Unit Lifetime Assignments

[Jim Rodgers]

I know little of Colonel Tim Collins, but his book, "Rules of Engagement" (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...626689,00.html) , seems to give a reasonable overview of the battle rhythm of a unit under a regimental system - the Royal Irish Rangers, if memory serves. A lot of interesting aspects to it. I found the book while in Halifax, and you probably won't find it in the US, but Amazon has it.

As for how it would work in the US Army - the Brits (and if I'm getting it wrong, I ask that one of the Commonwealth soldiers correct me) train as batts, then form into battlegroups for deployment. We could use the same concept under our ARFORGEN\unit life cycle model. So a brigade battlegroup is formed for a three year cycle (train-deploy-reset). 64th Armor gets tapped for x number of companies plus staffers, 15th infantry for y number plus staffers, 7th Cav for a certain number of cav troops. The MP, Signal, et al Regiments send their guys. Big Army trains and certifies the battlegroup. In the meantime, most of the roles of the branch chiefs fall to the various Colonels of the Regiments. The Regiments would all be CONUS based, with home stations, e.g. 64th Armor calls Fort Stewart (or wherever) home. You could work the cycles different ways, but I have to think that through. If you want to get really clever, you could mix and match - e.g. a heavy battlegroup taps one company from the traditionally light 22nd Infantry to give that regiment heavy force exposure. Or the Guard sends a couple of companies on a majority AC battlegroup, or the AC sends a couple companies on a majority RC battlegroup. Or whatever.

It'd be possible to screw up (I can think of a bunch of ways), but would offer great rewards if done correctly. A bunch of issues come to mind - I'll think them through and add as another post.