As the 2018 National Security Strategy prioritizes its focus on preparing the nation for the Great Power Competition between the United States and its strategic competitors—namely China and Russia—the Army is transitioning from nearly two decades of counterinsurgency focus to Large-Scale Combat Operations, or LSCO.
While counterinsurgency operations centered on the employment and maneuver of company, platoon and squad sized units, LSCO focuses on the employment of divisions, corps and field armies. Although LSCO by definition focuses on these larger elements, there are a few key items that small units must focus on to ensure their readiness to deploy, fight and win against peer threats.
Read the full article at Army Times.
Capt. Harrison (Brandon) Morgan is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Modern War Institute and is privileged to command the soldiers of Attack Company, 1st Battalion – 18th Infantry Regiment (Mechanized). Prior to command, he thoroughly enjoyed his service on staff as a Liaison, Battle Captain, and Planner at the Division, Brigade, and Battalion level. He commissioned from the United States Military Academy in May 2013 and has overseas service in Iraq and the Republic of Lithuania. Find him on twitter @H_BrandonMorgan.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the United States Military Academy, Department of the Army, or Department of Defense.
Image credit: Maj. W. Chris Clyne, US Army
The U.S. Army needs to train and train hard for multiple "Broken Arrow" scenarios, the very rare and desperate situation where Blue Forces are in danger of being overrun by Red Forces and "Danger Close" CAS is vital. Against COIN or Second and Third World Armies, these where indeed rare.
Against a peer nation, what would happen if six to eight "Broken Arrows" were to occur on the same battlefield at once? What would happen if the responding USAF CAS planes got shot down responding to "Broken Arrows" and USAF HH-60s and MV-22s were to respond and also got shot down also, requiring rescuing of the pilots also? What would happen if those shot down planes were stealths, requiring destruction of vital classified technology and materials? The war to grind down and cost the U.S.A. blood and treasure needs to be trained well and often as the peer nations knows that if the U.S.A. were to lose so much lives and money on war, the other side wins (Korea and Vietnam).
These are the scenarios and messes that the U.S. Army and TRADOC need to plan for and train repeatedly for. Without such training, the U.S. Joint Forces from all branches would develop a fixed mindset and hubris that might prove detrimental and fatal to the U.S. Armed Forces. Even USSOCOM need to train for such "Broken Arrows" as evident in historical texts.
he U.S. military needs to learn to train to fall and lose and then fight back hard from such a huge deficit to rescue and salvage the situation, like a football or basketball game with a huge point spread, and yes, those games can indeed be won by the trailing team.