Hi Matt,
Yes, I'm a believer in letting leaders tailor their load to the conditions of METT-TC. For non-military readers - Mission describes who is going where to do what to whom and why (could be enemy, terrain or friendly focused); Enemy - gets to the composition and disposition of the enemy; Terrain- looks at the impact of terrain and weather on operations - we often use obstacles, avenues of approach, key terrain, cover and concealment and observation; Troops - what are the types and quality of your own units and men; Time - how does time factor into the mission - can you take your time, should you, what advantages do the different takes on time offer you or offer the enemy; Civilian - what impact will civilians have on your operations - does the interaction with civilians mean you should include certain things on your load or exclude certain things?

The key is getting leaders to think through METT-TC, really I think this best happens at the company level and below during TLPs (the 8 step Troop Leading Procedures) and is checked by both the individual and the front line leaders when they do PCIs (Pre-Combat Inspections) - which ensure folks remembered to bring the things identified as needed for the mission - and potentially did not bring things that either might be compromising, or superfluous to the mission), and when they do PCCs (Pre-Combat Checks) where radios are checked for current fills, weapons and vehicles are checked for functionality, members are checked to ensure they know routes, key locations, and unit SOPs etc.

Now after awhile, if a unit is small, and homogeneous, and is conducting missions that SOPs can be developed for, it's prep time for unforeseen opportunities can go down - i.e. an IP station down the road gets hit with 2 SVBIEDs and your IA BN is responding to their aid, and they are leaving in 5 minutes - and you are headed out with them. Here is where contingency bags, full of lots of "what if" goodies might come in handy - gear that might not be part of the norm, but is good to have when conditions point to the unexpected (some of these might be left in the vehicles if you have secure storage - and just PCI'd as required - another SOP).

To talk a little bit about what Boot said and I had mentioned earlier, we were also unique, from the some of the other units operating in the AOR. For starters we had four field grade officers, an 03 and a 1SG as the team' core membership - that equates to a good deal of rank and experience in this case - we were augmented from other units to fill us out, and had some real talent that had come from supporting units - one of them (a ARNG medic E4 was on the ground when we got there - this guy was as much a pro as any - and as such we gave him a lot of responsibility and authority with how he did his job). We also lived outside the FOB on an IA COP - we got regular visits from the BCT CoC, and saw our own MiTT CoC pretty regularly, but everyone realized we had special conditions and as such needed to retain the authority commensurate with our responsibility to make decisions. We also demonstrated the professional maturity and judgment to counter any bad ideas issued in cookie cutter fashion.

Regarding modular armor. To talk about personal body armor is one thing, to consider it in terms of vehicle packages is another. Currently, adding or subtracting armor involves facilities, personnel, material handling equipment, etc. Protection measure in armor is heavy for the most part, or cost prohibitive. The process to upgrade 1114s and 1151s requires disassembly and reassembly to get it right - which is why MAREZ for example had a centralized AoA (Add on Armor) site - combined with the other things that make a vehicle a useful tool - its mobility, its ability to carry heavier weapons, more people and more powerful comms - getting the survivability enhancements right in a process that you can do a large amount of vehicles in an efficient and effective manner requires a professional process.

The only way I could see out of that for the current time would be to issue units a suite of vehicles to choose IAW the METT-TC conditions - depending on the scope, that could get cost prohibitive pretty fast (in more ways then just $$$ - such as logistics, maintenance, sustainment, training, etc.) - some units are justifiably equipped with enough capabilities to do so, some just can't be.

Best, Rob