Tag Archives: Tactical

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Splitting the Battalion Aid Station

Are Units Doing it Right?

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It’s common for units at the National Training Center to split their Battalion Aid Station (BAS) into a Forward Aid Station (FAS) and a Main Aid Station (MAS). Unfortunately, many units find they don’t really know what to do with them once they’re split. Observers often find units asking the same questions; Is there a difference in capability? Is the MAS required to stay fixed, while the FAS bounds ahead? When does it make sense not to split the BAS? To answer these question, we must look at doctrine to clarify commonly misused terms, understand medical unit composition, and review tactics. These three steps will demonstrate that extended medical coverage and bounding medical coverage are useful techniques that units can use to increase survivability and treat wounded soldiers to get them back in the fight.

A Soldier assigned to 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) monitors a simulated casualty during a training exercise at Camp McGregor, New Mexico March 31, 2020. The training exercise focused on enhancing a wide variety of skillsets for the participating Green Berets and soldiers such as weapons training and medical training to prepare them for future operations. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Steven Lewis)
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Red Dragons on OBJ Sword (IBCT CO Attack)

The Company Leader TDG 20-06

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The Atropian air helps to cool the sweat under your body armor. Your company has been moving all night to get to this point. You look at your watch…2200, March 5th.  The three weeks you’ve been conducting operations are beginning to take a toll. It seems more like a two months since you arrived in Atropia, but it’s only been two weeks. 1st Battalion is wrapping up its movement to contact covering nearly 24 kilometers since last night. You’re starting to feel the effects from a lack of sleep. The platoons are set in their positions and you were just about to close your eyes when your RTO comes over.  “Sir, new orders – intelligence  suggest the enemy seized an airfield about 5 clicks from our position.  BN wants us to seize the airfield NLT 12 hours from now.”

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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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Set the Trap (IBCT PLT Ambush)

The Company Leader TDG 20-02

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You have never been quite this tired, wet, and this cold in your entire life. You could have sworn that Atropia was primarily a desert. But no, your unit  – Task Force 1-28 Infantry – had to deploy to the other side of Atropia. No sweeping landscape and warm winters for you. And here you sit – a different day, a different puddle. You are in the middle of your platoon’s patrol base, next to your RTO,  while your squad leaders ensure security is set. “Ma’am – Crusher Main says there is intelligence that enemy forces are moving in our AO. They will be traveling to a resupply point along RTE ORION in the morning. CRUSHER 6 says we need to set an ambush.”

Image Retrieved from Task Force 1-28 Infantry, Black Lions Facebook Page.
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Building Your Brigade Staff Training Program

A Training Resource from NTC Ops Group

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Developing an effective training program represents a challenge for any unit. At the brigade level, simply resourcing and synchronizing a training program that creates capable subordinate formations easily consumes nearly all available time. Further, necessarily weighting the predominance of available training time and resources at the company level and below to maintain small unit proficiency constitutes another essential demand on a brigade’s organizational energy.

U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to 3rd Cavalry regiment, “Brave Rifles” Fort Hood, TX, provides security during Decisive Action Rotation 20-02 at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif., Nov. 08, 2019. Decisive Action Rotations at the National Training Center ensure Army Brigade Combat Teams remain versatile, responsive, and consistently available for current and future contingencies. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Kyler Chatman, Operations Group, National Training Center)
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Attacking Razish (ABCT CAB Attack)

The Company Leader TDG 19-12

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Sitting in your MOPP gear, you reflect on your current situation. “Decades of sustained combat against these guys and here we go again…” you think as you dig through your assault pack looking for your map markers. You are in the third month of your battalion’s deployment to Donovian-occupied Atropia. The 3rd ABCT “Bulldog Brigade” of 1st Armored Division cut its teeth during continuous operations south of the Tiefort Mountain complex. Your battalion, specifically, served as the BCT decisive operation–seizing Guba. Now you are being called upon again to apply your expertise in urban operations. This time though, you will be attacking Razish. “I wonder how many times and how many units have fought to take back this city…”

ABOLC Class 19-007 executes a Platoon Situational Training Exercise at the Good Hope Maneuver Training Area; Fort Benning, GA.
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JMRC MASCAL Lessons Learned for LSCO

Exercise Saber Strike 2018

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During one of the annual Saber Strike rotations at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC), a medic team brought a soldier onto a trauma table in the Role 2 with his casualty card attached. The doctor took a look at the injuries listed on the card, examined the interventions in place, and studied the line of Soldiers waiting for treatment. Satisfied, the doctor shouted, “We can’t save him, send me someone else!”

A simulated casualty is prepared for evacuation during Saber Strike in Bemowo Piskie, Poland (photo by SPC Robert Douglass)
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What Is Commander’s Reconnaissance Guidance?

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Soon the Army’s cavalry scouts will be called upon to execute reconnaissance on the multi-domain battlefield (MDB). We will face enemy forces who possess peer-level capabilities across most, if not all, warfighting functions. Now, more than ever, the ability to execute mission command and disciplined initiative is critical to successful execution of combat operations. For the scout, this requires reliable operational graphics and a well-crafted commander’s reconnaissance guidance. The scenario below is a hypothetical portrayal of cavalry scouts operating in a near future combat environment with clear guidance and graphics.

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Tactical Implications of Strategic Shortfalls

An Interview with Lt. Col. Gallagher

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In the post-World War II era, the United States has enjoyed a near faultless tactical dominance and overmatch against its enemies. And yet, in that time we have, at perhaps equal rate, failed to “win the peace” in the post-war/kinetic environment. In the Post 9/11 era this has become status quo, a constant in U.S. combat operations. The shift from Afghanistan in 2003, “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq, and a whole host of other U.S. incursions overseas have left many scratching their heads. How can a global superpower win so spectacularly at the tactical-level and yet come-up short so often in the strategic ends? That is exactly what Lt. Col. Brendan Gallagher set out to discover in his recent book, The Day After: Why America Wins the War but Loses the Peace.

U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to 1st Battalion 252nd Armor, North Carolina Army National Guard, scan for targets on July 16, 2019. (Photo by Pfc. Brooke Davis)
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Clearing Al-Baqqah (ABCT Urban Attack)

The Company Leader TDG 19-09

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“We really need to develop a better urban training facility,” you thought as you reviewed the imagery of the city. These weren’t connexes back on Fort Benning. Your armored company team has been in Erbyk, a NATO allied partner nation that was invaded by hostile Sermania, for the past three-months. And while you’ve been clearing small urban villages, you are now on the outskirts of Al-Baqqah, a dense urban environment in the heart of Erbyk. The OSRVT feed continues to provide real-time activity in Al-Baqqah as your company headquarters observes patterns of life. ”Chaos 6, this is Cottonbaler 6–change of mission to follow, prepare to copy.”