Ratzel, I think you're very much on to something there; and by tying into the local universities (something I would not have thought of), you could both train your officers and tap into academic expertise and research facilities/opportunities. Great idea! (dependent of course, upon the universities meeting the Army half-way).

Jim wrote:

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.
Jim, I think that proposal of yours, if properly handled (and not, as you pointed out might happen, get messed up) would combine many of the best elements of both the Regimental System and past programs like COHORT; it is probably better than either one by itself. And with it all taking place within the context of a Brigade Group, it institutionalizes Combined Arms throughout. I also noticed that you placed the formation of a Brigade Group in a context that is approaching that of Mobilization; very shrewd.