A Modest Proposal - National Guard as the heavy force

[120mm]

I am surprised that a former Cav guy would take such an approach. At the Platoon level in Cav, you already have a mixed heavy/light force, especially if you dismounted your "light" section from their APCs. The real differences, IMHO, between the heavy and light force mindsets, focus on speed of operations and sustainment issues. Light fighters have less to worry about in terms of their logistics tail while heavy fighters seem to think they can get to and through the engagement faster. But, both of these items are a myths.
Light guys can move fast using airlift (both fixed and rotary wing) and, with properly allocated CAS, they have just as much punch as their heavy brethern. Sustainment problems are a difference in degree, not a difference in kind--light forces have less transport capability, which greatly affects the timeliness of their resupply (think the British Paras at Arnhem, for example)

I wasn't too clear on this point. Units need to be used as units. My CAV Troops were designed to be Heavy/Light interoperable and they operated that way every day, and worked quite well together. It's when you ask an infantry battalion to accept a company of armor that the wheels come off. Ad Hoc Task Organized organizations will fail, imho. I agree that habitual relationships are the only way to go.

In addition, the author wasn't asking to put all the heavy forces in the National Guard. He was asking that the Guard be heavy force concentrated and the Army retain less heavy forces than it does now.

The "state mission" is 4 hours of training, a year, tops. So using that as a reason why the Guard couldn't take the preponderance of heavy forces is a non-issue. I disagree completely with the idea that CSS troops are somehow more useful in a state emergency. To be sure, you can't make an infantry guy into a doctor, but a National Guard infantry soldier is not mentally restricted to task. Chances are, in any National Guard infantry unit, you have more truck drivers than an Transportation unit, more cooks than a DFAC, more police officers than MPs in an MP unit and a variety of skills that are superior to the CSS unit you can name. Of course, equipment is another issue, but heavy units have internal transport and trucks are not a high dollar items; likewise blankets, tents and plywood sheets.

The main problem with using NG/Reserve soldiers as a heavy force, is that there is not a really competent Battalion level and above NG/Reserve staff out there. The active component can just assume that they need to fire the senior officers and replace them with folks who "get it".

But in Corps level and higher, the trend reverses, and the Active Component "Peter principles" out. The Reserve Corps level and higher staff are superior to their Active Component counterparts. At least in my experience.