ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

Intrepid Warriors on Dangerous Missions

Rangers, Scouts, and Raiders: Origin, Organization, and Operations of Selected Special Operations Forces. Michael Dilley. Casemate Publishers. 240 pages. $34.95

By Command Sgt. Maj. Jimmie Spencer, U.S. Army retired

The need for military special mission units in times of conflict is well documented. Military history is replete with examples of special operations missions that played a decisive role in the outcome of the conflict. Such units have been part of American history since even before the Revolutionary War.

Soldier and historian...

Today’s U.S. Army is in the midst of its most significant modernization transformation in more than 40 years. While the Army spent the first two decades of this century focusing on counterinsurgency operations in Southwest Asia and the Middle East, our near-peer adversaries narrowed and, in some cases, eliminated several advantages that made us the world’s premier military land power. To reestablish those advantages, the Army is modernizing at lightning speeds.

The increased lethality of future battlefields makes sustainment more critical than ever. Army sustainment describes the provision...

In the vast Indo-Pacific, where the theater spans more than half of the Earth’s surface and port access is not guaranteed, the U.S. Army’s maritime force is set to play an outsize role as it transforms for the future.

With a fleet of 74 watercraft systems and about 1,000 skilled maritime soldiers some call “boaties,” the Army is gearing up to support critical logistics operations for the joint force with its transoceanic ships, versatile landing craft and ship-to-shore capabilities that haven’t been on the front lines since World War II.

“In the Indo-Pacific, more than any other theater...

Physically exhausted and mentally depleted, soldiers in battle are expected to perform under arduous conditions. To prepare for this challenge, the U.S. Army emphasizes tough, realistic training, yet, outside of a training context and miles away from the support of other units, it is difficult to know how soldiers will respond in combat.

High-intensity warfare requires individuals to function against a backdrop of harsh reality: losing team members to enemy fire, experiencing extended periods of psychological stress and operating with minimal medical support at the front line.

Mental...

Physically exhausted and mentally depleted, soldiers in battle are expected to perform under arduous conditions. To prepare for this challenge, the U.S. Army emphasizes tough, realistic training, yet, outside of a training context and miles away from the support of other units, it is difficult to know how soldiers will respond in combat.

High-intensity warfare requires individuals to function against a backdrop of harsh reality: losing team members to enemy fire, experiencing extended periods of psychological stress and operating with minimal medical support at the front line.

Mental...

For two decades, one Army National Guard brigade has provided the nation with full-time protection against the most powerful weapons on Earth—nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The 100th Missile Defense Brigade (Ground-based Midcourse Defense), comprising largely Colorado, Alaska and California citizen-soldiers, along with a handful of active component air defenders, is only the size of a Regular Army battalion. It includes one missile defense battalion and administrative control of a space battalion. The brigade has maintained a nonstop wartime-like posture, ready to engage...

A young trooper strode confidently into his company commander’s office. As the commander’s radio operator, he was used to being summoned on short notice, but the expression on the captain’s face told him immediately that something was wrong. Saluting smartly, the trooper stood at attention as the commanding officer rose to his feet.

“The first sergeant told me this morning that you’re not reenlisting. We need you for the upcoming combat training center rotation. Report to the reenlistment NCO ASAP. He’s already got the paperwork ready. I don’t want to hear any more of this nonsense. That’s...

June 30, 1982, this then-17-year-old walked through the main gate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. It was the eve of Reception Day for the incoming Class of 1986, and, in anticipation of the next day’s events, I went on a reconnaissance of the academy grounds.

Abruptly, a red Jeep stopped, and a gruff colonel called out, asking me where I was going. After mentioning the academy’s Michie Stadium, he invited me into his Jeep, since it was a long walk up a steep hill. I would later learn he was then-Col. Robert Berry, head of the Law Department and the lead officer...

The purpose of briefing is to convey information in a manner the audience can best receive the information. This could be for support, funding, information, a decision or general knowledge. Regardless, your responsibility is to present the information in a way that sticks in the boss’ mind. The briefing is not about what you know, how the slides look or about what you say. It is always about how your boss receives the information.

Following are some tips to help you prepare better briefings to help your boss. These tips go beyond the administrative considerations of posture, speaking voice...

What makes a good leader? Countless articles, books, videos, blogs and doctrinal publications attempt to answer this question, and they are all probably correct to some degree.

However, upon reflection, it occurred to us that as young soldiers, we often developed strong feelings about our leaders and their ability to lead. These feelings were not based on some formal application of leadership style or doctrine, but rather, on the quality of time they spent with us.

In early assessments of our leaders, squad leaders were the most frequent targets of our judgment. Our mental leadership...

The simple request came in an email, asking me to provide some thoughts about the importance of mentorship. A story about someone who helped me become a better leader.

Thinking back over two careers—my long time in the Army and a shorter time in the health care industry—hundreds of faces appeared in my memory’s eye. General officers like Fred Franks, Eric Shinseki, Larry Jordan and Herbert Lloyd delivered phenomenal guidance and helped me grow, as did command sergeants major like Roger Blackwood, Thomas Capel and David Davenport. Several drill sergeants and even a few privates and young...

What follows is a tale, a true one, not a tall one. It is the legacy message of a unit in which leadership, teamwork and esprit de corps flourished. Beyond that, it also is the story of a game and the special role it played in helping prepare the officers, NCOs and soldiers of that unit to fight and win on other fields on other days.

I arrived at my new unit, the 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, in January 1984 and was there only 24 hours when I first heard of the game that dominated the unit’s casual conversation throughout the year.

On the surface, the Panzer Bowl was a flag...

What makes a good leader? Countless articles, books, videos, blogs and doctrinal publications attempt to answer this question, and they are all probably correct to some degree.

However, upon reflection, it occurred to us that as young soldiers, we often developed strong feelings about our leaders and their ability to lead. These feelings were not based on some formal application of leadership style or doctrine, but rather, on the quality of time they spent with us.

In early assessments of our leaders, squad leaders were the most frequent targets of our judgment. Our mental leadership...

The word “infantry” is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “soldiers trained, armed, and equipped to fight on foot.” This is a modest definition for soldiers who, since time immemorial, have fought as the vanguard of the military power of their respective national entities.

In his landmark 1997 book, The World Within War: America’s Combat Experience in World War II, author Gerald Linderman notes that in numerous theaters, Army infantrymen and Marine riflemen constituted 14% of American troops overseas while suffering 70% of the casualties.

Since World War II, 4% of the total...

The first time I met him, Col. Walter Ballard Clark scared the hell out of me. He wasn’t a big man. In fact, he stood well under 6 feet tall. Yet he was crew cut and ramrod straight. A wiry, intense guy, he had eyes that could burn holes in you like two laser beams, and he was blessed with a classic command voice. He was the commandant of cadets at The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina in Charleston. Although the college featured a dignified, distant, three-star general as its president, for some 2,000 cadets, Clark, of The Citadel’s Class of 1951, embodied the rod of iron...