Tag Archives: NTC

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Operationalizing the Battle Staff in Garrison

Part IV: Prepare for Friction

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Our AARs largely focus how internal systems and processes respond to the challenges of planning and operating at distance, on difficult terrain, in constrained timelines. This was consistent throughout the nearly 120 after action reviews (AARs) I facilitated at the National Training Center (NTC). Most friction is inflicted by units upon themselves or by the overwhelming size and difficulty of the environment. We mitigate self-induced friction by building cohesive teams, establishing common processes and procedures, and refining them through practice (see Parts I,II, and III). We can mitigate the friction imposed by the environment by replicating those factors during home station training events. This final installment of Training Your Battle Staff in Garrison focuses on a few simple ways to replicate the challenges of the Decisive Action environment in existing home station training events.

Photo By Sgt. Timothy Massey | Tanks set in the field at dawn during the Bull Run 10 exercise in Orzysz, Poland, Sept. 19.
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Operationalizing the Battle Staff in Garrison

Part III: Get Your Planning Reps, by the Desert Tortoise

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The Military Decision Making Process: four words that send shivers up your shell. But MDMP is simply a methodology to understand and solve tactical problems collaboratively. An underlying theme of Part I and Part II of this series is enabling and enforcing collaboration to achieve shared situational understanding. This piece focuses on leveraging shared understanding to solve home station problem sets with the same methodology you will use in combat. MDMP is hard because we rarely use it to frame and solve dilemmas at home station. The friction and fog of war will challenge your ability to execute MDMP. We can make it easier by training ourselves and our teams to solve home station problems collaboratively via this tried and true process. In this article, we will explore three common opportunities to get your battle staff good reps at planning: annual/semi-annual training guidance, collective training events, and the weekly FRAGORD.

M1 Abrams Tank overlooks the city of Razish while the crew undoubtedly hears the voice of Sir Alec Guinness saying “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.”
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Fight for Information (ABCT PLT Recon)

The Company Leader TDG 19-06

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You are a scout (recon) platoon leader in Apache Troop, 5-7 CAV, 1st ABCT, 3rd ID. You and your troop are conducting a zone reconnaissance in Donovian occupied territory of Atropia, from PL MIAMI (Whale Gap) north to PL BOSTON (the northern wall). Over the previous two weeks, your brigade has traded blows with elements of the 111th Brigade Tactical Group (BTG) in your fight to liberate Atropia. Your squadron has been critical in answering Brigade PIRs and informing the Brigade Commander’s decisions. But now isn’t the time to hit the breaks. As your infantry battalions shift their movement northward, it’s again time for you to cross LD in advance to provide space in time and fight for information.

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Operationalizing the Battle Staff in Garrison

Part II: Processes and Procedures

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Now that you replicated your tactical command post in your unit headquarters (Read Part I HERE), you need to put it to use. If the Command Post exists to enable Commander decision-making and to synchronize and support the efforts of subordinates, then we must implement the processes and procedures necessary to facilitate those efforts. Establish a battle rhythm focused on Commander touchpoints, build the running estimates that efficiently inform his or her decisions, and enforce tactical reporting as the mechanism to update those running estimates.

Engineer Advisors from A Co, 5th BN, 1st SFAB work with FORSCOM units to enable their advisory missions in the Indo-Pacific region. Photo Retrieved from Facebook.
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Operationalizing the Battle Staff in Garrison

Part I: Train Like You Fight

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In the next Decisive Action (DA) conflict, we will be outnumbered, outgunned, and potentially matched in every other domain. If this is the case, then we can only win by synchronizing and massing combined arms at the decisive point faster than the enemy. We must anticipate the enemy’s scheme of maneuver, develop a collection plan to confirm it, synchronize fires and effects to attrit enemy forces, and provide subordinate commanders with a detailed plan to execute the enemy’s destruction–all while conducting protection and sustainment operations. To quote the 25thCommander of Operations Group, “We have to do this perfectly and continuously, every time.” Developing and retaining proficient and cohesive battle staff teams is essential to winning the next first fight.

1st Cavalry Division Troopers at NTC. Image retrieved from Twitter.
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Attacking Razish – Part II

Getting Punched in the Face

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After seven hours of fighting our way through the central corridor the support by fire was set, obscuration smoke was out, our task force engineers were reducing the breach and my assault force began moving forward to quickly secure the far side objective and seize a foothold in the city. After months of preparation and midway through our combined arms breach the brigade was poised to take the largest city in the national training center and my battalion was about to lead the assault. That’s when things started to go wrong and failure ensued.

Paratroopers with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, participate in Exercise Rock Spring 19 at Grafenwoher Training Area, Germany, March 6, 2019. Rock Spring is an annual exercise to validate platoon-level proficiency at conducting offensive operations under live-fire conditions. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Henry Villarama)
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Attacking Razish – Part I

Top 5 Keys to Success

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Twenty-four hours after completing our assault on the National Training Center’s largest urban objective, Razish, I took two pages of notes on the things that I felt made us successful. Like all lessons in the Army, none of these are new or novel. And, like all lessons at NTC, just because you know what you need to fix doesn’t always mean that you can pull it all together in the face of the short timelines, harsh conditions, and the ever-present 11thArmored Cavalry Regiment. Here are my top 5.

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The Goat Trail Foothold (SBCT PLT Attack)

The Company Leader TDG 19-02

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It’s 0200hrs and you’re awake. You’ve been going for the last twenty-seven hours. Your vision blurs as you stare at the FBCB2-JCR inside your M1126 Stryker. Your driver is getting some much needed rest. The sound of snoring from your FO is making you regret choosing to have him in your vic while you sent the RTO with your PSG. You remind yourself that this was a calculated decision, both for purposes of allowing for more reliable communications support and for spreading these two C2/MC assets across the platoon. Sure, one grenade may not kill both your FO and RTO while inside your Stryker – but more lessons from Ranger School than not translated from humping it through the Appalachian Mountains to now being holed up in a vehicle in Atropia. You’re going on day seven of continuous combat operations and are currently in the company tactical assembly area (TAA). On day three you could smell yourself, the mix of sweat and the beginning stages of ketosis, but now it’s just the norm. Just as you start to doze off you are startled by Sergeant Wilson – your Gunner – “Sir! Message for you on the JCR. Looks like we have a WARNORD and the CO needs you to confirm receipt.”

Soldiers of the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division, Pennsylvania Army National Guard at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California July-August 2018. (U.S. Army National Guard Photo)
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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.