"This manual furnishes a guide for the training and employment of the personnel and for the use of the equipment pertaining to observation battalions."
Railroads have played a key role in the conduct of war for well over a century. Few can dispute the contributions rail has made at the strategic and operational levels of war. Tactical use of railroads, however, is an entirely different matter....
The purpose of this study was to determine if there is any validity to using the current Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) to gauge Soldier readiness for combat. The study was conducted in four stages. The APFT tasks; pushup, sit-up, and run were...
Army warfighting doctrine clearly delineates the definition, scope, and components of protection for application on the battlefield; however, the Army's Operations Other Than War (OOTW) doctrine does not provide similar clarity for the concept in...
The United States Army is currently at a major crossroads with respect to training. Experiences from the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the introduction of Army Field Manual 3-0, Operations, and its equal importance placed on offensive...
Recent changes have made urban operations a greater probability in future contingencies. For years, the common approach to military operations in urban terrain (MOUT) has been to avoid it as much as possible. With that approach, our doctrine and...
Historically, the United States Army has had difficulty articulating and justifying force requirements to civilian decision makers. Most recently, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq reinvigorated the debate over estimated force requirements. Because...
This monograph examines if the Fire Support Coordination Line (FSCL) should delineate area responsibilities to air and ground commanders. During Operation Desert Storm the Joint Force Commander (JFC) made the Joint Force Air Component Commander...
The forward command posts (tactical command post and command group) of the heavy brigade are not configured to enhance command and control for the brigade commander. Since the 1950's, the US Army has increased the number of command posts with...
This study answers the following question related to the “Engineer Restructure Initiative”: Is the proposed division engineer (DIVENG) regiment capable of creating the conditions necessary to maintain the heavy division's tactical freedom of...
A relatively new occurrence in the development of doctrine is that the services must now consider if their doctrine is consistent with that developed by the Joint Staff. Several important changes began with the Goldwater-Nichols Department of...
Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States' armed forces and its coalition of allies have become deeply entrenched in the counterinsurgencies of Iraq and Afghanistan. These struggles are not just counterinsurgencies, but they also...
This monograph analyzes the history of United States Army leadership doctrine from 1983 through 2011 to identify the evolution of strategic leadership theory and practice in Army doctrine. Using leadership doctrine, the focus is on the analysis of...
This study investigates the compatibility of current Army Special Forces doctrine as enunciated in FM 31-20, February 1990, and the future Army doctrine of Army Operations as enunciated in FM 100-5, (Final Draft), 19 January 1993. For testing...
The recent U.S. military reorganization has led to the preponderance of forces being stationed in the continental United States (CONUS). The 1992 National Military Strategy (NMS) followed this reorganization. Force projection formed the centerpiece...
This monograph will examine the presentation of tactical doctrine in FM 100-5. The United States Army is currently revising FM 100-5, Operations, its "keystone warfighting manual." It is intended to serve as the "Army's principle tool of...
This paper seeks to answer the question of whether or not the modern threat environment should drive U.S. Army Attack Aviation to shift its focus from the deep fight to the close battle. The paper concludes that the modern threat of asymmetric...
Social media has become an additional element within the operational environment within which nearly anyone with an Internet connection can participate. The speed at which participants can add content, truthful or not, to that battle space has...