E-FORCE: How Agile Is It?
Abstract
This monograph analyzes the proposed combat engineer reorganization at division level - E-FORCE - in light of the modern battlefield's requirement for agile combined arms formations. Three factors - mobility of engineers, capability to alter terrain over time, and command and control - are singled out as the key determinants of the ability of engineers to enhance agility. The monograph assumes that the operations of the U.S. Army's armored divisions in France and Germany during 1944-45 provide appropriate examples of the complexity and intensity of conflict envisioned by AirLand Battle doctrine in FM 100-5. Several deficiencies in the engineer's ability to enhance tactical agility are presented, most of which were also reported by the Army's official study of its conduct of the Second World War, the General Board. The monograph concludes by endorsing E-FORCE as a necessary enhancement to agility requirements of the modern battlefield, but suggests that it does not go far enough. E-FORCE, in fact, represents the middle ground between the current philosophy behind engineer force design and the concept that permanent combined arms teams should be formed at the brigade/regimental level. The only relevant arbiter of this issue is its impact on the agility of the division.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 15, 1987
- Accession Number
- ADA179415
Entities
People
- Kerry K. Pierce
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College