Military

Memorandum

Section I: Intelligence

Section II: Maneuver

Section III: Fire Support

Section IV: Air Defense

Section V: Mobility/Countermobility/Survivability

Section VI: NBC

Section VII: Combat Service Support

Section VIII: Command and Control

On page 1 of the 1 Sep 86 Newsletter, the article "Fire Support for the Scout Platoon" said that one of the missions of the scout platoon is to "destroy the enemy's reconnaissance." This phrase implies that CATA advocates task force scouts engaging enemy reconnaissance elements by direct fire as a matter of course. This is not the case; scouts should engage in direct fire engagements only as a last resort to prevent their own destruction. Scouts may assist in destroying enemy reconnaissance elements by engaging them with indirect fire or by directing combat elements from the task force to the enemy's location, but they should not attempt to destroy enemy reconnaissance elements single-handedly. Therefore, CATA retracts the phrase "and to destroy the enemy's reconnaissance." We regret any misunderstanding this may have caused.