Metz: ‘We are in a very Dangerous War’

“We’re going to stay in combat for next 10, 20 years, the next generation. That’s what the trends show us,” the deputy commander of the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command told 200 dinner guests at the first Association of the United States Army’s Fires Symposium. “I believe we are in a very dangerous war.”

In looking back over his Army career, Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz called Operation Just Cause in Panama the “first war of the 21st century” and Operation Desert Storm the “last war of the 20th century” because of the varying nature of the conflicts.

As III Corps commander in Iraq, Metz saw more clearly how the nature of combat was evolving more along the lines of Panama, and this had implications on Army warfighting doctrine “One day fire on target in Fallujah and the next day building a school in Sadr City,” a section of Baghdad.

“Every decision you make carries a non-lethal effect; every decision you don’t make carries a non-lethal effect.” Metz said that it was vital “to be able to lead the non-lethal fight.”

During the symposium sessions the next day, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Horne, deputy commander of the Joint Functional Component Command for Space, U.S. Strategic Command, said, “This is probably the most challenging environment we have been in.”

He said that while he was serving in Iraq the corps commander conducted weekly meetings in which the force commanders, corps staff and State Department representatives were to look out six weeks and think through what was likely to happen over that time.

“Political engagement is one of the most important things we did while we were there,” he said reminding the attendees that the Defense Department has 160,000 service members in Iraq and the State Department has 1,000.

At the same time, this change also altered how the Army is organized. Citing Gen. Peter Schoomaker’s tenure as Army chief of staff, Metz said he had “the guts and vision … to move to a brigade-centric force.”

Adding, “You’ve got to make a leap of faith what fires will do in a light, heavy and Stryker” brigade in referring to the new fire brigades that will be with these new organizations.

There were questions emerging about training these new fire brigade commanders that could not be answered immediately. “It’s all hard because [you must train] them for full spectrum operations,” Metz said.

Col. Frank Stilman, director of training and doctrine at the U.S. Army Field Artillery Center and School, Fort Sill, Okla., said the Army is expecting to unveil its new field manual on warfighting doctrine in October.

He said that it would incorporate full spectrum operations, simultaneity and the Army’s working as part of a larger political solution.

For field artillery and air defense, there would be a section on how lethal and non-lethal fires complement each other and “how the targeting process is used to achieve effects.”

Adding, “We are all comfortable with lethal fires … but now we have to change our thinking. The most critical [area of military operations] now is the lower end of the spectrum.”

Stilman said, “In all aspects fires [unmanned aerial vehicles, fixed and rotary wing aircraft, rockets, mortars, missiles, directed energy, etc.] are joint … [they] provide commanders with options.”


Army Relies on Space for Command, Control and Integration

The commanding general of the Army Space and Missile Defense Command offered “some very fundamental principals that will apply at the theater level, tactical level and strategic level” as the Army moves closer to opening its Fires Center of Excellence at Fort Sill, Okla.

Lt. Gen. Kevin Campbell, speaking at the first Association of the United States Army’s Fires Symposium in Fort Worth, Texas, Sept. 26, said his command stands ready to assist the air defense and field artillery communities during this transition.

The air defense school at Fort Bliss, Texas, will be moved to Sill.

“The Army is critically dependent on space,” he said, and he told the 200 attendees at the symposium that his command can be of special help in command, control and integration.

As an example, Campbell said, “We can enhance GPS for precision fires.”

In the near future, he said Army space will be able to offer “high-altitude [60,000 feet] persistent surveillance” and enhanced communications through a new satellite with 10 times the band width capacity of all the Defense Department’s existing satellites.


Air Defense, Field Artilleries Become Fires Center at Fort Sill

The commanding general of the Army’s Field Artillery Center told 200 attendees at the Association of the United States Army’s first Fires Symposium, “We’re getting into the real hard aspect of how it’s going to be done.”

In large part, the “it’s” mentioned by Maj. Gen. Peter M. Vangjel is the movement of the Air Defense Artillery School from Fort Bliss, Texas, to Fort Sill, Okla., as part of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process that is scheduled to be completed in 2011.

In BRAC, the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine will change from operating 33 schools on 16 installations to the establishment of eight centers of excellence. The “Fires Center” will be located on Sill.

“Centers of excellence in BRAC focus related efforts, are designed to generate synergy – meaning some efficiencies and retain branches,” David Henderson, deputy director of training and doctrine at the Field Artillery School, said.”

Speaking Sept. 26 in Fort Worth, Texas, Col. Robert Roshell, deputy assistant commandant of the Field Artillery School at Sill, said, “The ADA school construction has begun” and is expected to be completed in 2009 --2010.

Plans now are to retain the two campuses and look for areas where training can be shared. “Start slow; start small.” Vangjel said.

“We’ve got the entire funding,” more than $200 million to make all the moves associated with BRAC at Sill, Col. Robert Bridgeford, the garrison commander, said.

Adding, “We are the linchpin for the Army’s campaign plan” to complete BRAC, grow the active Army end strength and also reposition forces from Europe and Korea.

In the end, Sill will be gaining 10,000 soldiers, he said, and there will be a sizable impact on the surrounding community as well as the post.

“There are quality-of-life concerns – schools, roads. We’ve got a lot more work to do. The community is ready to do it.”

Col. Heidi Brown, assistant commandant of the Air Defense School, said that a survey will be made in February of civilian workers on whether they plan to move.

She said that the workers have been receiving increasingly detailed information about what opportunities are at Sill and what living in Lawton and the surrounding communities would be like in comparison with El Paso.

“For civilian vacancies [at Bliss], we’re having a moving clause” inserted in the hiring agreement.

She said that TRADOC is looking at the possibility of providing temporary duty money for civilians hired in Lawton to come to Bliss to help with the move from that end.

Maj. Gen. Robert Lennox, commanding general of the Air Defense Artillery Center, said if civilian workers, “volunteers to move to Fort Sill, [they] are guaranteed a job with only some exceptions.”