Fort Stewart to increase its deploying units by 66 percent

Army News Service ^ | Jan. 21, 2004 | Sgt. 1st Class Marcia Triggs

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga., seized Baghdad and helped in the stabilization of Fallujah. They know what tactics work against an unconventional enemy, and what vulnerabilities make American troops targets.

Their task now is to turn their three brigades into five rapidly deployable "brigade units of action" that are able to plug into any division and independently fight a high intensity conflict.

Change has begun..."Soldiers will be shooting a lot more ammunition and using a lot more simulators than before"..."we want our Soldiers and their vehicles to exude a fearless confidence that would make the enemy think twice before attacking a convoy or command post."

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3rd Infantry Division, ping!

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[mfulstone]

turn all his Soldiers into riflemen.

That has been SOP with the Marines since the Korean War.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

About time, it would seem!

[colorado tanker]

This is the beginning of "transformation." At the suggestion of a FReeper, I picked up "Breaking the Phalanx" which seems to the road map.

The idea is to make a brigade size unit the basic unit of deployment instead of the division. Divisions would be more like corps - a headquarters that can pick up the brigades it needs tailored to the mission. The Brigades will not be just like present brigades, but will have beefed up electronic, chemical defense, civil affairs and other capabilities now in demand. The Brigades will also have their own organic support units of the kinds now assigned to divisions. Air defense and artillery seem to be taking the biggest hits.

[blackie]

3rd Infantry Division ~ Bump!

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[68skylark]

Good post. If I understand right, up until now U. S. divisions have had pretty much the same organization since WWII. The changes describe here make good sense -- seems like a way of getting more flexibility and combat power from the same number of soldiers.

It's good to have grownups in charge at the Pentagon -- not the people who just coast on tradition.

[colorado tanker]

"Unit of Action" Ugh. Military units don't need bureaucratic sounding names. Better to redefine and use a military word like regiment or brigade.

I agree the two levels of maintenance won't work until there is new equipment. The only way it might work is if the trains had a stock of replacement vehicles and the crews would trade out a damaged vehicle for new, but that's not very compatible with the "just in time" concept.

[Radix]

I have a good hunch that there is more to this than just the PR that is being presented.

Looking into this.

[colorado tanker]

I saw the other thread. I absolutely agree on "lessons learned," but I have problems with characterizing the logistics plan as a failure. The front line units went farther faster than any mechanized unit in history. Granted they had to stop for a couple of days to resupply, but we ought to recognize successes as well as failures or we'll learn the wrong lesson.

Just in time has revolutionized civilian distribution systems and would work well in peacetime. I also have doubts about it's adaptation into the military because it depends on reliable high speed transport, like air frieght. In war everything is in flux - you know, SNAFU.

The point about integrating communications is excellent. I recall many years ago being in charge of resupply in a field exercise in Germany. I left an ammo supply point to return to the unit, but someone had given me transposed coordinates. Finally, I just guessed where the battalion went based on tactical instincts, switched my radio to the tactical net on high power and cruised until I picked up chatter sounding like my unit. Between the chatter and my map I figured out exactly where they were - I know, not very great radio discipline. But the logistics folks need to know where the combat units are - just look at the 507th's story.

[colorado tanker]

Sorry I was opaque. I was referring to the comments attributed to the logistics report on the other thread, not to your comments.

No doubt about it - the combat units were moving so fast it was impossible for the logistics units to keep up. General Patton's "like crap going through a goose."

[getgoing]

bttt

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Do you like "Battle Group" better than "Unit of Action"?

The PENTOMIC Division

In the late 1950s, the Army reorganized each infantry division into a "pentomic division" with five battle groups in preparation for tactical nuclear war in Europe. These groups were, in effect, large battalions. Each battle group had five rifle companies, a combat support company, and appropriate field artillery and service support. The battle groups were self-sustaining, could be employed singly or in combinations, and remained largely unchanged during the 1950s.

Under the pentomic organization the infantry division lost one 155-mm and two 105-mm howitzer battalions, but a single composite unit, consisting of one 8-inch howitzer, one Honest John, and two 155-mm howitzer batteries, was added to increase its firepower. The infantry division also lost its regimental tank company, but its reconnaissance company was replaced with an armored cavalry battalion. Each infantry division had more than 100 tanks.

[colorado tanker]

Never heard of the "Pentomic Division." The more things change, the more they remain the same!

[Cannoneer No. 4]

We trained hard

[colorado tanker]

LOL!