and while the days are warming up the nights remain frigid. Moments like these you almost rethink your dedication to being a paratrooper…almost. You look down at your watch and see it’s almost 1800. Realizing you need to get to the BN TOC for the OPORD, you call for your RTO,  “Specialist Ayala, please grab two copies of the map of our AO, your map markers, a roll of acetate, and your notebook. We leave for the TOC in 15 minutes. New orders – intelligence suggest the enemy is mounting a counterattack and we have to defend forward of this town if we have any chance of making it until 2-325th reinforces our position.”

Paratroopers from 1-325th PIR conduct night live fire exercises to improve lethality and drill the fundamentals. Photo retrieved from @1_325thAIR on Twitter.
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You Can Lead, But Can You Fight?

Leadership as a Conduit to the Real Mission

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The leader development space, especially within the military community, experienced massive growth in the last decade. We are dining at a leader and self-development buffet. The myriad resources range from Army sites like MWI and AUP to blogs like The Military Leader and The Field Grade Leader. We are discussing emotional quotient, social intelligence, and strategic communication – topics formerly reserved for academic journals and college classrooms. Leaders are learning about building consensus and motivating as opposed to the hierarchical and command/control crutches of Army generations past. But, is the pendulum swinging too far to the leadership art and science over the tactical? You can lead….but can you fight?

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The Making of a Grunt

The Nightingale Series

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This is an image of a Grunt at both his finest and his worst. It is Grunts doing what Grunts always do, picking up pieces, moving forward, and gaining the ground that no one else can. It could be Caeser’s 10th Legion with short swords, slings, and shields. Or, it could be today’s finest equipped force in the world clearing some mud-bricked village in the depths of Nowhere, Sandbox. Here, in this image and on this ground, it is all the same. It is the essence of how we arrived at where we are today and where we may be.

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Refrigerator Gap (ABCT CO TM)

The Company Leader TDG 18-12

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You are the Company Commander of A Co/ 1-64 AR. Your unit is in a TAA VIC NV 585215 at REDCON 2. You are waiting to receive orders to conduct an FPOL with B Co and continue the attack to OBJ Chicago. Your current combat power is 1x Armor PLT with 3 operational tanks, 2x BFV platoons with 1 PLT of 3x BFVs and the other of 4 BFVs. Each Platoon has 14x dismounts divided into 2x squads each and all Javelins are operational.  Additionally, you have an engineer platoon attached with 3x operational engineer BFVs, a MCLIC, and a sapper squad of 6x Soldiers. Your Company HQs is 100% and you are fully resupplied.

U.S. Army Armor Basic Officer Course Class 18-006 conducts STX at the Good Hope Maneuver Training Area. Photo Retrieved from the U.S. Army Armor Basic Officer Course Facebook Page.
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Route Canada (IBCT PLT MTC)

The Company Leader TDG 18-11

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This TDG is set in the war in Afghanistan. It has its roots in COIN operations, but is relevant to any current DATE scenario. While approaching this TDG, familiarize yourself with the MTOE of a platoon in an IBCT, within the constraints provided below. Be creative, consider what you know about the enemy, and the relevant information about your friendly forces’ operations the day prior. Spend some time understanding the enemy, the terrain, and yourself. Think critically and creatively. Good luck and enjoy!

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Tanks in the Hedgerows (ABCT Co Attack)

The Company Leader TDG 18-10

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You are the company commander of B Co, 2-7 IN. You have been operating in the Sherka Province of Urzustan, a military state under dictator rule with ties to other terrorist and near-peer adversaries of the United States. Over the past 24 hours, your BN TAA has been receiving indirect fire from the north. Your sister FA BN and BN FiST determined the point of origin (POO) to be a hill approximately 1000 meters outside of the town of Jurju. Human Intelligence (HUMINT) reports indicate that mortar teams use that hill and quickly displace to Jurju where a local militia tied to the current regime gives them safe haven. You report to the Battalion Tactical Operations Center (TOC) at 2300hrs to receive a FRAGORD.

Students of ABOLC and IBOLC execute the Combined Competitive Maneuver Exercise. Photo of D Troop, 2-16 CAV, ABOLC, U.S. Army Armor School. Photo retrieved from U.S. Army Armor Officer Basic Course Facebook Page.
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Patched-Prairie (SBCT PLT Attack)

The Company Leader TDG 18-09

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You are the Platoon Leader of 2nd PLT/C Co/1-23 IN fighting on the Korean Peninsula. You have an MTOE Stryker (SBCT) Infantry Platoon with an attached Engineer Squad equipped with an M1132 Engineer Squad Vehicle. The Korean peninsula has been divided since 1953. Over six decades of heightened regional tensions and economic instability led to the collapse of the northern dictatorship when their dictator died suddenly and without an immediate successor. At this time, the north’s nuclear program has fallen and radical groups to the north are moving to secure chemical weapons depots across the region. It is assessed that these enemy forces have already infiltrated into the Republic of Korea through maritime routes. You will conduct a Platoon Attack on a patched prairie (OBJ COLT) as part of a greater battalion operation in AO Freeman.