Former Pfc. Jim “Pee Wee” Martin is one of the last of the paratroopers who trained at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, and jumped into World War II with the 101st Airborne Division’s 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. On June 6, 1944, he jumped into the Allied invasion of Normandy, France. In September 1944, he jumped into Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands. In December 1944, he fought in the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne, Belgium. Martin, now 101 years old, only recently stopped jumping out of airplanes, but he found a new gig with country music singer and passionate military supporter Karen...
In 1903, the Wright brothers invented the first successful airplane. By 1914, just over a decade after its successful test, aircraft would be used in combat in World War I, with capabilities including reconnaissance, bombing and aerial combat. This has been categorized by most historians as a revolution in military affairs. The battlefield, which previously included land and sea, now included the sky, permanently altering the way wars are fought. With the new technology came new strategy, policy, tactics, procedures and formations.
Twenty years ago, unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) were...
In 1903, the Wright brothers invented the first successful airplane. By 1914, just over a decade after its successful test, aircraft would be used in combat in World War I, with capabilities including reconnaissance, bombing and aerial combat. This has been categorized by most historians as a revolution in military affairs. The battlefield, which previously included land and sea, now included the sky, permanently altering the way wars are fought. With the new technology came new strategy, policy, tactics, procedures and formations.
Twenty years ago, unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) were...
The commanding general of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command wants to talk about the critical work his soldiers do every day. And he wants to clear up any confusion about the roles and responsibilities of his command and the mission of the U.S. Space Force, the military’s newest branch.
In the Space Force, the Guardians look up into the skies, while Space and Missile Defense Command looks to where people live and where wars have been fought for millennia, said Lt. Gen. Daniel Karbler, who has led the Huntsville, Alabama-based Army command since December 2019.
It’s something...
The Army’s Future Vertical Lift aircraft will provide the joint force with flexible, agile and decisive options based on next-generation technological advancements as well as advanced tactics and teaming. Future Vertical Lift will feature transformational speed, range and endurance to generate strategic and operational advantages, operate from a place of relative sanctuary and rapidly deliver combat power to the tactical edge of the battlefield.
Next-generation technological advancements and Future Vertical Lift’s modular open systems approach set the conditions for interoperability and...
The Army’s Future Vertical Lift aircraft will provide the joint force with flexible, agile and decisive options based on next-generation technological advancements as well as advanced tactics and teaming. Future Vertical Lift will feature transformational speed, range and endurance to generate strategic and operational advantages, operate from a place of relative sanctuary and rapidly deliver combat power to the tactical edge of the battlefield.
Next-generation technological advancements and Future Vertical Lift’s modular open systems approach set the conditions for interoperability and...
The revolution will not be televised
Will not be televised
Will not be televised
Will not be televised
The revolution will be no re-run, brothers
The revolution will be live
While the above stanza, drawn from the Gil Scott-Heron song The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, may appear at first glance to have nothing to do with the Army, a closer examination of the challenges we face reveals a more subtle connection. Between domestic issues and political challenges at home and a global pandemic and ascendant peers abroad, the Army must fundamentally change how it operates to...
The Army’s plan for the light division proposes the addition of an Infantry Squad Vehicle for every rifle squad in an infantry brigade. Incorporating squad vehicles could greatly increase infantry mobility, but also incur significant costs. Motorizing the infantry also would limit the tactical deployment of light infantry, further complicate movement control and do little to solve the Army’s greater transportation needs.
Transportation shortfalls have consistently represented the key constraint for large-scale combat operations, as detailed in the Army University Press’ 2018 collection The...
The Army’s plan for the light division proposes the addition of an Infantry Squad Vehicle for every rifle squad in an infantry brigade. Incorporating squad vehicles could greatly increase infantry mobility, but also incur significant costs. Motorizing the infantry also would limit the tactical deployment of light infantry, further complicate movement control and do little to solve the Army’s greater transportation needs.
Transportation shortfalls have consistently represented the key constraint for large-scale combat operations, as detailed in the Army University Press’ 2018 collection The...
Special Operations’ Rocky Evolution
Warfighter: The Story of an American Fighting Man. Col. Jesse Johnson With Alex Holstein. Lyons Press. 264 pages. $27.95
By Col. Keith Nightingale, U.S. Army retired
Retired Col. Jesse Johnson’s book Warfighter: The Story of an American Fighting Man, written with Alex Holstein, is a stirring, highly readable and satisfying work. It is a combination of special operations inside baseball as well as a descriptive trip through the life of one of America’s great soldiers.
The book describes the true nature of close combat, from Johnson’s time in...
Leaders frequently struggle with communication. In fact, command climate surveys identify communication as one of the top challenges within Army organizations. Why does this happen? What is it about communication that is so difficult? Why do leaders think their subordinates are not understanding them, and why do subordinates think their leaders are poor communicators?
Leadership is how we communicate with each other, and language is our tool for communication. Unfortunately, the perception of good communication is in the ear of the beholder.
Culprits Behind Failures
Mission Command...
Leaders frequently struggle with communication. In fact, command climate surveys identify communication as one of the top challenges within Army organizations. Why does this happen? What is it about communication that is so difficult? Why do leaders think their subordinates are not understanding them, and why do subordinates think their leaders are poor communicators?
Leadership is how we communicate with each other, and language is our tool for communication. Unfortunately, the perception of good communication is in the ear of the beholder.
Culprits Behind Failures
Mission Command...
On March 26, 2005, an explosion shattered the calm of the brigade operations center as our radio networks sprang to life. Tower guards quickly reported in, and we trained our dirigible-mounted TV cameras on the scene.
Zooming in only seconds after the blast, we saw a Humvee burning furiously only yards outside the perimeter wall. A small pickup truck had slammed into the vehicle and detonated, killing two Louisiana National Guardsmen and seriously injuring two others. Within minutes, the sergeant major and I were rolling to the scene, while the staff rushed field ambulances to the site.
...Garrisons are the most complex colonel-level commands in the Army.
Garrison commanders solve wicked problems and punch way above their weight class. Their work also generates readiness disproportionate to the size of their command.
Every day, garrison commanders and their teams work in a dynamic environment that directly links tactical actions to strategic outcomes. Each one is responsible for the security, housing and welfare of soldiers, civilians and families living on their installation. They deploy forces, host unaccompanied children and Afghan refugees, lead through a pandemic...
It’s too early to talk about lessons learned from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but it’s not too early to observe how some of war’s perennial truths are illustrated in this, the most current of wars. This essay addresses five of them:
1. The future of war. Some writers have argued that war has changed so fundamentally that, if we have wars at all in the future, they will look nothing like in the past. Artificial intelligence, cyber, drones, robots, hypersonic weapons, space—pick a favorite technology—and you can find someone who predicts it is the future of war. Others have predicted...