Category Archives: Warfighting

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Sustaining Aviation Combat Power

NTC Lessons on Maintaining at Pace

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The Aviation Task Force (AVTF) provides a lethal mixture of firepower and maneuverability. Depending on task force configuration, the AVTF consists of a varying quantity of AH-64, CH-47, UH-60, RQ-7B’s and MQ-1C. They all enable the ground force commander to find, fix, and destroy the enemy though fires and maneuver. However, this also presents the AVTF Commander with many unique maintenance challenges not typically found in any other unit. Here are some best practices to help with sustaining aviation combat power in the decisive action environment.

A prolonged exposure shows streaks of light from the headlamps of a 10th Combat Aviation Brigade UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter crew while performing a preflight inspection on an aircraft prior to launching on a personnel movement mission Dec. 8, at Forward Operating Base Fenty, Afghanistan. (U.S. Army Photo by Capt. Peter Smedberg/Released)
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Field Artillery Battalion & Below Maintenance

NTC Lessons on Maintaining at Pace

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In the decisive action training environment (DATE), field artillery (FA) units must conduct maintenance at a faster pace. Fires must enable the maneuver commander to have readily available combat power. This is challenged by the reality of conducting operations during prolonged periods in harsh environmental conditions. Moreover, units must conduct maintenance actions themselves in these demanding conditions. They rarely have the luxury of utilizing hardened bays or paved motor pools. Field artillery leaders must operationalize all maintenance actions. This will ensure proper utilization of manpower and resources to consistently provide maximum available indirect firepower to the maneuver commander.

Spartans from 1st Platoon, Alpha Battery, 4th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division fire their M777 howitzer to calibrate on Forward Operating Base Lightning, Afghanistan, Jan. 15, 2014. The 4th Battalion, 25th Artillery Regiment are currently deployed to Regional Command East in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. (Photo courtesy of Regional Command-East)

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Maintenance in the Brigade Engineer Battalion

NTC Lessons on Maintaining at Pace

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Success throughout any National Training Center (NTC) rotation often directly reflects the rotational units’ emphasis placed on maintenance operations prior to and during the training event. Maintenance operations are often the primary shortcoming of Armored Brigade Combat Teams (ABCTs) at Fort Irwin. The following article provides observations, best practices, and potential solutions for Echo Forward Support Company (FSC) maintenance operations, Engineer specific problem sets, and Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear (CBRN) Reconnaissance Platoons’ challenges within the Brigade Engineer Battalions (BEB) of ABCTs during Force on Force operations in a Decisive Action Training Environment against a near-peer threat.

These pioneers provide expert surveillance and reconnaissance putting in over 130 flight hours. These Soldiers have an incredibly important mission for the 299th Brigade Engineer Battalion and the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
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Brigade Maintenance at Pace

NTC Lessons on Maintaining at Pace

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The brigade maintenance program at home station sets the climate for maintenance management during the fast-paced decisive action fight. Brigade Combat Team can overcome the challenges they will face at the National Training Center by implementing best maintenance practices. The maintenance system will never be effective or efficient in a tactical scenario if it is not practiced at home station.

Soldiers with the 32nd Composite Truck Company, 68th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 4th Sustainment Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, and the Army Reserve’s 257th Transportation Company standby for communications checks prior to a recovery mission in support of 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Inf. Div., at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif., Aug. 31, 2016. (Photo by 1st Lt. Trevor Kinkade).
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On Watch (Sniper Emplacement)

The Company Leader TDG 20-05

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You are the Battle Staff NCO of 1st Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment, 199th Brigade. Your Brigade’s AO is Jalalabad, Afghanistan, in support of NATO forces. Recently, your battalion has been focusing on the southern sector of the area of operations. Your units intercepted arms and explosives flowing from Pakistan into Afghanistan through the mountains of tribal Pakistan into the Tora Bora region. This region has three major tribes in the area – Pashtun, the Wakhi, and the Tajik tribes. The clans, led by family patriarchs continue to fight each other, regardless of tribe, over water rights, territory, and trade rights. The BDE has started to establish allies and informants in the area.

A competitor in the United States Army Special Operations Command International Sniper Competition uses a digital range finder on his weapon while engaging long-distance targets at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, March 19, 2019. (U.S. Army photo by K. Kassens)
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Things I Learned in Combat

Part I: Fighting

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The most important thing any Army Leader will ever do is lead their soldiers into war.  It is the ultimate reason we exist. It can also be one of the most costly things one can do as a human being. Preparation is vital and lessons should be learned and shared widely. This is part one in a series of posts covering the hard lessons I’ve learned in combat.

A Texas Army National Guard paratrooper assigned to the 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade prepares for a static-line jump on a Hawaii Air National Guard C-17 Globemaster III, June 14, 2019, over Boboc Drop Zone, Romania. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman John Linzmeier)
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National Training Center Update (MAR 2020)

Defensive Operations Against a Near-Peer Threat

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While nearly every leader prefers to maintain an offensive mindset, defensive operations serve a purpose and are listed as a Mission Essential Task for nearly every formation in our Army.  While applications vary, defensive operations often allow our Army to retain decisive or key terrain, attrite or fix an enemy force, or counter an enemy action.  Each rotation at the National Training Center, at some point, stresses a unit’s ability to conduct a defense.

U.S. Army Soldiers, assigned to 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, provide enemy fire from a mountaintop during Decisive Action Rotation 16-09 at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif., Aug. 28, 2016.
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NTC Update (MAR 20)

Cavalry Defensive Operations Against a Near-Peer Threat

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Cavalry troops frequently fail to provide early warning to the protected force while performing a screen. Units are placed on disadvantageous terrain, fail to array in depth, and neglect to incorporate available aerial reconnaissance to extend observation and maximize reaction time and maneuver space.

A U.S. Army Soldier assigned to 1st ABCT, 3rd ID., scans for simulated enemy forces during Decisive Action Rotation 20-04 at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif., Feb. 11, 2020. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Brooke Davis, Operations Group, National Training Center.)
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NTC Update (MAR 20)

Armor and Infantry in the Defense Against a Near-Peer Threat

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The main reason we conduct a defense is to set the conditions to transition to the offense. At the company level and below we must recognize the significance of properly preparing for defensive operations.  Units planning against a near peer threat at the National Training Center (NTC) will focus on preparing for an attack or conducting the seven steps of EADEV in preparation for a defense, but rarely do units prepare simultaneously for both.  Commanders must think through transitioning into defensive operations prior executing offensive operations.

Soldiers position vehicles to simulate taking over an enemy town during an exercise at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif., June 7, 2019. (US Army Photo by Sgt. Mason Cutrer).
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NTC Update (MAR 20)

Planning and Integrating Obstacles and Indirect Fires in the Defense

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Successful defensive operations against a near peer threat require units to thoroughly conduct engagement area development. Most units are able to effectively execute defensive operations, but struggle with the detailed planning required for obstacle emplacement and the time distance analysis required to choose effective locations for obstacles, indirect fires, and direct fires.

U.S. Army Soldiers participate in live-fire training during Exercise Saber Guardian in Varpalota, Hungary, June 5, 2019. U.S. Army Europe and Romanian land forces lead Saber Guardian, which is designed to improve the integration of multinational combat operations. Photo By: Army Spc. Jospeh Knoch.