 |
| Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division preparing their gear prior to jumping from Air Force C-130J Hercules during a Joint Operation Access exercise at Pope Field, N.C. |
The US Army is quickly getting its ducks in a row.
While the USMC, MARSOC, and SOCOM are all talking about orienting to the Pacific or developing forces to respond to specific threats, the US Army is doing something totally different.
US Army Special Forces is moving toward reclaiming its role of the training of foreign forces. From the Philippines to Afghanistan, its working quietly and HARD to make its presence felt with those "partners"...its behind the scenes work but a quick Google search will reveal exactly how broad its footprints are.
US Army Rangers have gone into its shell. What does that mean? It means that they're doing the work of maintaining Ranger standards. I'm guessing here but I think they're ensuring that standards are met throughout its ranks and they're cleaning house of all non-hackers. They'll come out of this harder.
But what should make Headquarters Marine Corps pause is the fact that the 82nd and 101st haven't been resting on their laurels either. They're been running Access Exercises like there's no tomorrow and they're reactivating the Global Response Ready Brigade Concept.
The idea is that they can either parachute in or airland a force of Brigade size within a set time that is faster to the scene than a MEU and more capable than a SPMAGTF-Crisis Response Force.
That should be telling.
The Army is putting together forces that aren't geographically oriented but have a global footprint.
SOCOM in the form of Special Forces or Rangers will handle small sized contingencies that require immediate response, and if a larger force is required for backup then the Army is promising to have a Brigade available and even more forces later.
Reactionary thinking? Possibly, but the US Army appears to be ready to put us out of work.
Good old Green Ramp! The sight of it reminds of of humidity, heat, and knee pain. Ah, memories.
ReplyDeleteOne thing you might consider, is that this a budgetary game. This refocus, while long over due for the Army, is also a great tool in an environment of shrinking budgets. This one might all boil down to the fight for funds. Just a theory to ponder.
i have no doubt that it has to do with budgets. my thing to my Marine Brothers is that the Army is playing chess while we're doing the Amphibious Warfare College thing.
ReplyDeleteMarine Expeditionary Brigades (you could equate them to a Army Division -) are where we're focusing. the MEU which is forward deployed and available is being ignored. meanwhile the Army is getting its ducks together and now is talking about sending paratroopers to do disaster relief and a large number of them quickly, while we're talking about assembling two MEU's to get the same job done over a longer period of time? we're being outfoxed.
This is really a zero sum game. The major flaw in this Army refocus, is that the 82nd really isn't ideal for disaster relief. That is old hat for Marines on float.
ReplyDeleteOne thing you can be assured of, is that the Army will overplay its hand, and manage to undue what they were trying to achieve. This could also be their push for a larger share of presence in AirSea Battle.
First off, the "Global Ready Force" is merely the Army's contribution to the fight, there is still a need for MEUs and MEBs. The key about the GRF is that if it is deployed, it is deployed as a first wave for follow on forces. It is not really designed to be a self sustaining entity the way a MEB/MEU is as part of a Naval task force.
ReplyDeleteSo think of the Army as focusing on "forced entry" and the Navy/USMC team as "force projection" with a capability for forced entry. Things like embassy evacuations, humanitarian assistance (not one of the GRFs core missions) will always fall first on the USMC and Navy.
After WWII there was the debate, "do we need the USMC? after all the Army did amphibious landings just fine in the Pacific." Which was a stupid debate to have, the amphibious assaults are only a small part of the overall "job set" of the USMC.
The "AirSea Battle" is one where the Army has a diminished role due to geography. And other than Air Defense Artillery, there isn't much that Big Green can bring to the table. Oh, and we just cut another THAAD unit. Restructuring is also giving us "regionally aligned brigades" that work hand in hand with SOCOM, but we can do that because we are big enough to do that. The 82nd and 101st are probably going to get hit up to provide regionally aligned forces given shared basing with multiple SF groups.