Well,

Mission and equipment dictate speed. If I am the terrain owner and I am conducting security patrols/MTC. Then I am going to lean on the slow side of the speed spectrum, but I would vary my speed based on what I was doing (going point A to point B at high speed) in order to keep the bad guys guessing. I you are not in a hardened vehicle, then speed is life. If I was just transiting an area, and had no organic responsibility in that area, then I attempted to transit it at the highest speed possible. Once again, speed varition being used to throw off triggermen. Different situations call for different tactics. I am glad to see that Tom Ricks has as in with the ROTC crowd. I guess he is trying to expand his ever shrinking circle of friends (sources).