Military

2. Company/team commanders can control offensive direct fires with the same tools that are used in the defense:

3. The offensive fire plan should provide the company/team commander the ability to orient his force and transition it from a moving force to a base of fire and maneuver.

4. The battalion S3 or battalion commander conducts a tactical exercise without troops (TEWT) with the entire staff and company commanders, working through the battalion engagement area development process. At the end of the exercise, company commanders should know:

5. Commanders must plan and rehearse critical events that would require a fire command to shift fires. EXAMPLES:

6. Companies should conduct tactical chalk talks or walk-through drills where they outline the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) they will use to shift fires during the direct fire fight.

TREND 2

SUBJECT: Movement Formations and Techniques

1-2QFY98

OBSERVATION 1: FA battery commanders often do not conduct proper planning and preparation for their tactical moves. (TA 1.1.1)

DISCUSSION:

1. Commanders typically give little thought to control measures for ensuring timely, controlled tactical moves.

2. Most moves consist only of sending a move order to the guns with no thought of land deconfliction, boundaries, terrain, movement aid for limited visibility, reconnaissance, survey points, or movement control measures.

OBSERVATION 2: Most DS battalion staffs understand Paladin movement techniques; however, they do not maximize the employment techniques of the Paladin system in supporting the combined arms team. (TA.2.3)

DISCUSSION:

1. Artillery movement is rarely adequately planned for and, therefore, not synchronized with maneuver or based on execution of essential fire support tasks (EFSTs).

2. Clear movement triggers are not developed, most moves being on order.

1. Paladin movement requires great detail in planning and flexibility in execution. Commanders should look early for potential problems, define specific control measures for the movement, and then position key leaders where they can see and influence the movement.

2. Movement planning must begin during the commander's mission analysis. Even if the battalion does not provide sufficient guidance for movement, the battery commander is not absolved from planning movement in-depth to support his battery mission.

3. An initial examination of the scheme of maneuver, coupled with the Paladin zones provided from the battalion, will give the commander a starting point for his maneuver plan.

4. The commander should look for obvious conflicts in the movement plan. He should determine conflicts early to find solutions or work with the battalion staff to modify the plan.

5. The commander must then make specific decisions concerning his planned movement.

6. If they know to do so in advance, the gunnery sergeants can assist the commander by easily placing survey control points along the route. By conducting a route reconnaissance within limits of the tactical situation, the gunnery sergeants can advise the commander on the terrain, routes, and possible conflicts. If ground reconnaissance is not possible, then the commander must conduct a detailed map reconnaissance.

7. The commander then determines how best to pass his movement plan to his platoons. One successful method is to develop battery graphics and disseminate them while issuing the WARNO or OPORD.

8. Control during movement execution is critical. Commanders often have the gunnery sergeants link in with the rear elements of the maneuver forces. This gives the commanders eyes forward while positioning themselves forward to make their own assessment of the movement.

9. Commanders should plan for contingencies in their scheme of maneuver. By planning alternate Paladin zones and alternate routes of march, the commander can easily shift his unit when the situation changes.

TREND 3

SUBJECT: Use of Dismounted Infantry

3-4QFY97

OBSERVATION 1: Heavy task forces (TFs) do not utilize their dismounted infantry. (T.A.1.1.1)

DISCUSSION:

1. Dismounted infantry are often not integrated into the TF scheme of maneuver.

2. Dismounted infantry lack a clear task and purpose in conjunction with the mounted elements.

3. When heavy TFs are forced to use their dismounted infantry, the soldiers are often unprepared to accomplish their mission.

4. Infantry units are often consolidated within the TF at the last minute, preventing any meaningful troop-leading procedures such as orders briefings, rehearsals, and pre-combat checks/pre-combat inspections (PCCs/PCIs).

1-2QFY98

OBSERVATION 1: Mechanized infantry and armor company/team commanders often do not adequately plan for the use of infantry squads with mounted forces in either offensive or defensive operations. (TA.1.1.1)

DISCUSSION:

1. Infantry squads slow the tempo of the operation.

2. Infantry squads have insufficient Class V (i.e., AT weapons, hand grenades, and machine gun ammo) as well as inadequate obstacle breach kits to make them effective for their assigned task.

3. Infantry squads lack effective communication methods.

4. Infantry squads create a safety hazard when moving among maneuvering vehicles (at risk of being run over or becoming victims of a fratricide incident from mounted weapons).

5. The company team commander does not identify the best enemy target for the infantry squads (i.e., enemy infantry, ambush sites, reconnaissance patrols, or observation posts) or plan dismount, remount, or deployment locations.

6. Infantry squads only provide close-in support to the Bradley Fighting Vehicles (BFVs).

7. Infantry squad leaders lack experience, and squads have worked together for less than 90 days.

8. Mechanized infantry squads are repeatedly destroyed (usually while on board their BFV) through insufficient planning and rehearsals, a disregard for needed support, and hasty execution during the battle.

9. The role of mechanized infantrymen is in jeopardy as generations of BFV squads do not meet minimum MTP standards for performance or train to their capabilities as prescribed in FM 7-7J and FM 71-1.

OBSERVATION 2: Task forces do not effectively use their dismounted infantry. (TA.1.1.1)

DISCUSSION: Task force staffs normally always plan for the use of their M2 Bradleys, but if they plan for the use of dismounts, it is usually an afterthought.

1. Use every possible opportunity during Home Station training to integrate the use of the mounted and dismounted elements. Identify shortfalls in dismounted personnel and train as a consolidated force during Home Station training.

2. The most effective infantry squad is one that has the support of the task force commander and planning attention of the company commander. The remainder of the armored force can only benefit from the successes of infantry actions. Mechanized infantry and armor commanders at all levels must train and employ infantry squads to reverse this trend. Task force commanders must meet the challenge of planning employment of the infantry in conjunction with mounted forces. The following recommendations address the most often heard excuses:

- Task: Clear a defile. Purpose: To destroy enemy overwatch elements and facilitate movement. This operation succeeds with BFV support, a detailed, repetitious rehearsal of the actual clear mission, a resourced fire support plan, and engineer squads supporting the ground force (see CALL CTC Quarterly Bulletin 97-20, "The Defile Breach: TTPs").

- Task: Suppress a motorized rifle platoon. Purpose: To prevent fires on the main effort. This task includes securing a forward observer (FO) team to adjust indirect fires (to include smoke) onto the point of penetration and/or breach point. This mission also supports an infiltration by the infantry. The end-state for this mission is that enemy forces overwatching a key area (entrance to a chokepoint, an obstacle, a flank of the BP, etc.) are destroyed, suppressed, or obscured (See CALL CTC Quarterly Bulletin 96-1, "Route Clearance Operations: Using Dismounted Infantry In The Attack").

- Task: Establish an observation post (OP). Purpose: To provide indirect fires and reconnaissance on the enemy forces. This surveillance mission secures a FO party to direct accurate artillery fires or CAS and uses infantry squads to secure the position and repel counter-reconnaissance forces.

- Task: Destroy enemy reconnaissance forces. Purpose: To prevent detection of the main body. This mission is an active patrolling operation. Most often, the edges of the main maneuver corridors are not patrolled with any regularity. An infantry patrol, with an indirect fire plan resourced with task force mortars, will detect and destroy enemy reconnaissance assets. Patrols can also link up in an OP on the morning of the fight to report progress of attacking forces forward of the BPs (see CALL CTC Quarterly Bulletin 96-7, "The Mechanized Counter-reconnaissance Battle: A Company Team Perspective").

5. Lack of emphasis on use of dismounts is often due in part to manning shortfalls in mechanized units. However, even those units that are above 80% in manning have generally not trained to utilize their dismounts in their doctrinal role. Units should conduct Home Station exercises that include planning for and employing dismounted infantry.

TREND 4

SUBJECT: Actions on Contact

1-2QFY98

OBSERVATION 1: Units often become quickly combat ineffective upon contact with the enemy. (TA.1.1.2)

DISCUSSION:

1. Units have exhibited a general inability to execute their plans effectively. This is especially true once the units are in direct fire contact with the enemy.

2. Upon contact with the enemy:

1. Units must not rely on the planning process to arrive at the best tactical solution. Branch schools should emphasize that effective use of METT-T should drive the planning process. The doctrinal processes themselves will not ensure tactical success. They are only effective if the planners and commanders first understand the nature of the battlefield (METT-T).

2. Units must go to the field for frequent, routine Home Station training at company/team and task force levels. Units must go through repetitive actions on contact battle drills until they know instinctively what actions to take upon contact with the enemy.

3. Commanders must be educated on the true nature of the battlefield and given the opportunity to work with their units in a realistic environment.

Section IV - Needs Emphasis Trends: Intelligence BOS, Part 2

Section IV - Needs Emphasis Trends: Maneuver BOS, Part 2