Mech Platoon: CAB or ACR

[ODB]

One cannot forget in today's technology driven warfare and over abundance of arm chair quarterbacks watching live feeds from the sky, of operations hundreds if not thousands of miles away; how many commanders will allow manned reconnaissance again? Knowing the military we will not increase the capabilities of manned reconnaissance, then we will end up in a jungle where unmanned reconnaissance cannot penetrate the canopy. Only then will someone wake and say "Hey we need to train reconnaissance elements." I know not necessarily the CAV's ideal terrain, but makes the point. Look at how commanders abuse unmanned reconnaissance currently, it will only get worse. Nothing worse than executing a target only to find out command put ISR on your target without your knowledge so the could see what was going on. The current operational environment has led to information overload and requirements than junior leaders have come to know as the norm and will expect it in the future. I miss the days of commo windows and short to the point SITREPS. Sorry, I digressed a bit from the subject at the end, but it needs to be taken into account. Especially, since all command has to do is look at the little blue dots on the screen and micro manage away. It will not matter the size of the element, one little blue dot wanders from where the commander thinks it should be and they will be calling that element direct wanting to know what is going on. Tactical patience has disappeared and become a lost art.

[TAH]

One cannot forget in today's technology driven warfare and over abundance of arm chair quarterbacks watching live feeds from the sky, of operations hundreds if not thousands of miles away

Early in the fight in Afganistan I recall seeing a picture taken inside the the 10th Mountain Division HQs/TOC. It showed their CG (a two star) watching a live feed from a Predator UAV orbiting above a mission.

My thought is/was, excuse me sir, that's jot your job.

TAH

[Sparapet]

Early in the fight in Afganistan I recall seeing a picture taken inside the the 10th Mountain Division HQs/TOC. It showed their CG (a two star) watching a live feed from a Predator UAV orbiting above a mission.

My thought is/was, excuse me sir, that's jot your job.

TAH

I can understand that if he was bored and wanted to relive his ground-pounder days. But the C2 micromanagement is truly becoming a problem. This seems especially true in occupation actions where going above the Company level is relatively rare, majority of work being done at the platoon level. As a scout platoon (+) in OIF I did maybe 90% of my missions unsupported by the rest of the troop or squadron. Net result is endless reporting to higher via FBCB2 of every turn or 5 minute stop I execute in a 10 hour patrol. I eventually had a TC dedicated to being the live feed to SQDN......even though technically they could see me move anywhere in country. The incessant ISR presence was also a bit annoying. Half the time I knew I was being watched, as I could hear the drone, but it wasn't my asset to task to support my mission. 2 to 3 echelons above are watching so mission wise it was only useful to me if the gods that be ordained to share real-time info.
Just some anecdotes. But more to the point, Auftragstaktik is not an approach readily valued in the maneuver force today. This may be due as much to the availability of information as patent paranoia for liability in certain operational environments.


Cav Cpt