Experimental Distributed Ops Unit Proves Its Worth in Afghanistan
22 May edition of the Marine Corps Times - Nowhere To Hide by Christian Lowe.
Quote:
... A top Corps initiative that officials claim will change how the service trains and equips its infantrymen, distributed operations envisions a rifle platoon equipped with sophisticated, long-range communications gear using special training and tactics that make it capable of dividing into smaller units and operating far from support or higher command...
Even the Pentagon’s 20-year strategy, detailed in this year’s Quadrennial Defense Review, said the Corps’ distributed operations concept provides “commanders with an expeditionary force able to conduct ‘low-end’ [special operations forces] missions as well as traditional operations.”...
An idea that was born in the Millennium Dragon experiments of 2000, distributed ops rebounded after Lt. Gen. Jim Mattis stepped in to lead Marine Corps Combat Development Command at Quantico, Va., two years ago.
Not long after, the Corps’ Warfighting Lab got into the mix, developing the “small unit of excellence” training package built to stretch a platoon to the limits of far-flung operations...
The experimental syllabus is packed with exercises meant to reinforce skills that will help a unit survive on its own, including land navigation, patrolling, setting up ambushes, operating long-range communications and conducting small-unit logistics....
