This post is about the ongoing process of transformation of the US Army. It will not seem so at first, but I will get "there."
There is a whole genre of enjoyable escapist fiction that "runs" under the rubric, "combat science fiction." The "Hammer's Slammers" series is one of the best. It was written by David Drake. A pioneering work of this type was "Starship Troopers" by Robert Heinlein. I read that as a teenager. The wretched movie inspired by it does not compare except for the shower room scene which IMO should be retained in any re-make. In the Heinlein book the Mobile Infantry platoon is informally known as "Racszak's Roughnecks" for a long dead platoon commander. This is great stuff to read at the beach or somewhere like that.
What does this have to do with US Army transformation? Maybe not much except that some of the conversations and writing about "the transformation" begin to seem after a while as though they were inspired by an early and persistent exposure to this kind of literature.
If you read the remarkably good Wiki piece below on transformation, you will see that what is being done is revolutionary, not evolutionary. The army that will emerge from the process described will have deployable forces centered on brigade combat teams that are essentially miniature "divisions" containing all arms and services and reinforced through "attachment" with whatever other modular support units that are deemed necessary for a given situation. These forces will have only a fraction of the artillery fire support available in the past and will be frighteningly dependent on the air forces for the close air support which is expected to substitute for the missing artillery. LOL on that one.
I had understood that all "that" was inspired by the need to deal with 4th Generation Warfare (4GW) enemies. If that is so, then why are the forces destined to emerge from this process and described in the literature not specifically designed to deal with 4GW enemies. 4GW enemies are supposedly enemies that are irregular, lightly armed and usually not representatives of a state, at least not officially. 4GW enemies can be combated with light infantry forces, SF types to organize and lead anti-irregulars, effective human oriented intelligence people, some Delta type "door kickers" to chase the "underground," and some light aircraft for fire support and transport.
The forces described in the "transformation" are mostly armored in one way or another. The Army is seeking the funds to buy a whole new "fleet" of multi-role combat vehicles, the Future Combat System (FCS) program, for the purpose, I suppose of re-equipping the mechanized BCTsof the "transformed force." The intelligence and reconnaissance elements of the "transformed" force are the same kind of electronic sensor "happy" technically oriented people who have done so poorly against a low-tech 4GW set of enemies in the last five years. The force described makes more sense if it is designed, in fact, to fight small to medium sized conventional wars in an "expeditionary" role. Maybe that is why Rumsfeld kept calling it an expeditionary army.
Now, I know that the Army will still have Green Berets to deal with the "natives," Foreign Area Officers (cultural specialists) (FAOs,) to do whatever it is that disdainful "line "officers" are willing to let them do, and some light infantry, but the "transformed" force is not maximized for the GWOT or whatever they are calling it these days.
It will be argued that the Army needs to be ready for a variety of enemies. That is true, but common sense would dictate creation of a force that is maximized against one's most likely opponents.
Perhaps that is what they are doing. pl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformation_of_the_United_States_Army
Recent Comments