I'm waffling again. What is missing from the Russian assault? A proper application of combined arms!

 

Reading a few comments has me paused me again.  Yes China is trying to build the old Corps.  But the comments are stating that if they try and doing an air assault on "new" USMC positions they'll be picked off.  If they try and surface assault with their EFV they'll be killed in the water by well placed Javelin teams. 

The usual stuff.

But they're missing the point and SO DID I!

I'm watching individual Russian tanks being picked off.  I'm seeing attacks on their convoys with unbelievable success. To the Russians credit the assault moves forward but YA KNOW WHAT we haven't seen?

We haven't seen how a proper application of combined arms would work on the battlefield!

We're seeing how it would look if the US Army was tasked to invade Louisiana.

You would see some out there protesting, blocking streets and highways with their bodies (even cars/trucks etc..).  

Would the US Army initially go hard?  NO!  Would they engage the locals?

Probably not.

So the Russians have gone at this in a disjointed way because they're fighting their BROTHERS.

We haven't seen the fury of a combined arms attack because they're fighting their BROTHERS.

But if they did actually conduct deliberate, coordinated assaults with proper recon/ISR and backed it up with close air support and artillery would the fight be different?

Yeah it would.

There is not a lesson to be learned YET.

We've known since WW1 that tanks are vulnerable on their own. We know that infantry is vulnerable to artillery.  That helicopters need artillery to suppress anti-air so that they can support ground mobility.  That fast jets need to keep enemy fighters away, suppress enemy anti-air and provide quick support to friendlies in contact.

We know all that but because we're seeing different weapon systems proving to be vulnerable because they're operating alone shouldn't be cause to scrap the idea.

We should be slamming the way that they've conducted their war but not the equipment itself.

Is the tank dead?  I don't know.  I do know that they haven't been employed properly in this war.

Is the attack helicopter dead? I don't know.  I do know that they haven't been employed properly in this war.

Is the fast jet useless in modern warfare? I don't know.  I do know that they haven't been employed properly in this war.

We don't know much because our warfighting is all interconnected and not much has been "connected" in this fight.

Time to pause the debate on effectiveness.  We should just wait and see what the US Army has to say in the after action about land combat going into the future.